Starring Down Seventh Grade

This past May I started doing a little bit of research about other homeschool methods and curriculums. I had seen many homeschool moms on social media talking about taking a graceful or gentle approach to teaching their children. With the hard days in the back of my mind, I set out to see what this gentle homeschooling was about. 

I am familiar and do my best to practice gentle parenting, as much as being human allows anyways. So, I wondered if it was similar. Those handful (or two) of hard days usually left me wondering if there was a better way to go about this. Yes, I am well aware that worthy things are sometimes challenging, sometimes extremely. Even gentle parenting has it's challenges. I am in the middle of a challenge as I type this. 

Traditional homeschool textbooks with their 150-170 lessons seemed to take quite a toll on some of our days. I was yearning for a little more freedom, flexibility and more spontaneous. It was just a little too rigid for us- mainly for me. A few more free days would do this Momma some good. Especially, where my housework was concerned. (I'm not gonna lie, trying to keep up with the housework is a chore in and of itself on a normal day.) 

Today, we are starting Big's seventh grade lessons. It's hard to get back into the swing of things after a lengthy break. A month doesn't sound so long, but as anyone that's trying to get into a good habit of anything knows, a month of not going said task, is the equivalent to a lifetime.

I started the day before the crack of dawn when our puppy decided she needed to potty at 4:45 this morning. With my alarm set to go off at 5, I just let her out and made my coffee. 

This time around, we are incorporating beauty subjects into our day. In my search for less intense curricula, I stumbled across a wonderful site built by a homeschool mom with much more experience than I- Gentle + Classical Press, and Erin's wonderful Morning Virtues publications. (I'll post more on other items from her sight I am using for my preschooler in another post.) This morning was quite literally our first foray into beauty subjects. And I believe it was well received by both Big and Little. Even if they didn't/don't/can't fully appreciate it, I sure did. The scripture, artist & composer study, the poetry, hymns, Biblical truths and the read-alouds are all beautifully thought out. This Momma truly loves it. 

This year, Big will be doing more independent reading than he did last year. His history curriculum is in the classical format that I love so much. It is a new publisher for us, but he enjoyed the "search" of conclusions and realizations of his science studies last year, that I decided to transfer that to his history as well. 

Math as it stands, will remain the same rigid curriculum as it has been the last two years. While there are others out there and some that probably have fewer lessons- this one for me, is tried and true. And while the other subjects can be tweaked and played with a bit, math is non-negotiable for me. 

And on that note... by Big is back from walking the dog- better get busy with those math studies!