To School or Not to School....that is the question?

 This is my 3rd grader, otherwise known as Twinkle Toes.  We are back in public school this year so I thought I would do a post on that, since I am a big supporter of homeschooling as well.  I was really divided on the issue, trying to decide whether or not to homeschool again this year or do public school.  In the end, I really came to no good conclusions so we are still evaluating and considering this year and trying out public school again.  I'm not 100% sold on either end so I'm still sitting on the fence about the whole thing!  [my kids will surely be as neurotic as me :)]  No, they got their say in it and Twinkle Toes was excited to go back and see friends.  We had a great year last year and really accomplished our goals, which most of all was working on attitude and having a helpful spirit and she did so well.  The thing I will miss the most is being able to incorporate the spiritual aspects of our faith into daily study - reading the Scriptures as well as reading, writing, and arithmetic alongside that.  Last year we attended a Creation Science class and it was wonderful!  I'm considering letting her do that again this year even though she will be in school.  And we miss the 10 a.m. swimming lessons with the other homeschoolers.  I love the community of Christians I met who are dedicated to teaching their children and taking that responsibility upon their shoulders rather than delegating it to someone else.  So even though I am kind of enjoying the extra quiet time in my house right now, I miss my kids!  My goal for this year is to leave them every day with a prayer and have our "morning" experience be the best possible as I get them up and out the door.  And of course, try to "keep their hearts" as much as possible with gentle instruction and training in the few hours I get with them!  So Twinkle Toes is attending Central this year and she has an amazing teacher!  I'll post more on that later.......

 She's not in school, but she is just too darn cute not to post a picture.  This is "Firefly."  Grace is my other and I can't find a picture with her right now but she and I are doing preschool this year.

This is my 1st grader.  Isn't he handsome?