Hello!

I'm a homeschooling mom, and I'm looking for a spot to post anonymously. Promise, it's all clean. We've been homeschooling for five years, and we've had rough spots and smooth sailing in all that time. I wish I had all the "answers" that you're supposed to figure out along the way, but all I know for sure is that I don't know anything for sure. I am very grateful to be blessed with solutions along the way.

I originally started homeschooling because my husband traveled quite a lot for his job, and I wanted a way to be able to go with him. But since schools frown on pulling your kids out of school so often, I turned to homeschooling. We've been at it ever since.

The first year was basically a de-tox year, where we got public schooling out of our awareness and just got on with living. The second year we got back to educating. The third year, two of my children began to read willingly. The fourth year, things went smoothly. The fifth year, my third child is learning to read. All in all, readers are far easier to homeschool. My third reader is also much the same style of learner as I am so it has been much simpler. Another point of jubilation is that I've finally found a math program that works for my children *and* works for me!!!

We are now using Singapore Math, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is visual, but it also comes with a decent workbook with enough practice for my kids. This translates to being able to say, "Go do your math, and I'll check it for you." This is very important to me, because sometimes I am just not on top of my game. We are also working very hard on other things, and I just cannot have everything be "mom-dependent".

We are also using Abeka Language workbooks, which I'm not sure I'll continue with. I need to do something different with them, because my kids are hating them. It is an excellent program though! I have had to supplement a lot though because my children haven't done well on the tests in the past without plenty of extra practice. I graduated in English though, and that's a blessing because coming up with more practice is not difficult. My boys have a more difficult time with the written word though. We are working on the comprehension!

I've recently abandoned our Science curriculum with disgust. Too much cut and paste and not enough active learning. For now, the library has some wonderful resources!

We are also using History of the World with forays into "other materials", and that has gone well although we would all like more in each country/time frame. My boys have gotten into the Civil War pretty deeply, and love Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee. Interesting twist, but I have to agree. Both were great men, confronted with difficult circumstances. (BTW, I did not want to even like General Lee, let along respect him, so that opinion switch required some in depth reading. Now I'm not a bit upset that they want to be like him. He was a good, moral man who worked with the circumstances he was handed and made the best of them.)

We are also active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and include gospel and scripture study in our day. Okay, I've slipped in the last month so the gospel study hasn't been as regular. Since it is such a big part of our lives, it is daily though. Just not in a "formal" sense. I am grateful for the direction that has given our lives.

That is enough of a post for one day. Have a great day!