Yesterday was the official start of our homseschool year. It was such a joy to me to see my children excited and ready to get back to official learning. I hear so many children complaining, "Oh, man, summer vacation's over already?? I don't wanna go back to school!!" And I hear so many parents saying, "Thank God summer vacation is over and they are going back to school!" I feel blessed to say that those are not sentiments that reside in my home. When my oldest daughter had her short stint in public schools, I never got that "happy to get them out of my hair" feeling. I was sad as I sent her off, standing at the door watching her walk to the neighbors house, saying a prayer that God would watch over her as she was away from me, and bring her home safely. I counted the hours and minutes until I knew she'd be home and hearing the screen door squeak as she opened it to walk in, well, that was music to my ears. I get a lot of "how do you do it? how can you stand to spend that much time with your kids all day? don't you need a break from them? I could never do what you are doing, my kids and I need a break from each other!" comments. I just don't get that.

I am not going to be bashing parents who send their children to public school. I have been there and done that when circumstances in my life deemed it necessary. Just as I believe that public schooling is not for everyone, I feel that home schooling is not for everyone. I do believe that a majority of parents do the best they can with what they have at the moment, and I don't think public schoolers have less of a bond with their children or that they are doing their children a disservice, etc. etc. Who am I to judge that?? I have not walked a mile in another parent's shoes (nor have they in mine) and I try to never be judgmental over another parents choice, and respect that they have made the decision to best suit their family's needs. I just dislike it seeming like an oddity because I enjoy spending time with my children. Trust me, there are some very trying days in my life when I think it would be so much easier to send the older girls off to school and to be home alone with the baby all day long. On really bad days, that can be my fantasy. But in reality, I know that it just won't work for me, and my convictions and beliefs put the girls at home. Truthfully, I wish both sides (public and home schoolers) could be more tolerant of each other and realize it is not necessarily an us against them thing. But I digress, back to our first day!

I'll add some pictures later today after I get the pics off of my camera. The day started out with much excitement. Since we don't do school clothes shopping, I told the girls they could wear whatever they wanted from their closets. They were so excited to be able to wear "church dresses" on a regular day. Sophia was the only one not really dressed up (out of the big girls, Evy wore what I picked out for her). Sophia felt that the dress she picked out from her closet was too "babyish" in her words. I hate to tell my little peanut, but when you are in second grade and still wear a size 4/4T, it's hard to find things she doesn't think look babyish. She ended up wearing something a little more casual, which actually fits her personality.

The girls sat down to the table and got right to work. They were so thrilled to be doing school again. The hubby was home for part of the day and he was able to help with one of their lessons (geography, which just so happens to be one of his favorites!) and he had such a blast. I don't think he realized before yesterday what a joy it is to teach our children. I think he enjoyed it more than they did. He has already phoned me today to tell me he misses us (he's just at work, lol) and told me to have fun teaching today! He can't wait until Friday when he is off again to help with the schoolwork.

The "centers" or "stations" that I set up for the girls to do while I was helping one on one went off great! They were happy to have something fun to do while I was working with a sister. For one of the centers, I had wicki-stix. We actually got these out of a happy meal. We try not to eat fast food, but we were out this weekend doing our bulk grocery shopping, it was getting later and we were an hour from home and the girls were getting really hungry, so we went to a local fast food joint to grab dinner to eat on our drive home. They got these wicki-stix in the kids meals. My first thought when I saw them was, wow, these will be a good learning too. You know you are a home schooling parent when you can take a happy meal toy and turn it into an educational tool, lol! They were great for Juliette to use to spell out her name.

The other center was a balancing elephant. It wasn't particularly academic, but it was a great motor skill tool. The girls had fun balancing the sticks on the elephant. Jules had a tendency to get a bit frustrated because it seemed that after she got a few on there, they all fell. So imagine my surprise when Evy came up (she's 2) and started stacking with ease. I had to snap a pick of her as she was so cute!
She did a great job playing and keeping herself busy playing with various things or drawing on paper.

All in all it was a great day. After the girls were done with schooling and were having reading time and the baby was down for her nap, I was able to can some peaches. It was my first foray into canning. The main thing I learned is it will take a lot more fruit than I had to fill my jars, lol. I had a large bag of peaches and they only filled 2 and a half jars. I was actually glad that I didn't have too many to do on my first try, in case I messed up. It went well, and I can't wait to get some more fruit to can. It's a small start for stocking up for the winter months, but for now, I have 2.5 quart jars of peaches and 8 pints of jelly.

