Homeschool Beginning

When we knew we were moving from King William to Hanover and Frazier only had one more year of elementary school, he threw out the idea that I should homeschool him. I think he pictured easy days with lots of LEGO building. He forgot who his mother was! Once he understood expectations, and I had a good feel for his abilities, strengths and growth areas, we have had quite a ball (most days). I'm learning and re-learning so much right along with him, we are taking so many fun field trips, and getting to know some new friends through a weekly homeschool group. 

Our Friday group meets weekly with rotating focuses on a monthly book, a service project, a field trip and a nature lesson. One of the families has a missional cut flower garden she offers to the community, so we were able to make lovely flower arrangements and cards for someone who needed it in our lives. 

We made a cake, and Frazier drew the continents in icing. Throughout the year we're studying cultures and geography of the world. (after this lovely cake was made Amos jumped on the counter and ate half of it)

This was just funny. No lesson here. 

We took a trip to Henricus Historical Park to learn how the early settlers and Indians lived. Frazier is taking a turn using a hoe as most boys his age would have been doing back then. 

We took a trip to a local pumpkin patch, and the owner/farmer shared a lesson on crop rotation and how farming has changed over the generations in his family. 

Hay ride!

Another baking lesson as we wrapped up our study on the United States. We baked a Pennsylvania Dutch apple pie from scratch, and it was delicious! (Amos made another appearance and ate the first homemade crust dough, so we had to do that over again.)

We took our silent reading time to the rooftop of the workshop on our new property. 


Another service project Friday had the children packing 50 boxes for Operation Christmas Child. 

The Virginia Museum of History and Culture had a Homeschool Day, so we took Poppy along (he worked here for 20+ years), and enjoyed a tour of the Story of Virginia, the history of democracy and more. 

So far, I can see the appeal and benefits of homeschooling though I don't plan to make it our way of educating forever!