Wow. Year 5 already?

As we wrapped up the second week of school last Friday, I realized, "Wow!  This is our FIFTH year already?"  It doesn't seem possible!

And I realized, I still hadn't started this blog.

A little history.  My husband and I decided to start homeschooling our children after what was possibly the worst public school experience ever.  Oldest was then diagnosed with AD/HD - we have since removed the diagnosis and have modified his diet - and we received no support from the school.  Youngest was a slow reader, and they pulled him out of class every day to teach him to read faster - even sent an entire packet home with him so we could speed read all through summer vacation.  I could go on and on.  Homeschool seemed the logical choice for the following year.

And that was four full school years ago.  Wow.

We've found our groove.  We tried to shake things up last year and tried a new curriculum (which we hated), finished the year with more of a textbook curriculum (which was okay, we're just not into textbooks).  Came back to our tried & true curriculum for this year.

What can we say?  We love Sonlight.  This year the boys will be in 8th & 5th grades.  We are using Sonlight's Core F - Eastern Hemispheres.  What a wide variety of books!  This will be our last year together, as Oldest heads into high school work next year, so I'm glad we're getting a foundation on the 10/40 window and missionary work together!

One really cool part of this curriculum is the introduction of this notebooking journal.  Gets them started with notetaking skills.  Okay, maybe we should have started this before 8th grade, but we're getting there.

We will be using Answers in Genesis' God's Design for the Physical World for science.  Yes, Youngest is still working through handwriting.  We broke the Spelling Power back out (why go with something else when you know what works?), and have tossed Learning Language Arts Through Literature (LLALT) into the mix.  I wasn't sure how anyone would like LLALT, but the boys are enjoying it so far.  And of course, Teaching Textbooks for math.  Oldest is using the Pre-Algebra to start, and hopes to finish that and the Algebra 1 this year.  

I don't know where we'll go with this blog.  I want some sort of journal for our experiences, so this is as good a place as any.

New to us this year, Youngest will be taking guitar lessons!  That will certainly shake things up around here.  I gave him my guitar, and you would think I handed him gold.  Both boys will still be taking gymnastics.  Oldest is trying to check off some of his high school credits this year, completing a music curriculum and an art/architecture curriculum.

Of course, with our Sonlight Eastern Hemisphere curriculum, we're already working on some pretty cool Asian art!

Until next time.