Our school year finished nearly a month ago, but I haven't stopped thinking school. New curriculum planning was in full swing and I really wanted to be prepared for the HEAV convention. I don't think anything could have prepared me for that!!
The number 1 thing I walked away from convention with is the need to simplify my life. More than I already think has been done. Being busy is getting us nowhere. I want the kids to remember more than just "We ran this errand, cleaned this, worked on that." I want them to love homeschooling so much they want it for their own kids.
We found great curriculum options there. The best part about having my husband there with me was feeling so empowered to say NO. I get excited about books. I can't help it. He was able to bring my focus back to "Will you really use this? If yes, let's buy it. If not, or if you're doubting, then skip it. The boys won't lack in their education if you don't get it." I can't even imagine how much I would have spent without him there to make me really think about it.
We walked away from a great history curriculum because after mulling it over for hours, it just didn't make sense. It's cyclical, so we thought it'd be perfect. But, with the age differences in the boys and wanting to keep them all studying the same thing (so I'm only teaching it once), it wouldn't work. Maybe in the future in might be better for us, but right now, it is not the one.
We bought a Bible curriculum from Positive Action. It looks great, and I think the boys will really grow from it. We've decided to stay with Abeka for Language Arts and Math, so we bought all we needed there to get free shipping! We're going to do American History this year, just based on library reading. It will be a challenge for me, to be sure I plan it all well, but I have a good vision for what I want to do. Now to follow through!
We were so excited about The Fun Clase Spanish language curriculum. I was certain though that we were out of money. I think by the time we got there, we had just $50 left for book spending, and level 1 was $110. We hadn't bought the Bible curriculum yet either. So, we decided to just save up for a while longer and get the Spanish stuff later in the year. How awesome is God that just as soon as we got home, He showed me how I'd made a $100 error in my convention budget, and we had $27 left over from other budgeted areas for the weekend! I was able to order it right away!!
This summer, we'll have field trips and visits with family. The boys have started in "summer review" mode already, but it's pretty leisurely at this point. I'm considering shifting our school schedule a bit to make our months off more late April through mid-June instead of summer. Not one of us really likes being outside in the summer, and if we're inside anyhow, we may as well do school. We'd much rather be outside when the temperatures are more bearable and it's not humid!
Starting in August, I'll have a kindergartener and a 2nd grader. Who told my babies to grow up? I better slow Sam down. He already counts to 12 and tries to say parts of the alphabet. We just can't have him growing to fast, right??
