Homeschooling and Grades

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When you think of school... you think of what grade your kids are in and what grades they get on tests and papers. At least that's the way I use to think when I would talk about the boys in school. Alex was always in this grade trying to get above a B on his homework,etc. When Anthony entered kindergarten, it was the same thing for me. But when you homeschool it is totally different.....

OK I can tell I have confused you:) What I mean is that Alex is technically in "9th Grade" but he could be doing 8th Grade level math, 12th grade animal biology and 7th grade spelling and vocabulary. Since I have begun homeschooling (well after that first year) I don't get an entire year's worth of their curriculum ready for that first day. Its a work in progress for us, the only thing that I used since the beginning that has everything planned out was our online homeschool middle school program, Time4Learning. I have to say that I have used it a many a day as the main lesson and let the boys unschool the rest of the day. If I am sick or we have a ton of errands to run on one day, I load them up with the lessons on there. Then at least I know that they accomplished something on that day EVEN if I didn't actually go over it with them.

You might ask why I posting about this well its because I have come across a lot questions on the forums that I am member of this week. It is interesting to read about others who think the same way I do. I don't limit how far my boys can go up from their current "grade" in our schooling.  You hear about this all the time from homeschoolers.... Homeschooling equals freedom to learn in a more natural way. Letting them discover what they really want to learn and yes teaching them the things that they HAVE to learn but not in a way that they will forget it in another month. I love all my homeschooling friends and other moms (and dads) they are always teaching me things that I need to try with my boys. BUT mostly they teach me that I need to relax and let the learning come more naturally. A struggle for me..... what about you?