I'm here just so busy doing 1000 things everyday. Some necessary and some temporarily necessary (stuff I add to my life to achieve a short-term goal but cost me in time and energy). I had to find another math curriculum for my 4th grader as Saxon Math 3 isn't organized in the way that the higher grades are organized and it just isn't working for me. I just don't get the separate Teacher's Edition book and the way concepts are introduced. It seems like there isn't good scope and sequence. I'm buying a used copy of Horizons Math and I'm praying for a better outcome. I had my 4th grader do placement tests for Math U See and Horizons and its amazing how different programs can be and what they teach when. I really don't like switching gears midstream but I can't take what I'm using now another day. Another change - I got the SOTW CDs at 50% off regular price from eBay so the kids can listen to the History Read Alouds. Well worth the investment. Everyone pays real close attention to be sure not to miss a word.

Half Way Through Week 1

Well so good so far. We seem so sail through Math and Language Arts pretty quickly without much pain. Science with Exploring Creation through Botany has been a great pleasure. The lessons are planned out for me, the notebooking journal is in place, the activities and experiments are hands-on and fun. We did the shoe taxonomy activity yesterday to learn how Botanist classify plants.

History with TOG to say the least is a little more daunting. Between SOTW and the suggested Read Alouds from TOG it is a lot of reading. I really do feel like I need to read both because SOTW tells a story which is easy to remember but the other resource gives the biography information needed to understand the key people of the time and serves as a resource for doing timeline work. I'm starting to think that purchasing the stories on CD may be a way to cover the read aloud work in SOTW. That way the kids don't have to hear my voice for an hour. On top of the suggested reading for history I selected 3 separate literature books for the girls to read during their reading time. Oldest daughter finished this in one day! The younger dialectic and UG daughter are reluctantly reading their choices. It's Wednesday and we have yet to do the Geography and Arts section of the TOG curriculum. I really thought History would be 3 days a week subject but with TOG it seems to be an everyday subject. I know they say to make it your own, you don't have to do it all, etc. etc. and I thought I had done that but I may have to pair it down even more. Whew!

Yesterday was UG daughter's first day of piano lessons - this was pure joy to watch. I am really looking forward to her progress. I also need to find something for her to practice on.

Easing into the New School Year

Yesterday I explained the History notebooking system to my younger girls who've never been homeschooled and we started in the first 2 chapters of SOTW. Boy do I love the way SOTW teaches history in a storytelling fashion. Because my rising 8th grader is preparing for high school after this year I am second guessing myself as to whether she should be doing the "standard" American history or join us in our study of the Middle Ages with TOG. Between her first semester study of history in public school and her second semester with me we started with Jamestown and barely began the Civil War when summer began. However, public school did some WWII & WWI studies first semester. Part of me feels like we should keep going until we hit modern times but I really don't want to divide myself between the Middle Ages and the Post-Modern era. What to do??

Won't she get enough American History in high school for me to not really worry about it?

Tentative Schedule

So here is the tentative schedule for our days:

8:20 - 9:00 Prayer Circle/Scripture Memory/Devotion

9:00 - 9:30 Drill & Math Instruction

9:30 - 10:00 Independent Math Work
(10 min Break)
10:10 - 10:55 Language Arts

11:00 - 12:30 History (M, W)
Science (T, F)

12:30 - 1:00 LUNCH

1:05 - 2:00 Art / Music /Computer

2:00 - 3:00 P.E. (Park Days / Rec Center)
Independent Reading / Library
3:00 - 4:00 Finish Morning Work Assignments

5:00 - 6:00 Dinner / Clean-Up

6:00 - 8:30 Productive Free-Time

9:00 PM LIGHTS OUT

Here is a copy of the weekly planning sheet I plan to give the kids so they know what should be done on a daily basis and can use it as a checklist of their accomplishments for the day.

4 weeks before the start of school

I knew when the summer started it was going to be over before it even began. With August nipping at my heels I am feeling the pressure of having everything together for the start of school. Last Saturday I caught a wind of motivation and planned out 4-6 weeks of Language Arts Lessons from a book I picked up from Classical Conversations when at a practicum in June titled "Our Mother Tongue: A Guide to English Grammar." I don't think it was intended to be a stand-alone curriculum but it seemed like a great idea when I purchased it. I ended up typing up all the grammar exercises in a Word document to give to my 4th & 6th grader for practicing new concepts introduced in my daily lessons for them. I just feel more prepared if I have sheets for them to work on while I figure out the flow of my day. I used "work" days this summer to get an idea of what it will be like this fall with all 3 girls. Here were my observations: one daughter doesn't like others talking while she is working on an assignment, sometimes 2 or 3 have questions about their individual assignments at once so there is a lot of waiting before they're able to ask questions, sometimes they need individual attention at the same time! Hence the reason why I see a need to have ready-made things for them to do during these "wait" times. I recall during my substitute days in public school a lot of that "wait" time was filled by the kids having a book handy in their desks to pull out. That's an idea. When you have nothing to do - READ. I realize also that my kids (especially the younger two) are used to very tight organized schedules. Even if we end up easing up on a schedule maybe I should start out with one so they know what we are doing and if there is a lull in the schedule or if we are behind = READ.

A great find!

"Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends" has been a great read-aloud for the girls and me. It has really opened up conversations about how to live in relationship with each other. What starts out as a great conversation about the inner workings of sibling relationships turns into how to relate to any and every one (friends, family members, etc.) It has been a time of tears, forgiveness, and laughter. Looking for a great study to help bring peace among siblings this is it!

An Elightening Trip to the Doctor

Whenever we visit the library I always peruse the homeschooling section and look through books I haven't read yet as the kids look for books they want to check out. I left with HomeSchooling The Right Choice! by Christopher Klicka and Beyond Survival by Diana Waring. Reading through the sections of Klicka's book I was most intrigued with the chapters dealing with Children's rights, Social Workers, and Doctors. As I read these sections I was reminded of the well-child visit appointment for my soon to be 13 year old a few weeks ago. I thought it was a little weird that the Nurse Practitioner asked my dd a series of questions that dealt with how she feels about herself, if there was anything she didn't like about herself, etc., to which my dd answered "not really." So she further asked "well there is something that everybody wishes were different about themselves ... on and on, can you think of something like that?" I was like what the? So the NP informs me that at age 13 my child has the right to a private doctor's visit. huh? If the child objects to the parent being in the room then by law I have to stay out of the room. She goes on to tell me that there were standard questions they ask focusing on teen issues like alcohol, drug abuse (I can't even remember what else she said). My dd innocently asked why wouldn't I want my mom in the room? My thoughts exactly! On one hand I do understand for the children that are at risk for various abuses these laws go on the books to protect them but you can't help to think the more government imposes on the rights of parents the more it undermines the authority of the parent. I could tell the NP was a little taken a back by my reaction to what she was saying but I just explained that I am very involved in my kids lives and education on those topics are supplied by her parents. It still causes me to have an emotional reaction - the audacity of some laws to interfere with the training of my children. Which brings me back to the books from the library. Klicka spoke about the importance of the HSLDA and the work they do on behalf on homeschooling families. He gave many examples of families who have received knocks on the door from authorities because a neighbor saw kids playing outside during school hours or they were in dirty clothes (boys playing in creek, etc.) Just one allegation can open up an frivolous investigation because people don't understand the legality of homeschooling. It was eye opening but good information. I think I may join the HSLDA or not play outside before 3 pm. Just kidding.