A new school year has begun!  We started on August 3.  People ask me why we started so early.  Let me explain.  We live in a not so big city that gets very hot in the summer.  Like over 100 degrees for at least a month.  We took 7 weeks off for our summer break.  We don't have a pool, but we did go swimming at a friend's house several times.  Being that we have moved here from the mild climate of the Bay Area in No. California, the heat is hard to get used to. I get so drained just being out there for 10 minutes!  So we spend a lot of time indoors.  We did go camping, and plan to again next week, to the cool beach, and a few other fun things.  But after awhile, the kids start to go stir crazy and need more structure.  But the biggest reason is that I want to take plenty of time off in the cooler months.  Maybe we will actually go hiking in the mountains, or go for a bike ride.  We school for about 36 weeks, that leaves 17 weeks off in the year.  We plan to take 2 weeks off in Oct, 1 in Nov, 3 in Dec, 2 in Feb/Mar, 2 in Apr.  Then another 6  in the summer again. 

We also changed our daily schedule a bit.  Instead of doing math right after Bible, we are doing spelling, then English, then history or science.  We do math and the other subjects after lunch.  This is a great change and it's so nice to be able to mix things up again to keep it interesting!  We also changed up our school room.  We got rid of the too slow kids' computer and gave that desk to our new high schooler.  She loves having her own place for her books and studies.  Here are a few pics of our first day.

I decluttered the tops of the bookcases using those baskets I got from the .99 store and it is so much better now.  I just have to remember to dust up there now and then!

The eager high schooler!

8th grader:

6th grader:

The 3rd grader:

The eager 2nd grader:

Note: the 3 boys in the middle pics got haircuts today, so they look like boys again!