A Change is Coming

So I was curious when we first started this adventure in homeschooling if I would change my views on the structure of our school. I thought for sure that we needed a schedule and a very organized day, we needed curriculum that did everything because I just knew I couldn't...we needed tracking and assessing and quizzes, etc etc And only a few weeks in I'm realizing why everything I read had so many starting that way and not doing it for long. NO WAY! It's exhausting. The amount of worksheets these kids have to do each day is crazy ....if I were them I'd hate it. So away with K12 at least the way they have to do it. I will still use the materials, it's good stuff...just too many worksheets and papers and such.
I spoke to a friend having the same experience and she had just ripped out all pages she wanted to teach and put them in a notebook and trashed the rest and added her own stuff to it. Working on that now. Making it more interesting for my kids. having more adventures in learning, cooking more, etc etc...next week we are going to our friend's house to have a lesson on Pompeii. They will love that!! And I think we'll start exploring the history all around is. They went with Daddy to vote and got a lesson on republicans and democrats and the voting process. MaryKyle even has an opinion on candidates now...crazy girl!! I'll let you know what we end up going with completely, but for now we are taking it a little more easy, focusing on Bible, reading, math, and history letting every question turn into a lesson!
I just truly am loving having my kids here each day!!

Here are my kids working on their Bible lesson the other day. We were using the NotGrass Family's "Draw To Learn" books where you read a particular scripture to the kids, discuss it and they draw a picture from their minds about what they heard. sometimes there are more specifics then other times on what to draw. The kids are really enjoying that and because it goes beyond just reading and tell to discussing then them drawing their own version, it's sticking in their head and hearts and we are thrilled. Sorry John Mark's pic is blurry, I took a few and all of them were for some reason??