It's mid-August. The weather has gone from no-one-go-outside to ok-go-swimming-and-bike-riding. I am looking at all of the many projects that have not been accomplished and trying to not feel like a total failure. Every year it seems that I run out of energy/money long before all my imaginary Pinterest projects have been completed. So, instead, I'm attempting to focus on the good.
I've been printing and planning and making many binders. I'm feeling a bit like Leslie Knope from Parks and Rec. Except I'm using scrapbook paper for dividers instead of specially colored tabs.
This year we'll be trying out Time Travelers for History lessons. I think all the kids will enjoy all the hands-on learning. But it does require a bit more planning on my part. But I love history and feel that it is so important so I'm looking forward to it. We'll be covering the Civil War-World War I, and possibly WWII if we have time. We'll see. I'd rather go more in depth and do WWII next year. However, my 9-year old son is really excited to study WWII so we'll see what happens.
I am following the Sonlight Core's timeline for what we learn. I love their reading choices and ways to learn history. But I add in my own things here and there-like doing Time Travelers. I can't wait to read some of the books, like Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and Across Five Aprils, with the kids. Not sure if the younger ones will grasp all the concepts, but hopefully they will still gain some good insights. We are doing another year of Teaching Textbooks with the older two (3rd and 4th grade math), and Horizons/Life of Fred with my 1st grader. Planning doing math games with my pre-k girl.
Reading has been a struggle with the boys so far. I'm hoping to get my almost-6 year old son really going on it this year and praying my 7 year old owns it finally and gains the confidence to read well. It's hard to watch them struggle. It was like pulling teeth with my oldest. No, way worse than that. I've pulled his teeth, and he hated it, but reading was more difficult. But now, at age 9, he has a 6th grade reading level and reads novels for fun. That has been such a huge encouragement as a parent and teacher.
Another thing I am doing differently is switching to a block schedule. I always learned best this way and I'm thinking that I'll teach better this way too. Every morning we'll start out with Bible and verse memorization. With the younger two, I'm going to work on days of the week, months, and weather. Next, we'll either focus on geography and art, history, math, or science. Wednesdays, which are typically hubby's day off, we are going to do a short day. Hubby will be teaching German and music these days. Afternoons are reserved for field trips, PE co-op, or reading time. I'll have to write another post later on detailing how it's going. But I'm really hopeful about this right now.
I love being surrounded by all the school books and papers. I'm not always the best at not procrastinating however so now I'm trying to get everything done with a printer that only wants to print one page every ten minutes. *sigh* I would just break down and buy a laserjet printer, except the transmission went out on our Suburban so any extra money is gone, gone, gone.
Until next time I get around to writing. :)
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with hi. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11
-Christa
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