#1 Joel of Galilee. This book. Oh my goodness. What a treasure! As the title suggests, Joel is a boy living at the time of Christ. This little gem was written in the 1800’s and has been reprinted for today. We have been reading this aloud for our elementary school history each day. It’s had me in tears recently. Poignant, beautiful, stirring, enlightening.

#2 Independent Reading. Upon packing up all of our things for our move, sorting through, figuring out what to keep and what to get rid of, I realized how many wonderful books we had that seemingly never got read. You probably know the kind I mean— the more educational types of books of all sorts and sizes. I grouped them all together in one big box for the move, and made a note that when we started school again, I wanted these books to have more of an ‘official’ place in our homeschool. They now occupy their own dedicated shelf, and they are getting read! I have added “independent reading” to my 5th grader and 3rd grader’s school checklists each day. They get to choose any book from that shelf, and then read it on their own for at least 15 minutes. I am pleased with the results. For example, Toby did a little science experiment one day, all on his own, after reading a book about science experiments for kids.

#3 Memoria Press online academy. As promised, I wanted to share with you about something I am loving this year, in the high school science department. I kept talking to Steve about wanting to do something different for Ethan’s science this year. Ethan (a senior this year!) was due to take Physics, and although I am the daughter of a physicist, science in general is not my strong point. I wanted something on a higher plane than what we had used in the past. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for, and explored a few various options. Then, of all things, a sales email made it’s way to my inbox at just the right time. (This goes to show that 1/5,000 of sales emails may actually come in handy one day…) Memoria Press has an online academy? They offer science at the high school level? They have a few more openings for physics? And so, I signed him up. It was expensive, but so far I feel it was well worth the cost. Ethan is being taught Physics by a live teacher and is able to interact with the teacher and with the other students during the 1.5 hour class time, twice per week. I know he’s getting quality instruction and all his assignments are graded by the teacher. All the way around, I’m very pleased with this arrangement. Hoping to utilize this for Katie’s science next year!

I’d love to hear about what’s working for you this year! ♥