I'm looking for curriculum for George for second grade. It is a frustrating endeavor. I know what I think he needs to know, I know what he knows now, and I know what "they" say he should know in second grade. I also know that I want to get a lot of Rod and Staff again, but not everything. I am checking out Miquon Math, and looking into getting a science book. One of the things I love about homeschooling is that you don't have to wait for the slowest kid in the class to catch up before you can move on to new material. I mean, if my child gets fractions after one lesson, great, on to the next thing, and if they don't get it after 3 weeks, then we can stay working on it until he does get it. I love this. BUT, it has lent itself to a bit of impatience with the curriculum. On one hand, I am very thankful for well organized, godly curriculum that presents material in an easy to digest fashion, and takes the guess work out of what I should teach when. On the other hand, what if said wonderful curriculum is taking 3x as long as is necessary (for my child) to explain the parts of speech, or the basics of a math concept? Do I skip pages of review, risking that I may miss an important step in nailing the concept in my child's mind, or do I make him do all the repetitive pages and reviews, risking that he loses interest in the subject and starts to dread doing schoolwork at all??? (I am so not one of these home school people who think that school should just be a chore and they are going to do it whether they like it or not. My goal is to instill a love of learning in my children and nurture their natural curiosity.) I have not found the end-all, be-all answer for this dilemma, and it comes up in a much bigger way when I am choosing curriculum. What if all of the concepts that are introduced for the second grade are things we have already talked about, and I know he understands? Do I get it anyway, because he needs the review, and I may have missed some key fragment that would keep him from understanding it wholly later on? Or do I only get what will be all new and challenging to him? I am not sure what to do.....I am sure I am not doing Rod and Staff math, there is no longer any question that it is just waaaaaay too slow and repetitious. If I had G do all the review in the math books, he would surely learn to dread and be bored by math. Right now, he is still retaining interest, and enjoying it, doing what we have been, which is skipping every other page, and doing half of it orally. I know he is ready for much more advanced math, and I am hoping what I find for 2nd grade will be a better fit for him.

Should I get a separate Bible curriculum, or just continue to supplement Bible reading to the readers, which are straight from Bible stories? Should I get some sort of a devotional for him? Should I start teaching Bible stories, a la felt figures and board??? And what about Grace and Ian?? Do I really need to buy anything just to teach them basic phonics and beginning reading? (I don't really think so) Should I do them together, or would it be better to teach them separately? Hmmmm, can you tell I have a TON of questions in my mind right now about this? (And have I reached my quota for question marks???)

I am excited, though, for George to be doing second grade, and for us to be doing it together. I love homeschooling (as challenging as it is sometimes, and as inept as I am too often) and I am so thankful that we are able to do it. I know it is only going to get more challenging as time goes on
but possibly part of the routine will get easier with time.....like mothering. I mean, the more kids you have, the harder it is to keep up with everything, but the more knowledge passes to instinct, and routines get into place, so you don't have to think about them as much anymore. I am still a little conflicted on which camp I will fall into when it comes to co-ops, lessons, sports and all. It seems like there are two extremes that most people fall into (and I know wonderful, godly families that are in both camps). There is the harried, running here, there and everywhere, kids in all sorts of lessons (piano, horseback, Spanish, soccer, ballet, art, etc.), perpetually exhausted and stretched far too thin, time wise and financially. And on the other end of the spectrum are the families that aren't involved in anything, and are together as a family all the time, whose children don't have any "extra-curricular" activities at all. I can see good sides to both, and I can also see that the time I have to observe and decide is decreasing, and the opportunities and options for involvement are only increasing. Of course, just as in any endeavor, this needs to be bathed in prayer, and peace sought for confirmation of any decision.

Speaking of decisions, and peace, (since this is my blog and there aren't actually any "topic police" who fine you if you go from rabbit trail to rabbit trail in your topics..) I am so greatly relieved to have finally been given peace over a subject which I had agonized over for over a year. I went over and over the arguments for both sides of the coin, talked to many different couples who had made the decision we are considering, and prayed and prayed and talked and talked, and waited on the Lord, and just recently I feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest. While doing my routine rumination of this subject, I suddenly realized that I didn't feel the internal conflict any more, I didn't feel the guilt or the indecision or the angst that had so far accompanied any mental perusal of the facts pertaining to this decision. It is a beautiful thing to be released to peace. We haven't taken any steps toward acting on this decision, and who knows, maybe the Lord will bring some other things forward for us to consider about this, but for right now, I am just so thankful to the Lord that He has set me free in this.

And on that note, I think I will get back to looking at curriculum......:)