This is the homeschooling notebook that I have been compiling since we began homeschooling our eldest daughter, Junebug, when she was 4 - preK. It is a large spiral notebook divided into sections where I have kept notes on curriculum, books, inspiration, conferences, etc. For the last few years, I have used the back section to make my lists for the coming year. Come midsummer, I pull out the notebook and begin entering the list. I spent several afternoons last month pouring over my notes from Ambleside Online and other sources to finalize the list for Junebug's sixth grade year. (Yes, this will be our 8th year of homeschooling!) I turned the page to begin the list for Legoboy's second grade year only to discover that I was at the end of the notebook! I knew that there were blank pages elsewhere in the notebook, somewhere between the Sonlight reading lists, science book recommendations, ancient history lessons and Charlotte Mason notes. I would have to search for them and find the right place to begin inserting the next year to come.
As I flipped through the pages, the pleasant memories of being at home with my children came flooding back. No, not all the days have been wonderful, but collectively, I wouldn't trade them for anything. Homeschooling mothers (and fathers) often talk about their "journey." Charlotte Mason, a true pioneer and icon of home education says, "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life." And like life, homeschooling is a journey! There are maps and guided tours and suggestions abounding about the "best" way, but each family eventually makes their own way down that road, one year at a time, one child at a time: the bumpy gravel road year when you first start off, the country lane year of the new baby, the interstate highway of late elementary, those untraveled side roads, the blue highways, and the open road of the future. They are all here in our journey, too, recorded in the pages of my homeschool notebook. Let me share them with you.
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