The Flow of Change

Reflecting back on all of my years homeschooling I realize that every year this month always brings about the same change. I always re-evaluate what we're working on, taking stock of what works for the kids and what doesn't.
Interestingly just as I was writing about making the kids more organized last week I happened upon a book that I set aside a few years ago. The book was "A Thomas Jefferson Education" by Dr. Oliver DeMille. It has a great theory that resonated with me when I saw him speak a few years ago. Then funny enough two days later at a dinner party a friend told me that day she had been to workshop with Dr. Demille and how wonderful it had been. This was too good of a coincidence for me to pass up. So I have spent the past week reading everything I can. Luckily my friend has quite a library of TJE writings.
I think the reason it hits home for me is because I have felt for a long time like my children a just going through the motions of school, even though they are at home. They only seem to be retaining things that interest them and they are not learning how to think. Just spit out the facts one day then forgetting them the next. So, I am excited to see where this next little journey leads us.
This week also saw the start of two new classes for C&J. They both began working with a Spanish tutor and a writing instructor. They loved the writing class. It is just a story writing class but it really inspired them which made me smile. They both loved the Spanish tutor as well. They can't wait until the next lesson!
Oh and if your wondering how my organized day went. It went really bad. It was nice to have a framework but beyond that nothing on the agenda was accomplished because things are always changing here sooo much. So we'll see.