Welcome!

"Don't you love New York in the Fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." -Kathleen from You've Got Mail

I don't live in New York, and it isn't fall exactly but I have the same sentiments regarding this cooler weather that came about only this morning. Last week I did a little thrifting and have Anastasia a nice fall wardrobe, and everyone has some new snuggly jammies. Yes it really 'tis the season for apples and pears and cozy reds, oranges and purples.

Next week I will officially start a very little bit of informal education with Anastasia. I mean, we do lots of crafts and activities, puzzles and games, nature exploration and reading already, but I want to start adding a bit of rhythm to our lives. To give it a nice flow, with a little direction from some materials I have collected. I intend to put all of our books in our "curriculum" in the side bar and I hope in the future to review all of the books that I am using this year. I also want to include the links to most of my favorite crafty and educational websites for kids in the right sidebar. These things take time, and I don't have as much as I could really use sometimes.

So what is my plan? To read a book a week, every morning and do activities associated with the book, some Montessori inspired activities, arts and crafts, nature walks and plenty of time left for an afternoon of pure, unadulterated play. I bought a really awesome book called Peak With Books by Marjorie Nelson and have liked what I have seen thus far. The book is written with much older kids in mind, but I like all the open-ended questions for children, the coordination of classical poetry and children's songs and finger plays and a variety of other ideas to help the concepts of the books really stick with a child. Next year I plan to buy Before Five In A Row when both girls will be the right age to participate. I really like that they have an entire online message board surrounding their curriculum and add a spiritual aspect to the reading. I am just educating a 2 1/2 year old so quite honestly, I didn't want to drop much money when I definitely don't believe a curriculum of any sort is necessary. I will get more into that in later posts.

So why have we chosen to homeschool? For so many reasons, and yet simply because I want my children to always be free to be who they are. I personally feel our public education system (and many private) drain the spirit out of children from so many different angles. Children spend so much time doing busy work that they don't get to be children for many hours of the day. They have little time or energy to pursue their own interests and are not able to expand to their fullest potential. I am not saying homeschooling is the only option, or even an option at all to everyone, but it is THE option for our family at this point. I only hope my children don't drive me insane first!

So wow, that was quite a first post, don't you think?