First Week of School, 2011-2012

School has begun and I couldn't be happier! I need structure in my life, or nothing gets done. I am too lazy in spirit to allow myself chances for down-time or excuses for not doing something.

We basically school year round, taking December and July off. We take off time in December because every group we belong to, activity we participate in, and numerous relatives and friends have parties or shows and there is no way I can keep up with all that and teach at the same time! We take off July because I feel like an ogre saying my kids don't get a summer break. Plus, I need the time to plan for the coming year. However, without activities to fill their time they become restless, whiny, and start asking when we will start school again.

August first happily fell on a Monday this year and made a great start date. We did a half day of Bible, math, and language arts. Then we went to the library and loaded up on books. Tuesday was our first full day and it went amazingly smoothly. The girls are really on their best behavior, probably because I told them that the amount of time they spent on school work would effect the number of classes I would allow them to join. Wednesday and Thursday both went like clock work and I was able to teach all three within a four hour window. To celebrate a successful week, the girls made books using Rice Crispy Treats wrapped in softened Starbursts and decorated with sugar letters and numbers.

Bear's - PreK
Boo's - 2nd Grade
Bug's - Aw, you can figure it out!

Just because I always want to know what other homeschoolers are doing, this is what our school day looks like:
9: Make beds, get dressed, eat breakfast
9:45: Bible - Go over the verse for the week
10-11: Math - Teach the day's lesson to Bug. Send her off with her workbook to do the independent practice. Move on to Boo. Make sure she understands the assignment and then let her go to complete it on her own. Turn to the Bear and go through her math with her, then give her a page from her Kumon pasting book to complete on her own. Check over Bug's and Boo's math and they can play outside until 11 if they finish early.
11-12: Language Arts - All but spelling can be done independently. I start with Boo and go through her spelling list. When she's done with that she plows through the rest of LA, gets a book and goes off to read until noon. Bug has been working on her LA during this time, but pauses for her spelling (done while jump roping), and then goes back to finish it up and read until lunch. I do Bear's reading with her, give her a page from Kumon's Alphabet Games, and then she scampers off to watch Super Why! or Blues Clues while I pull out lunch options.
12-12:30: Lunch - The older two usually bring their books to the table, assemble their lunches, and keep right on reading.
12:30-2 (on a good day): Social Studies and Science - I'm a glutton for punishment and have all three pursuing different studies. I start with Bug, leaving Boo to do her geography, science, and piano practice independently. Then I switch my attention to Boo, and Bug completes her independent work. Finally little Bear gets to be the center of attention (because the big ones like to listen in and do her projects too) and we read a book and add a component to her accompanying lapbook. I use the list of FIAR resources on homeschoolshare.com for this.