Jumping in

I must first say that this "homeschooling thing" was my husband's idea. We had a really bad year with our twins in 1st grade and he asked me to consider homeschool as an option. I really like the teachers at the school we attended, but I am saddened by the lack of control that they are allowed to have over the unruly students. The conditions are less than sanitary (one of my children had 18 sick days of school in 3 months and my youngest daughter brought home head lice that took 13 days to conquer). Also, the things that they were exposed to at such a young age are increasingly more difficult to explain to our children. So with that said we prayed that God would lead us. And He has.

I didn't really know where to start, I don't know anyone that homeschools. So I did what I do every other time I want to know something.... I Googled! Well, my eyes were glazed over with the pretty packages of curriculum! But our budget doesn't stretch that far. So I Googled again, but this time I started looking for free homeschool resources. Goldmine! I found so many fabulous websites. I will share the ones I love in another post for anyone that is interested.

The only subject that I decided to purchase textbooks for was math. So I researched until I found the one that I felt was the most successful; I chose Primary Mathematics by Singapore Math (maybe it is, maybe it isn't, we will see). I went to a local used curriculum fair that I found online (with $15.00 and a stubborn attitude) and what do you know, someone was selling that curriculum. So, the very informative mother of 1, sold me the textbooks and teachers manuals for Primary Mathematics levels 1A thru 3B for the convenient price of $15.00. She even threw in a science textbook (Our Fathers World),some tests that went along with it and two books full of activities that correspond with the Curious George books. I considered this a FANTASTIC gift, because before I went I was sure that I would find nothing under my allotted fifteen dollars.

We started our school year in July, sort of..... I was still scared to death that I would be totally inadequate and impatient. I wanted to try it out before the public school year started. We began with a daily Bible study, Math, Reading and Handwriting. I figured that was enough for me to try to organize at first. The first week was an amazing adventure. We went to the library, signed up for the summer reading club and each of us checked out 2 books. We got up each morning at 8am and got dressed, made the beds, ate breakfast and then sat down for our bible study. We finished everything before lunch and the rest of the day was free. We sailed through the week having a blast and did what I read that many homeschooling families do; we declared Friday as Field Trip Friday and we packed a picnic and went to the Parthenon. Oh My Gosh! Can it really be this easy?! Haha yeah, NO. By Tuesday of week two they were wondering why they had to get up so early during their summer break, why they couldn't go to the lake and why they had all this extra school work during the summer. But I didn't give up, just re-evaluated how much time I needed to spend trying this out.

Throughout the next two and a half months, I gained so much from reading blogs written by many homeschool families. Sharing their positive experiences as well as their negative. So, I thought I would pay it forward. I thought just maybe I would be able to help some other family that is considering homeschool on an extremely tight budget.

Much Love until next time,
G