Will it work? A first look at an organized day

I like color coding people and times.  The Blue is CC, the Pinks and Orangey Pinks are LB, the Yellow is me, the Purple is both girls, the Green is a scheduled rest or together time. I have lots more meetings during the weeks, but they aren't as predictable as the ones I have here.  I decided that I would do a morning and an afternoon session in a "main lesson block" where we'll cover the main content, art and writing for the day.  The other scheduled times are for reading, phonics and math in their own time slots.  My idea is to weekly add in the rest of my meetings and reorganize blocks as needed.  At least it works on paper, which is a big step towards working in reality.

Plans for Sixth and Second Grade

The Framework:
Both girls will continue Judo and art lessons.  LB will continue her ps enrichment program that offers science, music, art and pe.  She'll also take tap, jazz and ballet.  CC will be taking cello at school and will continue private lessons.  Our schedule will leave lots of time for reading, crafts and play.


Second Grade:
Last year I found that it is really easy for me to give LB a stack of workbooks to work through and call it school.  That is not the kind of school I want.   I also found that with my schedule I need something planned.  I am combining the MP Second Grade Curriculum Package for skill subjects with the Oak Meadow Third Grade package for content subjects.  The emphasis will be on reading fluently and writing with content focused on ancient civilizations and life sciences.

Here is our material:
Following the MP2 schedule:
Math: R&S Math 2  -- she needs simple, non-distracting, mastery. 
Phonics and Spelling: MP spelling and SRA Phonics 3
Reading: Little House in the Big Woods, Mr. Popper's Penguins, The Courage of Sarah Noble, Tales from Beatrix Potter (Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten, Johnny Town-Mouse)
Handwriting: New American Cursive 2
Oak Meadow 3 - Language Arts, History, Science, Art and Music
CLP Nature Reader 2 - extra reading practice + some science content .
Fluency Practice: Dancing Bears 

Sixth Grade:

This year, CC is going to a public charter school for sixth grade.  The school is based on the Paideia Program, classical homeschooling and Trinity Model schools with a foundation of Socratic methods.  They study Latin, diagram sentences, use Socratic methods, and emphasize truth, beauty and understanding.  We shadowed a couple of times last year, and CC was thrilled to see kids her age excited about learning. 

Planning Second Grade for LB

I have Oak Meadow 3 and MP 2, and I'm trying to coordinate them.  I love the way that OM integrates art into LA, history and science.  I love the straight forward plans of MP.  I sat down today with the first week of both programs with all my resources to see if my plan to combine them will work.  I know from my own experience that I work best when everything is "do the next thing" which is one of the reasons I like MP.  I'm hoping to organize OM so that it is just as easy for me to use.  Here's my first stab at it.  LB goes to an enrichment program on Tuesdays so I had to squish the five-day-a-week plans into four days.  OM provides the stories and background information in the TM.  The MP spelling list is in the back of the book on a page with room to copy the words.  I tried to stretch things out so that she wouldn't listen to 3 stories in one day then narrate 3 in one day and illustrate 3 in a day.  I plan to read the LA story on Sunday night before bed.  I'm going to try a few more weeks to see how it comes together.

Summer Report 3 - Reflecting on a Day and a Plan

One morning this week, CC read American Fairy Tales while she was eating breakfast. After she finished the book, she did a couple of Perplexors then worked on her MM math. LB copied graphics from a doggie supply website into a document as part of a game the girls have created. When she was done, she did a page of phonics with G-Ma. They made and ate lunch then went to a pool party with friends. It occurred to me today that this was a terrific day of learning even if it wasn't school.

I always encourage new homeschooling mothers to picture the kind of school they would want their kids to attend then work towards that. The atmosphere here was of learning that was authentic and relaxed. I want to keep that feeling in mind when I'm making plans for next year. I don't want the good things I have in mind for school to crowd out the best things.

2011-2012 Plans for Fifth Grade and First Grade

 Here are my plans for this year.

