Preparing for the next journey ahead.

It seems like as each new year of study approaches, a new journey of learning for me opens up. W is in his next stage of learning right now, the logic stage. I've been going through the initial journey of curriculum selection all over again. We've decided on Saxon Math Homeschool Edition instead of continuing with Singapore Math. We are also going to use a history curriculum instead of, as The Well-Trained Mind suggests, reading history compilations and exploring through Atlases and Timelines at our discretion. I'd like to be able to feel confident enough in my own ability to give guidance to go with this more natural approach of learning, but an actual curriculum is something I feel a lot more comfortable with. I can give guidance when there's a layout. I found History Odyssey through Pandia Press (same publisher as the science curriculum we've been using), that has history curriculum for each stage of learning, it is based off the Classical style of education. There were raving reviews I found for it online so I feel confident about it. We chose R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Level 2 Biology for W's science text. There is an evolution unit, and I think we will go through it, but carefully. We already have a plan of things to show him, have him watch, and what to read to negate the Theory of Evolution and prove The Creation. He will be in a stage of learning that is more self-led and I hope to discover that our choices in curriculum will prove to foster that, because we have a child entering her first official year of good study in all the subjects. She will need some full attention now, so hopefully W is ready to do a lot of work on his own and follow instructions in a book. E will be studying from the same books as W did in his first stage. She finished Singapore Math 1A and 1B this year. She's a smart girl. So she'll be on 2nd grade math. Everything else she'll be right on schedule for 1st grade. L will be 4 soon and she is a pre-schooler. We've tried to work with her a lot and I can see she's gonna need more patience in her learning. In order to make things a bit easier on me and my mom, who helps so much, she will be joining in on the lessons we give E in History and Science. Basically I just want her to be present and quiet, even if she's working on something else more suited to her amusement, and then color a picture. If E and L are on the same page with History and Science studies then it will be easier later as more children are added to Woodruff Hall. By the time E graduates on to the logic stage and starts History and Science topics back at the beginning but more in depth, then I can bring L back to the beginning if she's not quite ready to do things the same way as E, and by that time baby J will be right there with her. It will be interesting to see how this experiment works and hopefully I will remember to revisit the topic for an update at the end of the year.

The only selected curriculum I'm not too sure about is the Grammar text from Rod & Staff. It's Bible based and quite old-fashioned. I don't have anything against that, I just worry about it being too boring for W. It seems wonderful in my opinion as I've scanned over it. I just couldn't find any other Grammar curriculum that satisfied my desire for a whole and complete material.

I have a lot of reading to do with these new books. It's quite an exciting thing to me. W is also going to be introduced to a new subject with Logic. I am excited for my son to become a critical thinker. I feel like this is something that will put him above and beyond in the world. Logic is an interesting and fun topic to me. I even want to do the worksheets in his book. I hope he enjoys it. I think he will, because he is so smart and very intuitive, and when he is good at something he likes it. Not everyone is born with "common sense" in my opinion. W has it.

I've been re-organizing things at Woodruff Hall as well. A new system will be set in place. When we're all set to go, I'll post pictures and discuss why I've done what I've done.