The First Two Days....

Well, we finally started school (for the little guys anyway~ Gunnar started on the H.S's first day a little over a month ago). I can't tell you how nervous I've been over this! True,we've been homeschooling Gunnar for almost 3 years now, but there is a BIG difference between homeschooling a tween and two little knowledge-hungry boys (Brenny is going to be 6 next month and Zachy just turned 4.) Those of you who know me understand my tendency to be an all-or-nothing perfectionist (*coughOCDcough*) and how much I put into the projects I undertake. Well, when you're talking about the education of your children, that's some "project"! Brennan is a bit, shall we say, "advanced" for his age and while he hasn't had any sort of formal schooling up to this point, he is constantly learning and has been very anxious and excited for school to start. Feeding his brain is a full time job around here ;o) He's been telling anyone who'll listen that his mommy is his teacher and he is going to be starting home school soon and how excited he is(no pressure or anything!) So I've been worried about making sure I was "feeding" him the right stuff, enough of the right stuff and being on the lookout for any new stuff he might be interested in. Zachary on the other hand, while happy to learn and do new things, is much more interested in getting to do exactly what his brother is doing (and when I say exactly, I mean Exactly :o) )

So I finally was able to get everything oragnized, all of our school supplies, books, you name it, which was really fun for me (I looove organizing!) But deep down I was fearful of the day that loomed nearer and nearer~ the dreaded First Day of School where all my loving preparations would flop, the kids would be SO let down after all their huge expectations and I'd realize there's just no way I am going to be able to pull this off. I'm going to be the most boring teacher EVER. Well, I'm happy to say so far it's been a blast and nobody's complained of my lame-ness (yet.) :o) When we hit the last activity of our school day and I saw my little boys happy and laughing and knew all was right with the world. At the risk of being sappy, I have to say how grateful I am to be able to do this for my kids. This feels SO right for our family and I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have a good man at my side who supports us in this in every way. In spite of financial difficulties and all the stresses on us right now, he values my presence here at home raising and teaching our children and that means more to me than I could ever express. Of all the things I could be in this world~ there is no title that could possibly mean more to me or do more good for the world than that of Wife and Mother. I only hope I can live worthy of that calling and be the absolute best I can be for my group of munchkins :o)

I have had so many people do one or several of the following: a.) Look at me like I have three heads when I tell them we homeschool b.) tell me I'm crazy and they could never do it and I must have some super woman gene that enables me to even entertain the idea (sorry~ nope! I guarantee you that's not it ha ha~ although you may be right about that crazy thing ;o) ) c.) act somehow offended that I am doing this, as if my choice is a direct hit on their choices for their family~ that I am somehow judging them for NOT homeschooling etc etc..(couldn't be further from the truth so let's please put that one to rest, shall we? ;o) The truth of it is, I believe that parents are the ultimate authority when it comes to their children, and nobody knows them like they do, nobody loves them like they do and they are the absolute best judge of what is best for them and their families. We're just simply doing what we feel is best for our children, and our family and are happy for everyone else to do the same, in whatever way works best for them.) I won't go into all the "other" comments we receive, as they just make me grumpy LOL and I don't want to spend this time writing pages of homeschool-myth-debunking. So what I'd like to do instead is give you all a little tour of our homeschool, and use our family blog to keep a sort of record of what we do around here, in the hopes of shedding some light on the subject (at least as it pertains to us) and just sharing how much fun we're having!

We base the principles of our home schooling on the philosophy of Charlotte Mason (you can learn more about her here: http://simplycharlottemason.com/basics/started/cmedphil/) which some have called "the gentle art of learning"; but we also have a bit of Thomas Jefferson's philosophies mingled in there as well (they have many similarities)~ and what's beautiful about it all is that we are able to adapt our style of teaching to each child individually, so we know they are getting exactly what they need. It's very rigorous, but not time consuming, as the focus is on quality, not quantity. I have a long way to go before I can say I implement these methods perfectly, but we seem to be doing okay so far :o)

Gunnar is doing a hybrid of homeschool and highschool~ on "A" days he stays at home and has Algebra, American History, Themes in Literature (which encompasses great classic literature, bible study, grammar and writing in a very rigourous way), Italian (once we get the bugs worked out on the software), Shakespeare and Classic Literature (he's reading Uncle Tom's cabin now and keeps a reading journal)~ we discuss world events as a family and make sure his worldview is broad and aware. On "B" days he is at the high school for Seminary, Theater Arts and IB Anatomy/Physiology. He works out in the HS gym every day. He is currently in the Fall play and has rehearsals daily as well. Oh and there's Scouts too. So, yeah. He's busy :o) We love the days he's home though~ the little guys have a ball with him and they are able to get in some good bonding time.

As for Brennan and Zachary~ we have devotional time each morning, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance~ then it's on to our Theme (this week we're learning about the Creation)~ what's so fun is that we are able to learn about the Creation, Science, Art and vocabulary all under one theme! Yesterday was Day 1~ when God separated the darkness from the light. We had a nice discussion on what would it be like if there wasn't any light (with object lesson)and how important the sun is to all life on earth; fun facts and a video about the sun; an art project and we watched pt. 1 of the BBC nature movie "Life in the Freezer"~ which is a documentary about life in Antarctica (the place on the planet farthest from the sun). They really enjoyed it :o) Here's some of their work from yesterday:
Zachy drawing a picture of "light" and "dark"

They each have their own display board to show what they've done each day (makes them feel special ;o) )
Then we have copywork, math and we'll be adding history next week as soon as I get those materials ready~ I wanted to start them off slow and use this time as more of an assessment period~ to see exactly where they're at and what direction to take. Brennan chose "The Magician's Nephew" by CS Lewis (the prelude to Chronicles of Narnia) for the chapter book we're reading together and Zachary is getting into it too, surprisingly enough. Brennan also wants to study physiology like his big brother, so we're going to work that in after God creates people in a few days ;o)
We will be working in composer study and art study over the next few weeks as well. We are making an I-spy alphabet book (with a "letter of the week" each week)~ the boys really loved this :o) Our letter this week is "A"~ I gave them each a basket and told them to go on a treasure hunt~ to find things around the house that starts with the letter "A". (of course the first object is an apple :o))
Then we gathered their treasures up, arranged them and took a picture; we'll use this picture in our I-spy book (which will be completed in 26 weeks)
(the other various critters are "animals"~ they know squid and dog don't start with "A" ha ha)

Today we learned about the second day of Creation~ where God separated the waters. We talked about the water cycle, all the many different forms of water on the earth and in the sky, and they used cotton balls dipped in water to demonstrate what happens when it rains (they really liked that part :o) ) Here's a little of what we did today (and then I'll end this novel)










So that's just a little bit of what we do around here~ I apologize for the length of this entry~ just had some 'splainin to do :o) I'm thinking I might do school updates weekly and other stuff as it comes up. Hope everyone is enjoying the last days of September! It's been so beautiful here~ hardly any rain (though that is soon to change *grumble*) We can't wait to start hitting the local farms and the boys are dying for the arrival of pumpkins and "spooky things" :o)