2013/2014 Here We Come!

I've been homeschooling for awhile, and yet I still feel like an amateur!!  Every year brings new ideas, and this year I've decided to blog our experiences, good and bad.  I'll try and be honest, yet optimistic, as I record our days.  Late at night, I've gone blog hopping, and after about 6.4 minutes I feel like a failure as I see everyone's great and fantastic projects, their perfect looking children, and the amazing lengths some parents have gone to when teaching concepts....as I sit on the couch, eating ice cream and Cheetos, after a day of "morning gone wild", where I've spent the whole day nagging, cleaning, and running around, with no schoolwork to show, and somehow the house never did get clean... So this blog is to uplift us all as I remember the great days, and give hope for tomorrow on those days I'd rather just sweep under the rug.

I have five children now, Ramses is 9, Goldilocks is 7, Luigi is 5, Pinkerbelle is 4, and Little Bear is 1.  My husband is affectionately known as Pa, since one of my favorite book series in the world is Little House on the Prairie...which makes me Ma.  We follow more of a routine than a schedule, and since I love something about every teaching method I've read, we mix in Charlotte Mason, Thomas Jefferson Education, Unschooling, and a little Classical into our days.

We've recently moved to a bigger home, with just under half an acre in the outskirts of town, I'm fumbling my way through urban homesteading...raising chickens, making jam, and dreaming of an underground bunker like the one on Blast From the Past (love that movie!)

I'm all geared up for my 5th year of homeschooling, using minimal curriculum, and hoping to keep the love of learning burning bright in each of my children, and myself.  Of course, I deemed tomorrow as our First Day of School, and the feverish pukes decide to make a special visit to my home today, so we'll see how it goes tomorrow.

I've decided to start our day with filling out our Compass plan for the fall--something from TJEd, where we record our goals for this fall and then we can keep ourselves headed somewhat in the direction we need to.  I also have high hopes for a weekly planner for the kids, because this seems to be a weak point in my life.  I start out so hopeful every Monday, and then with errands, life, and house craziness, I feel like school slips through the cracks a bit.  Cross my fingers, I hope this helps.

Here's to an exciting and wonderful school year! Maybe it'll be so smooth and awesome we'll start schooling through the summers!  hahahahah...That'd have to be pretty dang awesome...