First Day of School

Today was our official first day back in "School."

I always feel the need to start up school in August, because we usually go camping in September for our Family vacation. My other design in starting early is so that we can get in a "routine" before Autumn hits. I can see what extra school supplies I need to get while they are still on sale. In the next few weeks, I will see where my kids are so I can help them make goals.

Here is my Schedule plan for 2010/2011

"Mornings are for Work"

5 a.m. Parents wake up & Study

6-7 a.m. Parents Exercise

6:30 a.m. Kids wake up & Study

7 - 8 a.m. Kids do their List of Chores

7-8 a.m. Parents get ready for the day and cook breakfast

8 a.m. Breakfast

8:15 Kitchen Chores & Personal Grooming

8:30 a.m. Devotional

1. Family Song

2. Family Prayer

3. Scripture Study or Scripture Story

4. Scripture Memorization

5. Pledge of Allegiance (Led by the "Child of the Day")

6. Brain Gym

9 a.m. to Noon --School Time

9 a.m.- 10:30 a.m. older kids (Chris and Dora) are to work alone in their rooms on their 3 R's, plus whatever other goals they are working on with me. They are suppose to meet with me on Sunday to make a plan for the week on which books & projects they will work on. Christopher is currently reading Daniel Boone, and Dorathy is reading Little Women, as well as all the Little House on the Prairie series. They will report to me daily on their progress, and then at the end of the week we'll make new goals.

(I personally will be dedicating this morning time to working with my younger kids. This gives me a chance to do lots of fun Preschool-like stuff that bores the older crew. We will do a lot of learning games,(in which my older kids want to interfere) and I'll work one on one with Courtney in her reading, writing, and arithmetic. Courtney is continually progressing in her reading, and I'm excited to give her some more time to see if I can help her become more confident. I'm also hoping Angel will show a little more interest in what we're doing. Julianna is finally old enough to be happy playing on her own and to participate in art projects, so I'm excited to see what more we'll be able to do!)

10:30- Noon, We start "MomSchool" with a snack and "History of the Day" from the Tjed website. I try to end around lunch time, but sometimes we'll go for an extra hour or two if we're on to something we all enjoy and don't want to stop!!!

This is the time during which I get to choose to teach whatever I want. If I feel inspired to do something, I just go for it. Or if I notice something my kids really want to learn, I will specifically plan for that. (Usually Science) I have a curriculum to work from, and about a hundred books I want to go through, so I have no lack of material. I always have more to teach than I could possibly squeen in! I just choose which thing to do based on my own inclinations, the kids moods, the weather, etc. It's such a great breath of joy and freedom! If I'm excited and inpsired, then so are the kids! :)

These are some of the things I might do during this time: (And this is my kid's most favorite part of "School" Attendance is voluntary, not mandatory, but my children have ALWAYS been eager to participate!)

*History *Projects * Field Trips *Science * Experiments *Read alouds *P.E. activities *Nature Study *Art * Music * Poetry *Languages

"Afternoons are for Inspiration"

Noon - 1 p.m. Lunch & put younger kids down for naps

1 p.m. - 3 p.m. QUIET TIME~! Time for personal reading & quiet projects.

Time for Mom's peace and quiet! The kids are NOT suppose to bother me during this time...doesn't always, work though! ;)

3 - 4 p.m . Piano Practice Time and/or afternoon chores)

4-5 p.m. Outside playtime OR help Mom cook dinner! (Playdates, after school activities, bike riding, especially important during cold weather to try and get them outside, but they practically live outside all summer! During the school months, if the kids don't go outside when I need some space, I just tell them that if they want to stay inside they have to help me work! This usually gets them out- of-doors pretty darn quick. : )

"Evenings are for Bonding!"

5-6 p.m. Dinner & clean up time

6-7 p.m. Family time: Read Books together, go out together, or play games together

7-8 p.m. Kids time to read in Bed (or go to Scouts/Activity Day Girls)

8 p.m. Lights Out, Kids! (although it's often nine :(

10 p.m. Mom & Dad are SUPPOSE to go to sleep...but it's usually more like midnight!

Keep in mind that this is my IDEAL...and I'm lucky when a day follows its pattern. It looks tight on paper, just because I need to have a structure. It's my back-up. We're pretty flexible on a day to day basis, and that's good, because kids really tend to throw a wrench into the best-laid plans. And of course I have things come up as well. But as long as everyone knows what is SUPPOSE to be happening during a certain time, our household can keep limping along even when things get crazy.

We are very lucky to get to spend this much time together as a family, and I am truly grateful! All the siblings rely on each other, and our family gets to learn to work well with one another.

And I have to just brag: a few weeks ago when Scott and I had to be gone for a few hours every night so we babysit the farm while My sister was on vacation, our household did pretty good left to itself. For about a week, brave Christopher had to feed all the kids DINNER, help them do their CHORES and put them all to BED!!! He was getting weary of changing diapers and cleaning up, so we made sure to take him out on some special parent/kid date nights the next week to help him feel appreciated. Scott bought him a "Mile High Mud Pie" from Washington Street Grill and played hours of computer games with him. I'm going to take Chris bowling soon as a special thank-you!

Many mornings he also has to babysit while I am triathlon training. I hate to leave them alone at all, but it's been great to be able to do those 12 mile bike rides. Even though I start out before 6 a.m., I usually get home about 30 minutes after all the kids wake up. Christopher often has to get Julianna up and dressed and feed her breakfast before I am home. I am thankful he has been a good sport about all of it. I hope it is to his benefit and not his detriment that he is learning such responsibility so early.

Today was an exciting first day of school because Scott found a Polyphemus Moth. It was HUGE!!! We captured it so we could study and sketch it for an hour, and then we let it back out into the wild. We all had fun with that...especially since we've all read the Olympian series by Rick Riordan, and so we had all recently learned who Polyphemus was! We were all amused. :)

We got some picture of that HUGE moth. We think it was about to lay eggs. The next morning, however, we found the butterfly mating with another on our front bushes. I wonder if next year we'll find lots of little green catterpillars eating all our apple leaves?

Happy Homeschooling Moments This week:

*My girls put on three plays yesterday. They made tickets and seating arrangements and everything. It was cute & entertaining. This is a picture of Courtney "opening the curtain" before the puppets appeared behind the couch. ;)

*Christopher is learning to cook dinners. He did a great job yesterday! Hamburgers and homemade french fries...YUM.

*Dorathy taught the FHE lesson solo and prepped it all by herself! She did a Fantastic job! She taught about the word of wisdom and used several scripture stories. Good work, daughter!

*Both my older kids are composing new songs on the piano (by ear, of course, they can't write notation yet!) It's fun to listen to, but I am eager for the day I have a 2 story house and can be AWAY from musical instrument practice).

*Christopher discovered the classical station on the radio and declared he "LOVED" it! He says he loves the music "without words" the best because it inspires his imagination. Now he wants to blast the music in the Kitchen while he does dishes, or in the morning while he's getting ready. I am VERY VERY pleased at this development. I want to yell "It worked, It worked!" Expose your kids frequently to whatever music you want them to love! :)

* Having all the kids snap 2 big bowls of fresh garden green beans while I read a book aloud to them.

Fun stuff, huh?

When I was painting Courtney's new birthday desk pink, Angel wanted to paint to! Here she is showing off her masterpiece. Courtney and Dorathy both helped me put the first layer of desk paint on, and they were steady troopers! They got worn out and didn't participate in the second coating, though.