My Favorite Month

In the frigid dark winter, I become convinced that April is my favorite month of the year. Yet in the humid, relentless heat of July and August, I am convinced that September is my favorite month!

For homeschoolers, September is a time of new beginnings. We’ve worked all summer to get caught up. We have worked hard to discard or file last year’s clutter. We are filled with plans and anticipation.

For some of us that means new textbooks lined up in a row. For some it means the unit studies are all planned out. Some have comprehensive curriculum plans, and the books for each week are stored in order with incredible organization.

Through the years I’ve bopped around a lot in style. In our home Math has always worked best with a text to follow, but where MCP may have worked for the first three years and Saxon for the next three with my oldest, my second struggled with that plan. And child #3 was a Horizon’s math child all the way to Algebra I!

We usually had a textbook for Science, but that was usually because I needed something to write down for our annual review. Eventually we totally transitioned to delight-driven Science, fed by weekly trips to the non-fiction section of our public library. Until high school.

This mom certainly has had a share of insecurity. I did not feel adequate to teach Biology, which I’ve never taken, nor Chemistry, nor Anatomy. I took one year of Lab Science and one year of Earth Science. My kids wanted transcripts that colleges would be pleased with. Fortunately, we found local homeschool classes we could afford to fill this gap.

Same thing happened in high school with foreign languages, which some colleges want as a requirement for admitting a student. I studied French. My first student wanted to study Latin, and my other two wanted to study Spanish. I got outside help.

Throughout the years, with Child #3, we used Ambleside Online. My son’s favorite memories, besides hours and hours of sitting together in the living room while I read to him from wonderful books, was our effort to have a weekly Nature Study, whether studying birds at the feeder, insects and creepy crawlies, wild flowers, trees, or creek dwellers and mammals.

Child #3 is so much younger than the other two that he was homeschooled as a lonely only. That’s when I started blogging. I wanted to keep our memories in words and photos. It’s been a wonderful journey.

So how are you approaching September? Are you excited? Leave me some comments below!

Diana Malament homeschooled three children over a span of 27 years. She homeschooled with financial limitations, and when times were less difficult. She has homeschooled through many good times and many challenging times. Diana hopes to encourage you on your homeschool journey.

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