The Homeschooling Post

Taking the Final Math Tests!

These two happy little girls are really excited.  Today they have completed all their work for 3rd and 1st grades!  They have worked extra hard this week to finish up so that we can have a nice little break before starting up again with grades 2 and 4 in a little over a month.  Paige will also be starting Kindergarten - which you can imagine she is excited about - she's been watching her sisters and wanting to "do school" for a long time.

I really love homeschooling our girls.  Long ago, when Brooklyn was a preschooler, I dreamed of homeschooling my kids, but when it came time for Brooklyn's kindergarten, we were in the throes of support raising and it just didn't work out.  Then, we were in language school and I was again not able to homeschool.  But when we started our first year of homechool in Brooklyn's 2nd grade year, I knew I'd found my calling. I'm not sure I ever would have had the guts to homeschool if it hadn't been forced upon us, but now that we're homeschooling, I don't relish the idea of ever having to give it up.

I love that I get to be there when my girls make important discoveries.  I've watched Madison blossom from just learning her ABC's to now reading voraciously.  I've seen Brooklyn go from a reluctant writer to a prolific one, and we've treasured many hours together reading books and learning fun facts about Science and History together.  We've studied the Bible together nearly every day and had deep discussions about God and life and hope and grace.  These girls rock!  I love learning with them.

As we enter into our third year of homeschooling, I feel like I've finally hit my stride.  Choosing curriculum and scheduling has been a bit of a trial-and-error fiasco.  In all areas but Math, I've struggled to find what works for us. (Praise God for Math-U-See.)  And here, of course, if we don't like something it isn't like we can just run to the store and pick up something different!  So, we've had some growing pains.  Next year, we're using all Sonlight.  I'm very happy with this choice already.  I've used some Sonlight materials this year and fell in love with their style.  We got our new Sonlight stuff a couple of weeks ago and we're all really excited to begin using it.  So many AMAZING books!  I am ready to have a guide to follow, especially now that Brooklyn will be entering FOURTH grade and we'll also be doing some traveling in the next year for our furlough.  I've never had a teacher's guide before!  Fancy!

Our upcoming year will look a little different - we're starting early so that we can take a really nice break when we start furlough at the beginning of 2014.  That's another thing I love about homeschooling - we get to make our own schedule!  Each year has been a little different but it always ends up being just what our family needs in our unique situation.  Last year, we took a longer than normal Christmas break since Sean was down with typhoid. This year, we hope to take off in October for a family vacation. We also take off birthdays or "just because" days.  We skip school on crazy days and I don't have to feel guilty about it because I know we'll make it up.  If we want to travel or have an emergency or we just wake up really grumpy, I don't have to push it.  I love that!  We are able keep school "fun" and less stressful.  (Well, you know that isn't always the case.  Some days are just gonna be hard, but for the most part, we do have fun...and we learn to persevere through those really long multiplication problems together.) 

I love homeschooling my girls!