Back to School!

(Gabe was too cool to be in our picture lol)

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to write this post!! This month the Swenson family is embarking on something new. Ever since Cairi was born it's something I've been thinking about doing. We're  homeschooling! I know, I know, homeschooled kids are weird right?! Well, judging by the response I've gotten from various people I'm pretty sure that's the way a lot of people feel. That's okay though, I know homeschooling isn't for everybody and many people don't have the option of doing it. For our family it's what we've decided is going to be best for our children.

I've literally been talking about doing this since our first baby Cairi was born. I was very back and forth about the idea because I really enjoyed and loved my public school experience. I had a mom that was very involved in the classroom and as we got older she always encouraged us to put school first. After getting a lot of weird looks from people and not really knowing where to begin I had almost decided that I was going to have our kids go the traditional route and attend public school. Chris and my mom have always supported my idea for homeschooling, but I didn't know anybody who had actually done it. Or anyone other than my family that even thought it was a good idea. Then, one morning I was having breakfast with a girlfriend and we broached the subject of homeschooling. However, rather than getting the typical disconcerting look and perplexed "ohhhh" response, she was surprisingly enthused and told me it's something her and her husband are going to do too. She knows quite a few families who have done it, told me a little bit of her knowledge about it and the rest is history. My mom found a blog of a really neat lady that homeschools and I've been piecing different ideas here and there to create what I think will be a really good curriculum and way for my kids to learn. 

We're going to start at the end of the month when the school year typically begins and we'll go from there. I'm sure it will be a lot of trial and error at the beginning, but I'm going to do my best to blog about it along the way and document all the successes and failures. I'm really passionate about it and I've got a lot of support so wish me luck! 

Here are a few links that I've started with:

ABC Mouse -this site is A-mazing!! You do have a monthly subscription, but for the amount of content you get it's a minimal price! 7.95 a month or you can do like I did and pay 59.00 for 12 months. It's a complete preschool through kindergarten curriculum that keeps track of your kids' progress. I watched the video clip on the homepage and was sold! It's crazy how easy they're making it to teach your kids from home.

Still Parenting -this lady is really cool. She doesn't use a set curriculum for her kids, but rather creates a learning environment for them and let's em loose. I've only begun to explore her blog and I can tell it's going to be a great resource.

Our Preschool Homeschool -I'm going to use the ideas from this blog and incorporate them with their ABC Mouse learning so that they have some self-learning computer time and some interactive "teacher time" learning.

Again, I've only begun to skim the surface of resources that are out there for people who want to homeschool, but I will post everything I find and use.

I'm also going to make my blog public so people who are interested in homeschooling and our adventures can find us.