Can you feel it?

Ahhhhhhhhh........ School Season!!!! 

I cherish the books, pencils, notebooks and everything about 'back to school' season - except the concept of public education of course. 

I'm so thrilled to find myself on yet another year of homeschooling. Our wonderful children are excited. They are watching things come into our home and know they are their tools. They actively acknowledge and know that most children are publicly schooled, and that we feel strongly against it for our family. We have talked to Daunika especially with this year marking many of her friends going to public school for kindergarten. 

The kids are thrilled to stay at home and learn along side their parents. The countless crayons, scissors, notebooks pour into our home as I stock up for the year to come. New posters, new calendars for our year. So much EXCITEMENT! 

Often times people have asked me -Do you really school at home?

To which I can just smile and say - No. We don't try to replicate school in our home. 

I think that's really important to know. Our children are actively learning daily without the need of someone else's agenda that dictates their day. This year we evaluated if a home school/public school funding was an option we wanted to entertain. Ultimately, our home chose that Home Education is really about our child, not a public school needing to test score well enough. We don't have circle time, with recess, and all that. We live and learn in the same spaces, always. 

So, how in the world do you intend to teach them? 

Another fabulous question that I love to hear. I don't. Well.... Not in the way that you think. I plan on providing the environment, the fun, the excitement and the opportunity to grow constantly. I plan on nurturing their interests, desires to learn, and watching them grow. Sure I plan on helping foster the environment and encourage strongly certain things - such as learning about our community and our values. But I don't need to teach to them. I need to help them educate themselves. 

If it didn't work - I wouldn't have a 5 year old doing 1st grade math curriculum this year, who can read and write, is currently reading Greek mythology and can identify Greece on the globe, and oh yea - who is having a blast still being a child! 

Well, what do you do then? 

I listen first and foremost. I listen to my children and their needs, wants and desires. I believe that children WANT and CRAVE knowledge. Haven't you ever wished for a moment that your darling toddler would shush for 5 minutes because if she asks you one more time "what's that?" you really might just pull your hair out? The smile and resounding "yes" that you're feeling is the understanding. 

My hope is not to squash that. To help provide opportunity, choices, options, and space to grow and learn constantly. The home is my domain - I will set it up to foster a lifestyle of learning. 

Yes, but don't you have text books and "school supplies"?

Absolutely! Are you kidding me? I think I'm turning into a damn curriculum junkie and my kids are 5, 3, and 1! We have a pretty darn good collection of things we plan on using this year. And by using - I mean exploring, learning, ditching when its crap, and retrying when we're ready. 

As for supplies - here's some of my favorites : 

Yes, standard spiral note books are a MUST HAVE in this home. We use them as our nature journals, our handwriting launch points, our coloring books, our math work books, you name it. My children have colored pictures for their friends, written (with proper format) letters to their grandparents, and cut line by line all in the same 70 pages! Really, the power of a notebook that they know is theirs, special, valuable and worth their time is addicting. 

That is a photograph of Kathryn Albertson Park. Our mecca of studying nature, wild life, animals, plants and seasons of our world. 

Could you imagine reading all those books? Daunika can. Aurora too. They actually proclaimed one day - they plan on reading every single book in the library by the time they became mommies. It was a beautiful moment. Our library system is fabulous and the best thing I can do for my children is continue to keep the love of books alive in them. There is no limit to your knowledge when you read. 

Of course there is about a couple hundred of these. 

And a lot of our children, side by side, being goofy, fun, serious, and at the end of the day - 

Part of our fantastic family. 

This little man is working on scribbling ON PAPER. That is a fabulous task at 17 months!

Aurora is diligently learning to spell and write her name. She'll master it this month for certain

And Daunika has decided that childrens books don't hold the same appeal. She is plowing through books these days!!! 

Happy Beginning of the School Year!!!!!

 MANY more posts to come. Stay along for the ride :)