An Education For Me, Too

I don't talk too much about homeschooling here. It's certainly not because I don't think about it. I think about it every day, because we are doing it every day. I often think about homeschooling in the evenings and as I lay in bed at night if I can't sleep. I'm not worrying about it, mind you. I am just running our endless options through my tired brain- becoming energized by the choices.

You see, I am learning, too. One of my favorite quotes is, "To teach is to learn twice" by Joseph Joubert. While teaching Sam kindergarten, I re-learned ( know I learned it, but just couldn't remember learning it) about the life cycles of insects, the positioning of the planets and sun in relation to the earth, Bible verses that are invaluable in our day to day life...oh, the list goes on and on. This year, first grade, I am re-learning Bible stories, ancient history, spelling rules and the names of shapes (beyond circle, square and rectangle- c'mon I do know those).

I'm beside myself with giddiness (yes, I'm a bit of a dork) over what Sam and I will be learning about next year- American History. Can you even stand it? I have discovered that when it comes to reading for pleasure, I enjoy non-fiction over fiction and the reason is that I enjoy history. I was as surprised as you. The curriculum that we (loosely) use makes heavy use of living books. Living books (my definition) are real books/literature (not textbooks). Learning about subjects and history through story form helps you retain information, putting it in the context of real life versus memorizing isolated dates and facts.

This time of year, I am known to get antsy about what we are doing for school the next year. I'm a planner, hating to leave things to the last minute. Knowing that I will have a baby (who right now has the hiccups) on my shoulder, in a sling or on my hip all summer is also a reason for me to get my ducks in a row.

The final box of materials arrived today.

These are just a portion of the American History/Geography books we will use next year.

Here is Sam's science book, artist study books and handwriting paper. Next year is cursive, people! These pictures don't include his math, spelling, grammar and Bible materials.

And, for my Sadie girl, who next year will want to be up at the table doing school with us, a few preschool books to get her accustomed to school until she starts the phonics book.

Oh, the lessons we will learn!

If you are interested in reading about one family's pros and cons to homeschooling, please read this post written at Holy Experience just yesterday. Hers is a blog I follow regularly. She, also, rarely speaks about homeschooling. So much of what she writes about in this post resonates with me deeply. She put into words what would have taken me years to. Enjoy.

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