September

Augh!  All of September I kept saying to myself "I need to write this stuff down and blog later.  After that one more thing I'm going to go sit down and blog."  And now, September has come and gone.  We did accomplish much and have a few pictures to prove it :)

Watching a Caterpillar

Trying to Put a Puzzle Together w/out Their Opposable Thumbs

First Day of American Heritage Girls with Their All About Me Posters 

Morning Activities

Harper's 10th Birthday!!!

Doing Schoolwork Outside Because It Was Just a BEAUTIFUL Day 

Beautiful Day - Beautiful Girl

BSA Fall Festival - About to go Canoeing

Everything is More Fun Outdoors!

Sonora's Music Teacher was SO Impressed that Sonora Knew Her Note Names 

Eurasian Eagle Owl at the BSA Fall Festival

Beautiful Hawk Ben & I Saw at the Reservoir

Yep, it's Monday

Well, it's our third week in and we have finally added in everything that we planned on adding this year.    It was not without bumps in the road, but we made it through and even thought to stop and snap ONE photo today.

Sweet Sweet Sonora doing English this AM 

Today

The first meeting of CHEER (Christian Home Educators Encouragement Resource) is tonight and I somehow found myself on the greeting team.  Sooooo not my thing, and it is going to be a long night so I thought I would blog before I forgot.

Just some shots/thoughts from today:

Working my way out of a job :)

Quinn begs to be the science teacher.  I must say, he's very good at it.  I stayed in the room to make sure things went smoothly and everything that I wanted taught got covered, but he did a FABULOUS job!

Totally staged.

Once I started snapping pictures they decided to pose for this one.

Experiment #3

General Science Module 1 Experiment 3

Experiment #3 part 2.

I think Nate is really enjoying the experiments, and I am incredibly impressed with his independent attitude.  Good on you Nate!

Oh, and Harper, you are sitting here as I write this and I am SOOOO PROUD of you! (Just in case you think I don't tell you enough ;)

Well, I'm off to say hello, shake hands, and smile until my face falls off. :))))))))))

Best Laid Plans

I'm a planner, and a list maker.  Always have been.  And as a former classroom teacher, my 'bent' is to make a schedule and then adhere to it with rigidity.  The bell rings and it's over, or it's lunch, or time to change classes, or whatever.  Therefore it stands to reason that one of my biggest challenges as a homeschool mom has been in letting go of THE BELL.  I have at times drifted, and reverted back to my former way of thinking and tried to make the kids stick to a very strict time schedule.  THIS NEVER WORKS.

"Ok kids, we are stopping right here in the middle of this exciting history lesson to...yes, you guessed it, have our handwriting lesson.  Forget Alexander the Great, get your pencils."

It just doesn't work.  Never has and never will.  And in truth, why would I want it to work in that manner?  The short answer:

For my own ease.  To make ME feel better.  Because crossing things off MY list makes ME feel like I've accomplished something.

But have I?  Have I really?

Yes, in life, my children will have to be on time for work (I require them to be on time to our schoolroom now), and yes, they will probably have times in their lives when they are required to follow someone else's bell.  But, right now, RIGHT NOW they are privileged to learn at their own pace.  When phones ring, cars break down, family members are sick, or LIFE just happens, it's not the end of the world.  When we are really enjoying the day's science lesson we are not required to 'finish up' so we can move on.  We CAN do just one more experiment or take a spur of the moment walk.  Do we always?  Nope.  In fact, most days we go with the flow of our schedule and plan.  But we CAN change if we so choose.  Education is integrated with life.  As it should be.

I am writing tonight because I am/was frustrated with our day not turning out as I planned.  Not EVERYTHING got checked off MY list.  On days like today I need to be reminded of the goals that Ben and I wrote years ago.  They are pasted into my planner and always will be.  We should probably revise them someday, but for now they give our home(school) a strong spine.

• Have a relationship with Christ
• Study and understand God's Word
• The ability to think for themselves
• Do anything or be anything
• Know how to find answers to questions
• Have solid relationships with others
• Question things
• A college education if required for their desired profession
• Be creative
• Be inventive
• Be men and women of character
• Appreciate music, art, and literature
• Cooperate with others
• Derive self worth from God not man

When I bring today's events into the light of our lifelong learning goals, my mind shifts.  Just as when I focus on heavenly things vs earthly things.  I can relax.  Still having a goal ( read plans/lists :), running for the prize, but resting in the knowledge that when things don't go as I planned they ARE going as He planned.

 Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.  Proverbs 19:21

So tonight I am taking off my former classroom teacher hat and replacing it with my forever homeschooling one.

This happens often.  

Schedule Planning

A lot of work goes into planning our school year.  I will go into various aspects as the mood hits me, but this is what we did this weekend in anticipation of starting school tomorrow.

It is our daily (Mon-Thurs) schedule.  Every post-it is 30 minutes and we are trying to fit everything that needs doing into what looks like a crazy day.  I'm very thankful that our new Co-Op will be handling some of the subjects or I would probably be huddled into the fetal position at the end of week one if I had to add ONE MORE THING to this monster.

That said, this was a very good way for me to 'see' my day and squeeze in rest times, reading times, and just plain margin into our daily lives while attempting to reach our school goals.

Eventually our table filled and my excel work began, thus creating a pretty little color coded schedule of what we are all supposed to be doing.  Works for us, and the kids had a hand in planning their day :)

Our Educational Priorities

As I am in the middle of reviewing goals and planning for this next year, I have not been writing as much as I would like to about our day to day activities. I hope to change that soon. Until then, I thought that I would share something Ben made for me at the beginning of last year. (I had planned to put some pretty dried flowers on it...ah well, someday...) It is up in our kitchen and will continue to be, for as long as we have children at home. It sums up our educational goals and helps to remind us of our priorities.


I really like the English Standard Version which says

"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge..."

Knowledge is the supplement not the number one goal.

Charlotte's Writings

Look what I found at our local used homeschool book store!

I found the whole set. I have read A Charlotte Mason Companion, but have never read any of Charlotte's own writings. You can read them online at Ambleside, but there is just something about holding a book! Guess I will start at the beginning...Slowly...

Parental Rights

If you have not already done so, PLEASE check this out.

There are some pretty crazy things going on right now with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in England.

Thankful for Our Freedoms,

Our Lifestyle of Learning - 90 Day Bible Challenge

If you are a homeschooler who has not heard of Our Lifestyle of Learning, please, go check it out! It is a fairly new online homeschooling community that has been a great encouragement to me. There are so many experienced moms there to answer questions, encourage, and give ideas.

Right now, there are about 30 different groups that you can plug into,,,depending upon your interest, and I just started a summer group - The 90 Day Bible Challenge.


If you would like to read the Bible cover to cover in 90 days, we are starting June 15th and would love to have you join in! I'm looking forward to the fellowship and ACCOUNTABILITY to help me finish this challenge.

There are even reading plans for kids of all ages, so they can join in too. Talk about a summer reading program!

If you aren't a homeschooler, please grab the information in the sidebar and join with me! Don't forget to email me so I can link to you!

Looking forward to growing in Him this summer,