To Music: "This is My Father's World".

I went to the homeschool expo this past weekend in St. Louis. Last year at the expo I discovered Dianne Craft and our lives have changed drastically for the better. Not that we weren't okay--but Michael REALLY was having a hard time with anything to do with school--especially reading. I could totally make this post be about nutrition, essential fatty acids, and my obsession relationship with real food (as opposed to "frankenfood")--which is, by the way, my absolute favorite term to describe processed fake food.

Tangent.

Michael is a joy to homeschool now. Not because he loves it or even has a desire to do it, but because he gets it. I no longer feel I have to jump through hoops for him to get it--he just does. It is like a switch was flipped after I removed all the junk from his system and started giving him real food and essential fatty acid supplements. He's in 1st grade. When I began homeschooling him this past August he was barely reading anything--he couldn't stay focused, was easily distracted. He would be distracted by the ticking of my wristwatch. Not so today. Over the course of a few months, he blasted through Hooked on Phonics K and 1st grade. I gave him 1st grade readers from Sonlight. He said they were too easy. I gave him 2nd grade readers from Sonlight. He said those were too easy. I tossed aside the first half of them and went straight to the last ones in the schedule. He doesn't say they are too easy, but I never have to help him with a word. I gave him a reader from our curriculum for this next school year that we'll be starting in August (which is a 3rd grade reader) and he read it just fine.

This is a miracle and I don't say that lightly. I really mean it.

So, back to my title and my thoughts about the expo. I went with a few of my buddies--Alisha, Lynelle, and Elise. Elise and I were separated at birth and we say this because we think alike and do LOTS of things exactly alike and are interested in the same things. But there is one big difference: Elise reads poetry to her children, plays classical music for them, exposes them to art. Me? Not so much.

I'm into stuff like this:

So, when I tagged along to a "My Father's World" workshop with the rest of the girls, I was done. I feel like I spent the rest of the weekend at their display booth. I have abandoned my Sonlight and my eclectic mix of classical and Charlotte Mason that I pull out of thin air. I could almost say I am in love.....

I cannot wait to get started. I'm not sure I will wait. I was able to purchase what I needed and take it home that day, so I've ripped into all of it and read through it, basically played with all of it. It's like Christmas. My struggles with art, poetry, and music are solved. The only problem is that my husband will not stop singing.....this is My Father's world.