Positive Thinking

Travis got home close to midnight last night. It was strange having him gone that time of day. He has been reporting in for work at 5:30am for so long. The first thing he said when he walked in the door was, this will take some getting used to. Luckily he doesn't have to close very often, but when he was Freight Sup. he never had to close. He said his first official day up front was pretty good. I think his freight team really missed him, but the people in Cust. Service are very glad to have him. This is going to be a great opportunity for him to show his talents in more than one area so that he can get that Executive promotion come July. (which he will get!) (o:

I've been reading a great book on beginners homeschooling. This past year has been a lot of trial and error. I've tried a few different approaches with the boys to kind of feel out how they learn the best. This book details all of the different methods of homeschooling (yes, there are actually several "methods"). I took a survey to determine what method would best suit our family~I was curious to see if her ideas of what was suitable and my ideas that I have formed this year matched. Believe it or not, they do! I think our boys will do best with Unit Studies and I do like Charlotte Mason's method, so that is what we are most likely going to do. Unit studies is my favorite because no matter what the age, I can teach a lot of it with all three boys together. Plus, it makes it more fun for the boys because they can get involved in helping choose the topics that will hold their interests the most. For example, last fall we did a week on trains. I took all three boys on a field trip to the Train Museum. Even Connor loved it and we learned a lot and saw a lot. I was able to teach vocabulary words that related to trains and we did train counting. We experimented with steam and talked about the history of the transcontinental railroad. We covered many subjects all while studying just one topic! The best part was I had the boys attention. As soon as I sit down with a worksheet and pencil, Joseph shuts right down. I still have him do the worksheet, but it takes so much more effort than having him do copywork of sentences all about ducks or trains or birds. Just to show off that train field trip, here are a couple of pictures I pulled out of it. We took Grandma Nelson with us. It was fun!

Anyway, rambling a bit there. It's just that I get so excited when it comes to educating my boys. It's funny, I can remember the moment that the still small voice whispered in my mind that homeschooling was the route I should take. I was pregnant with Spencer and Joseph was only one! I was at a friends listening to all of the troubles that they were having with their daughter and her first grade teacher and the schools etc. I distinctly remember saying how glad I was that I had almost 5 years before I had to deal with that. Then a word came into my mind~homeschool~that was it. I entertained the thought for a couple of years before I ever mentioned it to Travis and then it just kind of became a natural part of our ideas of schooling. It was never a decision we sat down and fretted over whether or not we should do. It just came naturally. That is how we know that we are doing the right thing. It was only confirmed to us when I took Joseph in for his 6 year check up. The doctor was postive that Joseph has some attention difficulties~ADD, possibly ADHD. (I don't think ADHD so much anymore) I asked what our options were besides medicating. She said the ideal thing would be to homeschool. She said we were already doing the best thing for him. What a great peaceful feeling came into my heart. I know we are doing the right thing for our boys and am loving it all the way.

Okay, enough with the ginormous post. There is much to do today, so I better get moving. I am sure that I will post again tomorrow. There probably be a nice steady stream of posts for a while until the newness wears off. (o: Have a great day!