Did you say 66?

That was the question Jeremy asked me, but what is amazing is the answer. Most people that know my kids know that they are good friends. They really love each other and take care of each other. This year I have really noticed them helping each other out when it comes to school work. They all have different areas where they excel, so they each have something special and unique to share with the others. Over the past few days I knew that Elijah had been taking his math book to his room at night to do some work. He recently finished up his handwriting book and his language arts book, so he is really motivated to get moving with his math. (during the days this past week he and Jeremy have sort of been doing a unit study on Noah's ark, and built a giant ark out of cardboard and animals out of paper, which means there hasn't been too much traditional "sit down" work for him this week) I have heard many times that homeschooled children often complete the same amount of work in 3 months that children in public school settings complete in one year. (it takes a lot of time everyday to get 20+ kids settled down and organized for each subject) Anyhow, I sat down to look over his "sister-taught" work, and realized he went through 66 pages!!!! The best part, everything was correct! (and I know he really did the work because as I was looking it over and putting stickers on each page he explained how he did the work and came up with the answers) When I told Jeremy he casually said "that's great" as he walked into the kitchen, and then abruptly turned around and asked "did you just say 66?" Clearly he was as surprised as I was! It is so neat to see that they have a real passion for learning. They get so excited every day when I say it's time for school work. Even Isaac loves to get into the learning, and the other kids love to teach him. It's not uncommon at all to see the other kids pull out the giant flip charts and go over shapes, colors, letters, animals, numbers, etc..... with Isaac. Whenever someone finally understands something they've been struggling to learn, an unprompted round of applause quickly fills the room. It's hard to even describe the joy that moments like these bring to a mother, but let me assure you that it is pure bliss.