Back to School

Well, it's that time of year again.  Time to go shopping for school materials.  Aaaah, I absolutely adore the smell of a new eraser!  In our case however, new school materials means new text books.  On occasion, I will buy a new eraser just so I can give it a quick sniff.  At the end of the school year last year, I had bought new books for the kids to use this year but upon further research, I decided that it wasn't going to be challenging enough for them or me.  When we aren't being challenged, we get bored.  When we get bored, we start to argue.  When we argue, we get put in our rooms to reflect on what it means to get along with each other.....even me.  This week, while Natalie is away at Girl Scout summer camp, I thought I would take a moment away from entertaining my son and research school materials.  The hardest thing I find about homeschooling is finding secular material, not to mention a secular homeschooling group.  Even the so called "secular" groups have a few in the bunch who feel they need to "save us".  Needless to say, I have not found a group that I want to be a part of.  So, in the meantime, it's just the three of us.  Which seems to be perfectly fine for me and the kids.  So, you ask, did I find the material I was searching for?  Why yes, thank you for asking, I did!  Let me share them with you.

Loads of Information!

Since I have recently had LOT'S of friends inquire about homeschooling. I will post the information to my blog. That way, I have the information in one place which makes it easier for future references.

The state of Missouri does not require you to notify them. Families for Home Education is an organization that helps families in the Missouri area deal with Government "authorities". I have spoken to many parent's on the homeschooling message boards and they advised me not to join the FHE unless we are having issues with the school. Joining FHE puts you at risk to be put on the Family Services radar. Since it's not required by Missouri Law for you to report your homeschooling, you don't need that headache. You aren't even required to send a withdrawal letter to the school system. It's completely voluntary. http://www.fhe-mo.org/

Homeschool

Hey there, it's been a while. I started homeschooling the kids this year and needless to say it's been a struggle to find time to myself! Well, the school year ended for us; our last day was on Tuesday! It was quite a struggle at the very beginning; trying to find out what worked best for all of us and adjusting to being around each other 24/7. But, all of our efforts were worth our struggles!

Natalie skipped third grade math all together and went right into fourth grade math with no issues what-so-ever! She has her days where she is really frustrated and can't seem to figure something out but we are able to sit down and work on it one on one until it finally clicks. Sometimes, that takes more than a day but at least we are able to have that option. Whereas, she would never have that opportunity in a classroom setting and may risk being left behind.