The work has been a bit hard lately. This quote encouraged me today.

“It is not the critic that counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

- Theodore Roosevelt (Paris Sorbonne, 1910)

On my favorite homeschooling board, this question was asked recently: What parent/teacher books on homeschooling/classical education are a "must read" in your opinion?

For me, the books that have made the biggest impact recently are The Latin Centered Curriculum: Home Schooler's Guide to a Classical Education, The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (ongoing impact), and some Elijah Co. essays collected in the book I Saw the Angel in the Marble.

I have different lists for when I was first learning about homeschooling... when the boys were under 7... and when I was first figuring out my own way.

- In the very earliest months of learning about homeschooling, I throughly appreciated various books by Linda Dobson, Mary Griffith, and Mary Pride.

- My biggest influences in terms of finding my own way were Rebecca Rupp's Getting Started on Home Learning: How and Why to Teach your Kids at Home, David Guterson's Family Matters: Why Home Schooling Makes Sense, the Walshes' Natural Structure: A Montessori Approach to Classical Education at Home (with a sacramental/Catholic faith), The Well Trained Mind, and now The Latin Centered Curriculum.

- When my oldest was still primary age (under 7), I also poured over books about Maria Montessori and the Montessori method in schools and at home, and Ruth Beechick's set of 3 little pamphlets about the three Rs.

This year, on my desk at all times for easy reference are:
The Latin Centered Curriculum
Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School, by Rebecca Rupp
Science Scope, by Kathryn Stout (not sure this is what I wanted, but it'll do).

I'm currently reading Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin, by Tracy Lee Simmons. I hear from others of a similar bent that it's right up there with LCC in significance for them, so I'm taking the opportunity to read it.

And there you have it. Hmm. Perhaps I'll browse through some of these books again.

This is the most common question I did not expect from non-homeschoolers. I wrote about it on my other blog. You can head over there and see me process my thoughts, or stay here for the short version:

We are following "an old-fashioned model," doing Singapore math, composition and phonics, Latin, history, and projects.

By "old-fashioned model" I mean writing exercises used from the Greeks to the 19th century, and Latin as the heart of learning grammar, logical thinking, and a different language. Heheh.

Yep, that's me. Tomorrow morning I'll deliver our withdrawal-from-school letter to my younger son's principal and he will be done with kindergarten. Our older son will stay in fourth grade in our former neighborhood's little elementary school.

Four and a half years ago the homeschooling light went on in my heart and mind. The following weeks and weeks and months and months of reading, prayer, more research, and some carefully chosen purchases were a good investment, but it was sooo hard to wait for unity with my husband. At last, this weekend, we had a final long talk and are now in agreement that we will homeschool our youngest son this year. I'll spare us all the dreary details of all of the things that have added up and brought us to this decision together. I hope by next summer we will be homeschooling both boys for the long run, but only the Lord knows what's around the next corner.

This week as I get myself organized my youngest and I will read books together, work on some Bob Books and Little Stories for Little Folks phonics readers, and I'll probably get out the Cuisenaire rods for him to explore. Some time after lunch tomorrow we'll go get an ice cream cone to celebrate the first day of homeschool. I think he's wound up and a bit concerned as to what this is actually going to be like; I hope a few days from now he'll be reassured that it's "normal stuff" plus more focused time with Mommy.

Anyway, after 4 1/2 years as a wannabe homeschooler and afterschooler, I get to do it, hurrah!

P.S. I expect to be a somewhat relaxed classical Christian homeschooler with a Montessori bent :)