8 months of homeschooling

I never knew how much fun it could be. It was always my intention to home school Bryan but somehow I ended up going back to school, he started Kindergarten and then I started working at the school and things were going fairly well. We felt good about our decisions. After all, Bryan was going to a good private school--a family environment, good biblical principles, high academic standards, we received a discount on tuition for all of Rory's computer work, and it seemed to be an all around happy, jolly place. Well, that lasted about 3 years.

I knew God was urging me to home school again, but somehow we just could not justify going back to 1 salary. I don't know why we were thinking that. I had pretty much stayed home since we'd had Bryan and I was by no means pulling in a huge salary working at the school.

Fast forward 2 years later--God is tired of calling me to home school. He makes it more than apparent that homeschooling Bryan is what the entire family needs. I regret not doing it sooner, but I am thankful to be where we are now in this homeschooling journey. What a blessing it is to shape and create my child's education. The freedom, the joy of watching him learn and the feeling of stress leave our lives--God is amazing!!

God also has a sense of humor, I've been told...About a week after school started I get a call from another school in town asking if I would be their librarian. I had no intention of returning to work while trying to home school but God had other plans. God has been working things out in my life for almost 38 years so I don't know why I'm so surprised when He did it again! I work about 5 hours a week--very doable w/homeschooling and while I'm working Bryan gets to take elective classes--classes I worried about how we could do in the homeschooling environment.

We walked into an environment where Bryan easily made friends and gets to take Art, Computer, P.E. and Foreign Language(Spanish and German so far). I walked into an environment where the library was already set up, teachers are friendly and fair, teachers aren't afraid to teach or discipline for fear of 'offending' the 'rich' kids parents or parents serving in 'positions'. I walked into a work environment where I come in do my job and leave and there is no DRAMA! What a relief for all of us! I can't remember the last time the words 'stressed out' were used in our house in regards to school. God is AMAZING!

So I look back as our first year is coming to a close and I thank God for the opportunity to teach my son at home. And in a somewhat twisted way I thank my former employer and a few select folks out there with 'money' and 'position' for giving me the opportunity to home school. What a turn around from just one year ago. A year ago I was physically ill every single day, in the Dr's. office more days than I care to count, and probably looking at some weird medical procedure that stressed me out even more. A year ago Bryan cried every single day about school. A year ago Rory dreaded walking in the door. A year ago...what a difference. A simple, Yes, God I see your hand in this and yes, God I will obey and follow your lead and yes, God your will be done in my life--God is amazing!

Since homeschooling (and I admit even before) I have become a curricula addict. I love browsing catalogs and websites and figuring out which works best for Bryan. This year we have used mostly Bob Jones for 5th grade. It was been easy and Bryan has done very well with it. His favorite by far is History. He excels at English and shows a new confidence in Math that we haven't seen in about 3 years. Again, God is Amazing!

I've started ordering for next year and I can hardly stand waiting for the mail or UPS to stop by my house!

We're sticking with Bob Jones for English and History (http://www.bjupress.com/page/Home) . We'll be adding some Diana Waring (http://www.answersingenesis.org/PublicStore/catalog/History-Revealed,381.aspx) to our study of Ancient History as well.

I found a Language based Math program that looks very promising. It also teaches practical everyday life applications of Math. It's called Life of Fred (http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html) . It came in the mail today and Bryan has already read the first 2 chapters. I told him he has to hang on a little bit before we really get into it! It's nice to see him excited about a subject that once caused that ugly word--stress!

For Science we'll be doing Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry, Biology and Physics (http://gravitaspublications.com/) . If we don't run out of time we're going to throw a little Apologia Astronomy in there, too (http://www.apologia.com).

I started my own Reading curriculum around December. I mean, after all, I am a librarian and I need to put that English Lit. degree to some use, right? ;) This year we've read several books, but our favorites so far have been Cheaper by the Dozen and it's sequel Belles on Their Toes. The next book we plan to read is Yellow Star.

We've done a little bit of Latin and will probably finish it up this summer. It's called Latin's Not So Tough. (http://www.greeknstuff.com/latin.html). We will start Greek next year from the same company as the Latin program.

Spelling/Vocabulary is one of Bryan's strengths. We gave up on the 'textbook' awhile back and I've been pulling words off of National Spelling Bee lists, words from our readings, words out of the dictionary. Do you know what sybaritic means? lol I found out this week :)

I can't wait to see what's in store for next year. People say a year makes a lot of difference, and yes, it does! God is Amazing!