Back to School!

We are currently in our second year of homeschooling and the kids are rocking it out! 

Lucy Mills and I had a great first year getting our feet wet in this homeschooling journey.  I will always treasure that year where we had that one on one time.  This year looks slightly different - I decided to keep McClain home from 4k preschool this year so that we could all be on the same schedule.  I was a little anxious about how homeschooling two children would be, with one reading and one not even interested, but it has been great.  

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday both children do school at home with me.  We are usually finished around 11:30.  Then we enjoy a picnic and park with friends, attend a gymnastics class, get to a piano lesson, or plan a field trip.  

Also new to our schedule is Tuesdays at Excelsior Academy.  The kids attend a school for homeschooling from 10-3pm where they have classes in Literature, History, Spanish, Art, Music, Theater, and Science.  I love that they get a day in the classroom with peers and teachers who are experts in their field yet maintain a sweet, Christian environment.  (And added bonus - mom gets a day to run errands in peace!) 

So far Lucy Mills and McClain have been all smiles at pick up time.  I'm so thankful for this sweet school. 

On Thursdays we have stayed with the Classical Conversations program.  I stay on campus this day and alternate being in Lucy Mills or McClain's class.  We have an encouraging group of friends at this community and I am amazed at how much the kids learn.  The main part of our homeschool during the week revolves around the CC program.  

Each Thursday the classes do a science experiment, discuss and do either Art or Music, Geography, History, Latin, Math, and English Grammar.  

McClain's class is taught by the wonderful Mrs. Sara who has the patience of Jesus.  She teaches the 4/5's class and all of the information she gives them always points back tot God and His design. 

She teaches them catchy tunes to go along with the memory work.

McClain loves when the "Gertie Goose" puppet comes to teach Geography. 

Lucy Mills'  class is all girls and taught by my dearest friend Mrs. Mary Catherine!  

Here is Mrs. Mary Catherine putting on something silly out of the costume box for every answer the girls get correct! 

Lucy Mills brought be the picture she learned how to draw in CC Art.  We learned that you can make a picture by using a straight line, a curved line or a dot.  And here is her owl! 

Homeschooling has been a blessing to our family.  Some weeks are extremely challenging and I fight feelings of being overwhelmed.  But most weeks I adore the time learning alongside my children.  I love the quote from Sarah McKenzie's book Teaching From Rest: 
"Can we live and teach from a state of rest? My prayer is that we will.  But we must approach the Holy Spirit every single day, asking Him to lead us and quiet our anxious souls so that we can really bless our children - not with shiny curriculum or perfect lesson plans, but rather with purposeful, restful spirits."