Never too late...

We are finally in a really great place in our homeschool.  The boys tested this summer and many of my constant doubts as to whether or not we should continue to homeschool fell away when the results arrived in the mail.  Let's pause for a moment, can you hear that?  It is the sound of my own horn, yep it is tooting LOUD!  I expected them to do well and they did, they far exceeded my already ambitious expectations.

Anyway, in addition to our normal routine, math, spelling, reading, music, and a touch of history, this year we have discovered online classes.  We are LOVING IT!  Right now I absolutely love http://www.excellenceinwriting.com.  The boys are taking writing/grammar classes that are wonderful. The classes are rigorous, engaging, and fun.  Bonus--I am learning quite a bit myself.  When writing, I typically just throw commas in when I feel like it.  It has worked okay for years, but now I am learning the mechanics and it isn't loathsomely boring.  Apparently it really is never too late to learn new tricks.  The other big bonus is that The Institute for Excellence in Writing is teaching things in the way that I would if I had time to prepare and didn't have two little girls to entertain simultaneously.

The other big discovery for this school year is http://www.veritaspress.com.  The boys are doing live online literature classes.  This is fabulous, they get the read-aloud in class experience, they get valuable peer-to-peer discussion, and they get academic analysis of challenging original, unabridged texts.  I am totally thrilled!!!  Once again, incredible learning experience for the boys that I didn't have to assemble in the time that I unfortunately do not have.  Yay for online classes!!!

C's impressive 6th grade literature reading for this year:

K's equally impressive 4th grade literature reading for this year: