Homeschooling, here we come!

Well, Stephen is now "Kindergarten age," so our decision to homeschool is now "official." Our first day will be August 23. He has been in preschool for the past 3 years for 2-3 days/week while I worked. I'm done with my job, and I've been gently telling Stephen that once Kindergarten begins, we will be having school at home. He was reluctant at first, but thankfully, we have many friends who are homeschooled!

Here's a look at what we'll be doing!

Bible: The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos. We've been reading through this for a few months, and I like it! It's the level of depth I had been looking for since I felt Stephen had outgrown our other story Bibles.

Reading: About a year ago, we began The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise. I wanted to save money, so I bought only the book (the complete kit comes with already printed flash cards, audio version (I think) and a magnetic board with letters). Once we started reading I realized that Stephen needs the hands on experience. We hit a wall and took a break, I ordered a magnetic board with letters, and we should be on our way again!

Last week, Stephen got his own library card. He was quite excited! Our town is building a new library, so we'll definitely be making good use of that place.

When I bought Saxon K, I didn't know just how basic it was. Stephen has been speeding through it - it's like playtime to him. He loves the manipulatives and will play with tiles making patterns for quite a while. I plan to skim through the rest of the book, covering new things, and moving on to Saxon 1.
We'll be working through Mudpies to Magnets for science. We also have some science kits, which Stephen loves! He is certainly his parents' son...
I saw these workbooks at a homeschool conference and couldn't resist. I got a couple levels - just a little mental excercise. They'll be much easier once Stephen can read better and do them on his own!
I haven't done too much Stephen school with Lydia around. In the past, we have done everything while she naps, but that has turned out not to be Stephen's best working time. We'll be doing normal preschool things with her (and she'll be in a church preschool 2 days/week). Our big thing coming soon is potty training - oh boy!

Reading Lists

Lists of books to read combines two things that I've liked for a long time - reading and lists. One of my earliest ones was an attempt to read through all the Bobbs-Merrill Childhood of Famous Americans books in my elementary library (the older ones); I even kept a journal with a one-page entry per book I read. Well, I didn't finish that one, but I still remember a lot of the history I learned through them.


Another list was in high school - my 9th English teacher gave us a list of books commonly used in part of the AP English exam (here is a larger list). I used that list as my general reading list all through high school (didn't read all of those either, but I read a lot of great literature I might not have picked up otherwise). In grad school, to escape the constant science, I picked up biographies once more (not the Bobbs Merrill ones) and thought about reading through the US Presidents - that was in 2004, and I'm still on John Adams.

Now that I'm on the brink of homeschooling, I'm getting into new lists - lists to read to Stephen and Lydia and lists for myself to read in preparation. Also lists to buy for the future. With Stephen, I'm currently going through the preschool list in The Book Tree to find stories that he will like - a great resource!


Another list I'm adding to my lists is the Great Books. As I guide, I'm using Susan Wise Bauer's
The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had. This list hits on many of the works she lists in the recommended reading for the rhetoric stage (high school age) in The Well-Trained Mind, which I plan to use as a guide in homeschooling my children. I'm going through chronologically (her guide is organized by genre) and reading the second book, The Iliad. We'll see how it goes!