Homeschool Diva

In case you have not noticed, I LOVE homeschooling. I was also terrified before I jumped in. I know for as many of us that choose to home school, there will be just as many who feel led to go public or private school, or do not have the choice to be home because they are single moms or can’t afford for the Mama not to work. My way isn’t necessarily the right way for you, it is just one method out there and I hope you are encouraged by it. DON’T compare yourself in anyway, just take what you need and leave the rest.

I have friends in every camp: public, private and at home varying between unschooling to Abeca workbook style learning. There is something for everyone, if you look long enough. My hope is that in all these little glimpses of my real life, you would stop and think and pray and ask God how you can more deeply engage in your little tribes life where ever you may be, whether you stay home or are the chief PTA’er at your child’s school every time the doors are open.

I had a commenter specifically ask about our method, so I thought I would take a minute and address it here. In case any of you want a Charlotte Mason style education or love the idea of “classical education” and you don’t have a clue of where to start, you might find it helpful. I first read the book For The Childrens Sake by Susan Schaeffer McCaulay. I couldn’t stop, I just kept reading and dreaming. At the time I was heavily influenced my the Montessori method (I am big on methods:-) and was bringing the kids home and didn’t know where to start. I started to poke around, ran into a few homeschool bloggers who where giving me the Charlotte Mason vibe and the rest is history.

I do not have the time or energy to reinvent the wheel and create my own curriculum. Everyone says that is so simple, but that overwhelmed me. Kudos to you who do, you are my “sheros” . I really believe their is freedom within structure, so when my blog friend directed me to Ambleside Online, I felt like I had fallen in to a pool of women who knew what the heck they where doing, who spoke my language about developmental learning, giving me a road map to move forward yet the freedom to do what was best for our brood. I like big picture stuff, and I got to see the whole educational thread for 12 years laid out. I could see where it was all going, and I liked what I saw. Ah, niiiiccccce, not to mention it is a free curriculum and you can find most of the classic literature at the library or free online as ebooks. Now you are talking my language.

We supplemented a little Math-U-See with Mr. Steve (Love ya Mr. Steve!) got a few packs of lined paper from Walmart, downloaded our free ebooks and just got going. So, I will have to tell you a little more tomorrow. This post is already long enough and besides I have some killer shots of a super flexible kid that just have to go with these posts;-)

Sorry Christine, come back tomorrow and I will try and flesh it out more for ya. I want to go play with my kids.

Peace to all who want to play today~