Why I love homeschooling - Reason #2

There are so many neat resources available! A few years ago my friend Lynn designed and wrote a unit study based on the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. I am not a unit study mom - I haven't a creative bone in my body, and I'm way too lazy and disorganized to successfully pull off anything really "fun." But because this came from the pen (computer) of someone I know and love, and whose taste in books I trust, I had to give it a try.

Lynn named her unit study Lion Preparatory Academy and divided it up to cover 35 weeks. We used it from August to December of 2002. David and Marley were much younger and didn't really participate, but Tom, Jacy, Sarah, and Joan enjoyed it and always looked forward to our "Narnia days." We didn't finish the course - only about 12 weeks - and I thought we'd get back to it eventually. In the meantime, I was so enthralled with what I (still) believe to be The Best Unit Study Ever that I showed it to all my homeschooling friends in VA and even loaned it to someone to "keep for a few weeks to look at."

I'll bet you can guess what happened. "A few weeks" turned into a few months, then to a couple of years, and I forgot who had it. When I started packing to move from Virginia to Alabama last December I missed my book. I called Kristi, because she was the most likely to have it. When I'd shown it to her she loved it, and expressed a wish to use it someday. She and I got together with all our children about once a month for lunch, conversation, and play, and I just knew Kristi had borrowed it to use and would be ready to return it. But she didn't have it. So I queried other, less-likely, candidates. No one had my book! Now I was desperate. It was worth every penny Lynn charged, but I'd hoped I wouldn't have to buy a second copy for myself! I told Steve my problem and he advised me to "take a deep breath, suck it up, and call Lynn and order another copy. " So I did, and decided to also order a copy for Kristi as a gift.

This year I decided that the three youngest children were at an age-range that was do-able for me to attempt Lion Prep again, but this time for the entire year. We've marked Friday as our "Narnia day," and we'll spend a year in Narnia!

(You can read more about Lion Prep here .)