First post

Well, This is my first post. I debated about "do-ing" a blog about our home-school, but I must admit that I see this type of blogging as being very positive.

Before I even kept a blog, I kept a journal. I still do.I love to go back and read when my boys were babies!

I know school doesn't start until August or September, but I have already begun my preparations. I am still debating whether or not to go with KONOS curriculum for unit studies. It looks really neat because everything is revolving around character and they are big on using a time-line for history.
I have had some high recommendations for it, so I may buy a used copy on Ebay and "try" it for now. But I have definitely decided to go with ABeka for Math (I have already purchased 3rd grade teacher books for this), Phonics(have Justin's already) , and Language since I am so comfortable with ABeka. I had it from K-12 and I taught it at SCCA. However, now that I have done quite a bit of research, there is so much more out there. Not that ABeka can't be fun, but there is more fun and creative stuff... stuff that makes learning exciting!

I am also trying to decide whether or not to try The Getty Dubay Italic instead of traditional cursive. The idea of italic is that it has no loops, so it is very easy to read and in my opinion very beautiful.

Here is a picture of Italics. I got this book at the library and honestly I think I am going to teach it to myself too! The Lighthouse Christian bookstore has them in curricula form for home-schoolers! Yay!

And this is the way they used to write. Why did they change it?!!!! Here is a picture... what do you think? I especially love the way they do the capital letters.

I think it's beautiful!

Yes, it's summer-time and we are doing a lot of biography reading.

I personally am reading the biographies of Maria Von Trapp (The Sound of Music). I am enjoying it immensely!

With the boys, I have read a biography of Abraham Lincoln, a simple story about Beethoven, and now we are reading about Benjamin Franklin. I have George Washington, George Washington Carver, Christopher Columbus and others waiting. Our library has a lot of educational videos and DVDs that I am already taking advantage of. You see, I am trying to teach my boys that learning is constant. Not only from 8-3 (although we will still follow a scheduled school day). I want them to love it and learn to find things out for themselves.

Another thing I am going to work on is their manners. I got a both a book and video about manners just this week to begin with and will continue to work on it. Another book we are going through together (we just started) is called Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends by the Mally siblings. I hope that it affects them greatly!