The Framework:
The girls will each go to a one-day-per-week enrichment school and take judo.  LB takes dance classes.  CC takes pottery classes at the local art school and is also learning the cello in a local strings orchestra program.  Hubby and I work full-time mostly from home.  I don't include reading here, but we read voraciously from a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction.  Both of the girls are working through the IEW poetry memorization book.

Fifth Grade:
Math -  Art of Problem Solving Prealgebra - Changed to MM%&6 due to changes for next year
English - IEW poetry, WTM writing, and still looking for grammar  
Philosophy - Sophie's World, Philosophy for Kids, and Philosophy 101 by Socrates
History - Aristotle Leads the Way (science as history this year)
Science - finishing ClassiQuest Biology along with  Ellen McHenry's Brain which will be followed by  ClassiQuest Physics (we're doing science year 'round)




First Grade:
Math - Saxon Math 2and LoF Elementary
English - ETC, McRuffy handwriting, reading , Writing With Ease 1 (starting at mid-year)
History - Three unit studies that she chose - Ancient Egypt, Dinosaurs, Medieval Times
Tales - first grade story list from LCC  and a collection of Greek and Roman myths
Other - art, music, science, and pe from the enrichment school

These are the plans.  It is good to have them.

Week 12 - And I thought last week didn't go well

I may as well just summarize by saying we are now on Day 67 for fourth grade and Day 69 for Kindergarten which is a gain of one day for fourth grade and two days for Kindergarten.  Illness reigns at The Magic School House. 

I started this week keeping actual notes about our week.  Here they are raw and unformatted.

CC Reading List

Read In Search of a Homeland: The Story of the Aeneid by Penelope Lively -Between Black Ships Before Troy, The Wanderings of Odysseus and this one, Odysseus was her favorite. She said the Roman story lacked a true hero like Odysseus . The Luck of Troy was her favorite stories from the three books because it showed how a true hero was willing to suffer to achieve his goal.   We talked a lot about how the stories compared and what they said about the people who wrote them and the times in which they were written.

She started reading An Old Fashioned Girl. 

LB Story List
The Little Mermaid by Andersen
Serendipity Stories
Always Room for One More
Fox in Sox
The Little Match Girl by Andersen

and lots of Jan Brett.

Monday -
CC
Sore throat is worse
Did Spelling Workout and Dot to Dots
Started new story - an adventure
missed Dental appointment and fencing

LB
ETC2 - 2 pages
1 page Math
Art - Picture - mixing colors
Little Mermaid
No Cavities
Mixed up agar for science project
Help peel potatoes for dinner

Tuesday
CC
Back to doctor for sore throat. Still not strep. Not mono either but will need to go back for a retest if still sick next Monday.
missed pottery
LB went to her enrichment School
I had a Very Important Document to publish

Wednesday
CC sick
LB played. Did Teach Me Kindergarten on my iphone.
played some more - making roller coasters for stuffed animals in the living room
Watched Kipper while I was on the phone all afternoon
Ballet
Didn't count as school.
Hubby tucked them in bed and I checked on them while I was still on the phone. Tucked hubby in too - he had to get up early on Thursday.

Thursday
uh-oh week is almost gone.
Starting to worry that homeschooling isn't going to work with my new job, but try to calm myself that half of my students are out of school so that explains why I haven't accomplished much. Resolve that LB will not watch so much tv today.

Picked out materials for next year. CC wants Asian history - but not all wars so we'll concentrate on history, geography and culture starting with a modified SL 5. LB is getting SL 1 modified or OM1. I think that since I haven't had much school this week I'm worried about their progress. Planning next year has helped me to relax. Of course plans are subject to change. I know I want some structure for LB since she'll be in first grade, and I have a history of just letting her play. CC is getting pretty independent and loves to follow trails. I will torture her with IEW B next year just for fun (mine not hers). Next year we will be more structured.

Hmm - I think I'm running a fever now.

CC made me some tea with fresh mint, lemon  balm, vanilla and honey. She said it'd make me feel better. Then she put on a show for her sister and started working on her story.

