Self Teaching

My goal in our homeschooling adventure has always been to teach my children how to learn.

In my perfect world I sit (perfectly dressed and made up of course) quietly blogging and reading my email while my children sit happily reading and advancing to the next lesson in their books all with little help from me. According to popular self teaching methods all of our children should need little help with their work and will advance quite quickly on their own.

Yes, in a perfect world this would all work quite nicely. Alas, I do not live in a perfect world. My children constantly yell "Mom, help!" The response of "Read your chapter and you will find it." is met with "I've read the chapter and it's not in there!" Until finally I point out (within 5 seconds) exactly which page the answer can be found. Frustration abounds.

Amazingly if I sit next to my children while they work they usually can do most of the work themselves. Maybe they just need my presence to help them stay on track or just the thought of my being right there is reassuring.

On to other things.

Has anyone had any experience with Cosmeo.com? I am looking into this for my kids and would appreciate any feedback.

Happy Homeschooling!