Tomorrow we begin a full day of homeschooling (yikes!)  I never feel ready--it seems I always have something else I want to tweak or make or schedule.  I really need to just pray and relax!

I made the switch from AO to MA.  I even made a logo:

It has been interesting comparing the strengths and weaknesses of them.  I really like MA's approach to history--it's the way I was thinking of modifying AO's approach.  Start with US History and cycle through more quickly.  Introduce World History starting with the ancients and spending time on different civilizations.  It's very well done.

Poetry is only done once weekly, or less if working on memorization/dictation, using The Harp and the Laurel Wreath.  I will add in AO's resource here by reading a poem daily from one poet per term.  Our family really enjoyed that good habit.

I like that MA does not have literature for dictation, only the more fact- and concept-based materials.  Of course I still discuss literature with my kids, it's just not formal dictation.  That never made sense to me when doing AO anyway.

MA has a much more manageable schedule.  AO is difficult for anyone that has a child with even a mild reluctance to reading.  The schedule is also so packed that there is little room to add anything in.  It has been a breath of fresh air to have readings that we could really do in twenty minutes!

We are using Noeo Science again this year, which my kids and I love.  Ds#1 & #2 are doing Physics I together, which should be a lot of fun.  I slated 40 minutes 4x/week for this.

Ds#1 will repeat Prima Latina this year only focusing on the vocabulary.  He learned the prayers well, and had a solid introduction to grammar.  This year I am looking for full mastery of the material second time through.

We're using Happy Scribe for penmanship this year, a program I found through HomeschooleStore.  I printed our script for ds#1 and italics for ds#2 and comb-bound them so they each have their own custom penmanship book to write it.

I still need to put together a notebook for them to keep their Poetry, Spelling, and Studied dictation sheets in--a project for today, as well as printing out Latin and Italian flash cards I made on the computer.

Please pray for our start, and I will continue to pray for you all as well.  Thanks!