Well you know, since this is a blog about 'homeschooling', I though perhaps I should write something about what we actually do! 

We use a Classical / Eclectic / Charlotte Mason approach, with a bit of Montessori thrown in, just for good measure!

I certainly keep in mind the three stages of the Trivium, and taylor our curriculum around this.  I've found that by paying attention to the different stages, I can easily understand why some things seem difficult to a child of a certain age, and can make the adjustments to suit.  For example, in the Maths programme we use, 'estimation' is included, even in the grade 1 text.  All of my little ones struggled with this.  How were they expected to know how many base ten cubes could fill a cup?  They'd never done such an activity before - their minds did not have enough information yet to make these predictions.

So, we learn to breeze over these concepts, and concentrate on them in later grades.

I've found it a true challenge this year, with eight children now all lined up for 'school work', and this includes three at the learn-to-read stage, who of course, need much one-on-one attention.  Amazingly, we're getting there!  We don't accomplish everything we set out to, but that's life. 

Currently, all our afternoon activities are being replaced with 'art and craft' time, as we have our annual agricultural show in two weeks.  This involves entering art and craft items into the competitions, and last year, I think we had about sixty entries!  Fortunately, the children won a few prizes, and so, we're entering some things again this year.

Well, back to the grind!  God bless,