We've been doing homeschool for a few months now, or maybe we haven't. I'm not actually sure if what I'm doing is Real Official Homeschooling per se. I had someone leave a comment on a post where I'd detailed some of our school activities for the week, and she was like, this is different from being a stay-at-home mom HOW?

And I was like 1) hmmm, well, I've never been a stay-at-home mom before, so I guess I'm not sure, and 2) hey, what's it like being so irritated by life all the time? Is your blood pressure real high, or what?

Really, just the word homeschooling seems to trigger dramatic reactions out of people. Either they think I make my children wear bonnets and churn their own butter, or they think I'm a braggy jerk who likes to falsely elevate Everyday Parental Nurturing with a fancy new name.

This year we made the big decision to homeschool our oldest daughter. We weren't completely unsatisfied with the private Catholic school she attended for Pre-K and K, and thankfully, she didn't have any issues or problems.
 
However, there were enough things about the school that bothered us, and after researching our other options, and figuring out what was best for our family, we landed on homeschooling. 
 
Like anything else, the sometimes single mom schedule makes everything quite a challenge, particularly when school can often be a respite. Aside from the obvious educational and social values of school, let's be honest here, many parents appreciate the time away from their kids and the subsequent break they get, whether they're stay-at-home parents or working parents who would otherwise be paying for childcare.
 
And when you're parenting solo, that time alone is extra precious. 

As we move along into the school year, you may find your child needs to take on some extra learning activities at home. Whether your kid is an eager beaver when it comes to learning or is struggling with a particular subject and needs extra practice, you can find literally millions of printable worksheets and learning games online.

We've rounded up 10 fun and FREE school worksheets and activities for your kid to do at home.

Who knew playing board games and card games with kids could not only be enjoyable but also educational? It's true. Many games are full of fun, well-disguised math problems and more.

Well, Molly Balint of the blog MommyCoddle and homeschooling mom to four girls knew this. And so today Molly shares with us her five favorite games to play with her kids. All the games on Molly's list are inexpensive, easy to find, and can teach your kids a little something.

This post is going to have you and your kids doing math and liking it playing games like nobody's business. Read on.

Amazon; $16.86Homeschooling may call to mind entire families gathered round the dining room table day after day, year after year, but a new trend cropping up among the nearly 2 million American homeschooled kids is turning that vision upside down.

Parents are taking just a year -- or sometimes just a few months -- and pulling their kids out of the public school. Then they're sending them back.

Laura Brodie, an English professor at Virginia's Washington and Lee University, has shared the story of her one year as a homeschooling parent, in a new book Love in a Time of Homeschooling. It's a memoir of the year she pulled then 10-year-old daughter Julia out of public school and away from the rigorous standardized testing regimen of the Virginia education system.