Homeschooling - we're at it again!

This week has been a mad scramble (except for yesterday!) to find math curriculum for Mikael and Nathanael and to learn all I can about the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling. Whew, I've been on the phone and internet more than anything else and I'm tired! But, I'm also excited about our new adventure, and some of where I get some of that excitement is from Homesteaders Heart: Homeschooling, where I'm learning all about Charlotte Mason. And I have only to find a reasonably priced Saxon Math 3 for Mikael and then I'm done with that exhausting adventure! Then on to book lists, ect.! This beginning mid-year thing isn't all that fun, but it is where the Lord has placed us, so I'm going to dig in and get going. The next thing (after morning spelling and grammar) is to find in the local library system a couple of books that I need to read through in double time: A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections of the Gentle Art of Learning by Karen Andreola, A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison, Home Education in Modern English: Volume 1 of Charlotte Mason's Series by Noelani Laurio Leslie, and some other "unschooling book"!
So, now I'm off to get something done other than stare at the computer screen. Oh, and yesterday I did get all my plants in their new homes. They've been in pots since the move and it felt good to get my hands back in the dirt and put roots back in the ground. Roots are pretty important, you know. If the roots aren't in the right kind of soil, the plant just won't grow. Reminds me that I need to be planted in the "right soil", that of the Word of the Living God! How about you? What kind of soil are you planted in?

Day 1 - So we begin....

view to the southwest from office/schoolroom window

view to the northeast from office/schoolroom window

Ok, so I haven't written anything yet, and now what I'll write is less than amazing, but to go ahead and get started, I'll just say that today I'm playing hookey! The sun is shining and we're expecting rain for the next week. The temperature is supposed to be in the upper 50's, and the only way I can get into the sun is to be outside. Our home sits up against the north face of a timbered ridge and the house gets little to no sun in the winter, though parts of our yard and the north lawn get some sun. So, the boys and I will be having a "nature" day as we plant flowers, clean up flower beds, studying the properties of magnets via using a large magnet to clean up an area of the yard previously used as a burn pile and containing many nails, etc. I need some time to decompress from all this research stress and the Lord has provided a beautiful day to do it in!