Homeschool Starts!

Today we embark on our new adventure of homeschooling! I am super excited for the new year, all of the stuff they'll learn (and I'll relearn), the homeschool groups we've joined which will give us social opportunities, field trips, and more. I'm happy about the time we'll get to spend together. But I'm also scared to death!

It's funny how we moms always worry. I have a friend, Emily, who sent her oldest daughter, Hazel, to kindergarten last week. She was anxious the night before because she was worried the other kids would be mean, her daughter wouldn't be in dress code, etc. My friend, Jessica, has Cole who started pre-K. She was concerned about how Cole would adapt to his new environment after having the same sitter for the first four years of his life. My friend, Alicia, has a daughter the same age as Halle. She was a little nervous about her daughter entering the junior high world and being stripped of her innocence. And here I was, last night, at three in the morning, still awake, (I tried to go to bed at 10 pm) and thinking of all of the ways I was going to ruin my daughter's education.  A million questions were racing through my head.  Would I be competent enough to teach?  Would I have money, resources, and energy to give Halle a quality education?  Would Halle be lonely?  Would being with all three of my kids all the time while trying to homeschool drive me bonkers?  Would Halle find girls her age to build friendships with?  Will we be able to stay on task?  All of these questions and worries.  Ha!  Sometimes I think I have gotten way in over my head, but I know this is what we're supposed to be doing with Halle because we prayed extensively about it.

Thankfully the homeschool store is two miles from my house.  It has extensive resources and curricula.  A nice lady familiarized me with the store and helped me pick out curriculum for Halle.  So in case you were curious, we will be using Life Pac for Science and then maybe venture into Apologia.  We will be using Horizons for Math, WriteShop for Language Arts, and then Easy Peasy homeschool website for foreign language, history, and music.  I'm also going to focus on the Holocaust for history and have her read "Night" by holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel (the holocaust intrigued me in junior high and I clearly remember this book).  For PE Halle will be doing rock climbing two hours a week and then working out at the Y with me.  We may also put her into year-round swimming.  For reading she will begin with Puddnhead Wilson by Mark Twain, a favorite of mine.  Arden has many many preschool workbooks and she is learning to read, add/subtract, and understanding basic geography.

We joined two homeschool groups: Champion Forest Christian Homeschoolers and Cypress Homeschool Association.  This will give us opportunities to do community service, mission projects, field trips,  history fair, science fair, and many other activities.

Two things that Brian requested for the "Hargrave Academy."  1) Halle reads a lot of classic literature and 2) we say prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.

Wish us luck!
:)