CC Started reading Treasure Island before she went to bed . That is a mistake. She read all of part one, then called me. Her eyes were the size of saucers, and she was breathing heavily. She said it was the most amazing, dramatic, adventurous, story ever. It was like all the other adventure stories in the world with their boring parts squeezed out. She had a terrible time getting to sleep because she kept thinking about it and being tempted to read the rest. But the good news is that she maybe she's feeling better since she's reading.

But she did miss her school day.  Canceled school for LB.
Friday - Here it is. The big day.  Last chance to do something.

CC woke up with a fever and sore throat again. She is however feeling like working on her story - its in her mind and she wants it on paper.

Her energy quickly faded.  She added another scene to her story.  LB and I went for a two mile run and bike ride and had tea party.  I guess this isn't school - again.

What? I'm changing plans already? I haven't even really started yet!

Working on the Tree House

Well, I'm about 17 days into the school year, and I've decided to change things a bit. Yes, I haven't actually started my planned material, but that isn't the point. I have decided to start the year with a focus on manners. Yep Manners. I have a bunch of books like Manners, Oops! and Everyday Graces that we're going to read instead of some of the other things I had planned. I've decided it would be good for all of us to start off the year with some extra consideration for the ones around us.

BB made it safely to the other side of the world. He starts back to school on Monday so we will too. We'll do some reading, some writing and some math and art. I think that will be a good official start to our year. The girls start at their enrichment school the week after that. Once we get a good rhythm with all of that, then I'll add more of our subjects at home and do the things I had planned originally.

Crawling into the new year

humph. That is how I feel about the start of school. I have the plans that I've labored over all summer. I have the books. I even have pencils, paint, paper and protractors. I'm still missing something important.

We've done three weeks of school stretched out over the last month or so. We've even gotten back to long division and phonics. Maybe it will feel more like school after we put BB on his plane to Japan which is our traditional start of school. Maybe once it quits feeling so much like summer. Maybe once the enrichment school starts and we get into our fall routine. Carpools, classes, morning walks, a real routine - that must be part of what is mising.

I'm looking forward to looking forward to school.
I'm trying to incorporate my newest Einstein quote into our school life -

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.

How do you lead children to experience the mysterious? I'm still turning that one over in my mind.

Getting ready for next year

We made our 172 days this year, but it was a stretch for us. We had taken off lots of time during the year and by summer we were all tired of school.

I had planned to continue math through the summer, but plans change. Our house doubled in occupants for the past month and made just too many opportunities to not get around to the math. We've been learning some good social skills instead like tolerance and getting to know people that are differnt and working past jealous feelings and talking to people who have hurt our feelings.

I worked dilligently to do lessons for next year in Homeschool Tracker, but now I'm second guessing my plan. I want to go over it all again and see if I can simplify it more. I know I need to be more organized because of my new work schedule, but I'm not sure what that should look like. I want something easy to manage and easy for hubby or my mom to oversee if need be; but I really don't want to change our school into a results-based place. I love that it is still exploratory even though we have high standards.

Despite all of that, I did print out the yearly calendar from donnayoung and mark off two days of school for each child already. After I turned in my "Notice of Intent to Homeschool", we spent a day at the King Tut exhibit which has to count as school. We also spent time exploring a ghost town in the mountatins which certainly goes into that state history category. Two days down and 170 to go even if they were both field trips.

A first look at Kindergarten

This is my second time teaching Kindergarten, and I'm a bit sad that I can't do it the same way for LB that I did for CC. I think, that given the limits of our time and schedule, I have still made a terrific Kindergarten plan for her.

My main focus for her is going to be reading. She has a problem with visual processing that she is supposed to outgrow sometime before she is 7 so I'm very nervously doing watchful waiting. In the meantime, we are doing Phonics Pathways. Right now we just do it a couple of times a week, but for K, we'll do it daily. She was very ready to learn to read at 4, but because of her vision, she started guessing words,struggling to keep her place in the line, and feeling that she wasn't a good reader. Being the youngest and knowing that the other two read at four, I think it is pretty tough. I've tried to relax about the reading to make sure that I'm not adding more stress to the process.

