I know, we haven't finished this years school work yet and I am already thinking about next year! I do this every year but I know I am not alone in this thinking and planning process. This upcoming school year is going to be a "big year" for us. Tara will be starting 10th grade and Billy will be starting 7th grade.
For over two years I have been wanting to do My Father's World http://www.mfwbooks.com/. I had planned on doing it two years ago with Billy and Tara, but went with Simply Charlotte Mason for two years. We enjoyed SCM a great deal. The one area I had a hard time with was geography, it just didn't work for us the way it was set up. I'm sure it is wonderful for some, just didn't work in our home. So after much praying and researching we decided to do MFW with just Billy. We will start with Exploring Countries and Cultures (ECC) in August. They had a special for free shipping through the end of March and after getting some money back from "Uncle Sam", I just couldn't wait to order it. It game in this past Tuesday. I don't know who was more excited, me or Billy. He doesn't want to wait until August. He sat sprawled on the kitchen floor helping me "unbox" his schoolwork. He spent hours looking at the books and then playing an enrichment game I bought called Rush Hour., Praise the Lord! (it's on the MFW site and is such a fun thing to play, even my older children were taking turns at it), I have never seen him so excited about school work. Truly confirmation for the Lord! I will be making lists of extras I would like to get at the convention, but honestly I don't think I will need anything besides math. I do want to get him some "perplexors" for this summer. I also need to look at a writing curriculum. MFW suggests Writing Strands, but I am also looking at other options and probably won't decide until I go to the MassHope Convention (April 25th....34 more days). I am thrilled to have the MFW curriculum early so I can take my time to go over the Teachers Manual and figure out what supplies I will need and (of course) how to organize them. I have started one of MFWs suggestions to use a "book basket". It's a neat idea where you get books from your library that go along with what your studying and just let your kids read or look through them. Whatever they decide to do. Just be consistent and have them do it daily. So last night at the library, I chose some books that went along with a few things we are studying and then I got some fun books that I knew Billy would be interested in looking through. MFW even suggests getting books with lots of pictures so children can read the captions and learn in that way. Billy was so funny at the library. He was wondering why I was in the "kids" section. I said "school work" and he went about his own business. Well, last night when we got home he was so excited. I got books about "space", we've been studying astronauts, space shuttles, Neil Armstrong, etc. I also got books with poetry, tongue twisters, in line skating, hurricanes, Connecticut and Maine. He was thrilled with the variety. Worked out well for him today, he is sick, so he has book basket to keep him busy. I told him we will get a special basket for him.
Now, on to Tara. My "unwilling" student...LOL. She really didn't want to be lumped in with Billy. She wanted to have something that is her "own". I spent hours on Friday nights this past month looking at options for her. I then remembered the course "Far Above Rubies". I did a search and found a free PDF of one of the units. At first, I thought, "no way, she will not apply herself". I kept looking and praying and kept coming back to "FAR". I really wanted her to do it. So, I sat down with her and we talked about it and she wanted to do it. She loved the fact that it was "just for girls". The curriculum itself is not expensive ($50.00) especially when you consider it is considered a four year high school curriculum. You do need to pick up some other books, which I found many on Amazon and eBay. The curriculum urges you to make use of your public library which I have every intention on doing. I felt that after talking to her about it, the Lord made it clear to me what He wanted her to do. She seems excited as different books come in for her for next year. She has had a great school week this year. I told her to pick a subject, any subject! I thought for sure it would be "craft related" but she surprised me. She chose The Titanic. She is researching on-line and taking notes, she chose two books and one documentary from the library last night. she is even working on it "after school hours", which is amazing.
This has been a special time for me. As a home schooling mom, I sometimes feel that I don't always do as much as I should. The Lord has shown me that it is more important to help them to learn then it is to "get things done". To see Tara doing school work when she could be doing anything else, and for Billy to spend hours looking at his work for next year, both really touched my heart. I know this is the Lord's direction for Tara and Billy.
As a family, we have been talking about the Ark of The Covenant and are moving on to The Tabernacle. Our Hebrews study in Family Sunday School has been such a blessing to all of us. We are learning so much! Bill just loves cross referencing everything, especially when it goes back the Old Testament. We purchased a Tabernacle "kit" and will prayerfully (if Billy is up to it) start working on it tonight as we learn about it.
We look forward to next week when we have fellowship with our Pastor and his wife on Thursday and a family over Friday. Had to cancel our plans for tonight, due to sickness, but will reschedule.
I'm praying that I will be more consistent with "blogging", and keeping anyone who is interested updated on our walk with the Lord, our children, homeschooling and crafts.
Have a blessed day!
Terry
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