Ok, so I've been terrible about posting to this blog!  I apologize!  I wondered if I would be too busy to  keep it up, and it does seem as though I am.  However, I did want to post some wonderful things that we have been using for our homeschool this year.  This was our first year using Heart of Dakota curriculum.  We have REALLY enjoyed it!  My preschooler is using Little Hands to Heaven.  It is a sweet, sweet program that only takes a few minutes each day and she is learning all of the letter sounds, her numbers, and her colors (though she already knew most of the colors).  The Bible Stories from The New Bible In Pictures For Little Eyes has been fantastic!  We also use My ABC Bible Verses and Teach Them to Your Children for wonderful stories that teach character and a Bible verse that goes with the letter of the week.  To add in some handwriting, I chose to go ahead and use A Reason for Handwriting -K.  She has begged for school most days!  8-)  My next daughter is doing Preparing Hearts for His Glory.  It has been a FANTASTIC fit as well, and a wonderful overview of history from Creation to the present.  She did not do well with HOD's choices for English, so we went with Bob Jones instead.  I am not a fan of it, so next year we will be doing something different in the English area.  We also LOVE Math-U-See, so use it rather than HOD's choice for math.  My son is doing the Resurrection to Reformation Guide.  He does it as written except for switching out the math for Math-U-See.  It has been a challenging, but good year for him.  I love that HOD is challenging, but fits the Charlotte Mason homeschooling method well.  HOD's open & go guides have taken so much work out of my hands!  I used to be the ultimate planner.   I would research and plan out my own lesson plans for my eclectic approach to homeschooling.  I loved to do it!  However, now that I work almost full-time at my husband's computer repair shop (that we just opened in September....maybe that has something to do with why I don't post more often...lol) and am homeschooling three kiddos, it is just no longer possible, as my time is much more limited.  So, though I was very afraid to try something that was all written out (I'd tried My Father's World in the past, and did not like having EVERYTHING planned out for me), I felt the Lord had led me to HOD because of my time restraints.  It has been a HUGE blessing, and it is so well planned, that I appreciate it, rather than dread following the plans.  Truly, after seven years of homeschooling, I believe I've found the BEST curriculum ever!  It is easy on me, as all the planning is done (unless you choose different options for the "choices" subjects).  It is also meeting all of the needs of my children.  It intertwines Bible into every subject seamlessly, serves all the learning styles very well, and challenges my children to be more independent as the years progress.  I am looking forward to using it again in the upcoming years.  I will post in a different post about my plans for the 2012-2013 school year soon!

I am looking forward to a wonderful summer, have already begun planning for next school year, and will let you in on some of my favorite organizing tips for our homeschool in upcoming posts!

Dena