We had so many wonderful visitors in the month of October and November that I have now found myself at that precarious state known as...behind. Now, I know that seems like a strange thought to my homeschooling friends. "Behind whom?" you might ask. Well, I guess I am simply behind where I wanted us to be at this time. Every year I start out with the greatest intentions to adhere to my chosen curriculum, but every year about this time, I start to feel confined by thus curriculum. So, inevitably I scrap the curriculum for a while, only to return to it in spring, without completing it totally by the end of the school year. I think the problem for me lies in my need for freedom. I want to be free to study whatever might come up. That is what I adore about homeschooling. I feel that education is so much more meaningful to the student when related in a relevent way to that student. When it is Christmas time I want to be doing Advent studies and baking bread to share with the neighbors, and making home-made Christmas gifts. I guess I have yet to find a curriculum that gives such freedoms, except unit studies. I guess that is why our beloved Five in a Row curriculum worked so well for us. It gave us the freedom to pick and choose what we wanted to study and when we want to study it. I had hoped that Exploring Countries and Cultures would give us that same sense of freedom, but it is still feeling a bit confining. I will keep working at it though, because I do see the strength in it, but I am still longing for that simplicity that I had with FIAR. Maybe this gives me points to ponder as I look ahead to next year...until then I am just going to keep pressing on. I will take time to smell the flowers, as they say, bake the bread, and enjoy this amazing journey that God has ordained for us...
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