reminiscing the schoolyear.....

I have been reading every blog, catalog and anything homeschool-oriented that I can find.
I LOVE buying new curriculum, seeing new books, filling up my bookshelves with new treasures for us to use. We use a mixture of Charlotte Mason ideology, which meshes quite well with Educating the Wholehearted Child. That book changed how I look at my homeschool day and validated why we were doing a lot of other things. I have to say, that this past year was a fantastic year! The boys learned about so many amazing things. I love seeing them excited about learning. In January, my 10yo E declared that he loves reading. Music to my ears, I must say.......He also now thinks math is easy, as he progresses into Saxon 54. My 11yo B picked up violin lessons and I am blown away at how naturally he has progressed. He's a natural at it. He would read all day and is a whiz at anything that involves numbers. He is finishing up Saxon 65. I am extremely grateful for the folks at DIVE who make the Saxon corresponding dvd-roms. I have never been so happy to spend $50 in all my life!
We were able to take all kind of educational and fun trips this past school year.
We stayed at Big Cedar Lodge and the boys got to enter the pine car derby.
That may have been the highlight of the year~
We visited Dogwood Canyon in Branson, B caught two rainbow trout his first time to trout fish. We went to the Memphis Zoo, which trailed into an interest in Chief Seattle and in chinese exploration and culture.
We went to Nashville and visited the Parthenon. Okay, we studied ancient history last year, not this year. We went on the tour, B and E asked the most intelligent questions! They were relating Latin words to the greek names of the gods. They knew all about Athena (which was scary to ALL four of us), what different animal and symbols represented. The tour guide was blown away by how much they knew about the culture. She asked if we had been studying up on it, and couldn't believe that they had retained most of it for over a year. I was inspired and encouraged that what we are doing is working well.
Who doesn't need that?!
And maybe all of our favorite time was spending the day in the backyard; reading in the hammock, doing math on the deck, listening to the birds sing us a sonnet, using our guides to identify lizards or birds and breathing in the fresh air.
All in all, if has been a very blessed year.
I am so thankful to be able to stay home and be a part of their educational journey.
God is very good all the time~
Dawanna