Introduction

Though I've been thinking about and beginning to plan for the upcoming school year for several months now, the planning kicks into high gear in July. Only another month or so until school starts for the local school district, and also for us. Though we do some informal schooling over the summer (i.e. today, catching a beetle and inspecting it up close with our magnifying eye that we can plug into the TV), play-dates with school friends and various trips take precedence.

July also seems like a good time to start a blog, since (1) I have a bit of extra time; and (2) I'm excited about the upcoming year and not burned out yet!

Lucy and I will be starting our second year of homeschooling this year, with Lucy entering 3rd grade. She attended public school for Kindergarten and 1st grade, and didn't go back for 2nd. Financial problems in our local school district (complete with the usual program cutbacks and political fights) were the main reason we began to homeschool, however, as time goes on, I've found more and more positive reasons to continue (I'll blog about those later). Lucy loves to read, create art projects, dance (ballet and tap), play with her little brother, play outside, and do anything that involves using her imagination. She's always been creative and more interested in the languages arts part of school, though she can't wait to learn multiplication this year.

Lucy's little brother Matthew just turned 2 years old, and is learning letters, counts to 10, and can say just about any word. His favorite things to do are play ball, sit in papa's car (grandpa), play with water and rocks outside, go down the slide, and play with his big sister. I don't plan on doing any formal schooling with him for awhile, but am working on assembling a "school" box for him, so that he can play school along with us. He wants to do whatever Lucy does!

Besides homeschooling, I write and publish poetry (I have an MFA in Poetry Writing), work as Poetry Editor for a small press, and like to read, cook, garden, and scrapbook. And now, blogging!