It's the beginning

I am such a newbie. But the best part about that is I don't have to unlearn any bad habits (yet) or start in the middle. Nope. I am starting from scratch. S-C-A-R-Y. So naturally, I looked all over the internet. And found LOTS of things about homeschooling by people who homeschool. But I started to wonder if I would ever meet a real live homeschooler! They are busy people and hard to find! However, I was able to finally (and happily) find real live homeschoolers from the local homeschool association I joined about 2 months ago. They offered a "New to Homeschooling" mentoring class so I signed up. I am taking it with a couple of other moms who also have young ones like me. Boys even! So far, one of the best "take aways" from our discussions is that educating your child (or children) should not be seen as a separate part of your family life. It shouldn't be compartmentalized to a certain time of day or a certain place in your house, or even a certain way. Young children like James have a natural curiosity about EVERYTHING! So, learning happens all the time whether we are at the grocery store, making dinner, playing, hiking, tending our little garden or talking to grandparents on the phone. James' education is really an ongoing conversation between us. And for right now, that is exactly what he needs. We do have "lessons" most days. It takes us about 15 minutes or so. He says the Pledge of Allegience by yelling, "Red, White and Blue, I love you!" That might be my favorite part. :)

SW6908 Fun Yellow

SW6908 Fun Yellow. From Sherwin-Williams. That's the color I painted the office when it was time to start preparing to homeschool James. It had been SW6108 Latte. Quite a difference. I wanted a place for us that didn't feel stuffy and was....well, fun. I sold our home office furniture, took that money and went to IKEA! In the back of my mind I was worried that James would hate the yellow (even though it was fun) and decide the kitchen table was where we would do our lessons or even worse, the coffee table. But, he likes the yellow and always reminds me to go to the office to do our lessons in the fun yellow room. He even does show-and-tell only in the office. It's our place.



Fun Yellow Room becometh