Our Blogging journey begins

Well, it's been a long journey to get here, but we are finally here! I can't believe it took this long to decide to blog! For those of you who have been blogging for a while, please feel free to send some recommendations, advice, or just a friendly hello.

Well, a little about us: We are a blended homeschool family of five, our oldest and youngest are homeschooled and our middle child attends public school, We believe in Christ as our Savior and strive to live our lives glorifying his purpose for us!! The children would probably describe their Mom as a person who's sole purpose is to make them completely WACKO, but that is truly only ONE of my goals !

This is our third year of homeschooling, and I have to say I really admire those who have homeschooled from the beginning. It's really difficult having to de-program and de-compress children who have been taught outside of the home (any of you moms out there know what I mean?) I have always been convinced that I was called to teach the children at home, but didn't always feel the circumstances were right to pursue it (where was the trust?), but after being beat over the head time and time again by the spiritual hammer, my hubby and I finally decided to listen and keep the 2 who live with us full time at home. This has been a wonderful (and frustrating) journey of rediscovering the world through the children's eyes and I have noticed such a change in their personalities, academics and demeanor since we made the decision to bring them home.

We have a pretty eclectic style of learning in our household (after trial and error and figuring out what DID NOT work). I like the Charlotte Mason philosophy and tend to take a more relaxed approach (ok,ok, I'm WORKING on trying to take a more relaxed approach ) to learning. We combine the concept of keeping lessons short, outside play, nature studies, living books, unit studies and lots of hands on projects, and Mom really tries to get a grip on reality that I don't have to make them do 8 hours a day of learning sequestered in a classroom in order for them to learn (no offense intended at all to those who choose to teach in that type of setting).

We are looking forward to continuing this journey. Please keep us in your prayers and God Bless each and every one of you (...sounds a little like Tiny Tim... sorry! )

Michelle - somewhere in Maryland