Houston, we have a plan!

I was on such a roll with the blogging!! Sorry I've slacked off the last ten days. I've been caught up in planning and pulling together curriculum for Ella's kindergarten year which will begin around mid-September. I have done tons of internet research and have finally come up with a plan that will at least get us started. (For those of you who aren't homeschooling, just skip the next paragraph, as I'm about to bore you with the details!)

I will mainly be using Five in a Row because I love the idea of unit studies coupled with great children's literature. We've used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons in bits and pieces this year, but we will fully focus on it in the Fall. Math is definitely Ella's forte (just like her Daddy!), so I won't bother with kindergarten level math for her. I have an older curriculum I used when I was teaching that will help her continue to build on her math skills, and I will pull activities and lessons from the internet to push her along. When I think she's ready, I may go ahead and bump her up to 1st grade Saxon Math. I have ordered the One Year Bible for Children and the lessons from ABC, I Believe to compose our Bible curriculum. We are going to sign up under Crossroads Christian School as our umbrella school, which keeps us from having to report directly to the State.

As you can see, I've been a busy girl! I'm very excited about the coming year, yet a bit apprehensive. Homeschooling an only child offers it's own challenges, namely, finding opportunities for her to be with other kids. She is somewhat lonely and that does concern me. Ella is a very social child. She absolutely loves every chance she gets to be with her friends and even begs to spend the night with anyone who'll let her (she had no qualms when she went for her first sleep-over with a friend and has been a couple of times since). Because of my back issues that also lead to a lack of energy, I cannot play with her the way I would like to and that's so hard for her. I know it's good for her to learn to play on her own, but I also know the importance of social interaction. I have to find a way to not just be her teacher, but also a playmate, of sorts. Please pray for me as I seek the Lord for strength and endurance for the upcoming year(s) of homeschooling. Just so you don't think she'll be holed up with me all week, we are at church pretty much all day Sunday, she'll continue Mother's Day Out this year, and we go on Wed. nights. I also plan to put her in a dance class next month, so she will have plenty of interaction with kids her age. It's just in the day-to-day that I think she feels sad that she doesn't have friends around. Pray, too, that we can develop relationships with our new neighbors who have kids. I know God will give her what she needs...it's just tough as a parent to figure out what's adequate. Does that make any sense??

I have more to share, but I have been a little sick this week and I'm worn out. I finally finished reading The Shack and have some thoughts to share with you that will differ from all the accolades you might have heard over this book. So, I'll save that for another post and call it a night.