It's a new school year at Goldbach Academy! This year I feel more prepared than I ever have and it feels so good. It's like we've really hit our stride.
We're trying a new curriculum this year - Sonlight for Bible, History and Literature, as well as Language Arts for Dylan. Jocelyn joins us on all but the LA - she has her own new curriculum that we love so far called Learning Language Arts through Literature.
Since Sonlight can be on the more pricey side, I took the time to piece it together buying many books used and also taking advantage of our local library. So far, two days in, it's a lot more reading that we are used to but we've been able to keep up! I especially love that Dylan has his own readers that are linked to the history lessons.
I also went ahead and got the extras, such as a History timeline book and a Lapbook kit for American History. We're starting that tomorrow. They love to be hands on when learning so I think it will go over pretty well!
Their favorite subject by far is science. We are doing Apologia again this year; last year we focused on Flying Creatures of the 5th Day (of Creation) and this year we are doing the next Zoology book: Swimming Creatures. They devour the subject material, ask a million questions while I'm reading, and Jocelyn even wants to take notes, draw pictures, and spell out the scientific terms she is learning like zooplankton and phytoplankton! It always surprises me how much they love learning about this stuff... but that's probably because science was so boring to me in school!
We're sticking with our same MCP Mathematics books that have served us well over the last few years. Jocelyn is reusing Dylan's 2nd grade book that he barely marked up. I'm also teaching her off the page counting by 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's to prepare for multiplication. She really has a knack for math so it comes pretty easily for her. Now if she'd just write her numbers the correct way! I'm sure that will come with time and practice.
The best things about this school year so far are...
#1. It's super organized and done for me, with the instructor's guide... no more piecing things together myself so much less stress! And Dylan is THRIVING because he LOVES knowing what's next and exactly what is expected of him. Jocelyn doesn't care too much about checking off a list, but having one certainly helps me keep her on track so we are practicing what we need to daily.
#2. My attitude is much more relaxed and I feel so prepared to handle the emotions of the day. This is due to preparation and prayer. I've been reading this awesome book called Parenting by Paul David Tripp - the concepts in the book are helping me practically handle attitudes that come from children who are learning at home! Being their teacher/mom isn't an easy task but I feel pretty good about my own responsibility which is to remain calm and recognize they are just sinners like me trying to do their best! Giving lots of structure, follow through, and grace has helped this year start off tremendously well.
I don't know what the Lord has in store for us this year. I do know this: My children may be the students of Goldbach Academy to the state of North Carolina, but I am forever their students - learning what makes them tick, what inspires them, discovering more deeply who God created them to be and it's the biggest privilege of my life to be the one who guides them as they learn more about His amazing world and their place in it!
