Starting School....Again

I have been seeing pictures on facebook this week of kids on their first day of school.  it has been difficult this year deciding how to plan our school year.  One of the best pieces of advice from another mom who homeschools overseas is to develop some kind of routine wherever you are so that your children always have some kind of 'normal', even when life isn't.  So, upon arriving and settling in to another place to live, we jumped right into school.  Thankfully we are not starting something new, but rather continuing the same things we were doing this summer before we took our trip south.  Right now we are doing a rather light schedule of math, reading and writing through a study of insects, and grammar and spelling.  John Hardy has quite a few bugs in his bug collection now, and so drawing and observing them has become another outlet for creativity when there is no real curriculum.   Most of all, I want our kids to love learning and not to think of school as a quantifiable activity, but more of a process.  And, at this point, I'm also glad to still be able to let the kids go out and play every afternoon, or rake apples in the backyard, and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!

Hali - Preschool

Chaya - 1st grade

John Hardy - 3rd grade

Eliana - 5th grade

 And Mommy and Daddy  - doing a little 'post graduate' studies in French ;)