My secret weapon

There is probably a lot of debate out there about what should be the cornerstone of your homeschool philosophy. I am sure I could explain what we believe if I really had to, but I don't really want to. (I do feel strongly about not using prepositions to end sentences with. :) )

But I was reminded the other day during my daughters 15th birthday party that we have had one constant companion during all our homeschool years. "To the costume bin!" was yelled from downstairs and a great cheer went up. Then I heard one of her friends say "A costume bin? Rachel that's why you are my best friend."

My kids have spent a good portion of their homeschool years in costume. This is one of the privileges of doing school at home. Not only can we do it faster and tailor the lessons to the child, but we can act it out! That is awesome!

I understand I am probably raising 4 thespians, but we have also done piano lessons, soccer, martial arts, and baseball along with the stage work. But don't you wish you could have done your homework in a Super Rachel costume? I had to remake that costume 3 times because she still wanted to wear it as she continued to grow. Once when my oldest was little, she was invited to a birthday party as Batman, because that is how she introduced herself for several years. Initially the parents didn't even know who she really was until we came to the party.

We've got robin hood stuff, buzz lightyear stuff, a suit of armor, power rangers, a caterpillar/butterfly, singing chipmunks and much more. One year my daughter wanted to be a rock for Halloween. Yeah, a rock. So we constructed a harness and made the rock out of paper mache and chicken wire. We even included a little shoot with a candy sign. She loved it! (Amazingly she looked exactly the same in all the pictures!)

Another time my son wanted to be a redbox machine. It was a spray painted red box with movie covers on it. Easy! My other son wanted to be Doc Oc. Doll rods and dryer hoses under a trench coat. Bam! The last couple of years they have been working with themes so they could all dress up together. Last year they were the 4 main characters of Avatar.

But at the end of the day it's about encouraging their creativity. Recently, I heard a speaker say "Do you know what a kid's job is? To play and create." I agree because if kids have a safe place to play and create, they will learn. I'm not advocating throwing away all the lesson plans, but be sure you make space for pointless creativity.

One time during our lessons, my daughter was drawing something while I was trying to read to the kids. I scolded her to pay attention and asked her what she was doing. She showed me an illustration of what I had been reading to them. Nice job Mom! Of course I apologized and encouraged her to continue drawing. Just because I don't learn that way doesn't mean they don't learn that way.

So the costume bin might not work for everyone, but how do you know unless you try? It might just be the key to you having your own homeschool success story.