I am so excited! Our preschool books came today. I ordered Rod and Staff preschool books for my daughter to work through to prepare for kindergarten. I also ordered their readiness test to see how she would do. I ordered two of them so that I can have her do one for fun before we start the books and the other after to see how far she has come. It's going to be fun. I liked what I saw as I looked through the books. I especially love the Bible story book. It covers all the major stories in the Bible from Genesis through Paul! Hopefully we'll start tomorrow.

Enjoy homeschooling!

Thank God for oreos. I think they were invented to preserve life, at least lives, the lives of those around me on my CRANKY day. Josh is so sweet. He knows just when to bring me oreos and just when to tell me that I am tall and muscular (not fat). >>>>Sigh<<<<< I am so thankful for my family that still loves me the day after my CRANKY day. The good thing is that cranky day is usually followed by happy, energetic day. Otherwise, I may not be alive today to tell you about it.....

This year I am thankful for family and oreos...oh, and lexapro. That stuff really works! I feel so much better. Believe me, CRANKY day was so much worse before I got on lexapro. It was usually combined with CRY FOR NO REASON day. Now I'm just cranky with a lot more self control.

Except for when it comes to oreos.

Today I ordered Rod and Staff preschool. It was only twenty dollars. I will be receiving seven workbook for readiness skills. Before we get started with the workbooks, I am going to give my daughter the preschool readiness test. After we finish the workbooks, I will give it to her again. Then we are going to to Christian Liberty's Kindergarten program. I was just going to go with Abeka but they are soo much more expensive then C.L.A.S.S. is. We are just going to play it by ear and take our time. We won't move on until she's ready. That's the beauty of homeschooling. I am excited!

I have to admit that I am just not ready to get into the spirit for Christmas yet. We are still between homes and I am hoping to be in my own by Christmas. Right now we are staying with my in-laws. It's hard to practice your own traditions or to try to start new ones when you are not in your own home.

When I was a child we played lots of games, listened to Christmas music everyday, made Christmas cookies and gave them to people at church, made Christmas gifts for distant relatives, signed and mailed cards, decorated the house, hung stockings, decorated a tree, went caroling with a church group and had hot chocolate afterwards, opened a door on our advent calendar every day, went shopping, wrapped presents,decided what to give Jesus for His birthday, and played in the snow. Christmas was always a wonderful time. Every two years we would travel to see family and then would enjoy playing with our cousins and preparing food for the feast.

Ten ways to prepare for the season: 1. Purchase Christmas CD's that glorify God and play them everyday. 2) Plan Christmas cookies and get ingredients 3) Do Christmas crafts centered on Christ 4) Begin reading the Christmas story and related prophecies of His birth 5) Pray 6) Participate in the Samaritan project at church 7) Scout out Christmas activities to attend at churches and in the community 8) Start saving for Jesus's birthday gift 9) Get Christmas pictures done 10) Write a Christmas poem to send to friends and family

Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

I would like to start some new traditions with my little girl to add an element of magic and wonder to the holiday and to bring her focus fully on Christ and the miracle of His birth. I am going to have to think about this....

What about "unschooling"? Does anyone out there use this approach to homeschooling? It sounds interensting! I think that I will gravitate to a more organized system just because I was a school teacher for so long. But I am open to ideas!

We have an incredible library in Janesville, Wisconsin. I am very impressed. In fact, a person could homeschool using books at the library almost exclusively! Have any of you done that?

I am so excited as I begin the homeschool journey!

God Bless!

Hello to any one reading this!

If you have any suggestions for a K-5 program/curriculum please let me know. I will be homeschooling my daughter next year. The only curriculum that I am familiar with is ABeka for Kindergarten but I would like to avoid ABeka if I can.

Any feedback regarding Rod and Staff or C.L.A.S.S  for kindergarten would be especially helpful!

I am excited and nervous about joining the homeschool crowd. I was homeschooled for four years and loved it. For the past seven years I have taught third grade, implementing many new ideas and experimenting with different techniques. I miss teaching but I am so looking forward to this chapter in my life...teaching my daughter.