Monday, May 29, 2017

A little update

Hey everybody!

I wanted to let you know that I will be getting on sometime in the next couple of weeks to update on all of our goings on.

We went on a road trip at the beginning of April that I need to post about.. but we were robbed on that trip and my camera cord was among the things in my backpack that were stolen so I had to wait for  a new one to download the pictures. 
It has arrived now so I will hopefully get those on here soon. 

It has been crazy busy around our house over the past month as we have been finishing up school and beginning plans for a new school adventure. 

I will be homeschooling this next year. 

Nothing huge happened at school. The girls weren't bullied. In fact they had nice classes. 
Abi, especially, had a really nice class. 
But for many reasons they have both been really unhappy. 
Last year at this time they both were saying they didn't want summer to come because they loved school so much. 
This year they didn't like it but we kept waiting for that phase to pass... and it didn't.

Throughout the year Maddy would call home so frequently from school with a tummy ache that I am on a first name basis with the nurse... which came in handy when Maddy got hurt last week and they already knew her so well. 
She would beg to not go to school. When this happens it is very concerning.. wondering if something bad is going on.. etc. But as far as we have been able to find out there wasn't, she just didn't want to go. 
Abi, hated school. The only good thing she could say about it was that she had a really good friend and the librarian was awesome. 
Like I said, I kept waiting for this to pass, for things to get better. 
They never did. 
I have been concerned the whole year as I watched my kids lose their passion for education. 
It broke my heart. 
I prayed and prayed about it and talked to Doug (he was decidedly anti home schooling). 
I felt like it was the right decision but was questioning myself. 
Then one day Doug came home and said he thought it was too. WHAT?
That made the decision pretty clear. 
After that things just kept happening. 
I was worried about what I would teach. I found a book about Charlotte Mason and realized her methods were what I liked most. 
Then I wondered how I would put together a curriculum that would be good enough and then I found a woman that has created the most amazing curriculum that is exactly what I was looking for- not only Charlotte Mason but pulls a lot from it. 
It is open and go. Easy. 
Then I found out she had a convention for her curriculum where I could see it in person before buying it and get 10% off and it just happens to be 10 minutes away from my house...
and I went back and forth on whether I wanted to spend the money for it but then decided to just do it. 
Then about half an hour later I got a call from my sister's good friend that just so happens to work for this company and she cancelled my order and then gave me a code to get the friends discount for the convention at less than half the price. 

I am so excited for this new chapter in our lives and I know now that it without a doubt the right decision for us. I know it won't always be easy and I don't know if we will do it permanently or not... but for now it is right. 
I have been converting part of our playroom into our schoolroom and I will share pictures of it when it is completed as well as more info on our schedule and curriculum as we get closer to school time. 
We will be doing a year round school with more time off in winter than in summer because that is when we always wished we had more time off since we are "cold weather people". 
So we will be starting in July and having 6 terms that will be 6 weeks and then have a week long break after each with a longer break in Novemer- January. 
Then it will go until June next year where we will have another short summer break. 

Anyway, I hope to be on again later this week to try to update April and May

4 comments:

The Kings said...

I loved your write-up Cheryl! It was awesome and i am also very excited with your plans for schooling. I wasn't any help at all in helping you make your decision but I am proud of you doing all the research necessary to make your decision...along with prayer. Good luck with everything you are doing to get going! And I know the girls are excited!!

Donna said...

I'm so impressed that you're doing this for your girls. It definitely sounds like the right thing to do and I think you'll be so good at it. I've always been envious of the freedom home-schooling families have to vacation at times that work for them when popular places aren't crowded. That's so nice!

Cheryl said...

Thanks Mom!

Cheryl said...

thanks Donna- that is actually part of it too. We love to travel and go places off season and this will make it worry free. I am actually so excited to go places of historical significance after we learn about them! It gives us a really good excuse to go back East again sometime in the next couple of years. Also it will be so nice for them to be able to move at their own pace and learn more in less time.