being resourceful

I began homeschooling M & T within one month of moving on the farm.  I absolutely love it!  It gives purpose and direction to my days.  If I didn't homeschool, I'd probably be a lot more homesick because I'm not busy.  :)  Right now, we do school in the spare bedroom.  It works out wonderfully...until we have guests then I have to shift everything.  But it's really not too tedious.  I try to keep the storing simple so moving is easier.

One of the biggest things that can discourage me as a homeschooler is the lack of resources here.  Most of all, I miss the public libraries and cheap art supplies!  I have been reading a lot about notebooking.  It is definitely something I'd love for the girls to get into.  With their current curriculum, it seems just a bit difficult to add another to-do in our day. 

Something else that is different here is that schooling is just half day.  Whether it's the traditional schools or even our homeschool, we only go for half a day.  We begin at 8am with pledges, singing, Scripture quoting, and poem memorization (a new hymn, Scripture passage, and poem for each quarter). School until break at 10:30 then 11 to 12:30 (or a bit beyond if books still aren't finished!).  

But one of the biggest blessings of homeschooling here is the flexibility.  We can easily take a day off, we only school 4 days a week (last term they were going to a friends for play date/school/art, etc...), and there's so many little things outside to observe.  This country really is filled with beauty despite the depravation that is visualized by most throughout the Western world.  We just have to look for beautiful and interesting creatures that God has created!