Legislative Day 2015

Since we moved to ID I have wanted to take the Lambs to our state capitol building. We have stood on the steps during the March for Life, but we hadn't been inside. Yesterday was Legislative Day for home educators so we attended. It was interesting to see what they did and perhaps in a few years we will also participate. All the Lambs enjoyed seeing the capitol building. Lamb 3 insisted that we take the steps to go to every level to see as much as we could.

I forgot to have them take their coats off, but we dressed up to go to this. The students presenting wore business attire. Lamb 2 wore a bow tie and Lamb 3 wore a tie. Lamb 1 wore what he wears almost every Sunday!

Students had displays all the way around the 4th floor. This one was a Hobbit scene. He asked the Lambs if they had read the book and told them he highly recommended it. Then he explained how he made the display-it was much more complicated than it looked. The boys were very interested in this display because it had Legos. It was definitely a boy kind of book report. This is the kind of display I see my Lambs doing in a few years. The students were friendly and ready to share about their displays. Socialization was no problem for these homeschooled students!

This is one of the reasons why homeschooling is so easy for us in ID. Homemade pies were provided those that serve us at the Capitol. They even had gluten free and sugar free pies. Lamb 3 really wanted a piece of pumpkin pie but they weren't for us. I'm sure the lawmakers remember their piece of pie when it comes time to vote for education laws.

They also had homeschooled students playing piano and other musicians throughout the day. Perhaps that will be a possibility for Lamb 1 to play piano for this.

Looking at the ceiling from the ground floor. There are stars in the middle.

The second level had displays of the history of home education in ID. It was interesting to me that the "dark times" of home education were exactly when Ram was being home educated in ID. We are so thankful to the brave home educators that fought for our rights that we have today. It was also a good reminder to not take homeschooling for granted.

Also it was interesting to me that I would not be required to teach Lamb 3 until he turns 7 and with a spring birthday that wouldn't be until next school year. 

Standing on the bottom floor looking at the ceiling.

Afterwards we took the Lambs out to eat for pie since we couldn't have any there. Lamb 3 had chocolate cream, Lamb 2 had cherry a la mode, and Lamb 1 had blueberry a la mode. Trying to decide what kind of pie was almost as good as eating the pie!

The Lambs weren't thrilled about this field trip, but they cooperated and made the best of the afternoon. It accomplished what I wanted it to-they saw where the governor's office is, saw the capitol, and saw what is done on Legislative Day. Perhaps we can participate or at least make a pie in future years.

*Note for my homeschool friends in other states: ID is a very friendly state for homeschooling. We need to educate our children from ages 7-16 in the subjects that are usually taught in the public schools. That is it. There is no paperwork to fill out each year. There are no required hours of instruction. There is no mandatory standardized testing. Curriculum is decided by the parent. We are given tremendous freedom but I take that seriously. We occasionally have field trips or take a day off, but from September-May they do school work 4-5 days a week. They do all the school subjects routinely taught in the public schools plus religion and Latin. I think I am stricter on this than many ID homeschoolers after coming from MN and after teaching in the classroom. We are thankful for the freedom especially last year while Lamb 2 had so much therapy that some of his schoolwork was postponed. This year all three of them are doing more school work than last year.