A Bouquet of Newly Sharpened Pencils

I love that movie line in "You've Got Mail" where Meg Ryan talks about the smell of a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils.  I think we all secretly love that smell. My kiddos keep asking me when we are starting school. They are actually counting down the days. Oh, if only that excitement could hang around all year long.  Each year I desire to keep it fun for them. I love to learn and I think they do too, just maybe not in the usual structured way.

Have I mentioned in previous posts that I am a curriculum junkie?  Well I am. I can look at "most" any curriculum and think that it would be so fun. I love to try them out but I always tell myself that if it isn't working I don't have to stick with it. One of my favorite curriculums has been "Learning Adventures" by Dorian Holt. But I feel with my varying ages it just isn't a good fit for us right now. Last year I tried "My Father's World" after blogs made it look so very inviting but I found it to be a bit dry.  I love, love, love Unit Studies but again making it work with a toddler, preschooler, kindergartener, 1st grader, 3rd grader, 4th grader and a couple of high schoolers just isn't easy.

This year I am going to give "The Good and the Beautiful" a try. The Language Arts part of it seems a bit too dry and bookish to me but I have also been pretty lax about that subject for a while so I think it is time to hit the books on it. The History looks like it will be good but I am planning to add in some Unit Study type activities as we go along. I like the looks of their Nature Study and I like that they are heavy on reading good books....not garbage.  It is written by a Mormon lady and we are NOT Mormons but there is nothing in there with that bent to it. 

I am also excited to try out Beautiful Feet's Geography. We will be reading some fun books and hopefully, going on some field trips prompted from our reading.

I love homeschooling my kids!