fearfully and wonderfully made: September already!

I cannot believe that September is here already! With that the start of public school. Schools in our area begin on September 9th. It was a surreal day on Monday, August 31, when I was absent from my longtime job of teacher of preschoolers with special needs. I slept in. Not overslept... just slept in. I turned in my resignation over the summer because of our decision for me to stay home and school our boys at home. It really is proving to be a fun and exciting adventure. Monkey is loving his lessons and is doing quite well. Chops can't decide if he wants to participate or go play alone in the room - he is permitted to do either - it is just difficult when he changes his mind 2-3 times during our morning.

With the decision to homeschool I have tagged several friends for advice on how and what to do during our homeschool day. We are following a certain curriculum that is literature rich - however, as I have come to find, lacking in a few other areas that I find extremely important. I have begun to tweak it to fit our needs.

I just got 2 new books for momma to help in the battle to nurture the minds of my children, and I'm so excited to dig in to them. Both were recommended by the same friend... the first is Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt. My bff, Heather, had mentioned this book to me a long time ago, and my friend Renee just reintroduced me to the book. It is chock full of worthwhile books for kids from 0-14 years. There are picture books as well as novels included in this book with an annotated list of books at the back. I CAN'T WAIT to get my hands on all of the books and spend time reading to my boys.

The other book is 365 Manners Kids Should Know by Sheryl Eberly. I briefly cracked open the book immediately after putting the boys down for a rest and read the intro. Let me give you a little snippet of the intro to let you see a piece of an anecdote, one of many which are included throughout the book:

Twenty years ago, a family I know decided they wanted to teach the six sons at their dinner table manners so they would grow up not just to be adults, but to be gentlemen. They were not allowed to sit at the table until their mother or grandmother had taken her seat. Elbows were not allowed on the table during the meal. Through the years - and it did take years - as the boys' manners slowly improved, their parents often said, "If you don't learn good manners, you'll never be invited to the White House."
As remote as the possibility seemed, the oldest son took the admonition to heart. When he was selected at fifteen to be a youth representative for a drug-free program, he found himself seated at a luncheon beside the nation's First Lady. He could only think: "At least I know which fork to use!" And his elbows never left his sides.

There are manners for all situations in this book. Manners are laid out in a yearly format. One manner per each day. This will be included in our schooling because this momma wants her boys to be courteous gentlemen in a day in which one is hard pressed to find such a thing.