School Time!

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. 

 William Butler Yeats

Although our kids are homeschooled, we have decided to take advantage of a wonderful opportunity for Gideon this year and send him to an international school near our home.  Awesome, loving environment, small class sizes, respect for the environment and they teach CHINESE!  Gideon will even have the opportunity to go back to Beijing next summer with his class for their high school trip and revisit the country of his birth!  Very exciting!!

He started this past Thursday and loved his first two days so far.  Glad we are off to a good start!

I was able to get a couple pictures before we left the house

It was a foggy morning, but a beautiful day nonetheless

I think he was ready to jump out of the car and RUN to class he was so excited!

It has felt too quiet around the house while he has been gone!  The kids are already saying how much they miss him during the day.  Awwww!  He is such a sweetheart and such a fun kid!  It is easy to miss him.

As for the rest of the children, we are steadily making our way towards starting the school year as well.  We traditionally wait until after Labor Day, and this year is no exception-- especially since we schooled well into July because I had been gone for two weeks in January, then a week again in May.

We definitely all needed a good long rest and a break for our brains....... and some fun, relaxing time to bond with the newest member of our family!

Today, however, we have kicked it into gear.  All the children's curriculum is organized and replenished and ready to go for next week.  New pencils and pens have filled the pencil boxes, crisp new loose leaf paper is neatly clipped into the binders, and the crayons are fresh and pointy! 

I just LOVE this time of year, don't you??!!  Nothing like new school supplies to get me in a cheery mood.  (I know, I'm strange!)  But I have always loved them.  Back in elementary school, taking a trip to our little supply closet with a couple of dollars in hand was one of my favorite little treats.  I have always loved paper of all kinds, pens and books.

Ahh, books. 

I love Amazon.

I have a "wish list" that is three pages long, and a cart that is probably well over $100 worth right now.  Not that I can get it all.  :( 

But if I could, I would probably buy new books weekly.  Thus the reason why we are running out of shelf space!  Enter the KINDLE!

Evan is going to have to get one for sure this year.  It makes the most sense for him really since most of his curriculum is free literature that can be downloaded.  He is also the one I am the most focused on this year with homeschooling.  He is in his sophomore year of high school now.  I cannot believe that.  Sophomore.  WOW.

We have signed him up for a few outside classes this year too, ones I am not as well equipped to teach like Chemistry and Government and Economics.... and even one I am equipped to teach-- Essay writing-- (being that I was a journalism major and all).  But he would rather not learn that from me.  I think we need an outside helper for that one.  :)

We have a full course load this year for sure with a high-schooler down to a third grader, plus a second high-schooler  who I know will be coming home with all sorts of homework and projects.  But I am gearing myself up for it bit by bit, and hope to be in the full swing of things come next Tuesday.

So... Shakespeare, science, poetry, nature study, character study, 3rd,5th, 7th and 10th grade math, Bible study, creative writing, grammar, art study, composer study, literature and history........ HERE WE COME! 

(oh and I forgot horseback riding lessons, soccer times 6, Girl Scouts times 3, running club times 6, guitar lessons and sign language classes in our "free" time.  Are you exhausted yet??  I sure am!)

May the good Lord give me strength, and a good night's sleep each night.

Wishing you all the best for the coming school year!!

The question is not, -- how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education -- but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?"
— Charlotte Mason