Monday, August 25, 2008

Sorta kinda the first day of school

This year we are starting off with a whimper, instead of a bang. Normally, I like to organize my materials and tidy the homeschool shelves. Here's a picture from last year's well organized shelves.












This year, all the stuff from last year is still shoved onto the shelves in a mess. We are still in the middle of a remodel. Things are piled everywhere. I would share a picture, but that would mean that I would actually need to find my camera first.

I'm trying out a homeschool record keeping program, Homeschool Tracker Plus, that I bought in a fit of optimism at a homeschool conference a few months ago. It has some features I like and some I'm still trying to figure out. It is a bit laborious when you start using a new system, no matter how good it is.

This week we are only doing what I call our "morning routine." Our morning routine includes the following:

Personal devotional time (scripture study, prayer, journal)
Family devotional (scripture study, prayer)
Scripture Memorization
Oral Language Exercises
Daily Grams
Explode the Code (for my 3rd Grader only)
Spelling Power
Word of the Day extrapolated from English from the Roots Up
We Write to Read

Next week I will add math and foreign language. All the kids use Saxon for math. My oldest will try an online course from a university for Spanish while my younger children will continue with Rosetta Stone.

The following week we will start History, Science, and English/Literature classes with an online middle school/high school. This is also the week that Homeschool Band Ensemble, HP Symphony and Homeschool Orchestra will start. I haven't decided if I will try to do private lessons this year. I'm not sure if we have either the time or the money.

I will probably use Story of the World for history with my 3rd grader. For Science will study whatever she is interested in. English will pretty much be the same, anything she is interested in reading.

So, by week 4 we should be going full steam ahead.


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2 comments:

Idaho Dad said...

We're also starting off with a whimper. I had big plans this summer to finish up our basement, then outfit the place with mega-shelves, big desks, etc, but it's not done yet. And won't be for another month. So, I'm not organized at all, and am still not sure where we'll do our lessons each day.

Anonymous said...

You may be starting off with a whimper, but it sure sounds like all of you have a full year of great subjects ahead. Thanks for sharing what your schedule looks like. I always find reading what other homeschoolers do to be so interesting.