Back to "school"

After taking a long summer vacation, the kids and I are finally regrouped and ready for fall. As homeschoolers, we're hard to define, because our style and method seems to change all the time. We've run the gamut from unschooling to strictly following a classical curriculum, and I think we've finally settled into nice place in the middle. We try to have some structure (a few hours four times a week set aside for "school"), but we like to change subjects and materials often. Generally the kids decide what they're interested in studying, and I help them get organized and find the materials. The basics (math, English, etc) tend to stay the same, but the kids like to vary the rest.

This year, Avery chose to study ancient history, and Rhys will join her. Avery will be using History Odyssey Level II and Rhys will do the first Story of the World. Some friends of ours are also studying ancient history this year, so we will plan some field trips together to correspond with what they are studying. Both kids will also do Latin (Avery continuing with Latin for Children, and Rhys will start Song School Latin). Avery has also requested to do some marine biology/oceanography, so she's starting with a quick overview of biology, then she'll study ocean life more in depth. And, as always, she wants to do more writing, so we're working on getting a writing class for her again this year in addition to the book reviews she does for Readerviews and the creative writing she does for fun.

And, as always, our extracurriculars will keep us very busy. Avery, Rhys, and I are taking weekly tennis lessons, which we love. Avery also has been taking violin for a few months, and she'll continue in the fall. Rhys will play t-ball. We will continue with our science co-op (this year the focus is human anatomy), and we'll keep going to book club. And, recently, Griffin started a playgroup with kids his age. He absolutely loves it, and it's so good for him to have some kids his age to hang out with. So we'll definitely keep up with that group!

Life will be busy, I'm sure, but after the quiet summer we've had, I think we're ready!