Besides reading, LB needs to write which will help the reading. I am going to use a mix of Intentional Writing (my own thing) and copy work. Once reading is easier and less of a struggle, we'll move into Writing With Ease 1. A big part of learning to write here is retelling stories, otherwise know as narration. We'll use Wisdom Tales for this.

For math, I have a variety of hands-on math things including Miquon and Right Start A which I'll add in as I can, but we'll mainly work through the rest of BJU K math then move into BJU 1 math.

For Literature, we are going to focus on Aesop at the beginning of the year. I have two or three Aesop books plus Aesop Literature Pockets. After that, we'll do Anderson Fairy Tales.

Geography is going to be covered by Around the World in 80 Tales plus a little geography workbook I found that we'll start using later in the year.

We'll continue to work through Little Labs from Thames & Kosmos for science in addition to our Nature Study.

For fine arts, we'll do O'Keeffe, Monet, and Cassatt for artist and picture study, Stevenson for our poet, recorder for music, and watercolor for our art medium. She also takes art classes at an art school

That leaves history. My favorite book for history for this age is Baldwin's 50 Famous Stories. I'm adding a book on wonders of the ancient world to that.

She will also start a once a week enrichment ps which will include French, hands-on science, art, music, p.e., lunch and recess.

Once I get the rest of the books in, I'll make weekly lesson plans so that between hubby, my mom, and me we will be able to get a little bit of school work done and read all of those terrific stories that I want her to hear.

A first look at fourth frade

For 4th grade CC wants to study like a Roman girl would have. We've made some compromises and detailed the material. I just need to get my hands on all of it and map the lessons.



Roman children need to be able to write-
She's going to keep two journals, one for her modern self and one for her Roman girl self.
We're going to do CW Homer A. Once she saw the samples, she loved it.
We're doing Spelling Workout E because she needs a spelling program, and I need something easy.

Well-educated Romans spoke Latin and learned Greek. She's continuing the barbaric language of the Gauls which she started last year which is a diplomatic language in the modern world. She's also learning a language that is far more complex that we have the benefit of a personal tutor (brother) who has been studying it for 5 years now
First Start French and Rosetta Stone French
Japanese lessons with her brother over skype once he goes back to school

Books were highly valued and difficult to obtain. They were not consumed in vast quantities. We'll be reading stories a Roman child would have read.
The Children's Homer
Black Ships before Troy
The Wanderings of Odysseus
In Search of a Homeland
We'll also listen to audio versions of the big three in a good translation
She'll be using chunks of each for memory work this year too.

History was a fairly new invention. Roman children would not have had access to history of other parts of the world, but they would have known their own history and heroes.
Famous Men of Rome

Science is where we are diverging. A Roman girl wouldn't have had science. A well-educated Roman man may study astronomy and natural philosophy, but not what we'd call science. We're at least sticking to tangible sciences.
We're doing a unit on architecture, one on physics, and one on science in Ancient Rome. We also do Nature Study.

Wealthy Roman girls would have spent a lot of time with the fine arts so we will too.
She wants to concentrate on watercolors at home, and she takes classes at an art school.

She decided she wants to play the Bassoon. She also wants to learn the Lyre. We decided to start with a recorder to learn to read music in general which I've neglected in these kids. BB played a cello and a trombone, plus the recorder in early elementary.

Fiber arts are a practical skill that would have been possible for a Roman girl to learn. She has a spinning wheel, but we're going to start at the beginning with carding wool then she'll take a class for spinning then a class for weaving.

Oh and of course she'll be doing math. Roman girls needed math for running a household. She'll continue same math that is working for us now. Good ole Saxon. She's more than halfway through 5/4, and we have 6/5 already. She also does Life of Fred, Math Perplexors, Problemoids, and the Art of Problem Solving.

Besides all of that, she's going to learn typing, AND she goes to school one day a week.

