Wabi Sabi Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 I'm going with the generic "time" also: Time to play. Time to take piano lessons and foreign language classes and nature classes and all sorts of other things they would've have time to do if they were in school. Time to travel. Time with parents and sibling. Extra time to sleep without needing to catch a 6:40 am school bus. Time to work at their own pace. Time to participate in community theater and opera productions. Time to spend all day curled up with a good book.If we're going with investment of money, I'd say their classes and activities are all cumulatively the best investment we've made in the kids. I place a high priority on foreign language, so I'd rather them have lessons from a native speaker. Besides, I couldn't teach Japanese if I tried! The purchase of a piano and piano lessons are also one of our top educational investments, and so far, the WTM Academy class that my son is taking ranks right up there too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Many things come to my mind. I think the best investment is, that I get to teach my kids OUR family values and religion. Other than that, Music lessons are the best money investment I have given my kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Music lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel-in-CA Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Travel. I love working with well-traveled kids and prefer them to book educated kids hands down. There's only so much one can learn from books. There's never ending learning available through travel. Thanks for this. It's encouraging me to just ditch the books for my upcoming trip with dd (12) to Spain where we are visiting family. I'm having a hard time letting go of the books, but the thought of carting them to & from is stifling. We will just learn from travel....and maybe review latin vocabulary? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slojo Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Giving them the gift of time -- not being "rushed" or on the "treadmill" everyday as a family. Starting out with CSMP math - and trusting it. Suzuki violin lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Thanks for this. It's encouraging me to just ditch the books for my upcoming trip with dd (12) to Spain where we are visiting family. I'm having a hard time letting go of the books, but the thought of carting them to & from is stifling. We will just learn from travel....and maybe review latin vocabulary? I seriously can't overstate how much students learn from decent travel. It lets them fill in their mental maps/dictionaries with where and what things are. Seeing a palm/coniferous tree, snow/sand, eastern or western mountains, ancient artifacts, the ocean - preferably from more than one spot, all sorts of various critters, different foods, different cultures, different languages and similar things are truly worth their weight in gold when it comes to true knowledge. Even navigating travel there and once there teaches a ton. Give me a well traveled student and I've already got a great foundation to build upon filling in the rest. They know what they've seen and they know there's more to what they haven't seen, but just experience in a book or video. Finances don't always allow for a lot of travel, but even trips to relatively local state/national parks, cities, or museums are worth it IF one is also taking the time to let the student truly experience these things rather than letting them be lost in electronic games/phones or even books. We've done both short distance and longer distance travel and my boys NEVER got to read or watch TV en route unless it was night and they couldn't see anything or they were on an airplane and it was cloudy or over ocean. All the other hours they were looking at the world around them - and made up their own neat game using all the natural resources they saw - or we were involved in some of our fun and/or deep family discussions. I know... we're weird. But I like it that way and have no regrets. Neither do my boys. No academic books ever traveled with us. A reading book or two did. Academically my guys have impressed every teacher/prof they've had - up through and including college. They didn't lose anything along the way and gained a ton. As stated before... no regrets, absolutely none. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Me/time/staying home Travel Reading aloud Lukeion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 My best investment has been caring about it. Putting it at a high priority and caring enough to make them re-do the page of handwriting, take another pass through Algebra II because it didn't stick well the first time, and learn to read the syllabus, follow the instructions, study for the test and turn in the work that is required. Every single one of my children already launched has come back wide-eyed at some of the low expectations and low work ethic that's out there. I think (hope) I would have made that investment whether my kids were home-, public- or private-schooled but it was of course a much bigger part of my life as a homeschool mom. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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