back to school...homeschool style!

we are just about to begin our 3rd year of homeschooling.  this year logan will be in preschool.  well...we started slowly last year but he honestly had no interest in it so i decided not to pressure him.  now he is ready to learn!  i found abcmouse.com at the end of last year.  its a computer learning game.  he can go online and play games, have books read to him, he learns letters and numbers, animals, science.  there is a litte avatar guy that he "owns".  after each activity he earns tickets and he can turn them in for things for his guy.  he loves it!  we will still use that but i will also be working from Horizon Preschool Curriculum too.

lexie will be in 4th grade this year and haylee 3rd.  i can't believe how quickly the years have gone by!  they are 8 & 9 now and it just blows my mind!  we have started Oak Meadow Curriculum.  it's based off the waldorf principles.  i really loved it at first.  it's simple.  easy.  almost unschooling in a way (we actually considered unschooling...but that will have to be a different blog post!).  i just started feeling in the last few weeks that they need more.  the LOVE school.  they LOVE learning, reading, writing...all of it!  so i started looking into things to add to what we were planning to do.  last week i stumbled upon The Mystery of History.  here is a blurn from the product description:

The Mystery of History Volume 1 is written from a Christian, young-earth, perspective, teaching children to see God's hand throughout history...and how the Gospel of Jesus is the mystery behind all of history! Written in a conversational style, many lessons are presented in the form of mini-biographies, integrating fascinating stories with the events of the time. Covering creation to the resurrection, students will learn about famous biblical characters, ancient peoples, and well-known men such as Aesop, Buddha, Pythagoras, Confucius, Emperor Asoka, Herodotus, Caesar, Hannibal, and Herod.

i have talked with a few friends that have used it and just LOVE it!  i am excited to get this in my hands!  growing up in a Christian family and school i learned Bible.  i learned history.  but never really combined.  i am eager to not only teach this but to learn along with the kids! 

i also just purchased Christian Kids Explore Earth & Space for our science.  it  covers the earth, lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and weather.  the kids have been asking for more science related things so they are pretty geeked about this!

pretty excited about this year!  i am bracing myself for more challenges now that alayna is 2 1/2.  but i plan to find ways to "teach" her things along with the other kids.  i still can't believe we took the "plunge" into homeschooling!  but we realy truly are loving it!