It's amazing how a plan comes together. We have chosen a curriculum. My husband and I decided to go with Oak Meadow curriculum and we will start that around the New Year. Until then we will be focusing on life skills and rebuilding a foundation of math and writing.

We have transformed our dining room into a school room. Hopefully by August it will be complete. The library is our old friend and we look forward to spending lots of time there. The kids are enjoying their "bingo reading cards" and love that there are no limits on the amount of books they can check out.

Through the summer, fall and winter we will be taking a step back from traditional school expectations. We are not going to buy desks and there will not be a set time to learn. Our focus will be on life skills such as personal hygiene, house hold maintenance and learning to be kind to others. Along with taking care of their pets and experiencing the great outdoors. We have trips planned for working farms, museums and a myriad of other adventures.

The reason for taking a step back is simple. We feel like our children are stressed. As a society it seems like we really don't like children. We want them to be grown before their minds can fully process life's ups and downs. So our goal is to teach them how to enjoy life, to find joy in the simple things and to find out who they really are.

I know that we will have hills to climb and some will be bigger than others. However, I am looking forward to finding the valley between the peaks.