Fave.

Last night someone asked me what my favorite part about homeschooling was so far. I typically hate questions like this because I like time to really think about my answer but I was able to come up with an answer pretty quickly. Honestly there are a lot of things that I'm enjoying about homeschooling right now- more things than I imagined that i'd actually enjoy. When considering homeschooling, I probably focused more on the things that I thought I would dislike or struggle with than considering the things that I would enjoy. This probably gives you a window into my natural, very human way of thinking.  So anyway, my pretty quick but honest response was watching the relationship develop between my boys. Before homeschooling they did spend time playing together and got along ok but they were definitely reaching the point where a lot of their differences in personality and play were being highlighted. I think that we may quickly assume that kids are different, that siblings will fight and that this is normal. But after just 8 weeks or so of spending time sitting together, learning, reading many of the same things I have witnessed their relationship blossom from the big brother, little brother relationship to that of friends. It has been so heart warming to wake up on a Saturday morning and find them sitting down stairs wrapped in blankets in pjs just chatting and giggling together. To watch them play and imagine outside for hours at a time. To see things change from more of a comparative/competitive mindset to a together is more fun. Don't get me wrong, they are still very different, they still argue and get on each other's nerves but they have definitely developed a new respect for each other and I find this to be invaluable. The relationship between siblings, between brothers is something that cannot be replaced with any other relationship. And even if there were no other things that I was enjoying or that we were gaining, seeing their relationship strengthened with time spent together is enough for me.