Today I have been thinking about all of the resources that I have available to me. I'm on dozens of email lists, few of which I actually read on a timely basis. I'm in two local homeschool groups even though my oldest is only (almost) 4, we don't legally have to start school until he is 7, and if we went with the norm of kindergarten at 5 it would still be 16 months away.
On KS Homeschool Net the editor wrote an article about learning via our "obsessions". I think I'm in an obsessive mode right now. It reminds me of how I was when I was pregnant the first time. I could not read enough about pregnancy and child birth. Then, after he was born, that phase was over. Right now I'm reading, and reading, and reading, and planning, and reading, and trying to stop planning, and reading.... I'm building a library of books for my boys and a library of books for me (and my husband). I recently bought Ruth Beechick's Three R's series (as mentioned yesterday), I have Christian Unschooling and The Unschooling Handbook, and I just ordered Rue Kream's Parenting a Free Child.
Even though there are many things I like about Sonlight's curriculum (particularly using non-textbooks), I'm still not sure if it is for me/us. I don't even really know my boys' learning styles because they are away from me at daycare more than they are with me (awake). I'm having much stronger feelings that we, particularly I need to deschool. Sometimes I think that DS1 will even need some deschool time caused by the social environment and structure of daycare. If I want to get my husband on board with unschooling, then I will need to show him first, before the pressure is on (fall 2007).
I also think that it's time to back off of so many email lists and parenting magazines. I may subscribe to Live Free Learn Free even though it is relatively expensive ($30/yr/6 issues), because I think it is a magazine that will inspire me and help me remember the things that I want to focus on for my family. Last evening I cleaned up my email. I skimmed subjects and read a few posts as I deleted 1-3 weeks worth of mail. I was really surprised at how little of the content interested me on several of the lists. There are a few people that will turn anything into an argument. I don't like to be around rudeness or arguments, either in person or in cyberspace. It's a shame, though, because the potential is there for some helpful information. It's just not worth weeding through all of the chaff to get to the wheat in some cases.
You remind me so much of myself when my first kid was "pre-school" age. It's so exciting... thinking of all the possibilities. I'm happy to report it only gets more fun. Great stuff to be "obsessing" about.
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