PLans for 2009-2010 a draft

I know I have a great, detailed set of long-term plans, but. CC told me she wants to study like the Roman children did and I want to do American history next year. So this is kind of what I am planning. Its a start. It changes over time. I have weeks before I will decide. Also, what to do with LB is the biggest problem. I think I need something more structured so that I don't get done with my school day before I get her schooling in. Then again, its better if they are doing the same things.

I'm going to put links in to the books tomorrow.

My CC loves Ancient Rome and has spent this year studying it on her own. She wanted to have her school next year reflect more of a true classical education that a Roman child might have gotten. She suggested some of the content based on her research about what Roman children learned. I am also folding my youngest in to more formal studies next year, but gently.

Writing & Grammar
Classical Writing Aesop using my own models.

Latin
Lively Latin
Mater Aserina - Poems in Latin for Children by Milena Minkova

Roman History and Culture
To Be a Roman - Topics in Roman Culture ]by Margaret A. Brucia
Once Upon the Tiber by Rose Williams

Early American History and Geography
My own plan I am working on based on Colonial Living by Edwin Tunis, A History of US by Hakim, some activity books, and the Core Knowledge history sequence.

Science
We were recently given a really good, free, telescope so we are studying astronomy.
Kids Book of the Night Sky
Child's Introduction to the Night Sky
Also doing the Kinex phyics modules.
We also have a Discover and DO dvd and Sonlight science kit

Math
MEP and Singapore with maybe some Life of Fred Fractions

Literature for her to read
She is reading though the Lang color fairy books.
In Search of a Homeland by Lively
Little Women

Other -
Continuing Spelling Power
She wants to memorize selections from Homer and Virgil next year instead of "just" poetry.
She takes art, music, Spanish, PE, and science at a once-a-week cottage school.


For the K child who is too young for K in our district:
Reading - using whatever method works for her
Copywork
Miquon math
Poetry memorization
I'm going to make a shelf of books that I want to make sure I read to her.
My American history plan will include weekly picture book and easy reader selections for this child to keep her in the loop.
She does science with us.
Lots of play and helping out around the house.

Week 13 - Peeking Ahead

Guess what the temperature is right now? Did you guess 1? Yep, it is ONE degree Fahrenheit. That is cold. It is going to stay snowy and cold. I think that "Partly Cloudy" and 32 is the best day of the week next week. I think we will plan to stay inside and enjoy wintery, warm things. OR

We could go for annual check-ups, go to a Girl Scout holiday party, go swimming, go on a field trip to an art museum, and go grocery shopping. AND this is the last week before Christmas. AND we have family coming the week after. Nice. It would be good to cancel school this week, but we can't skip math because it is always bad when we do. If we are doing math, we may as well add in the subjects CC likes. We are doing school this week. More Lewis Carrol. More Jabberwocky. More Middle Ages. Some writing. Lots of reading. That should be enough.

Have a good week.

First Quarter Studies - Second Grade

I have decided to break up the year in quarters for planning. The quarters will be 9 weeks long.

We will start with Singapore Primary Math 3A. We will also be doing Challenging Word Problems, and a few mathy picture books such as Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar, Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream, and Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi. We will balance this by playing Knock Out from Muggins Math and skip counting by every number we can. And let us not forget that I am also going to try out Mammoth Math.

We will start Lively Latin this year. It nicely rolls Latin, English Grammar, and Roman history into one sweet package.

For writing, I am going to start with handwriting using Can-Do Cursive from the Handwriting Without Tears people. It combines handwriting with some grammar and punctuation review. I like to reinforce grammar and punctuation wherever it will fit.

In addition to the handwriting, I am going to try out Just Write. It is a simple workbook based writing program that I found at Winter Promise. I really like the second grade writing instruction they give. It covers story elements, character, setting, story sequencing, using vivid words, paragraphs, and editing.


And because I think we need to do more writing, I am somehow going to schedule in Writing With Ease using workbook 2. It isn't released yet, so I have to wait a few weeks before I can get it, study it, and decide how to implement it. In the meantime, I have writing covered well.

