My "mantra" on the right side of your screen...

So, I have moved the thought for the day from our family blog to this one - I was struggling with changing the daily thought over there for fear I would loose it - and it has made such an impact on my resolve and motivation in this homeschooling endeavor.

Find a purpose in life so big it will challenge every capacity to be at your best!~~ David O. McKay

What better way of reminding me that mothering this child of God is my purpose in life - and right now this is how God needs me to mother him.

I have to admit... Satan is playing on me. Last night I felt sort of a panic about my qualifications/abilities/desires/motivations to actually follow through with this - and possibly long term:

* What if my brilliant son falls behind because of me?
* What if I neglect to teach him something he needs to know?
* What if my health issues crop up again and we are left with failure?

Fail. Fail. Fail. He chants this in my ear. Really he does.

Which is why I am so stubbornly moving forward despite my deepest fears. This must truly be guidance from my Heavenly Father if Satan wants me to feel so despairingly about it in dark moments. And of course, the day I begin to struggle with myself about our decision, Cody wanders in with a new list of things he can't wait to start learning, and how excited he is; and being sick and sitting down I pick up my "Everything Home Schooled Book" from the library and the next chapter reviews my concerns. *Peace* It will be fine. It will be wonderful! I need to get to a Book Store and buy this book (OH! As well as the book Bubba needs for his Beekeeping class this Friday! Blast this sickness! I am getting myself behind! ack!) It has been such an amazing resource and is so full of websites etc I can gather support and resources from, it is a must have. I will use it again and again I believe.

We also have been invited to Free Homeschooling Day at the Zoo. One day in the last week in Feb Hoogle Zoo lets homeschooling families come for free... and they have worksheets and animal enrichment activities etc for the kids! Both Caleb and Cody will love that! I hope it is as nice and warm of a day as today was! *wink*

I have started some lesson plans. I have decided to "detox" Cody from traditional schooling the last two weeks of Feb by making trips to the Library, the used book store & making more lesson plans together. We also need to get our Home School log made up - one that he can fill out - and I would like to give him free reading time and time to finish the story he started at school that he is really looking forward to having time to finish. We will set up his study area and a basic daily schedule. He will be as hands on as I am in this - and I think the two week break will give him some down time from bells and schedules...

We are going to try mostly an eclectic homeschooling method: I want most of it to be the Un-schooling method, as I believe he will flourish the most on this system, but we all will do some Unit study, with some Workbook/Curriculum based study here and there. We are open to most of the learning styles and I am interested to see which ones fit Cody the best and with which subjects. Now...to only have him decide where he wants to start... LOL

I am getting more nervous and excited as the days go by.... what an adventure!