Officially Homeschoolers

We'll, we have been officially homeschooling for 2 months now and I love it!  The girls are doing really well, although I am really struggling with getting the 1st grader on a schedule.  She has CAPD and I believe ADD as well and so it is very hard to get her to concentrate for very long.  So we take frequent breaks but then she goes off for her break and I see something I need to get done and before you know it, it's an hour later and she has been playing this whole time.

Luckily, she is only 1st grade so I know that we aren't doing to much damage.  I also feel that I want her to like learning and if I am being to strict with her and demanding she will begin to hate school work.

I think the biggest things I want my girls to learn is that learning is fun and you can turn almost any situation into a learning experience.  I do want to try and stay on track with what colleges would want and so forth but how we do is going to be our own style.  I am already finding resources that I do like and ones that I don't.

I am also finding that I still was stuck in the box more than I thought I was. I am working on that, I have always been the more "rebellious" one in our way of thinking about education, but I didn't realize how much I was still influenced by what I learned in public school concerning how school should be. I am loving this and love looking up blogs and resources on the subject! :)

I want the first shot!

I have a preteen, well actually I have a preteen for about a month and then she will be a full-fledged teenager.  Yes, I am stocking up on coupons for hair dye!  A couple of weeks ago, we were kind of going through something with a friend of ours when a thought occurred to me.  I want first shot at my kids.

I don't want my kids learning about boyfriend/girlfriend stuff from their friends.  I don't want my kids learning about right and wrong from their friends. I don't want my kids learning about what they should look like or what a real friend is from their friends.  I want to be the one to teach them these things first.  Now, I am not naive in thinking that they will only listen to me and not their friends, but I know that first impressions and first statements stick with you, am I right?  I don't want my almost teenager to think that she isn't special because she doesn't have a boyfriend at the age of 13.  I don't even want her thinking about that subject,  I did when I was her age and it really messed me up.  I want to be able to teach her that a boyfriend does not define her and that there will be plenty of time for dating and such when she is much older but right now the Lord has a special plan for her that she needs to be focused on.

I just want a chance to plant the seeds that I feel the Lord wants planted, to surround this seedling with the nutrients and environmental conditions needed to encourage healthy growth. Before all the weeds start to invade, I want to make sure that she has a firm foundation that will help her battle through.