Friday, September 9, 2016

Seven Super Quick Takes: First Week of School Lessons

I am linking up with Kelly--a little late but I hear late is better than never--to share what I learned this first week of schooling!



1
Scheduling two birthday parties within five days is kind of crazy.  Scheduling two birthday parties within five days when it is the first week of school and you are six months pregnant should be considered criminally insane!!!  What was I thinking?  

Buddy had a party on Sunday which included an "old fashioned, proper, sit-down family dinner" with his best friend (and future bride) and her family.  Cowgirl is currently downstairs in the family room making s'mores on the fireplace with dad and two of her best friends (camping got rained out) and we will be doing a campfire breakfast in the morning.  All good kids, all great memories, still one tired mama!

2
The curriculum I planned for the year seems to be working well, but I got all the plans together too late and am struggling to catch up with the prep work--like reading all the books I assigned my children.  Next year, I will be going back to my usual plan of having a rough plan done by the middle of June.

3
If you write an article outlining all your grandiose plans to make this year super special, but forget to write these plans in your planner--they probably won't happen.  I am going to make up for it on the feast of St Therese.  

4
Audio books of all sorts are a homeschooling mom's best friend!  I know I haven't gotten the rest of my plans posted--see number 5--but I have added in audio books for Buddy and Cowgirl, along with audio textbooks for Buddy.  It really has made schooling so much easier.  I still need to supervise their progress, but it gives them independence and me a little more time to work with the other children. A bonus is, they WANT to do the subjects on audio more than any others.  SCORE!  Oh, and if you have never heard of Phonetic Zoo, check it out, best spelling program and completely hands off for the mom.

5
Pipe dreams and delusions, I say! I somehow thought I would not only accomplish a week of school with all new curriculum, write five blog posts, host two parties, and get my garden weeded this week.  I blame the hormones.  So the plans are still coming, but at least I got this up!

6
To eliminate the glut of "not-me's" glasses that would fill up the table and sink each day, we got each person their own, distinctive glass. Amazingly, not-me stopped showing up and raiding our glasses.  I am thinking that I need the same thing for plates.  The amount of dishes we have been going through as my boys eat eight meals a day is mind boggling.  I just can't keep up.  Anyone ever try this?

7
A "Great Books Story Time" curriculum was the perfect fit for Little Man.  However, I need to discover some clean, hands-on, engaging activities for when I can't be reading stories.  Coloring with markers was great, until he colored most of his hands and then started running through the house as I chased him envisioning red hand prints on every wall and piece of furniture from now until the end of time.

 Also, I found all these great documentaries that go along with our curriculum so I could have some time off when I needed it when baby comes--or when I am just too uncomfortable to deal with it all as I wait for baby to come.  However, Murphy is a cruel companion.  Our Wii has decided to stop working and that was our source of "TV."  Now, I need to research other options or figure out how to fix the Wii, however, I know if I call customer service they will laugh that I want to fix a Wii that "we just got" six years ago!

How did your week go? 
  

2 comments:

  1. Audio books are the best! I only started high schooling for high school last year and got them for the Shakespeare plays we read first (7 in fall semester!). We listen in the car, she reads along, and we discuss in depth--so it's both more fun and more rigorous and uses driving time which would happen anyway. They worked so well we have continued with Jane Austen in spring, Gothic Literature right now, and we will do African American in spring. The original Frankenstein is amazing, especially as read by Dan Stevens for Audible; then we did Jekyll and Hyde; and now we are doing Dorian Gray. Dracula is so long she is reading it solo and I listen on my own drives. I am in awe of anyone who can do multiple kids and ages!

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    1. Sounds like you are covering a lot of literature. I haven't gotten my "car-schooling" stuff together yet. It really is a great use of the time, though, and keeps people from getting antsy and bothering each other.

      Don't be too in awe, I am still figuring this out, just like everyone else. It's a process and a lot of times I feel like there is so much more I could be doing. We all just do our best and hope God does the rest. Thanks for stopping by.

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