Hello!

I am sure that I have lost a lot of my readers by now (not that I had very many to begin with), considering my last post was announcing the arrival of Silas (three months ago!). But, things have settled (kind of) and it feels like Silas has always been with us. He is a great baby, which is good because he doesn't sleep much, day or night. He is full of smiles and is very content. Breastfeeding is going very well- amazing how enjoyable it is when it doesn't hurt! Jesse and Karis have had some adjustment issues, interestingly in the last month. We are working through that. We enjoyed a great week in Maine with my family (although not alot of sleep was happening) and now we are enjoying a week in Ohio visiting Matt's family. When we get back, we start our home school!
We have the room all prepared- new bookcases and a desk, a whiteboard, maps on the wall and a Judy clock (just like the one I had when I was in school!). I have had fun choosing curriculum, pouring through it when it arrived in the mail and Jesse asks everyday if we can start school- i am glad he is excited, at least for now! I am excited too- about a month after Silas was born I was checking the budget to see if christian school could be an option this fall but I prayed about it a lot and God has given me a sense of peace. The fact that I am excited about it in spite of the chaos that is our household right now makes me think that God has a plan for us! I am also anticipating that having a schedule/routine in the house will help us all settle into our new life with three kids. So, you can be on the look out for family updates throughout the fall- exciting things will be taking place!

Curious about what we will be learning?
I have decided to take the classical education route based on the book The Well Trained Mind.

Jesse-
1. Reading- continuation of his reading lessons from last year- a lot of review in the fall
2. Saxon 1 Math
3. Bible- Leading Little Ones to God and The Child's Story Bible
4. Alternating one day a week:
- History- The Story of the World- A history of the world from the beginning, story format. I also got it on CD so we can listen to it read too.
- Music- Themes to Remember- we will study one classical artist and one of their works a week. We'll listen to their music all week while we work. The book we are using has a poem set to the tune of one of the compositions so that they can learn to associate the composer to the song.
- Art- Artistic Pursuits- I am so excited about this- I am not a huge art person so I wanted to make sure I had a good curriculum for it so that I didn't jip Jesse and bypass a talent he might need to foster. A friend showed me this curriculum and it is a good mix between learning great works of art and creating.
- Science- Usborne's Children's Encyclopedia- We'll start at the beginning (What is the earth?)and supplement with other materials as we go. Also, Fun with Nature books to supplement hikes and bird watching. And we'll do a Bird of the Week, learning all about a bird every week- where they live, what they eat, etc.

Karis
1. Preschool 2 days a week (social time for her, a break for me!)
2. Various intentional activities with me while Jesse does independent work (hopefully)- Montessori stuff, reading, tea parties, bean box, etc.
3. Hopefully, alot of free play!

Silas
1. Taking a nap for more than a half hour.
2. Sleeping through the night!

That's all for now! I am sure there will be some tweaking here and there!