2008

This year is going to be great. I can feel it and it makes me so excited. John will be going to college (starting this week) and will still be working from home. I will be busy home "schooling", I, yet again, am going to turn in, yet another, invention of mine to the ABC show for the Mothers of Invention competition, I'll be reading many great classics and other wonderful books including doing some more serious scripture studying, I'll begin to oil paint - woo-hoo!, I'll be brainstorming ideas for the toy store, I might start a new line of baby apparel and I'll be working on a book I've been writing.

I'm especially excited to home school this year. Homeschooling has given me great struggles to deal with. Not only have I had the norm to fight against but it's hard figuring out what works for our family. But, I feel like I've got a good grasp on things for this year, not that our normal routine is suddenly changing, but our way of homeschooling life has seemed to settle down into a healthy and vibrant rhythm that will benefit us all.

I'm freshly excited about all this because I just made a list to help solidify what we've got going on. The list includes: Devotional, Reading, Writing, German, History, Classics, Influential People, Values, Work, Service, Cultural Arts, Talents, One-on-one, Home-making skills, Male skills, and others such as; Math, Science, Art, Family Sunday councils, Book Clubs, Politics, Field Trips, Crafts, and Childhood play. Family Memories is one thing I feel we continually work on and should be on the list of things that I feel are important in what we're doing and trying to accomplish. The great thing about home-schooling is that I'm not trying to cram all of these subjects into one day but I let it come as it does, making sure that by the end of the day we've achieved a healthy amount of learning.

Of course, some of those subjects will be focused upon more as the kids get older but for now, such as the Thomas Jefferson Education method teaches, Values, learning how to think, and gaining (and keeping) the love of learning are what should be focused on during the young years. (aka: the "love of learning stage"). The Thomas Jefferson Education is a great way to go but sometimes I need something a little more structured so I intermingle Classical Education into our learning endeavors as well. I've found a good balance for our family by combining the two methods of education and, like I said, am excited to go forward with this year.

Here's to 2008!