This Week's Plan

We'll jump back into school on Tuesday.

My basic plan for our days is as follows:

Morning Time 
English 
French 
Spelling with my littles
Reading aloud 
Math 
History 
Science 

This order is based on the number of kids working in each discipline.  We all do Morning Time and English together.  I'm still not sure if Nathan and Ben will want to study French with us.  If not, they'll use that time for their Latin studies.  Then we peel off Judith and Rebekah while I work with Joel, Melody, and Eliza in spelling and read aloud to the three of them.  After that, it's independent work time for everyone.  If I can corral my teaching time into a solid block, it's more likely to happen consistently than if I try to break it up through the day.

Next week we'll start everything but science (still on order or undecided). Latin starts in mid-September.

I'm basically prepared for everything I'll be teaching. I hope to use the kids' independent work time for the next few weeks to get our physical surroundings more organized and de-cluttered. It's a slow, slow process.

School Starts Today

I thought I'd be starting school for reals this week, but something came up that'll take up most of Wednesday through Friday, so we're just starting math (after a week off) and Gileskirk (Antiquity this year).

We watched the first Gk lecture on Friday.  Second one this afternoon (kids are reading and working on vocabulary to prepare) and number three Thursday.  We're tackling as much math as we can this week, too.

Next week, we'll start English, French, and history for my middles and littles.   Latin doesn't start until mid-September and I'll finalize science sometime in the next couple of weeks and we'll start a little later.  We have lots of time.

I spent a lot of time this summer learning Numbers so I could set up more-easily maintained plan books and grade books.  I think those are practically ready (although I may need to tweak just a bit more).

We also started morning time, à la Cindy at Dominion Family, but with my own flavour.  After Nathan opened us in prayer, we read Psalm 107 (99% sure that'll be the topic of next week's sermon), which we'll re-read and discuss all week.  Also read a page of The Gospel Primer and finished a chapter of Fellowship of the Ring.

I wasn't able to attend the CiRCE Conference in July, but lots of friends did and have shared.  I'm inspired and encouraged and am eagerly awaiting my conference CD's, which should be here soon!

SDG!