Surprise!

We had a wonderful surprise today! Joshua's Kindergarten Curriculum came in! I know it is still early, but I wanted to have plenty of time to go over the curriculum, make sure that it is what we want, and to also fully understand how this system works. I must say that I am LOVING what I see so far. Covenant home sent the entire curriculum, neatly packaged in one box, along with the packing slip, that had a list of everything in the box, and a place to put a check mark, which I loved... I love that it has Bible Study, and tests to go along with it, to make sure that the information is being retained. And memory verses that are pre- designed to go along with the lessons. But, so far my absolute favorite feature is the day-by-day planner to help me as the parent stay accountable and on track! Also, I love that it has "The Original McGuffey's Eclectic Primer" It is adorable!

Pre-K or Kindergarten?

I assumed that Joshua would be at a Pre-K level, just because well, that is what he would be working on if he where to go to public school, or be put into a private one.

 I took a Kindergarten Readiness Assesment Test from the Covenant Home website, and was surprised and excited to find that Joshua got a score of 58!

The results are "Congratulations! - You are ready for Covenant Home's Kindergarten! (Note a raw score of 58 or higher is the goal for reading readiness.)

So, although I was worried about many things that I felt Joshua hadn't grasped yet, he is still in an good place and actually above where the public school system says he should be.

We bounced back and forth between keeping him in a Pre-K program, or moving him up to the Kindergarten Curriculum. We have decided that we will do the Kindergarten Curriculum.

So now it is on to the next step, buying the curriculum, the supplies and the fun things that we want, but don't really need!

We are still working on getting the school room ready. Right now I am finishing a tree for our "reading forrest". Let me tell you, stamping a million green leaves takes some time!

Research

I have been diving in, head first! There is so much to research, and look into...so many decisions to be made!

The first being, "What will our approach to homeschooling be?" and through much research, we have decided on the classical education system with an eclectic twist.

The second question was, "Well, now what curriculum do we want to use?" This was one of the hardest decisions! There are so many good curriculums out there, and for me it was hard to choose one that would work for us. We knew that we wanted a good, solid classical approach and we wanted it to be based from a christian perspective. But beyond that, we where lost!

Completly by accident, I stumbled upon covenanthome.com Thier curriculum seems to be very extensive, and goes along with the things that I think are important in an education.

1) The Classical Approach
2) Tailoring Options
3) Testing and Progress Tests
4) Grade Auditing Service (Obviously for older children, but I like this curriculum so much, I can see myself using it all the way through high school!)
5) Reformed World View (The Christianity base that we needed in a curriculum.)

It also has additional features including
Eclectic Program
Day by Day Planners

I wasn't set on this curriculum ofcourse, until I spoke with my husband, and he agrees with me on all of the points that I found to be great about this particular curriculum.

So, it seems that most of the decisions have been made and now it is on to the preparation.

I have a checklist, and we are crossing things off as we go!

Moving Forward

Well, here we are...through much prayer, discussion and research we have all but decided that we will homeschool. We are going to start out slow and take things as they come our way. We will definatly be homeschooling for Pre-K and Kindergarden. And then after these two years, we will re-evaluate what we want, how we want to accomplish it, and go from there. So, for the next two school years I will be "Mommy" and "Teacher".
So, now on to the fun part! We will be picking out curriculum, decorating our school room, (before and after pictures to follow soon!) and getting everything all ready! Joshua is excited to be starting school, and I am ready to take on this new adventure!
Let the learning begin!

Decisions

Well, here we are at the cross roads of "before school" and pre-school. Joshua turned four in March, and should be starting Pre-school this fall. We had decided long ago that we would put Joshua in a private school. The only thing is, now we are at the point where affording a private school is not an option.

So, here in lies the problem that we are faced with. We don't really want to put Joshua in a public school. The amount of horrible things that you hear on the news is overwhelming! Just recently, a little boy who was 8 years old commited suicide because kids had been picking on him for years!

Then there is the student to teacher ratio. How will my child get the one on one attention that he may potentially need if a teacher has thirty students in her room? There is just not enough time in that eight hour time frame for a teacher to give a child the attention that he or she needs.

So, as of this point I am researching Homeschooling. We are definatly still in the praying and considering stage, and don't want to rush anything without praying it through first. But, this is looking like a real possibility.

This idea scares me. Alot. But, as with so many other aspects of parenting, you have to put your fears and insecurities to the side and do what is best for your child.

I was homeschooled growing up, and although there are a few things that I would do differently, it was over-all a great experience.  I believe that a majority of the reason I am the woman, wife, mother that I am today is because of the way that I was raised. And although I am not perfect, I believe that I was given a good foundation.

I have started this blog, mainly to post my thoughts, ideas, concerns, prayers and feelings on this matter. There is so much to consider, and at times I am sure it will be overwhelming. I have always been able to clear my head by writing things down.