homeschooling

When my firstborn was still in diapers, I was already thinking about homeschooling. I knew that I would probably homeschool my children and that I wanted the education to be literature-based rather than textbook-based. This led me to Valerie’s living books and the yahoo bookroom group that she moderates. For years, I listened in on the conversations of other homeschooling moms who were educating their children in a way similar to how I wanted to do it someday.

Then I read the Well-Trained Mind by Jesse Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. Things just started to click for me. I said yes, yes, yes. I liked how the authors explained and defined a classical education based on the trivium. This is what I wanted for my children. I just hadn’t put it in words yet. With the Bauer’s explanation of site reading, whole words and phonics , I chose Phonics Pathways to teach my children to read. I love this program. Their website says it best,

“Phonics is the process, sight reading is the result.”

As I re-read portions of the Well Trained Mind, I couldn’t wait to have my son reading so I could open a whole exciting world to him. My goal was to have him reading proficiently so we could start this classical education!

my classical Christian curriculum

I chose Tapestry of Grace, a classical Christian curriculum to use in my homeschool. Tapestry is a 4 year plan for 3 learning levels and each year is divided into 4 units. So you only have 4 years of curriculum to buy instead of 12 since you’ll be going through the material again, just at a more advanced learning level. As Tapestry follows history chronologically, it also covers literature, fine arts, church history and the geography of the time period studied.

I considered this curriculum for over a year, visited the website on occasion, talked with a friend who used it, prayed about it, then took the plunge. I have never regretted that decision.  Tapestry sells so much more than just the year plans. A random sampling from the Bookshelf includes many Usborne titles, art books, classic literature, the Holman Bible Atlas, The Complete Idiots Guide to the Twentieth Century, The Dangerous Journey, and C.S. Lewis’ The Discarded Image .

more classical education curriculum

I believe strongly in a classical Christian education but realize that Tapestry isn’t for every family so I’ll list a few other curricula that I might use if I hadn’t discovered Tapestry of Grace.

• Veritas Press
• Truthquest History
• Konos
  
• Peace Hill Press
• Sonlight
• Classical Conversations
• Ambleside Online

Reasons why I homeschool my children

• Character development. I want to be the main influence in my children’s lives. I don’t want them going somewhere else for 6-8 hours each day where I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t want my kids hanging around undisciplined children that could have a bad influence.
• I do not want my children attending public schools. I don’t want them in the godless environment where evolution is fact and the Bible is considered fiction literature.
• I can’t afford the tuition at the kind of private school that I would be willing to send my children to.
• I want to have the pleasure of teaching my children to read and watch their joy as sounds become words that become sentences that enable them to read books on their own. This is priceless.

Read some of the benefits of Tapestry of Grace and learn how you can try Tapestry for free with their 3 week Go to Egypt study

how using the firefox browser can simplify homeschool planning

why my kids love math u see and so do I

coming soon: my review of Phonics Pathways which I highly recommend.

coming soon: why I chose Tapestry of Grace to use with my young children and why it’s the curriculum we plan to use through high school