But how will they learn?

A new acquaintance asked me this the other day after learning that I homeschool my kids.

"They have to meet certain standards, right?"

No.

"But they're tested to prove that they're learning, aren't they? There's a minimum amount of things kids need to know...."

I'm lucky that I'm in a state where homeschooling is not only legal, but also unregulated. The law actually mandates that PARENTS educate their children, and if they choose NOT to, they must attend school.

The state mandates that we instruct our kids in the basic subjects, but exactly how we do that is up to us, the parents.

Just this week we've had discussions about the United States Government, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, how George Washington was the first president under the Constitution but how we had other 'presidents' under the Articles of the Confederation. We've discussed how Japan entered WWII, the battle of Saipan, Pearl Harbor, amongst other political and historical things.

We've discussed weather and drought, seeing as we haven't had any rain around here in a couple of months, and the lawn is crispy brown, the cherry tree looks wilted, and the leaves are falling prematurely.

We talk about traffic laws and signs and what they all mean. We read magazines and the 'net.

Buzz started creating cool rafts out of wooden sticks, which led to a discussion of Huckleberry Finn. We're going to get that from the library and I'm sure that will bring up another host of topics, from writing to the Mississippi River, and life after slavery (we've talked about the Civil War at length in the past).

And I haven't even started on the math they do, or science and animal husbandry, or minimum wage, etc.

Live a full life and learning happens. If we don't know the answer, we google it.

Life is good.