I love this time of year. New beginnings make me a happy girl!
I have to tell you that I crack up every time I see the commercials for back-to-school. They show mom ready to explode in excitement that she is getting ready to have time away from the children. I'm totally the opposite.
I feel like summer allows us to lighten up and do things we normally don't get to do, but it's also a time when my boys are outside for hours playing with their friends. I look forward to pulling in and settling down. School time also means that fall is on the way! I love it!
I have to tell you that I crack up every time I see the commercials for back-to-school. They show mom ready to explode in excitement that she is getting ready to have time away from the children. I'm totally the opposite.
I feel like summer allows us to lighten up and do things we normally don't get to do, but it's also a time when my boys are outside for hours playing with their friends. I look forward to pulling in and settling down. School time also means that fall is on the way! I love it!
This year I have made some pretty significant changes. I am very much looking forward to seeing how they fit our family.
We are moving from unit studies & online learning to a more classical education. Though I am sure if you had to label me it will be called, "Classically Relaxed". (grin)
2011-2012 Line-Up
Classical Conversations- CC is a community of homeschool families that meet once a week for 24 weeks to drill a foundation of core information. I love that it's just the basics and I get to go home and flesh out the areas we want to go deeper into. We will mostly use books.
I am tutoring the older foundations class and so looking forward to watching my kids shine for HIS glory as we get together each week.
Math- For math we will be using Master Pak drills and Horizons Math. I have explored other options since we will be returning to a more traditional paper/pencil route, but the Lord has consistently led me back to Horizons again and again.
We used this with Brandon several years ago so I am familiar with the program. I love the vivid graphics and the simplicity of one page (front and back) per day. I am just not sure how spiral will work with my younger gang?
I'm going to trust that if the Lord has led us to this program that means that this year it will be a great fit! (smile)
Language Arts- Truthfully, this is the one I am least confident in. I know and LOVE Easy Grammar and had planned to use it. However, I am going to do the whole CC shabang this first year so I can better determine whether it's a good fit for our home or not. I am very happy with the gals that tutor the Essentials Of Language Arts program each Tuesday so this makes it a little less scary.
Latin- This is the first time in 14 years we've ever added Latin to our lineup. I am actually very much looking forward to it. I remember how memorizing the Latin suffixes and prefixes in nursing school helped me to understand vocabulary. I think my children will find this opens up a whole new world to them in creating a language rich environment.
History- We will be memorizing 24 important timeline dates of history in our CC program and then fleshing them out at home with good books. I plan to "row" a few FIAR titles but not until I get my sea legs with our new program.
Geography- We are going to memorizes all the states and capitals along with all of our Presidents. This is one of the subjects I think the boys will LOVE!
Bible & Worldview- We are going to read one chapter a day and discuss. We will focus on the New Testament this year. We are also going to add in read-a-louds to show real life application. Our first book will be, "Heaven Is For Real". It's a true story of a little boys named Colton who spent time in heaven and came back to tell about it.
Our Schedule
8-9 am - Wake, Dress, Eat, Chores, Animals
9am-9:30- Bible & Praise & Worship
9:30-10- Math
10-10:30- New Grammar
10:30- 11:00- Break
11:00-Noon- Reading & Writing
Noon-1:30- Lunch
11:30-Noon- Reading & Writing
Breakout Session (Art, Music, Map)
2-3pm- Essentials/Grammar
JUST KIDDING!
We are NOT following the above schedule.
I just wanted to tease my friends who know me and I know read this blog. We'll do what we always do. I have a time we will start (9am at the latest) and our break for lunch. (11:30-1:00) I have a list of what's to be done and we just do it. Sometimes it goes faster and we get it all done by lunch and sometimes we have errands and split it up.
What are you guys doing?
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