Our homeschooling journey has been a long one for me, as it has for many – we are on our 18^th year. I still have approximately 10 more to go. Wow, that sounds amazing to me. As the Lord guides us through His vision for our homeschool I try hard to hearken unto His voice.

            However in my vision, when buying curriculum or setting up my school schedule, I always assume I will continue to use “that” particular curriculum over the years for all my kiddos. Not! It seems the Lord has other plans. Each year, each child, each set of circumstances usually needs something different. So, after spending hours last summer setting up this school year’s schedule, over the Christmas break I changed it, once again.

            As with all curriculums I am extremely excited. Usually the first day to first week shows me whether this is a viable curriculum. It’s not just whether the children can do it, but whether I can keep up my part of the equation as well. We studied Egypt three times in a row while I tried to find a curriculum that worked for us. I guess the Lord wanted the boys to know “lots” about Egypt. They do.

            When Nick was a preschooler and I was schooling just Ben & Thomas, Sonlight was a favorite. Lots of read alouds about history. With the three boys schooling, one of our best curriculums was Learning Adventures’ first year, A World of Adventure. It was great fun with lots of read alouds, some activities, and for Ben’s sake, lots of information (he’s my academic one so far).

            However, adoption plus a large number of children have complicated the previous curriculums. I have seven in school. Three high schoolers, one junior high and three in grammar school. Due to the backgrounds and learning disabilities of many it can be a tough job. But Dave says I am tenacious and persevere until I find the answer, even when it changes all the time. (That’s my paraphrasing, but I like his compliment).

            So, we started a new curriculum yesterday – Classical Conversations. As with all things, I have modified it some to fit my children’s learning styles. (Thanks to my friend CQ’s many ideas). It’s lots of Mom interaction to start, but it looks like a great curriculum so far. We all had fun together.

            My prayer is that we will be able to use this one for the whole year and then perhaps, should I just whisper it, the whole three years. Only the good Lord knows this one.

Blessings, Jean