Philosophy:

My basic educational philosophy is to emphasize the basics and to use a method that is time tested.

We have chosen to us a classical based appoach with our children.

Resources:

I found the The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home to be a very helpful resource in choosing books and curriculum. It offers simple and practical guidelines for determining what to expect at different ages. I was pleased to find that I was instinctively doing most of what it suggested for the early years.

I have taught in public school, private school and homeschool settings at every grade level (pre-K through 12). These teaching experiences do not make me a wonderful teacher. Anyone who can learn themselves and patiently explain how they learned it can teach something. So when I think of our school and try to figure out how to make the hard days better, I don’t find solace by thinking back to all the different classes and settings that I have taught in. I like to daydream and think of my grandfather teaching a room full of students of every age in his one room country schoolhouse. I look at the books that were his on my bookshelf and I imagine the difficluties and challenges that he faced and this helps me to find creative solutions to my own. I’m not a perfect teacher, and I don’t have perfect students, but I know that at the end of the day good things will come from the struggle.

by Norman Rockwell

Online Resources:
I peruse these two online catalogs each year to get ideas for what to use for the next year’s curriculum – Veritas Press and Beautiful Feet. Once you know what you want be sure to price check your items at Rainbow Resource. They often have cheaper prices than Amazon. But only look at their catalog once you know what you want. Their catalog is huge. They have everything under the sun when it comes to homeschooling resources, so it can be very intimidating if you don’t know what you are looking for.