Ready or Not...Here it Comes!

And by "it" of course I mean the school year. Sheesh, how did that sneak up on me so fast? Now that we're done with vacation season, I'm in full-throttle school preparation mode. I never start school until after Labor Day, but we're getting close, and there's a lot to do.

I'm excited and terrified for this year. Lincoln will be doing mostly first grade work (higher grades in some subjects, like reading), and for some reason the weight of first grade feels so much heavier on my shoulders than that of Kindergarten. Maybe it's because if he were in public school he'd be attending full days? Maybe it's because I'm simultaneously trying to teach first grade, kindergarten, and preschool, while I take care of a six month old baby? Or maybe because I invented this insanely busy schedule for us to follow and now I'm wondering how in the world it's going to work out? But whatever the reason, I'm a little nervous . And I'm praying I can accomplish at least some of what needs to be accomplished. BUT, I am also a lot excited. We are going to do some really cool things this year.

Every year people ask me what curricula I use when I home school. I'm a bit eclectic (meaning I take a little from here, and a little from there, and pull it together to make something I like), and I also tend to lean a little towards a classical education model, though I don't follow it 100%. I'm drawn to the classical model because it is language based. Which basically means we do a lot of reading. Anyways, this is what I've chosen to do for this year.

Lincoln
Read aloud for 20 minutes
Read silently for 20 minutes
Explode the Code book 4
Writing With Ease level 2
First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind level 1
All About Spelling level 1 (and probably 2)
Singapore Math level 1b (and maybe 2a)
Story of the World Ancient Times
Magic School Bus Science Kit
Home Art Studio Kindergarten level

Ivan
All About Reading level 1 (and probably level 2)
Handwriting Without Tears Letters and Numbers for Me
Explode the Code book 1 (and probably book 2)
Math U See Primer (and maybe Singapore level 1a)
BOB Books level 1,2,3

We also have some cool extra curricular stuff going on as well. The biggest one is probably Options Day. There is a charter school is Provo called Harmony that works with home schooled kids. One of the programs they offer is called Options Day, which basically means that Lincoln gets to go to a full day of school one day a week. This year because Linc is a first grader, he is in what they call Track. He stays in the same classroom with the same kids and teacher all day, and they do a different subject every hour. All the subjects are hands-on and project based. This program is meant to be a supplement to what kids are learning at home, not a replacement for it. Next year when Linc is seven, it'll be a little different, they'll still have classes all day, but he'll get to choose from a few different ones, and he'll switch teachers and classrooms every hour...think college. They'll be classes like tumbling, sewing, computer tech, cooking, writing, piano, Spanish, etc. So that will be awesome. Lincoln does get to do a tumbling class this year, first hour, and then he spends the rest of the day in the classroom with his teacher Miss Madsen. She is super nice and really great with the kids. Anyways, we're excited for options day.

Also this year, I am doing a preschool co-op with some ladies in the neighborhood, just like we did last year, only this year it's going to be two days a week instead of one. Ivan is really excited to participate in that again. And I am too. At first I was a little unsure about the two days a week, I didn't know if I could fit it in; but, they decided to have one mom teach every week, so when I teach, I'll teach a Tuesday and Thursday, and then I won't teach again for six more weeks. It's going to be awesome! And we have some fun ladies in the co-op so I'm really excited to get to know them better.

I wanted to teach an art class this year, but can't afford to do it for a giant class. So I invited my friend Wynter and her kids (and maybe a couple other kids) to do an art class with us one day a week in the afternoons. My art curriculum is awesome, it's called Home Art Studio, and basically it's a DVD where a lady teaches art classes while the kids follow along. And while she's working she talks about different artistic techniques, art vocab, and even throws in a little art history. I'm really excited for it.

There's a local theater in the area that teaches visual and performing arts classes to home school students during the school day. One of the things I can't provide for Lincoln and that I absolutely loved when I was in elementary school was the Christmas concerts that we put on every year. So I signed Lincoln up for a choir class. They'll do a few performances through the semester, and end with a big Christmas concert. I think it will be really fun for him. He likes to be up in front of people.

And we are still involved with our home school group, but not as much as last year. I resigned, I guess you could say, from being the Vice President. I couldn't handle it any more. It was taking up too much of my time. It feels like a really big weight has been lifted off of my shoulders to let that go. We also won't be participating in the Friday Fun Classes. I feel like it isn't meeting the needs of my family this year. In others years it has provided a classroom atmosphere where my kids could do some social learning from different adult teachers. But I feel like this year, I already have the social learning/classroom atmosphere part covered in the other things that we are doing, and Friday Fun would be just one more thing I had to prepare a lesson for, and I don't have time or resources to do it right now. We will continue to do Wednesday clubs however. My great friend Wynter is hosting Littles club at her house every Wednesday and using it to teach a Science class that will focus 20 on animals, 10 weeks on the human body, and 5 weeks on plants. It's geared to be a little more academic than clubs have been in the past, and I am excited about that, and feel that it's going to be a good use of time.

So that's some of what we're doing. I think our week is going to look something like this:

Monday: Linc has choir class first thing in the morning for an hour. Then we'll come home and do reading, writing, grammar, spelling, and math with both Lincoln and Ivan.

Tuesday: Ivan will go to preschool co-op first thing in the morning, and if I'm not teaching that day, I'll work with Lincoln on his reading, writing, grammar, spelling, and math. When Ivan gets home we will at least do reading, and maybe some more, depending on how we both feel. Tuesday afternoons I am hosting the Home Art Studio class at my house. The DVD will do most of the teaching, but I will be helping the kids do their projects.

Wednesday: Reading, writing, grammar, spelling, and math in the morning. Science class at Wynter's house in the afternoons.

Thursday: Lincoln will go to his Options Day classes at Harmony from 8:30-3:00pm. Ivan will go to preschool from 9:30-11:00. On the days I am not teaching preschool at my house, I can go grocery shopping, or clean the house, and do some preschool things with Adelia. When Ivan gets home I will at least do a reading lesson with him, maybe more depending on how we're feeling.

Friday: Since we are not participating in our home school group's Friday Fun classes this year, I decided that I need to make Friday a fun day at home. So we are going to switch things up a bit and use Fridays for our History and Magic School Bus Science days. These two subjects are more hands on and project oriented, so I think they will be more "fun" for the kids. I think we will also use Friday as our library day.

What a schedule! I still don't know if I can manage it, but I guess we'll have to try it before I can find out. I've also been getting my school room ready to go. My All About Reading and All About Spelling programs use a magnetic board fairly heavily. A long time ago, I bought an oil drip pan from Walmart thinking I'd hang it on the wall as a magnet board (pinterest). But it had a logo dented into the bottom of it, and Aaron thought it would look tacky to hang on the wall. He cut the edged of the pan off, and cut off the logo. Then the plan was to put a wooden frame around in and on the back, but we never got that far. So I mentioned to Aaron that I really needed a magnet board for school this year, and so I was just going to go buy another oil pan. Those were the magic words I guess! :) Because that very day my awesome husband finished the frame for me. We painted it and hung it up in the school room. It's perfect.

Now I just need to reorganize the closet and the book shelves, and make a daily schedule template to put Lincoln and Ivan's school work on each day, and I think we'll be ready to go. Maybe.