I am very excited to start reading Celtic Memories with my girls. I love the stories in this book. This will be our Literature for this quarter.

For history we will be starting the Middle Ages. I'll use the Story of the World and a reading list that I compiled from several sources including Tapestry of Grace Year 2 Unit 1.
There that is it. All. Done. No More. Really. That is all we are doing. At least it is all I am doing at home. We'll have Girl Scouts every other week, co-op Earth Science which I am teaching, a Butterfly science unit, an Olympics unit study, clay and ceramics, Spanish, music, and PE. Most of the extra things are stuffed into one over-filled day of "socialization" and "enrichment."

That is my first quarter plan for second grade.

We will really need to begin school someday

I have often warned new homeschool moms to "ramp up" to their full schedule so that they have time to make adjustments and such. I think I need to take my own advice. Maybe I will be an unschooler this year instead. I am still not excited about starting school. I need to just set a date and jump in. Or, I need to "ramp up."

I don't have a plan. Okay, I do, but.... I have a plan for the school day and most of a plan for the year. I just don't have a plan to start. How do I transition from our sweet lazy days to a schedule?

The Plans

At Long Last, here is the New Plan. Click on it for a bigger view.

updated Feb 28, 2009.Here is the older one.

Click on that picture for a better look at the overview. I made it in Excel. It is a simple spreadsheet. I keep revising it. The links below are the more detailed plans with links to the material I currently plan to use. I refine the plans as I go, but it is good to have a plan.

Okay as of Jan 2009 I am working on a New Plan. I will update the picture above and the details below once I get this middle organization done. The reason for the update is that my ideas have been refined this year as things have been progressing. Here is what I am thinking.

Here is the data that went into the big plan at the top.
History - K SOTW 1, 1 SOTW 1, 2 SoTW 2, 3 SOTW 3, 4 American History using The American Story, 5 FMOG or HO2 Ancients, 6 FMOR or HO2 Medieval , 7 HO2 Early Modern and half of History of US, 8 History of Us AND HO2 Modern, 9 HO 1, 10 TOG 2, 11 TOG3, 12 TOG4

Literature
K Fairy, Folk and Mother Goose
1 Fairy tales
2 Celtic Tales, Tales from Shakespeare, 1001 Arabian Nights, Norse Tales
3 Kidnapped, Calico Captive, Poor Richard
4 Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, The Railway Children, The Secret Garden,
5 Black Ships Before Troy, Wanderings of Odysseus
6 In Search of a Homeland, The Hobbit
7 Tales of the Mabinogion, King Arthur, Robin Hood
8 Scarlet Letter, American Short Stories, To Kill a Mockingbird
9 Treasure Island, Pride and Prejudice, Tale of Two Cities
10 Illiad, Odyssey, Aeneid
11 British Lit (the list BB used)
12 Shakespeare (LL Shakespeare ), David Copperfield, Les Miserables, a Russian Novel


Writing - K Copywork, 1 Copywork, 2 IEW Fables Myths Fairy Tales, 3 CW Aesop , 4 IEW US History, 5 CW Homer A, 6 CW Homer B, 7 IEW Medieval writing, 8 CW Maxim, 9 CW Cheria, 10 CW Herodotus, 11 CW Plutarch, 11 CW Demosthenes

Math - K4 BJU K & RS A, K5 BJU1 & RS A, 1 BJU 2 & Singapore 2 IP, 2 BJU 3 & S 3 IP, 3 BJU 4 & S 4 IP, 4 BJU 5 & S 5 IP & LoF Fractions, 5 BJU 6 & S 6 & LoF Decimals, It gets fuzzy after here. I think I will still do Chalkdust for higher maths but not this young. 6 LoF Alg1 & Nem 1, 7 LoF Geometry & Nem 1, 8 LoF Alg2 & NEM 2, 9 LoF Trig & NEM 2, 10 LoF Calc & Chalkdust SAT, 11 CC math, 12 CC math

