...In The End

There's so much more that could be said. If we've learned one thing, it's that homeschooling is ever-evolving. New opportunities are constantly vying for attention. It's easy to get distracted by new ideas, books, systems, methods - all are taken into consideration in the constant tweaking that goes on from day to day. But in the end, it still seems that learning only really works when people - adults and children both - are given the freedom to invest in things they find exciting and engaging. Striking the balance between need-to-knows and want-to-knows has been the most challenging thing of all. The goal is not to turn out good students, people who know how to take a test, or a valuable employee. It's always been to guide the boys on their path to learning what they'll need to function in the world, but to do it in a way that communicates and makes sense to them. They've always known what that is better than us anyway.

I've also concluded that the time has come to retire Gypsy Schoolhouse for the most part. For one thing, we're no longer gypsies - we have a home, and we're happy in it. Secondly, I have to scale back blogging to pursue other interests that I had little time or energy for when I started the blog - music and writing. Between this blog, my health blog, and my own website (where I've started depositing personal and family news) there's simply no time to update them all (as evidenced by the scant postings over the last two years). Gypsyschoolhouse stands as a chronicle of our adventure in homeschooling, and doing it on the road, moving from town to town, in the middle of a medical crisis. I'm proud to look back on it and see all the things we were able to do and see despite the obstacles that we faced. Hopefully it serves as an encouragement to those who are just starting down the road to homeschooling. If we can do it, you can too. I think our boys are better for it in the long-run, and so are we as parents. It's given us precious time to enjoy each other's company during these important years to an extent that would have otherwise been impossible. I've probably learned more than the kids have.

So the Gypsy School House finally parks itself in a little house on Oak Street in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, breathing a sigh of relief, looking forward to what's ahead, and to not recording every little bit of it! Thank you all for reading, commenting, and following our journey.

I'll continue to post from time to time but it will be on my blog at www.davejohnsonstuff.com  where the blog will be archived.