Monday, June 1, 2009

Getting Excited

Well, a couple of weeks ago, my mom, Brett and I loaded up and went to our local homeschool convention. We went last year too, so this time it was still overwhelming, but not quite so intimidating. We had a plan and knew (for the most part) what we wanted to see. We aren't yet sure if we are going to do a curriculum with Brett for Kindergarten, but if we do, I've been leaning towards Sonlight.

At the fair, I was able to talk with someone from Sonlight at length and I just feel really good about their program and the literature based learning they offer. As Brett gets a bit older, we will probably throw some of Charlotte Mason's approach in there too. Like Sonlight, The Charlotte Mason approach uses "living texts", but she also was very much a believer in being outside in nature and the need for journaling.

As someone who loves to write, the journaling approach speaks to me. I want Brett to develop a love for the written word, not just in what he reads, but in what he can write and dream on his own. To tie in her methods, we will be using the outdoor nature study by Anna Comstock. You can find the links to both the Outdoor Hour site, plus documentation of our own outdoor hour using the study in the right hand column of this blog.

We will be using a math program right now by combining texts from Horizons and also Singapore Math. We are using the Horizons for their computation and the Singapore for their reasoning and problem solving approach.

As for science, we will eventually use Apologia, I believe, but for now, we are just doing basic things with nature and things Brett is curious about. For example, we are going to be doing a small unit on bubbles in the next week or two. I'll post about that when we do it. I've found Mailbox magazine's Science for All Seasons book to be a great resource in this area.

During the summer, we will mostly be doing fun activity books you can pick up at any store like Walmart or Target. Brett likes them because he can do two or three pages or, if he wants to do twenty pages, he can. I'm not a big fan of workbooks, but he likes doing them, so for summer activities I'm okay with it.

I'm still pretty nervous about everything, (funny how I wasn't nervous when I was teaching school, but I'm scared to death about messing up with my own child!) but, I'm getting very excited as we begin laying the foundations for what Brett will be learning this fall. Mostly, I just don't want to get so caught up in "school" that we forget to have fun. I think that is where the biggest disadvantage is for me as a former teacher. I'm having to retrain my thinking on how to teach and also remember that learning doesn't just have to happen at "school time." It should be a part of every day life!

I read something from another homeschooling mom who has a preschooler and she called their daily activities "Playing with Purpose." I really like that and am trying my best to incorporate it into my own philosophy. I want Brett's experience to be everything God wants it to be, and everything my own personal experience with school was not. I want it to be fun, and enriching. I want it to inspire him to learn, and not stifle his natural curiosity.
My prayer is that, as we travel this road together as a family, God will quell my fears and help me trust in His plan for our family and that we will all discover a joy for learning as we go.


Until next time...

Jennifer