hello? still homeschooling?

I know....of course you all still are.  And we are, too.  I'm just not blogging much.  sigh like I need a school blog, a kitchen blog and a family blog.  I can't keep up with any of them.  I simply don't get online via computer much at all these days.  I grab a few downloads when Homeschool Freebie of The Day has something we're interested in (which is at least twice a week).  Sadly, most of my sharing experiences lately are via the Blackberry.  I like my Blackberry, don't get me wrong, but I'm too easily side-tracked by these things. however, if I could hook up my printer to that cell we'd have it made!

So, where are we school-wise? Well, I'm re-evaluating again.  I need to stop doing this.  In my defense, I have been settled in for quite some time now with our curriculum, so maybe I was just due for a re-work.  I used to do it quite often.  I am actually looking at the current flow of our schooling and trying to figure out what will work better for the children.  We are not 'on target' via public schools.....however I do not give a purple fig about that in all honesty.  I have family members who stress that fact quite a bit, but if I was that concerned, we'd be part of the public school drone assembly.

Still, there is a part of me that lets that nag in the back of my mind to a certain extent.  It's really like comparing apples to oranges as far as I'm concerned.  Ahh, I'm sure most homeschoolers have folks who linger over traditional grade levels and the like.

So, here's what my mind has been pondering of late.  I love Paths of Exploration....even though we are lingering far too long on the Pilgrim colonies and not really gaining anything from it.  I am a book junkie and bought their full package.  In all honesty, we never follow step-by-step any curriculum we use.  We stay very free-form and gravitate along the interest levels, which often trails us away from the original plan.  We have done so with Paths as well.  We are working the majority of it as lapbooks and/or notebooking components. We have pulled lapbook units in from other resources, and it's been alot of fun..  I will probably order the next level, Paths of Settlement, and again go with the full deal.  That said, the way we school here, I do not see that the specified reading resources are set in stone.  We could have read any books on Columbus, Jamestown, The Mayflower, etc. and garnered just as much with this curriculum.  But that's because we deviate alot.

I have used Christian Light Education a lot, as well as their counterpart, Alpha Omega, and I am looking at going back to the CLE workbooks for a season to see what the lay of our land is here.  I have a full set of Rod and Staff curriculum from 3rd grade up when hardcover "textbooks' begin and that seems to be posing an issue right now.  We have a couple of competitive children and book sharing isn't playing out well, no matter how I work it.  I am thinking that we could go with the individual unit workbooks for math and English for this year and then see where we stand.  More than likely, I have one child who will by-pass the other 2 in no time and be ahead in grade level and our problem will work itself out to a great extent.  We have one who really thrives more with one-on-one schooling, and individual workbooks will help ME with that as well.

I also have one who is ready to finish her 'formal' book work and graduate from that onto more extra-curricular study lines, pretty much on the targeted time frame she has always expected to.  Good grief, what will we do with her now???  And we are pretty much finished with the oldest at home currently, as she has decided she is not interested in continuing beyond the point she has completed, and yes, it's ok with us but I had really hoped for a bit more :(

So, there are my update rambles....and here are some links shared with me this week I thought I'd pass along:
Top 50 Best Homeschool Blogs

Some great links shared by an online friend this past week:

AAA Math...free math by grade level 
AAA Spelling...free spelling by grade level

And lastly, Daniel Boone, here we come...after the New Year takes off, that is!
Famous Missourians
Daniel Boone TV and Movies
Biography...and a great online book to read
Daniel Boone Homestead
from Netflix....Time Machine: Boone and Crockett, The Hunter Heroes
Daniel Boone unit goodies
YWAM Publishing...a great book on Boone (we have the entire Heroes of History set)
Daniel Boone at EasyFunSchool
a CurrClick goodie
Homeschooling The Middle Years blogshare 
Lesson Pathways page