Digestion

When we moved home last fall, my online-friend-turned-real-life-friend Rachel hooked me up with a Charlotte Mason homeschooling group in the area. We do nature studies, handicrafts, and in the summer, we veg at the splash pad. Everyone needs a break. Anyway, in March, the group had a seminar that I was able to attend, and since then I've been digesting. Yes, that's a lot of digestion, but it takes me a while sometimes.

I liked the seminar. I really did. But I have nagging doubts sometimes. After all, Pocketful of Pinecones (yes, it's in the shelf above) put me to sleep. Several times. And when I'm trying to get things done around a cranky baby and cooking dinner and answering emails, I am reminded that Charlotte Mason was an old maid and it's pretty easy to have ideas about kids when you aren't actually raising them twenty-four/seven.

Then I find myself going back to old favorites that are really Charlotte Mason in modern day clothing and liking what I find. Maybe I am too concerned with the package. (Ha! When I went to find the link for Real Learning, I saw the quote, "Elizabeth Foss carries Miss Mason's philosophy from the ideal to the real." Maybe that's what I like about it.)

So, back to digesting. I think we're going to keep this year simple. We will have our unit study (from FIAR or HomeschoolShare), math (We have a new curriculum this year that I am really excited about!), reading (We're still going through Reading Made Easy.), some handwriting, and something fun. If we can get that done each day, I'll be one happy mama. I have some ideas about containing Alice that I am desperately hoping will pan out. And I'm thinking about starting a blog (or a section of this blog if I can figure out how to do that) to record what we do. I don't want Alice to hit first grade and wonder what I did with Jack at that time.

School starts next Thursday. I'm sure I'll be mulling things over even after we start our year, but for now, we are excited to be starting!