Sidetracked

It has been a long time since I posted on this site.  I had lovely intentions of continuing this weekly, if not more often.  But life seems to sidetrack us when we have out plans precisely laid out.  God sometimes has different ideas (maybe we haven't fully listened to His ideas first).  We've backslid quite a bit.  Lost a lot of ground.  And our lives have changed.  Radically.  There is much to be lost and much to be gained right now.  And the beauty of homeschooling is that educational needs do not trump emotional needs.  As long as my son is learning and enjoying it and moving forward, we can deviate from "the plan" to navigate life's waters.  I am a firm believer in keeping a plan, a rhythm, a routine.  It anchors your life and maybe if I could keep to "the master plan" then I could move faster.  But life keeps pushing me and causing me to deviate away from this plan.  So, I am re-evaluating the plan and will take what is right and leave the rest behind.  There is much that I have to do and move forward we must.  There is so much potential in this.  For both of us.  So move forward I will and post I will.

Welcome to our homeschooling journey!

Welcome! Or Benvenuto! We are learning Italian around here, so that is appropriate. I am a mom to a wonderful 9 year old boy and we are documenting our homeschooling journey for you to follow with us. As a matter of fact, Austin decided on the title immediately. No hesitation. He loves homeschooling, or home educating. As do I. Not that it is a picnic every day. Far from it. We have our struggles as does any family, whether homeschooling or not. But it is a joy to learn together. To learn from life. To learn from each other.

And the learning never ends. It really doesn't. I have a masters degree and taught for the last 10 years of my career and know that I have learned more from living life than I have from anything else. I've written scores of competency tests and standardized test questions and know that it is all a poor measure of the real thing.........

We don't just sit back and let life happen around us and just soak it all in. We live it and learn from it. We structure our days with a Waldorf style and a sprinkling of Charlotte Mason and Classical. When I get the hang of this blogging thing, I'll add our philosophy. OK, my philosophy. My philosophy on learning and education and how that is fostered in life. And the role of educational facilitator. I use this rather than teacher because of what I believe about learning and having an education for life. I give the structure in which learning occurs.

Live.
Love.
Laugh.
And you will Learn.

The world is the classroom.
Life is the teacher.
Love is the lesson.

This is how we will make a difference.

I hope you enjoy this journey with us. Buon Viaggio!