Keeping it Simple

We seem to have established a good rhythm for this week. I am far more relaxed this year than I was last year at this time. My evenings are being sacrificed to planning more often than I would like, but as the school year progresses, I'm hoping to find a better method for prep work. It does feel nice to have a routine again. Over the summer, we would slip from one day to the next. I think we were all a little tired of the lack of structure.

Our current game plan is: everyone up by 8am and finished with breakfast by 8:30. We have school time from 8 until about 11:30. When I need to work individually with one of the boys, the other one moves into the library and uses the table there for independent work. After lunch and recess time, we come back to the classroom to complete any unfinished seat work. Then we move on to the shared lessons in history, science or art. We usually wrap up by 2pm. If we have somewhere to be (piano, violin or library) we quit by 1pm.

I have been able to incorporate the 'fun' stuff more often this year. It has almost been a necessity with both boys schooling at the same time. This week we were reading about the origins of writing in "Story of the World". A few years back, I had picked up a set of stamps and book called "Fun with Hieroglyphs". This was a big hit! The boys spent a whole afternoon working on notes to one another. JT wrote a short story about a crocodile using the stamps.

At another point this week, JT suddenly said, "Can you find me a diagram of the inside of a tornado?" I helped him find one online. He then proceeded (completely unprovoked) to make his own diagram, look up information in two books and write a short report on Tornadoes. Yet another of my goals being met! "Provide opportunities and direction for the boys to explore their own interests."

We are keeping up with our Calvert material as well. JT is working his way through a bit of review before he takes the Lesson 40 math test. I promised him when he takes that test, he can spend a week working on the Life of Fred fractions book. I think we will follow a 2 week of Calvert/ 1 week Life of Fred routine until the Calvert material has been completed. Then we will continue with Life of Fred and a Pre-Algebra workbook that I ordered. JT also finished reading the abridged version of "Robinson Crusoe" in a couple days. The Calvert material expected him to spread it out over about 50 lessons, so I will have him complete the reading section of the first 3 tests now.

EM has surprised me with what he knows. He is not as outgoing as JT when it comes to showing his ability. He pulled off a 100% on his spelling pretest. He also zips through the reading material set for the first 20 lessons. I need to look ahead and find a good place to start for him. For now, I am reading books I borrowed from the library with him during our reading time. I also learned something interesting about his math skills. He does much better with addition of larger numbers. Ask him what 4 + 5 is and he has to think for a bit. 40 + 50...he answers quickly. Interesting. I also found that he has a hard time with flashcard math, but does terrific with dice. Good thing I bought that tub of 90 dice from Lakeshore Learning. :-)

One more thing I found this week. If you are at all interested in incorporating Bible study into your child's homeschooling, I found a great site! ABC, I Believe has free Bible lessons for younger children with fun activities that you can work into many different subjects. I especially like the worksheets that you can print. The first four lessons are completely free, if you want to purchase all 26, it is $12.95. We used the first lesson and the boys had fun following the "ant trail" to the clues.

In the end, this has been a good start to our year. I am feeling positive and enjoying finding things that benefit both of the boys' learning.