Well, I know I'm a little late getting around to it, but I'm finally ready to talk about school!

This of course would be the first day picture. Everyone was fresh and bright and ready for action.

Trust me, the enthusiasm took a dive quickly.

This is the first year in our homeschooling experience that we have had a rough transition phase from summer to school time.  The first couple of weeks I honestly didn't think any of us were going to survive.  But it's getting better now.  We're figuring out a good routine and getting used to having actual structure in our day again, and it's a good thing.

So, in our house this year we have a 3rd grader, a 1st grader, and a 3 year old teacher's helper.

My utmost goal for school this year was to combine as many subjects as I reasonably could for both girls; basically to avoid teaching two completely separate lesson plans every day.  That about killed me last year.

Of course some subjects have to be grade specific, but there are many that can be shared. For this year everyone is working together for history, science, art, music, and all read-aloud books are chosen with everyone in mind.  So far it's been really great.  They help each other remember what they're learning, and I don't have the constant struggle of finding extra hours in the day to teach everything twice, not to mention trying to prevent countless interruptions from the ones who were not being taught.

For our curriculum  we have always mainly used My Father's World, which we do enjoy.  I decided for our shared subjects to try some different things out this year though, and so far we are really excited about all of them.

First our music text for the year.  We are all loving this book.  I am enjoying learning the hymns with the girls, and I think it's such a wonderful thing for them to have in their little memories.  Our My Father's World lesson plans for this year include an introduction to classical music & orchestra instruments, so I figure between the two we are getting very well rounded music lessons.

This is our main read-aloud book that I am SO excited about. It's a great collection of classic literature, poetry and contemporary kids lit all grouped by "character" categories.  We are all enjoying it.

One big switch we made this year was science.  We've always studied science in a unit study kind of method.  A couple weeks on planets, a couple weeks on oceans…this and that all year long with lots of random experiments thrown in.  The kids always enjoyed it, and I know they learned things, but it always felt a little too hodge-podgey  for my OCD personality.

This year we are trying out one of the Apologia Science texts.  They take the approach of focusing on ONE topic for the entire year.  The thing that really drew me to this is Miss A has developed a serious obsession with birds, and the first of their three year zoology series is all about birds.  So it was just perfect.  I already feel like we've learned so much, and the biggest shock of all… I am actually enjoying science time.  This a new and very pleasant development in my life.  Only took twenty-nine years to find out I could enjoy it!

So, these are all of the new things we're testing out this year.  So far all of them are feeling like a good fit.

A couple of other things we really love…

I bought this Mighty Mind set for Miss A when she was about three, and it has been a great thing.  All the girls enjoy it.

And the other favorite…

This GeoSafari belonged to my sisters and I when we were being homeschooled.  Still works great and they think it's kind of like a video game so it's a great learning tool.

I love all of the fun things I get to explore and learn along with my girls as I teach them.  I know homeschooling doesn't appeal to everyone, but for me it really is probably one of my most favorite things. I love it. I love getting to spend this time with them and watch them learn and share their excitement when we finally figure something out.  I'm so thankful I get to do this.  So thankful.