Apples in October

Wow, has the weather changed. It is time to dig out the hats and coats. And to bake some apple pie!

At summer's end

There has been a sudden and definite change in the air. Summer is ending. It is always bittersweet. 

One more change on this, our fourth week of the school year, I am going to quiz through the fifth grade Spelling Workout book. Sean already knows how to spell most, if not all of his list words and the book feels like busywork. 

We are only two weeks from our first break. I love the six week on, one week off pattern. We are never very far from a break and I know I will have a chance to recover the house and myself before jumping into the next term. 

Third week

Just a few changes this week, we have added Christian Studies back in. I like the Story of Bible, but I feel like CS is much more thorough. We are just going to rotate through the three years of Christian Studies with any child who is able to join in until my youngest hits middle school.  We will use Story of the Bible as bonus story time.

Sean is going to start doing Famous Men of the Middle Ages. We were going to use it, then we weren't. Now we are. I am going to continue to read and discuss the K12 Human Odyssey book with him, but I want to stay on track with Memoria Press because I like where it is going.

We have fallen into a decent rhythm. It can be tricky keeping the baby occupied and the preschooler from spending too much time in front of a screen, but overall we have a good thing going.

We have our first review week Second Form coming up. It is needed. I am hoping we can stay on pace but we may have to slow it down a bit. It certainly isn't getting easier!

The boys started swim back up this week. We got them in the same time slot, so it is less time taken up. They chose to stick with swim this fall instead of soccer. It is a longer drive, but much less time consuming. 

First week

Our first week back went very well, if a little hectic. Mike and I are enjoying the quick lessons from the Memoria Press preschool program. Our extended Morning Time seems to be a positive adjustment. I'm trying to keep Mike and Mary at the table with us for that slot, but I'm not sure how much play-doh I can pick out of Mary's hair before I just resort to Leapfrog videos.

Sean came into the week with a good attitude and it shows, if only he can keep it up for the school year. Ha! We shall see. 

Big hits this week were: TAN's Story of Civilization, Memoria Press' Birds, and pizza for dinner at the lake. 

2016/2017 school plans

We begin on Monday. We come home every August and I am ready. Ready to tackle another year, ready for the change of the season, and ready to be done with the heat and humidity. Summer lingers on, but I have already switched gears.

This year I have a 12th grader, 5th and 1st graders, a preschooler, and a toddler. Toddlers always keep things interesting and I will have to allow for a lot of grace.

James is outsourced for most of his school at this point so I will not bother with details here.

We have been using a lot of Memoria Press since Sean started in kindergarten, but we are moving, in part, away from their grade level packages now. We are still using their Latin, geography, and science programs but the rest is pieced together.

Chris is not quite ready to jump into the Storytime Treasures books yet, but we will get there by the end of the year. I am using a mix of the MP kindy and 1st-grade resources, with Mike joining in for some of the enrichment.

I am going to focus more on our Morning Time together as a family before breaking off into individual lessons. We will cover hymns, prayers, memory work, Shakespeare, some ancient history, read alouds, and (new this year) Plutarch. I'm giving this an hour every morning after breakfast and chores and we will rotate books and subjects through the year.

Mike will get a focus one on one time with me every afternoon to work on some preschool basics and to read stories at his level. He has a hard time focusing on the big kids' stories.

Poetry, art and music appreciation, drawing skills, and more read alouds will fit into Tuesday's tea time.

The official (until we inevitably tweak things a bit) book list right now is
5th grade:
Morning time
The Plutarch Primer: Publicola
Shakespeare: Twelfth Night

Christian Studies
TAN Story of the Bible OT (as part of morning time)
Faith and Life (online program)

Latin
Second Form

Math
Horizons 5
Xtramath

Language arts
Rod & Staff English 5 (grammar)
Treasured Conversations
Spelling Workout
Writing & Rhetoric 3

Classical/Modern Studies
K12 Human Odyssey
Geography 2
Maps, Charts, and Graphs E

Science
Exploring Nature with Children
What is that Bird?
Tree Book

Tea time
Poetry (from anthology)
Squilt vol. 1
Draw Right Now 2
Draw Squad

1st grade:
Morning Time
Paddle to the Sea
The Aesop for Children, by Milo Winter
James Herriot's Treasury for Children, by James Herriot
The Burgess Bird Book for Children, by Thornton Burgess

Christian Studies
TAN Story of the Bible OT (as part of morning time)
Faith and Life (online program)

Math
Horizons 1
Xtramath

Language arts
finish 100 Easy Lessons
First Language Lessons 1
Writing with Ease 1
Spelling Workout

Classical/Modern Studies
TAN Story of Civilization 1: The Ancient World (morning time)
Maps, Charts, and Graphs A

Science
Exploring Nature with Children

Looking back and looking forward

I come back to this space once in awhile, often this time of year when I am looking ahead to the upcoming school year and holiday season. I haven't posted since we came home from the Cape last summer and we just came home from the Cape again this year.

I would like to try to post at least occasional updates, if only for my own good. The children enjoy looking at past posts as well. They have grown so much this past year. We live our lives in a circle now, more than a straight path. A circle of the seasons and the circle of the liturgical year. I think I stopped posting because we do many of the same things each year, at the same time, and it was starting to feel redundant to write about. But coming back now, I do wish I had posted those same things this past year if only to be able to have the highlights all in one place.

Blueberries

Since the chickens have been eating more than their share of our own blueberries, we headed to the local farm for some PYO. Mike didn't last long in the hot sun, but it was long enough to come home with plenty to spare. There is a pie in the oven and we have plans for blueberry pancakes and blueberry muffins over the next few days. Yum.