School right now

Homeschooling for us did not come without much thought and debate.  Now that we are here it is obvious to our whole family that this was the right decision.  It feels right, I sometimes laugh thinking "why weren't we doing this before?".  That being said we are all still finding our way.  There is no set schedule which I love.  Our life is crazy enough in the afternoons and evenings with gymnastics, basketball, Odyssey of the Mind and other scheduled events.  It feels nice to move a little slower in the mornings and to sometimes be spontaneous.
There is a rhythm that we all have naturally fallen into and seems to be working for us.  I tend to get up first and do a little tidying, maybe start some bread dough.  Corey is never far behind me and without words he generally starts in on a project of some sort.  Often there is something he was working on the day before that he has had some sort of epiphany about in bed whether it be building a tower from blocks, a fort under the table or today for instance it's a spear meant for hunting wild boar I do believe (we are reading Swiss Family Robinson which obviously is influencing his play).  He has always been this way, very imaginative and eager to get up and going in the morning.  Molly on the other hand is much slower to get going in the morning, I often have to wake her up or I'm sure she would sleep until 9 or 10 am!  She is going to be our night owl for sure, just like her dad.
After breakfast things move around differntly as they unfold.  I've got a lesson plan for them that varies; sometimes there is just strait up workbook work to do.  We like workbooks, they are honestly a great way for me to get a little house cleaning done, maybe a little crafting time, or like right now a blog post.  I admit that it's nice to have them at an age where they can work sometimes independently.  I'm right there for questions which there often are and we work things out together.  Sometimes the two of them figure it out without me (I love to be listening to these little tidbits).

But then there is so much more and this is what we all enjoy the most.  There is handwork:  Molly just started one of these cute little flower children from the Spring 09 issue of Living Crafts They are just darling and she's become such a good little knitter.

We've started eagerly talking about our garden lately.  The garden has been growing a little every seasons since we moved into the house 6 years ago.  We don't have a huge area that gets enough sun but we've done well and improve a bit as time goes.  This year having the garden be our science curriculum will make it even better.  We always grow the usual tomatoes, cukes, beans, peas, lettuce, and this year the kids and I want to try a few different things and get better at staggering plantings for a longer harvest time.  We've got 3 4x6 raised beds and 1 3x8 as well as a good amount of raspberries from my friend Amy (so amazing and productive) and a sweet little peach tree that is growing well.

It's been fun to begin talking about it with the kids and I'm looking forward to them working hard and seeing the fruits of their labor with both veggies and flowers.  We've dragged out all the garden books and are figuring out which crops to rotate, when to plant and what to start from seed.  We don't have a ton of room inside for seed starting early so that is always limited but fun.
Greg is about to start some art history lessons with them so we're getting books on impressionism from the library today.  There is no one better to go to a museum with than my husband he really knows art!

Of course there are music lessons; piano for Molly and guitar for Corey (Greg is teaching both).

I've been doing a little woodwork with the kids

And of course there is time to just be...to play outside or in, to cook, to read, to create, to love and be together, to find joy and beauty in the things around us, to dream, and to discover.

Always something to be discovered in a mud puddle.

I can't wait to find out what the months and years ahead have in store for our family.