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hereinantwerp
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Joined: Dec 17 2005
Location: Washington
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Posts: 322
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| Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 3:16pm | IP Logged
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I thought I'd share that, after all my agonizing over to homeschool or not to homeschool (quite a bit of it on this board!), dh and I took a couple of days to really pray about it and felt it was right to keep the middle guy at home, and send the oldest one back to school. I feel very good and in peace about our decision!!
So, I had one week to plan before school began!!! Aaaack!!! But, for an obsessive planner like me, who can easily overwhelm myself, perhaps it was the best thing!! Our Father knows! 
I started on a track of planning a succession of unit studies kind of based on the Waldorf ideas, then started to drown and overwhelm myself before we'd even began the year  , and then stopped----for my spiritual health and that of my family, it is really best for me to pick a "track" and make myself stick to it. So we are back with Ambleside, a very modified and pared down version, but at least it provides me a basic skeleton to work off of! Re. Ambleside and "paring it down", I find if I try to do too many separate subjects (composers, folk songs, picture study, plutarch . . .) in one week or one day, I get frustrated and overwhelmed. Also, having read many of the unschooling thinking, I also like to have free and flexible space in our days for the kids (and me!) to pursue our interests. So we are scheduling art, music, handcrafts and Shakespeare a bit at a time spread throughout the year, and based on past experience I think that will work better for us. I plan to blog our journey and our experiences, once I decide on the format and what my commitment to blogging will be (twice a week? Or ???), also I need to learn some basics like how to download photos (?).
Another comment--I was trying to find or design the perfect homeschooling planner when, I ended up just buying a simple teacher's planner at office depot. I fill in the weeks in pencil with ambleside as the basic framework, but room for extras like chosen library books, field trips, art/craft, etc. depending on the week---I am only doing a few weeks at a time, again, in pencil!!! so far this seems to fit, be simple, and work well-----again LIMITING MYSELF from trying to attain "the ideal", to sticking with something simple that works-----
This year is all about trying to stay in peace, ENJOY the journey, and not get overwhelmed!!!
But I'm so happy to be homeschooling again!! Hooray!!!
__________________
Angela Nelson
Mother to Simon (13), Calvin (9), and Lyddie Rose (3)
my blog: live and learn
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Erin
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Joined: Feb 23 2005
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 3:43pm | IP Logged
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Angela
So happy for you  I could read your desire to homeschool in your other posts and had thought to myself that homeschooling your second son seemed perhaps the ideal situation.
You sound like you have a good plan, Keep it Simple and Enjoy the Journey. 
__________________
Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
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JuliaT
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Joined: June 25 2006
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| Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 5:00pm | IP Logged
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Angela, I am so happy for you! This is wonderful news. My prayer for you is that you don't get too caught up in the planning but just enjoy the journey, of being with your kids.
Blessings
Julia
mom of 3 (9,7,5)
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