This is the fun time of year for me, when I pull out curriculum and workbooks and peruse the internet for ideas to get ready to begin our year of schooling! I get so much satisfaction from organizing our school books and supplies and getting our "classroom" area ready. This year, since we've just moved, our schooling area isn't quite as organized as I'd like it to be, but I am hopeful that it won't hinder the girls creativity any and that I will get it all set in no time. I am so happy that our set aside learning area is much larger here than at our old house, and I really can't wait to begin and utilize our space! We hung up all the bulletin boards and posters the other day and I am so happy to begin officially schooling next week.

It's going to be a little different for us this year, in a new state with new "rules" but I am confident that we will pull it off. I always get nervous about what the girls are learning, if they are keeping up with their public school counterparts, and if I were to put them in public school, would they be at grade level. I feel like we go through this struggle every year, even though this will be our 3rd consecutive year schooling and our 4th year altogether. I don't think it has sunk it yet that we are a homeschooling family and I need to grasp that concept and let go of the worries of the girls fitting into some mold that someone else says they should be fitting into. They are bright children, and love to learn, and often, they amaze me with things that they have knowledge of. They come out with things that I don't recall ever teaching them, or the younger ones will tell me something that I have taught the older ones and I am surprised that they picked up on it. No, they may not have the exact scope of learning that the public school system says they should have. There are areas where I fear they may be a little behind on, but there are also areas that I know they are ahead on. The important thing for me to remember is that they are LEARNING, and they LOVE learning, and they are learning at their pace, and at their level and they are they expand on the subjects that they love and they are getting a well-rounded customized education.

I am challenging myself this year to let go and have fun. If a day comes down the road when we decide to enroll a child in public school, then we will deal with that then. But for now, I am going to follow my children's lead, and have fun with it, and not worry about the what ifs. I want this year to be a more hands on year, for the girls and I both. I am excited to start this new curriculum completely (we did a few lessons before the move) and to have more inclusive hands on learning projects together. I am glad I realized that the "school at home" was not working for any of us, and that I finally wasn't too afraid to try something new.

Here's a little about our family and what we will be studying:

Our school (We are calling ourselves Magnolia Academy for Girls) has 4 students. Hannah (age 10, grade 5), Sophia (age 7, grade 2), Juliette (age 5, grade 1) and Evelynn, who is 2. Evy doesn't have a "grade" and I am not incorporating anything structured for her, but she likes to do "school" with sissies and I'll try to provide some activities to help her with motor skills and to have fun.

We are using My Father's World: Exploring Countries and Cultures as our main curriculum this year. I like that it is all-inclusive for the three older girls. Even though Juliette is technically in too young a grade for it, I have found that I can tailor things to her level and I am surprised at how she picks up on it. I also have Story of the World Volume 1 that we will be doing here and there. I find that it's fun to have a break sometimes and throw something else into the mix. I like that the History/Geography, Science, Bible, Art & Music are all incorporated into this daily curriculum.

For math, all the girls have Math U See which is completely different than anything we've done. Up until now, we have pretty much used Abeka curriculum and thrown some unit studies in here and there to mix it up. While I liked the curriculum for its academic properties, I found that it was just too much "school at home" for our family, and we were consistently getting burned out.

For language, we are doing a mix of things, A Reason for Handwriting, and A Reason for Spelling, Primary Language Lessons and Intermediate Language Lessons, Explode the Code, and we will also be using classical children's literature for reading.

That's pretty much it for where we are starting. I have the first 2 weeks "planned" out, but I am mainly doing that for record keeping. I am going to try to make everything a learning experience, and to follow the girls leads when exploring topics that they are excited about. When I look at the plans and the books, it all feels so formal to me, but I constantly remind myself that those things are a guide, and we don't have to stick by every single thing and not deviate or explore further. I truly think a more relaxed approach will benefit the girls and myself. I just can't seem to let go of this need to be organized and on top of it all. I am hoping this blog will help me chronicle our year, whether I do it daily, or weekly or whenever the mood strikes me, I think it will be a great way to document our learning process and share with family who are interested and with anyone who want to peek into our world!