Latin - 3 Latin for Children A, 4 LfC B, 5 Latin Prep 1, 6 Latin Prep 2, 7 Latin Prep 3

Grammar - 1 FLL 1/2, 2 GWG 4, 3 GWG 5, 4 GWG 6, 5 AG, 6 AG, 7 AG, 8 Grammar with a Giggle, 9 Fix-It Grammar, 10 Fix-It Grammar, 11 Fix-It Grammar

Science - 1 R.E.A.L Science Life, 2 R.E.A.L. Science Earth, 3 RS4K Chemistry & Physics & Biology, 4 The Elements by McHenry, 5 The Way Life Works by Hoagland, 6 Exploring the Sky by Moeschl, 7 Science Matters by Hazen, 8 Carbon Chemistry by McHenry & The Elements in Action, 9 Cambridge Earth Science, 10 Cambridge Life Science, 11 Prentice Hall Chemistry, 12 Cambridge Physical Science


I Still need to revise the links below for the updated plans.

For LB the youngest child and third student:
Pre-K (2008-2010)
Kindergarten (2010-2011)
First Grade (2011-2012)
Second Grade (2012-2013)


For CC the oldest girl and second student:
First Grade (2007-2008)
Second Grade (2008-2009) Third Grade (2009-2010)
Fourth Grade (2010-2011)
Fifth Grade (2011-2012) Sixth Grade (2012-2013)

It is all ordered - we will have school this year

Well, I finally pressed the order buttons at Amazon and Rainbow Resource.  I decided that I wouldn't buy anymore books to go with Medieval History so I reorganized my list of books and moved everything I don't have down to a list of books to get from the library.  Instead of worrying about getting them at the "right" time, I put them into three groups so that I can just order from that group when I need a book.  After roughly twelve weeks, I will rotate to the next group.  

 I also got a handwriting kit for LB instead of HWT which wasn't in stock at RR.   I almost bought a new reading program for her, but I am determined to not use a program with her.  We will work on letter formation and RS math this year. 

All we need is paper and smencils and we will be ready to start in September.

A Checklist

I think I have completed the schedule for second grade - which is good since we are starting soon.  I went through a lot of trouble making a very detailed schedule that had page numbers and lots of nonsense on it and tried to keep it up to date as I changed material.  It just doesn't work for me.  Here is my new schedule.  I think it reflects that we do prefer to just move forward in our material and that I want to focus on core subjects.  Math and writing will get the most time.  Lively Latin will cover grammar, Latin, vocabulary, and ancient history.  History has been simplified to Story of the World volume 2 with the wonderful choices from ToG added in where they fit.  I'll leave all of the science to the cottage school and the library.  We'll work on art together so that I can learn to draw.   We'll start at the beginning of our books and work through them until the end.   I think I can stick to this schedule.  My other one was starting to give me a headache before school even began.

Things To Do before School Starts

With second grade and more not-preschool coming up in less than ten days, I need to find some inspiration.  I have planned and planned and planned.  The problem is that I have over-planned.  I just need to plan to start with what I have and see how it works.  The first thing I need to do is make a to-do list of all of those things I have put off this summer and finish them up even though summer is too nice to spent even one minute at the DMV.

Here is my list of essential things.

• Tags expired the beginning of summer
• Heater needs to be replaced
• Giant holes in siding from woodpeckers need to be fixed
• Dead trees must be chopped and removed
• One of non-load supporting beams on my porch broke

Here is my list of other things.

• Visit wolf rescue center
• Make notebooks for history
• Decide what to teach at co-op
• Paint the kitchen and bathrooms
• Visit my sister in Texas - still haven't met that new baby

I would much rather sit in my swing under my tree (which needs to be trimmed) and watch the kids play.

First Day of School will be...

It is official.  The first day of school at The Magic School House will be July 28.  We will school for two weeks then take a two week break to go to the beach.   Co-op and the cottage school don't start until September so we should be nicely into our rhythm before those begin.

Where did my summer go?