There are many paths to the top of the mountain.

It's funny.  We have 2 laptops and 2 desktops in this house.  My mom rarely touches the computer and while my dad reads the news, he isn't monopolizing a computer.  McH and Monkey, on the other hand, definitely log hours, and, being honest, I put in a good showing online at night.  So, why is it that I have such a hard time getting to my blog?  Mainly because 1 desktop is a dinosaur, 1 laptop is at the kiddie desk and a pain to use (when Monkey lets me near it!) and my laptop is hooked up to the tv and not conducive to blogging.  Which leaves the other desktop ... brand spanking new, but won't seem to read my SD card for pictures!  I do have my phone, which seems to use blogger pretty easily, except for my silly signature.  I think that will be going away so I can blog easily.

Anyway, the title.  I was reading over at the Secular Homeschool Forum's and one of the ladies wrote that line in her response about Waldorf schools.  It really made me think.  There are many path's to the top of the mountain.  Some are winding, some shoot straight to the top and some circle the whole, big mountain.  The really funny thing is that two people can start on the same path, yet the path will lead them in very different ways.

I'm proud that McH and I, two fairly quiet people, are really forging along our own path ... taking input from the hikers around us, but making the calls that work best for us (even when they aren't the most fun at the time).  We try to be open-minded and free-thinkers and try to pass that on to our Monkey.  Will we make mistakes or ever make it to the top?  I sure hope so!

This week has been the official "start of school" week for us.  McH went back to school (after a lot of stress) and we started the MbtP curriculum.  I am loving it and I think Monkey is as well.  It doesn't take an inordinate amount of prep on my part and it flows together very nicely.  We're also using Time4Learning and it can sometimes be a little strange, but mostly it's working for us.

One thing this week has impressed upon me is that I need to continue helping my two guys with reaching their goals, but that I also need to realize some of my own.  So, to begin that I need to write them down ... can't stick to them if you don't clearly know what they are!

1. Connect more!  Whether it be online or not, I need to make connections with people.
2.  Blog more! My goal is to develop this blog into a place where I am sharing our homeschool progress and ideas, as well as sharing the struggle to find age-appropriate resources to teach Monkey about our beliefs.
3.  Write more! I have written nothing more than blogs or scribbles in 2011.  Not good!

So, there ya have it.  I know there are some amazing people out there in the world and I just have this feeling that I'm about to meet some new folks!

Three weeks later ...

... and we are well on our way to officially being a homeschool family!  I honestly think that everyone here is pretty excited.  Watching Bug learn has reminded the grandparents of the awe they felt when my brother and I were young and McH and I are loving the first time around with all of this awe business.

I'm digging through the internet trying to find the right curriculum.  Not an easy thing to do, apparently.  These days there are a plethora of curriculum choices.  That might make my job of researching seem endless, but it's so amazing to see that we can really find something that works for us ... and, if we can't, then I am more than able with all of the options to create something that does.

Next time I'll post before and after pictures of our "homeschool" room, we are very nearly complete.  The last major items are to find a big, comfy reading chair and to make a blackboard - we have the items, just have to get it finished.  THEN, we get to decorate!  We have wall stickers with the alphabet, numbers, fishies and big, fun circles!

So, back to researching I go.  I have been settled two curricula over the past several weeks (ha!) and I'm thinking I'm close to settled for the third time!  Will it be the charm?

Here are the two I was previously enamored with:

Enki Education
Oak Meadow

Now I'm looking at:
Moving Beyond the Page

I'll add in foreign language (Spanish and maybe French or Latin??) and music.  I may also add math.  We're going to start out using Starfall and BOB books for phonics and see if we need to add Explode the Code.

So, there ya have it!  Funny, I read about a lot of people who have people around them being very harsh and critical about the choice to homeschool.  We just haven't had that!  It's like when we adopted and so many of my friends had such a difficult time with the mean and ignorant things people (even family!) would say and we were absolutely blessed to go through the process without that.  I'm SO thankful that we have such a supportive family!!

Wonder where we'll be in another three weeks!!