My only real goal in homeschooling this first year was teaching Turkey and Bunny to read. Yes, there were lots of other things I was hoping they would learn, but first and foremost, I needed them to be able to read at the end of kindergarten. I even told Ryan that if I didn’t accomplish that one task, that I really thought we should send them to the public school next year. It’s such and important building block, and I thought that my success (or failure) at teaching such a basic skill would set the tone for future successes (or failures) in our homeschooling adventure.

Well, I’ve know for awhile that they had caught on OK–well enough that I considered my goal accomplished, and didn’t need to worry about whether or not to continue homeschooling next year.  But it struck me the other day–they’re *really* reading. Not just three letter, consonant-vowel-consonant words, but longer, harder words. Sure, they still stumble, and make mistakes, and need my help, but they have way surpassed what my expectations for learning to read were.