First Grade!

Homeschooling is now official in our home.  We sent in the forms (relatively easy in Oregon) and we had our first day, yesterday.  I've done my homework, read the blogs, and decided on a philosophy.  Picking curriculum can be expensive, but this year we've joined the Classical Conversations community, an amazing co-operative style program and curriculum that happens to be available in our little town.  

Once a week we meet together and parents participate along with the kids while tutors lead the class in learning new information and reviewing the old.  Classical Conversations (CC) presents a classical, Christian education with emphasis on memorization and presentation using lots of silly songs (they work!) and other tools.  With CC I don't have to worry so much about Art, Music (though we started violin this year, too), even Science (for this early age), Geography and History.  As the kids get older, we'll add more of that stuff, too, but for now I'm happy.  This means I do lots of Language Arts at home (reading, writing, grammar and spelling), Math and review of all the CC stuff.  We read lots of extra library books about history and have as much fun as possible doing it all!

Our rhythm in schooling has aligned with a sort of seasonal cycle, not surprising since we are a season-loving crew.  In the summer we have lots of emphasis on science, the outdoors, gardening and interest-led learning.  During the "school" year we focus more on Language Arts, Math and History.  Winter sports are key, of course, as are other seasonal focuses.  Of course, a family vacation can lead us down any path of learning we wish!  I've been missing blogging and I hope as our summer winds down I'll find more time to greet the world, here, as we enter into our fall academic cycle.