Diving in

This is the time of year when I historically have my home school meltdown. "What am I going to do next year?" The task of deciding (and why decide anyway?) seems daunting, but always just intriguing enough to completely rock my world. The only thing about home schooling that I don't completely rethink and over analyze is home schooling itself. That much is settled. Occasionally I have one of those days when I seriously consider selling the children to the highest bidder on Ebay. And by then I have usually looked up the price of tuition at the private schools in the area (although around here, there are NO Christian private schools, and the public school isn't half bad, as public schools go. . .) But other than the off days, I am a home schooler to the core.
That said, don't ask me what my teaching/learning philosophy is. It changes. Or I can't decide. They all look so good, depending on my mood and current inclination. This past run I have been looking heavily into Konos, Robinson, Weaver, Tapestry of Grace, and Ambleside Online to name a few. At present, my biggest dilemna is the realization that come fall, my 5yo girl will be a Kindergartener. And while we don't legally HAVE to home school until 7 years of age here. . . well I keep thinking about the very fun time we had when the 8 yo boy was in Kindergarten. We studied Ancient Egypt with The Story of the World and mummified a chicken. He can still tell you just about anything you'd like to know about Egypt. And we worked so consistently on his phonics with Phonics Pathways (which I love), so that he can read anything and everything with ease.
Now with miss 5yo coming up the ranks, I don't want to short change her. I want her to have the same depth and joy. But how to pull that off without losing steam with the 8yo? That's when I started looking at Robinson, because it's so hands off for the teacher. But it seems unfair to go crazy fun with the 5 yo and tell the 8 yo "hey, you are on your own!" And honestly, Robinson recommends peace and quiet to study in. Let's face it - my house has been compared to Las Vegas! I have three VERY VOCAL kids. With the 2 yo girl, it is especially unlikely that it will be that quiet ever!
What I did glean from Robinson, however, is the idea of doing math first, and starting with Saxon 54. So despite the fact that math has been our challenge subject for the boy, we will launch into 54 next year with him being on his own. I did get the DIVE CD, however. So he will get to watch that each morning and then do his math on his own while I work with the girls on their math binders and assorted Mathematics Their Way projects.
I plan to do Phonics Pathways with the 5yo while the 2yo is on the computer. She loves Reader Rabbit. The 8yo can be reading literature while we do that.
I decided I wanted to do some kind of unit study that we all could do together. In the end, I got the Konos Obedience study which will cover the Middle Ages. That's a time in history I know very little about. While I thought about doing the Ancients again (and moving out of Egypt this time, because we never did with the boy!), I think the Middle Ages has something for everyone, and it's new to me which is exciting. The girl will love the horses, castles and royalty. And the boy will enjoy the knights and battles, and the plague!
My friend Suzanne has used Konos and didn't care for it. She said she felt too out of control, like riding a runaway horse that's going so fast that your body is flying horizontally, hanging on for dear life. Sounds like fun to me! I'll let you know how it goes.