I am Heidi. Welcome to my homeschooling web journal.

My two children and I are at a very intriguing place in our homeschooling lives. Never has a year begun with so much turmoil. Never have I held so many doubts and been required to do so much searching for answers!

And as challenging as the journey this year has been so far, so is it now rewarding as I think we are beginning to coast a bit, settling into our routine (for now!). I am so thankful!

A bit about us...

I always knew I would homeschool, as I moved from being a sixth grade classroom teacher to a full-time Mom when my children were born. I knew that I wouldn't want to leave home each day to teach other peoples' kids as long as I could possibly stay home with them and teach them instead!

We live in California and began homeschooling ten years ago when my oldest, Daniel, was only four. My youngest was a very precocious two year old and wanted to learn everything big brother did! We began with Five in a Row, "Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons," and graduated to Sonlight's Kindergarten. We had so much fun!

By the time Daniel was six, he was reading at a third grade level. But we were in a position of having to put the kids in a public school. We did and it ended up being a great year! Daniel was in second grade and Michaela in Kindergarten. We were fortunate and the year was wonderful with two wonderful classroom teachers who understood the strengths of my children and was patient with their weaknesses.

By that time, however, we had received a diagnosis on Daniel. Among other things he was on the autism spectrum--officially Asperger's Syndrome. At that age, however, it wasn't as obvious as it has become since then. What were only mild differences between he and his peers when he was seven or even eight, have become glaring social abnormalities (as far as his peers are concerned) at his current age, 14.

After the year in public school, we returned home for our schooling. I had missed it and both kids asked to be homeschooled again! As long as my kids are asking me if they can be home with me, I will probably *not* turn them down! Talk about precious!

We coasted along. I generated a lot of our own curriculum for a while or pulled from different places for a more "ecclectic" approach than we had used previously. We all loved the Pirates! unit that we did together and later, we used KONOS to help us with a unit that integrated Medieval Life with all aspects of our curriculum. What a blast! We finished that particular year with a wonderful Medieval Feast with relatives and friends all attending in costume. We presented poems and plays, ate "authentic" medieval food (well, much more sanitary, perhaps! LOL!), and generally had a wonderful time.

Last year we made a HUGE transition to Abeka's DVD Academy. Instead of my haphazard, "What shall we play with today?!" approach, we had things we were responsible for. The lessons were laid out, assignments made, tests designed. It left me with very little to do but to supervise and use a teacher key to grade their work! Both kids were ready for 8th grade. It was a tremendous change to go from hands-on, kinesthetic experiences to more of a "book learnin'" style of education. The material was very challenging, but we presevered. All in all, we had a year of learning so very much! It was intense, but well worth it!

Both kids began the 2006-2007 school year planning on working through 9th grade material. Michaela wanted to switch to Bob Jones HomeSat on DVDs and material for 9th grade. After evaluating a demo version of the material, I was all for it. Daniel, however, was at a place of needing short blocks of material to work through. He is using text books and work books (which he loves...don't ask me how!) by a company that goes by AGS.

But when it was time for the school year to begin, some family challenges (settling my Mom's estate, cleaning out and selling her house, etc., etc.,) caused my kids to be basically on their own with their work for the first three weeks! Yikes!

I have to say, I have amazing kids! For three weeks, I was home very little. My work for my Mom required that I travel and hour each way to her home and spend hours away from home. While I was gone, the kids faithfully worked through their lessons. When I finally got home each day, I spent time looking over what they had done...all without my supervision. (I can't believe I am admitting this!)

My kids are AMAZING! Have I said that already? They really impressed me with all they accomplished.

But when we stood back and evaluated, I could see that our plan for this year needed tweaking. Some SERIOUS tweaking.

More on that tomorrow, in my next blog entry!