Brown Paper Packages

"Brown paper packages tied up in string."

from the Sound of Music

Well, I could update that a little for homeschoolers of this age...

"Brown media mail boxes at the front door."

This time of year, we homeschoolers might have a pile of boxes at our door filled to the brim with school goodies. I just squeal with delight when I get one in. It may contain our science kits for Apologia or new Math U See books. It may contain history or literature reading books we can't find at the library. I let the boys open up the various boxes. It's like Christmas. Then I get very excited about whatever it contains. It's contagious. They in turn get excited about the book and beg to read it immediately. Of course, I make them wait. Delayed gratification is the sign of maturity.

I'm especially excited about my recent purchase. It contains several history books by Joy Hakim in her series "A History of US". They have to be one of the best series of history books ever written. I'm no history buff, but she makes it so fun and fascinating that I love reading them aloud to the boys. My husband, the history buff, can't put them down and declared them the most well-written series he's read.

I've also recently purchased "When Children Love to Learn" by Elaine Cooper. It's been kicking my booty. She has pointed out many of the mistakes I make when teaching the boys. I expect this year's learning and teaching will be much more fulfilling and fun. It's a tough read, but I'm making my way through the book. I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys the Charlotte Mason philosophy of teaching.

I'm also going to incorporate more poetry reading this year and have purchased two books to that end: "Poetry for Young People: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow" by Frances Schoonmaker; and "Poetry for Young People: Robert Frost" by Gary D. Schmidt. I'm interested to see how the boys react to hearing poetry read out loud on a daily basis.

We are also going to choose a bible verse for this year. I haven't found what that will be yet, but I'm listening.

We will start on September 9th. We always start out slow with just one or two subjects and slowly add a subject over the next week or so. It's is a much more pleasant start to the year and helps us from feeling overwhelmed.

This is our 7th year and what a wonderful school year it will be. To God be the glory!