We Start School On Monday

It's hard to believe that we have been on a break since the end of April.  It has been so good though.  This is the first time in about 12 years that I am not doing work preparing for co-op, and the first time in 6 years that I am not fully responsible. 

At first, I would have moments of thinking "I can't be sitting here reading I've got too much to do" only to realize that "No I don't."  It was a good feeling.

I have spent the summer at ease and we have kept the house tidy and laundry done, meals made, friends - old and new - have come to visit, but I have been without that constant sense of "Oh, I must call ___" and "I need to type the address list."  The endless minutia that was a part of my responsibilities.  When we are together as a family, I have been fully present!  It's been wonderful!

This year we are studying Early American History.  This is a favorite time period of mine, and I am excited to delve deeper into this subject with Rachel and Sarah, as the last time we studied this subject they were young.  They will understand and get more out of it this time around.  We are going to start with Jamestown and move on through the Constitutional Convention, hopefully.  We may not make it that far, if we are immersed elsewhere.  But that is okay - I don't want to rush through it.  We have time.


For English/Language Arts - we will be using Sequential Spelling, Italic workbooks for penmanship, Easy Grammar and lots of reading and writing.  I have found that if your children read or are read good literature; if they do copywork of scripture, sections of poetry or a favorite passage from a book, then they are able to understand the flow of language - good sentence structure etc. Sarah is a natural writer, she needs work with spelling.  Rachel likes to write poems, funny ones, but this year we will be stretching her into some creative writing.

For math we use Teaching Textbooks.   For science we are going to use "Exploring Creation with Astronomy."

I really like this whole series of books which you can find here. 

Geography is studied with history here at our house but we do like to do the fun projects found in the book "Hands on Geography."

 This also can be found at Christian Book Distributors.


We also will be studying music and music appreciation,  and art - which is a favorite around here.


I have our stacks of good books to read, and later this week I will be hitting the back to school aisle for Ticonderoga pencils, glue sticks, tape, paper of all kinds.

We will have time this year to do field trips, also.  Just within a few hours drive we have Washington's Crossing, Valley Forge, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., a few hours more and we can be in Williamsburg, Jamestown or Yorktown.  We also have tons of museums, art galleries, living history farms,  and more available to us.  I have a feeling it will be more of a challenge to decide where to go - maybe too many choices!  What a wonderful problem to have!

For those of you who live in the general area of some of the places I have mentioned, will you leave me a comment and tell me of a favorite place you like to visit?  It doesn't have to be history related, but I would like it to be educational! I love learning about new places!  Thanks!