Wonderful Week

Wow! We had so much fun and the learning was amazing...and the kids actually learned something too. lol While reading Little House on Plum Creek, my dd#2 asked what a dew drop was so I explained it to her and told her that if she went out early enough in the morning she might find dew on the grass, or plants. So during breakfast the next morning, she remembered and she and dd#3 went running out with their new backpacks full and ready to explore. I don't know if they ever found dew drops, but they found something even more rare for us down south...ICE! They had more fun exploring the ice and figuring out why it was on some items, but not on others. They also found out that if a piece is big enough it will shatter, but the small ones won't. They spent 20 minutes coming up with all kinds of ideas and loving every minute of it. After they came back in, they sketched in their books, and then gave me a narration about their exploration. This was definitely one of those special moments that can only happen when one is open to being flexible and not being too regimented on a "schedule." I am finding some of us are going to learn most by being flexible and following the rabbit trails when they are presented.

How blessed am I!!

Feeling Happy!

After devouring all the blogs and websites that I could find on what homeschoolers are finding success with, I have begun making some changes, ordering new books and trying to make my children fall in love with learning. IT WORKED!!!

Yesterday I went and bought all the things I needed to start with notebooks for my children so that they would be able to start narrating things to me and we could keep them forever in their notebooks inside protectors. Charity was able to retell me a story and tomorrow she will read it back to me and try to find any words that she can recognize and we will put those into our new word bank box.

We also put together nature backpacks filled with things the girls will need when we begin our nature walks each week. My 11yr old (who loves school) said this is going to be so much fun! The other two were ready to walk out the door and begin right then.

I have only made small changes and already it feels like major ones. One of the reasons we came to know that homeschooling was the path God wanted us to be on, was because our second child was in first grade and HATED school. How sad is it that a 7 year old hates school. She loves homeschooling, but I was falling into the "schooling at home" blahs and she was beginning to hate it again, as she should have. Today she illustrated her religion story and then labeled all the nouns. Common and Proper. She LOVED it!

We also were able to get all of our lessons done, clean the house and dinner is in the oven. Thank you God for the small graces that fill our everyday!

The Freedom to Choose:

I've decided to start a new blog about our homeschooling life. I have two other blogs, one about our family (which is protected), and one about finding the roses that God sends us each day.

This one will be about our homeschooling journey, now in our second full year. We are going through a transition and searching for the perfect curriculum for our family. I have three dd that I homeschool and one ds who is learning along with us in between naps and nursing.

I have recently discovered the wealth of info that is out there for Catholic homeschooling families and fell in love with all these beautiful families. I wanted to share our journey in searching for the curriculum that fits our family and what I learn along the way.

First thing I learned is that no curriculum works for every person. We all have to develop and design our own thing for each and every child. Now as hard and daunting as that sounds, it really isn't if you pray and let God lead you to it. I'm not saying just sit back and do nothing. I'm saying that begin with prayer and then search like crazy till you find what suits your family.

I have just discovered the book "Real Learning" by Elizabeth Foss and I am so delighted that she took the time to write this book. It completely changed my life, and my childrens' as well. I'll share a little info about myself. I am married to a wonderful man and have been for almost 16 years. When we first married I taught in a public school and thought that I would NEVER homeschool our children. Then came dd #1 and I kept teaching, but longed to be at home. Then dd#2 and again I longed and we planned. Finally I was able to stay home and I didn't want to send my daughter to pre-k. I wanted to keep her home and savour every moment. Along came dd#3 and off my oldest went to public school for Kindergarten. My dd#2 went off to MDO (only one day a week) and everyone was happy. But I missed them. I missed teaching them and loving them all day.

We moved to a new house and with it came a new option, Catholic School. Well that was very difficult financially and I was determined not to go back to work and leave my youngest with a sitter all day just so the older two could go to this school. So, back to public, and let's just say we knew very soon that homeschooling was the best thing for our family. If only we had known the incredible gift God was bestowing on our family sooner, we would have done this from the beginning, but with all things, in His timing. We also found out He was blessing us with another beautiful soul, that turned out to be a BOY! He is GOOD!


So we began our homeschooling journey with CHC and fell in love with everything. Of course I ordered everything and only had time for some, so I still have lots of stuff left and no time to fit it in. Then I changed things up a bit and again, knowing that eventually I wanted to design my own thing, but still trying to figure out the logistics of schooling at home.

After reading Elizabeth's book, I immediately implemented changes that I used in my classrooms when I taught and just hadn't figured it out yet. The changes in my girls has been incredible. The freedom to choose what to study and write about has inspired them. In the two weeks since I finished the book, we now have 4 books authored by my dds, countless illustrations to go with our read alouds and 10 reports on animals. All because of small changes that I made. And we did this all while still getting in our "learning lessons."

Thank you Elizabeth Foss for your wonderful book.