Martin's first day of school

We had a really tough year of school last year. He did not struggle with any of the material, but he just didn't want to do any of the work. I struggled because everyday was pure misery. It would take him 3 hours to do about 45 minutes worth of work. I started to re-evaluate everything. I started searching for a curriculum that was more hands on and less worksheet based. I wanted something that would make learning come alive for him and that would restore his joy for learning. I wanted something that I could stick with for years to come. I wanted something Biblically centered, academically challenging, and that would produce independent thinkers. I was leaning toward the Charlotte Mason approach to learning. I don't ask for much do I? I am thankful that I found The Heart of Dakota. It has all of those things that I wanted, and it's all laid out for me in a very organized manner.

I knew that Aaron was going to love school no matter what we did because it was all new to him. Martin was the real test. This year Martin is doing a combination of 2nd and 3rd grade, but we are calling it 2nd grade.

Martin is a tenderhearted little guy, and he became teary eyed when he listened to his Bible song this week . . . I took a closeup of his eyes and you can see the tears in his eyes. I asked him why he had tears in his eyes, and he said, "because the song is so beautiful!"

Martin's curriculum includes: Bible, History, Poetry, Literature(read alouds), Reading, Grammar, Math, Science, Art, Copy Work, and Spelling.

Martin loved it! I was able to see the joy of learning return! He loves that we don't have to skip all the fun stuff to get the necessary stuff done. It typically took us about twice the amount of time each day as it did last year to complete all of his work, but he enjoyed it all so much that it didn't seem to matter. In fact, I didn't hear a single complaining word from his mouth all week long!

AND, he cried (literal tears) when we got up on Saturday morning and I told him we weren't doing school today! WOOHOO!!! The joy of learning has returned!