When Homeschooling Goes Terribly, Terribly Wrong

Way back when IJ was five years old and we started homeschooling, we used Sonlight, a literature-rich curriculum.  We purchased the Kindergarten level, which included lots of great books.  Some of the books were above a kindergartener's level, in my opinion, but we waded through them based on the advice that it was good practice to do hard things.  "You would be amazed at what they remember," one person gushed in the online forums.  One of those difficult books was The Apple and the Arrow.  This book was so hard that I didn't even bother reading it to S...or E when she hit kindergarten level.  I will read it again next year when we do medieval times again.  I guess a lot of people complained because Sonlight no longer includes it in their kindergarten package.

One question new homeschoolers first ask when starting down the literature-based curriculum homeschool style is, "How do I know my children are actually learning?"  There are many answers to this, but generally, if you observe your child internalizing the lesson and see details of the lesson in play or conversation or later discussions, you can tell they are learning.  Here is a perfect example of what I mean: 

Hey, [S], remember that book that mom read to us a long time ago? The Apple and the Arrow? (No)  Well, this is what happens in the story.  There is a little boy and he has to survive a test where they put an apple on his head.  His dad has to shoot it off with an arrow!  Here is a picture of what happened!  

His dad actually missed the apple and shot him in the head! (Giggle, giggle)  See? (Giggle, giggle)

Can you see the stick figure with the arrow sticking out of his head?  I interrupted their silly conversation to ask, "[IJ], have you read that book since I read it to you?"  And he hadn't.  He said to me, "No, it's been about five years since I heard the story."  Yep, five years-half his life-and he remembers the hardest, most boring story a five year old ever sat through.  And he does remember how it actually ends, he was just being silly.  Too bad S didn't get it.  I did and I have to say I laughed so hard I cried.  Twice.

The homeschool never takes a real summer vacation, does it?