Princess "challenged" my schooling schedule

I am all "armed" to answer any queries, comments or criticism about my family's decision to homeschool but I was unprepared for Princess' question on the first day of homeschooling. 

Learning numbers "Twister" style, anyone?

It was close to noon and I knew I needed to give my children lunch or they would ask for snacks, which would spoil their appetite for lunch. Hence I announced that we'd take a break as I needed to prepare lunch, thinking that Princess and the Rock would be happy to get some time with their new toys. To my surprise, Princess gave a look of disappointment, she then asked me "why is it that when I was in school, my teacher let me do a lot of things before we have our snack? We haven't done a lot of things and it's already time to eat?"

I was totally thrown off because I thought we had done A LOT of things! What I then realised was that she meant we haven't done much writing. This made me think about different kinds of teaching and learning methods. Every child loves a teacher who does not hand out much homework or worksheets right? Wrong! My Princess loves a ton of written work and all sorts of "doing" activities. I should have guessed from the way she got excited about doing her homework after her afternoon naps while she was still attending school. If no homework was given out that day, she would work on her assessment books or draw by herself.

I made a mental note to include more handwritten assignments and art and craft activities in her curriculum to enhance her feeling of accomplishment. I also explained that homeschooling is different from classroom teaching in a way that learning can occur at any time and with all sorts of activities. For example, learning to cook the noodles she was going to have for lunch was "schooling" because she was learning a practical life skill; while she was teaching the Rock the alphabet and days of the week she was also concretising what she has learnt. She seemed happy enough about what I said and even thought that Grandma can homeschool her too as she taught her how to peel eggs and potatoes and make muffins!

Doesn't the Princess look as cute as a muffin?

The learning curve is deep, especially for me, I think. :)