I just erased my post on purpose.

I had this whole post done about the homeschooling conversations I've seen on FB lately, among my friends.

I erased it.

I couldn't put my thoughts into words that made sense.  Everything I said, when I read it back to myself, sounded like a criticism - and I never meant it to be.

I just had questions.

Rather than ask the questions, I think it might be appropriate to point out what LM(Love Muffin) and I did with our older boys as we homeschooled them.

We imposed no schedules.  Our idea was to 'unschool".  We had stated goals that related to specified periods of time, like: This month we work on real world applications of Math.  OR  Here's a book.  Read it and we'll discuss the book once you're done - but no more than two weeks. OR We need to put a new roof on the shed - figure out what materials we need and how much they will cost - and then estimate the amount of time needed to do the work - and the cost for the labor at different rates for labor.

We traveled.  Knowing that little broadens the mind like travel, my sons are very well travled - and each place to which we traveled became a lesson of one sort or another - from language to dialect to economic underpinnings to trade, import and export.  And history.

We tried to inculcate a love of learning.  Learning for its own sake - not because you have to, but because you want to.  We asked them what things really interested them, and then we allowed them to focus their efforts in that direction.   In order to teach them to love to learn.

That's how we did it.  I don't know that we did it any better than might have been done in "school".  But I know my boys are smart, well mannered and socially gifted people - and I am proud of the people they have turned out to be.

Ndinombethe.