So many things to post about and yet I can't find the time to devote to it. The last few weeks have been fun yet so busy. The last weekend of January brought a snow / ice storm which made for great sledding and plenty of family time around our fireplace! The following weekend, we took a trip to Greenville to visit a new children's museum. We were celebrating Philip's birthday since he was sick the weekend of his actual birthday. On Friday, Feb. 12, we attended our first LINK event. LINK is a local home school support group. They were having a Valentine's party at a nearby church. It was great making connections with other home school parents and plus the kids decorated lunch bags and brought home about 40 Valentines each!! That afternoon and night brought in a beautiful 5 inches of fluffy snow. Another great day of staying home together as a family and building a snowman bigger than Matthew! To finish the weekend, I left Sunday morning with Philip, Braewyn and my mom for a week-long vacation to visit family. We drove to Georgia to see her parents and sisters and then on to Florida to visit my grandma and aunt on my dad's side. It was great seeing loved ones again after so long but the drive also was so long! Home on Friday night only to have another action-packed Saturday with Philip's basketball game and a short drive to Grandma Mary's town for a quadruple birthday party! I think the youngest of the bunch was 62! Fun times. Pictures to come.
And meanwhile in my spare time... Matthew and I have decided to homeschool Philip in the fall for Kindergarten. I'm so thrilled knowing that all the dedication and habit-building struggles of this year will pave the way for a greater next year. A friend recommended that I begin researching the philosophies of education (a topic I didn't even know existed last year) and it has been so refreshing and inspiring. There is classical education which focuses mainly on memorization and developing one's mind (including studying the ancient languages of Latin and Greek). Then there's the method based on an English school teacher named Charlotte Mason. She felt children learn best through hands-on education including exploring outdoors with a Nature Journal and having books read to them only then to narrate back what they have understood. It's just fascinating me so much as I have never attended one education class in my life. I am grateful and daily reaffirmed by Jesus that this should be our current path. He continues to let things fall perfectly in place. For instance, this month's manners emphasis in our K-4 material has been on caring for the family pet. Yes, I read the kids a few books about pets and asked them what they thought however there wasn't a real-life interaction. Last week we spent Tuesday through Thursday with my Grandma Allen and Aunt Maureen in Florida. Grandma has a little dog named Buddy which Philip and Braewyn enjoyed tremendously. Jesus provided the kids with a hands-on opportunity to experience caring for a pet! Maybe that seems trivial to some but I just smile!
1 comment:
I read Charlotte Mason's book and really enjoyed it! That's what the Village School (Oakbrook now) is based on!
I'm so thrilled that you'll be continuing homeschooling! I know you can do it!!
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