Contemplating...

All day today I have been contemplating, praying, wondering if this blog is something I should take on. As I explained yesterday, I am not only a homeschooling mom, I am a barista, coffee shop co-owner (with my husband), we also happen to be a photo print lab and I am the graphic designer for that side of the business. Do I really need something else to consume my precious time?

One thing makes me think maybe this is the "right" thing to do...I want to give back. I want to bless the countless number of people who have blessed me in this whole blogosphere world. I have received so much encouragement and have grown so much from these people that I know so little about other than they have this blog that has blessed me immensely. God has used so many of these people and their blogs in my life at many different moments to grow me in different ways. So how do I give back? I know there are a lot of ways. I could purchase what they are selling. I could buy something that would give them a cut from the sales. In some cases I am sure a comment would work. In others, I feel like there are so many comments that mine would not make that much difference.

Well, probably the main reason I started this blog was because I was checking out Layers of Learning. I had been to their site before and downloaded their free Mesopotamia unit which is pretty amazing from what I can tell. I found it on my search for information about Mesopotamia and was quite exited to find it! You have to sign up for their free newsletter and then they send you a coupon code to purchase the unit. Recently, I came across that confirmation email and decided to check out their site again. In search of the other Layers of Learning units, I noticed a link that said, "Find out how you can get the Layers of Learning Curriculum for Free!", and of course I had to take a look! What I found was that they would like you to blog or tweet or facebook comment or well, you get the idea. At first I ignored this, because, well I don't like facebook, I know that there are positives to it, but many times I just see negatives and I don't have a blog that would do them any good. (I do have another blog which is sporadic and infrequently updated. I would get rid of it if I knew how.) Even this blog, being brand new and currently having only one reader (that would be me), is not the best advertisement they will ever get. So I went on looking and found out that for the all the Layers of Learning units can be purchased for around $100 give or take (I can't remember exactly). This is a pretty good deal considering all it offers and all the subjects covered. It definitely covers history, geography, science and arts. And, although I can't be for sure because we haven't actually gone through it yet, it seemed to have a few extra tidbits in there. Another thing that I really like about it is the way it is set up. It is set up for a four year rotation so that every four years you revisit the same topic, but on a deeper level for the older students. This also means that you can teach your younger child and your older child the same subjects with a just few variations...translation timesaver! I am all about that! And it costs $100 for 12 years of schooling. That's pretty great. It is a curriculum that reminds me of Tapestries of Grace which I also love for the same reasons. Tapestries is a little more expensive and covers a few different topics, while not covering some of the topics that Layers covers. Mainly science and Tapestries has a more Biblical basis, to which I am definitely attracted.

I have digressed.

My point in all of this is that I was interested. So, because they were making this offer to give their curriculum away, I figured there had to be a few blog posts about it. Right? I found one. Now maybe I didn't search hard enough, but for a great deal like this I didn't think I would have to! I started considering doing what I could to just let people know about this curriculum that seems at least worth looking at. And thus this blog began... I want to take just a minute to list a few of the blogs that I have been personally blessed by...this list is definitely not comprehensive and it is highly probable that I will add more as I go on. To begin, this is where I began...

Passionate Homemaking her homemade deodorant started a chain reaction!

Kitchen Stewardship Amazing recipes and encouragement in eating real food!

Love this girl!

The title says it all friends. And Jamerill is one of the people who really challenged me to take an honest look at homeschooling.

There are of course many, many more, but it is time for my family. Until next time friends!

Introducing Coffee Shop School! I am a full time employee/owner of a coffeeshop, where I have, thus far, raised my 5 year old son and 3 year daughter. We do have a separate home. It is a place we sleep, cook, garden, and sometimes we relax there. Most of our time is spent here, at the coffee shop. This year my husband and I made the somewhat difficult decision to homeschool or, perhaps more appropriately termed, coffeeshop school. A long story, that I may have to save for later. In short, we felt God calling us to not only give our children a better education, but more importantly to disciple them and raise them according to our beliefs in Christ Jesus.
We actually we started this year, somewhat unofficially. I have been exploring curriculum options, finding fabulous freebies, and trying to decide what style we want to follow. The search has opened my eyes to a whole new world of homeschooling options. You see, previously, I was kind of against homeschooling (part of that long story, best saved for later) so once we decided it was the path we were being led to take, I had to do a lot of research. I say "I" because, although my husband is supportive, I spend the majority of the day with the children and he is just is not the "researching" type. A natural born teacher's trait, he tells me, is researching. And it is true, I do love the researching part...now I just need to apply it!
We started out with the traditional school approach, looked at Charlotte Mason, Notebooking, Lapbooks, Unschooling (which may happen unintentionally!), Eclectic, Classical, and the list goes on. I guess the reason I decided to do this "blog thing" is because through all this research, I have heard of only one who is homeschooling and working in the midst of it and her blog is not about homeschooling. I am probably missing someone, I am sure, the blog world, I have found, is huge! This is a learning experience for me and hopefully, I can encourage someone else in the process.