end of homeschooling

I wish I could express in words how much I've appreciated homeschooling my kids. Was it perfect? No. What part of life is? But I loved spending time with my own kids. I loved learning together. All of my kids have a huge appreciation for good literature. That is directly connected to our daily out loud reading of book after book after book. Sara and I finished up the year by reading "The Scarlet Letter" together. I had forgotten what a great book that is/was. Sara my youngest child and she just had her last week of homeschool. I'm sure I learned more in homeschool then any of them did. I learned more biology and chemistry and history, but most important I got to learn with my kids. My children are closer then most siblings, and I'm sure that is because they spent so much time together growing up. And each of them has chosen to attend public school for high school. I guess it is the time to spread their wings. And don't get me wrong, I think that public school's extra curricular activities have been and are a real plus in all my children's lives. But as far as the daily learning routine of school there has been a huge lack. My kids could've learned easily on their own (in MUCH shorter amount of time) what they were/are teaching in the classrooms. Even as I say that I'm sure there is an exception here and there (Carl's welding class, for example), but overall I think there are far FAR better ways to get an education that what the public schools offer. And I can't finish without putting in a plug for my only heaven on earth-- our homeschool group. If you ask any of my kids their favorite part of homeschool they will all say the field trips. We've been to interesting places all over Missouri and Illinois (Lincoln library, Jefferson City state capital, Cookie factory... sigh). We've had a wonderful bunch of people in our homeschool group. I LOVE YOU GUYS