School

We have been busy getting ready for school to start. I have been working on what we will be going over this year for school and looking over curriculum options. We're still mostly doing the "unschool" thing, but there are some specific things I want the kids to work on this year. I absolutely love homeschooling and feel grateful that we're in a position that we can do this. Our children all did very well this past school year with being schooled at home. Talley's reading has vastly improved and she is reading about two or three years above grade level, where previously she was reading below grade level. Even though we have seen the most progress with her, all of the kids have improved in various ways. I look forward to our next year to see how well they all do. We're starting school next Monday, so I'm feeling a little pressured to get everything planned and wrapped up this week.

We have made the decision to "homeschool" Ryland and Kenyon again. However, they will be working with an online high school and doing dual enrollment with our local community college. We are so excited to have them in this program and to see how they will take their education to the next level. I love the thought of them sitting in college classrooms and getting college credit during their high school years! We plan to do this with all of our children when they enter 9th grade. This program is an answer to my prayers. I have wanted to homeschool Ryland and Kenyon for several months now, and I really felt that it was what was best for them, but I knew it had to be done the right way. I was kind of nervous to take on the great challenge of homeschooling high schoolers. My friend told me about this program and it just clicked for me. It took me some time to convince Tim, but he finally realized the great benefit this would be and allowed me to register them. We went to an orientation last night and both Ryland and Kenyon are excited about this program. I am one happy mama!

We had a hot week last week and spent a lot of time swimming. This week we have had much cooler weather, so no swimming. (I love the weather here!) We love having a neighborhood pool that we can walk to. We love our neighborhood. They often have fun parties and movie nights in the park. We feel blessed to be here. It has made our summer nice, since we haven't had the finances to do a whole lot.

We are going to watch a professional baseball game tonight. The kids are excited about that. A lot of the people in our church are also going, so it will be nice to see our friends there.

We have had a great summer. The move to Colorado was difficult for the first few months, but we do love it here and feel like this is home. This has been a great place for our children. They have all made good friends easily. People are very friendly here and also very accepting.

Well, I have less time to blog than I thought. More soon (I am forever promising that, aren't I?) ...