First Week of School

Usually, moms who have their kids in public school are saying at the end of summer, "I can't wait for school to start!"  Moms who homeschool might say, "I'm not ready for school to start yet!"  But this year, I can honestly say I AM SO HAPPY THAT SCHOOL HAS STARTED!!!

We've had such a busy, crazy summer it has really thrown me for a loop.  We've really not had much time to enjoy the summer at a leisurely pace.  And I've had very little, next to no time to get this year's school ready.  I spent all last week frantically working up our routines and plans for the year.  I finally got nearly everything done.  I worked on a few new things, but mostly we are following our 4 year rotation with only small changes.

This year Audrey is 10th grade, Austin is 7th, Thomas is 5th, Emma is 4th and Henry is the King of Preschool Chaos!  Here's what we're studying this year:

• Pearl of Great Price and The Old Testament
• Chemistry (Audrey has her own outside-the-home class on this, the rest of us are studying it together)
• Ancient History
• Foundations in English (Literary periods, special literary forms, writing skills; we'll also study Literature that connects to what we're studying in history)
• Geography (we have made this a part of our yearly routine, studying countries from different regions of the globe....this year we're at The Americas, we'll also obviously study geography as part of our ancient history)
• The Arts (continuing in flute, violin, piano, guitar, and whatever instrument Thomas picks!; art skills and great artists)
• Writing (we're putting a special emphasis on this for this year, doing writing exercises above our usual English work)
• Math, Grammar, Spelling
• Latin and Greek word roots
• Latin (as a foreign language)
• Tennis (Audrey and Austin)
• Swimming (all the kids except Henry)

Audrey will also be studying:

• Spanish
• Home Economics

This week has gone pretty well.  I always experiment with slightly new ways of ordering our homeschool days and weeks.  This year I'm setting Thursday as mostly an activity/project day and Friday as Field Trip day.  Field trips are something that have gotten away from me over the last couple of years.  I really want to get back into those.  If you know of any cool places to go, let me know!  I've had to make a few tweaks, but overall it's been a successful routine.  (I tend toward routines rather than rigid schedules....I find I start to become a slave to the clock when I schedule each minute.)

Here are some photos from this week.  I always say I'm going to take pics on the first day of homeschool, but I'm always so excited and busy that first day, I always forget!

Audrey hard at work on math

Austin practicing piano

Austin in a new favorite reading spot on the stairs

Thomas doing math on the couch

Emma....being.....Emma

Austin preferred to play with the trees.

Our field trip to the Fossil Museum....yeah, thanks Aurora Fossil Museum for telling me on the phone that very morning that you would be open till 12 noon.  10:30am is not 12noon.  Just sayin.

Audrey, not really interested in digging.

Thomas enjoyed it though

And Emma.

They were the only ones willing to get dirty.

Well, except Henry.

Austin and Audrey did make themselves useful "holding up" this sign.

Half of our finds.  Not a lot of luck at the digging pit today.

My advice....if you call the Fossil Museum to see what their hours are that day, make sure you state the obvious to them:  "I am asking you this information because I am coming today.  Obviously.  So please be open."  Then repeat.

Thomas got his Webelos badge this week, too.

Since our emphasis this year is on art, we started working with pastels and charcoals this week.

Audrey with her works of art.

Austin's "art"....hmmmm....money....is he trying to tell me something?

Thomas with some still life and abstract designs.

Emma with 2 still life drawings.

And mine.

And that's what our fingers looked like after!

So that was our first week.