Yay, it’s August!

Nearly time for a new school year to begin!!

We’re actually going into our tenth year of homeschooling… which is crazy! In January of 2007, we began curling up together, Ethan and I, with Sonlight books. We discovered the world together through books like Twenty and Ten (WWII– Nazis, rations, resistance), Understood Betsy (farm life, lifelong learning), A Grain of Rice (math, wisdom, work ethic, Chinese culture), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (poverty, fun, curiosity, character).

By reading classics, missionary biographies, and books I’d never heard of, we learned together to love history (which I previously thought I hated), to delight in reading together, and to dig in to this time of learning. I read aloud and fueled his imagination and whetted his thirst for understanding God’s world BEFORE focusing on the acquisition of skills. I was going on faith… doing this thing that I’d read about and heard about, but never done, and never seen done (up close).

Instead of drill, we focused on delight.

At that time, voices like Ruth Beechick’s stood out as revolutionary to me. With so much to learn, and so many different voices promoting different approaches to home education, her simple, clear voice greatly helped me find my way. She promotes a Charlotte-Mason-ish style of learning (though perhaps they differ some; I don’t know CM well enough to say for certain), and cut through the noise so I had confidence to throw off the textbooks and formality, and embrace a home culture of:

  • learning as we go through all of life
  • learning for character development
  • learning history through the lens of what God says about it, and according to the order that His Word says things happened
  • learning skills at the right time– when it comes more quickly, rather than through forced drill
  • deeply focusing on character and ideas, squeezing all the marrow out of each book we encounter, rather than lightly touching on a gazillion topics or skills.
GOING BACK TO WHERE WE STARTED

In the last 3 years, I’ve been mostly surviving in our home education. Getting through. Doing what needed doing… keeping them all making forward progress. We’ve read aloud some. But mostly, we just put one foot in front of the other, because… well, for the last 4 years, we’ve basically been in constant-change. Amidst those changes, we’ve gone through different seasons in our homeschooling.

But this year, we’re headed back for delight-directed learning. I don’t know everything about how this will go with 5 children, as opposed to when I used to do it with 1-3 children, but off we go.

I’m ready to head back to the learning style we loved:

  • learning together,
  • learning through delight,
  • learning through reading.

Ruth Beechick was a major source of encouragement on this path, and I’m sharing a collection of her books with you today.

“HOMESCHOOLING HOW-TO” BOOK GIVEAWAY

Today, I’m starting a series of giveaways for homeschooling moms (and some for any moms!).

{Please note: These books are in USED condition– straight from my shelves or from another homeschooling mom. My goal is to pass on the books that have helped shape my thinking or given me freedom and joy in our journey.}

This week’s giveaway includes these books:

There’s a variety of ways to earn entries, so SIGN UP AND WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’ll choose and announce a winner this Saturday, August 8, at noon PST, and I’ll send out the books to you as soon as I get your address.

NOW SIGN UP!!! 

Subscribe to my newsletter, and I’ll send monthly encouragement — full of truth and grace for moms. SIGN UP, SO WE CAN KEEP IN TOUCH:

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