School Begins

One thing I am most thankful for is good, organized home school curriculum. This will be our third year homeschooling Andrew. He will begin first grade next week and Elijah will begin Preschool. It is hard for me to believe they are both such big boys! One of my priorities in unpacking was to get everything together so we could begin next week. Starting Monday, this house will transform into Synesis Academy. Yes, it took a long time to find a suitable name for our school; one that gave some glimpse into our desire for what will happen here every day. There are some good choices, but we liked this one using the Greek word for understanding. The boys are excited... and I am strongly aware of the amount of self-discipline required to be an effective teacher. Once again, I find myself growing through raising children.

To kick-off the school year and to have a time to recognize Andrew's accomplishments last year, we took the boys to Chuck E Cheese's at Andrew's request. He called it the "School Celebration!"

Our book list this year includes (just to name a few):

Henry Higgins, Beverly Cleary

Mr. Popper's Penguins, Richard & Florence Atwater

Charlotte's Web, E.B. White

George Muller, Janet & Geoff Benge

Detectives in Togas, Henry Winterfeld

Homer Price, Robert McCloskey

The Year of Miss Agnes, Kirkpatrick Hill

These are read aloud books in Sonlight's Grade 1 curriculum. We are also using Sonlight's science, language arts, and reading as well as Math U See, The Story of the World for history, and The Church History ABC's.

We are so thankful to be settling in for our short stint here in AR. God provided so much strength in the midst of sheer physical exhaustion the day we unpacked our trailer. At the end of the day, it was probably our easiest move-in, with the help of two dollies that were provided at just the right time. Even with over 100 degree temperatures, we made it through unscathed. Andrew particularly has grown to be quite the helper. He has the energy and drive to get things accomplished and is always motivated. We love the place we live and are excited to see what new things we can see in this part of the country. Micah is working diligently. And so the adventure continues...