Oh gosh guys, where do I even start? First of all I want to thank you again for your constant support, all of the endless advice and recommendations. It is thanks to you that I was able to walk into this experience with an open heart and mind and faith that I could pull this off. It is with deepest humility that I share our resources with you and with an understanding that I am no expert in this field, just a mother consuming books and resources until the wee hours of the night with the hope of coming out of this experience with children that are ready for the next step.
Before I begin sharing about our books, resources and supplies I want to take a moment and talk about the general educational philosophy that I am allowing to guide our curriculum. I was a psychology major in college and have an unfinished MA in early childhood education. And after studying all of the various theories of education I have decided to pull what I find to be the strongest aspects of each one. For example when it comes to language arts and math I really love the Montessori method. I think teaching the alphabet phonetically is key to reading readiness. However, I have found that in general Montessori stresses "work" a little too. So in regards to the arts I love the Waldorf method. I've found there a much stronger connection with nature and inner creativity. I have a lot of hikes, visits to nature centers and art projects planned for the coming months. I have at the same time purchased resources that give me a good idea of general benchmarks of children at this stage of learning that I am going to use to guide all of my lesson planning. It is very important for us that both children feel prepared and on pace with the rest of their peers next year when they enter a more traditional environment.
So that is a general overview of where we are heading this year. Practically speaking our school day will start around 9:00 am and end around 12:00 pm with me doing a some additional work with Birdie during Teddy's nap time in the afternoon. We're going to start slow until we find our rhythm. The most important thing for me is for both kids to fall in love with what we are doing, once I have them hooked we can really take off.


Below I am going to break down our materials by subject matter. And at the very end I will list the different books that I purchased for myself to help prepare me for this task.

LANGUAGE ARTS

• Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills, Grade pre-K
• Grow to know: Tracing
• Montessori: Letter Work 
• Letter Tracing Book for Preschoolers
• Montessori Lower and Capital Case Sandpaper Letters
• My First Book of Tracing
• Reading blocks

It's finally here!! Friday! Kevin will be finishing up his first week at his new school as the kids and I dive into our journey of homeschooling today. We're excited! I seriously can't thank all of you enough for reaching out and giving me so much support, advice and sharing absolutely amazing resources. I can't wait to share them all with you on Monday. It really takes a village and gosh do I love mine, thank you, you sweet souls.
We're been so busy getting settled here, getting Kevin ready for his new job and the three of us for homeschool we kind of forgot that it's a long weekend. By the time I got on airbnb everything was gone or ridiculously expensive. So I think we'll just stay put. I have some recipes I've been looking forward to working through and the weather is supposed to be lovely so I see some more walks and lunches al fresco in our future. Wishing you a wonderful one wherever you may be!

Here are some things that caught my eye this week:

• can't stop listening to this album, her voice is unbelievable
• had to stock up on our favorite pjs for the kids this fall, so cozy!!
• speaking of recipes this is the perfect one for letting tomatoes shine, they are so good right now!
• I'm constantly house hunting these days, even in my sleep I swear! And this renovation has me dreaming of a 1940s fixer upper
• the response to hurricane Harvey relief efforts has been amazing. Here's a super easy way to help - simply shop the Texas Diaper Bank's Amazon wishlist, it takes less than five minutes to send some much needed diapers and wipes their way!
• I loved this piece by Kerry Egan in NYT Modern Love column
• recently discovered this brand on Etsy and I'm in love with their paper supplies, so simple and pretty!
• this print makes me smile
• always love Ashlee's words, find myself going back to this post again and again  
• I've seen this book recommended by many and you guys it is incredible!! I've started reading it with Birdie while Teddy naps and it is such a fantastic way to teach young kids about the world and respecting, loving and treasuring our differences. Couldn't love it more!
• also I often sing the praises of Boden but it's become a brand that I really love and trust for our whole family. You simply cannot beat the quality. I got the kids quite a few things for the fall but I especially love this sweatshirt I got for Birdie and this one I got for Teddy. So well made and just darling! 

Look at these big kids!! Speaking of bittersweet. After our walk we headed to the mall (which I loathe but Madewells are hard to come by around here and Montgomery mall has the closest one so...) to pick up some fall clothes and shoes for all of us. I still can't believe how much their feet grew this summer! They both went up a full size in just three months! And Birdie no longer fits in size 4T. Everything we bought was a size 5. At one point we were all in the fitting room and she was standing there in a size 5 sweatshirt and size 5 yellow corduroy pants (which were actually a tad bit tight on her) and I lost it. My big girl. My young lady. And at the same time... my baby. Forever. I felt my mind racing, desperately checking to make sure that I can still see that little bean that couldn't fit into size 0-3 clothing for weeks and weeks. She looks so different now but the eyes remain. Those eyes that took my breath away the first time they looked at me in that delivery room. In that moment, almost five years ago, I never felt more lost, frightened and unsure. I looked into the face of my baby and instantly felt calm. "We've got this" she seemed to say. And ever since then she has been my tree of wisdom, serenity and calm. Watching her grow has been an incredible experience that makes my heart burst with pride and joy but also ache with the disappearance of every knuckle dimple and mispronounced word. It's never going to get any easier is it?