We had a nice week off last week and now we are back at it. We are still covering early ancient history. We have 6 more weeks before we begin studying Ancient Egypt. We are really looking forward to it.

The big activity of this week is weaving - should be quite interesting.

Have a wonderful week of schooling!

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This is our week off school. We are using a 4 week on, 1 week off schedule this year. We aren't just playing, though. We are using this time to declutter and simplify!

The year has started well, but we already have some changes. We switched the boys back to CLE math, and we are waiting for dd's to get here. We were not happy with the math I chose. I don't know why I try to fix what isn't broken, but I do. NOT AGAIN. Lesson learned. DH just smiled when I asked why he let me change things. His comment? Sometimes my changes are for the better. Okay, just not this year!!

Have a wonderful week.

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8:30-9:15 Math
9:15-9:30 Daily Grams for 5th & 7th grader, First Language Lessons for 2nd grader
9:30-9:45 Spelling for 5th & 7th grader
9:45-10:00 Spelling for 2nd grader
10:00-10:30 Free time to play with littles
10:30-11:00 Lunch
11:00-12:30 Relax time for all
12:30--1:00 Language Arts for 7th grader
1:00-1:45 History for all
1:45-2:30 Reading for all
2:30-3:15 Science
3:15-3:45 Bible (We do Bible now because dh is home and he handles this subject)

If someone finishes their work early, they can move on to the next subject. We are on a schedule of 4 weeks on, 1 week off. We started school on the 12th, so next week is our first week off.

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We are back to school! It is so nice to be back on a schedule. I have a 7th grader, a 5th grader and a 2nd grader (plus 2 toddlers and a baby) this year. We are taking a more classical approach and studying the ancients. I have written our curriculum for the year - it was a lot of work, but definitely worth it.

The 5th and 2nd grader are using MCP Math this year. We have been using CLE and will probably return to it next year. My 7th grader is doing a short pre-algebra workbook and then will move on to CLE 9th grade algebra. The 7th and 5th grader are using Daily Grams, while the 2nd grader is using Rod & Staff English 2. All three are reading from The Christian Eclectic Readers and using Webster's Elementary Spelling. Most of our history is spread throughout many books. We are using Streams of Civilization as a spine for the younger two and Rod & Staff grade 7 history for the oldest.

This year will find us reading many novels and doing many activities. We are looking forward to staying very busy.

I hope you are having a blessed week.

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We only have a couple more weeks before our school year ends! We are almost done with all the work and everyone is looking forward to having 2-3 weeks off before we begin our new year and new adventures.

I am busily trying to get next year scheduled. This is proving somewhat difficult because I am REALLY TIRED by the time evening comes. It will get done, though.

We will be studying the Ancients when we start up. We will cover Old Testament, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. There will be lots of activities and a lot of reading. I think the children are looking forward to the activities most of all. This year was mostly workbook learning and I wanted to give them a year of exploring their creativity.

I hope your summer is going well. Blessings to you!

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Today begins another school week at Living Tree Academy. Everyone is looking forward to learning a lot. I thought I would give a glimpse into our school day routine (always subject to change).

Everyone is pretty much up between 6:30 and 7. I'd love to say all the beds get made, but they don't. Everyone does get dressed, though!! Breakfast is at 7:30. Chores follow: dd12 unloads dishes from dishwasher, ds7 unloads silverware, ds9 clears the table. Ds9 and 7 feed and water the dog. Mom washes the dishes (if I don't wash the morning dishes, I end up washing more at dinner time - they just don't all fit in the dishwasher). The 2 oldest read a Proverb each day. We usually do our Character Curriculum at 8:30.

9:00 Reading for dd12 and ds9, workbooks for ds 7, Mom reading to the littles (they LOVE this)

9:30 Ds 7 reads out loud to Mom, littles play or listen to big brother, older 2 move on to math

10:15-10:30 School is done for the morning and we prepare for lunch - this includes a quick living room pick up

10:45 Lunch time (yes, I know it seems early - it's what works for us)

11:15 Relax time - book on cd in living room - littles nap, olders draw while listening. We are currently listening to The Lord of the Rings

12:30 Littles still napping, older 2 begin Language Arts/Spelling

1:00 Relax time over - littles play or beg to be read to

1:15 or so - dd12 does Bible study and then we move on to history and science depending on the day. We finished with our set curriculum for these, so I change what we do from day to day.

2:30 Daddy gets home. Exciting time of day around here. He usually grabs the older boys and gets moving on some project.

3:00 Dd12 does Home Ec. This ranges from cooking something (usually with dd2) to sewing. She is working on a quilt and will be starting a skirt soon. The rest of the children are free to read or play.

4:00 Mom starts dinner. Dd12 helps prepare and sets the table. The rest of the children clean up the living room.

5:00 Dinner. After dinner chores - dd12 packages the leftovers, ds7 scrapes dishes, ds9 loads the dishwasher. Mom washes the hand dishes. Dd12 washes the table and chairs, ds9 sweeps the kitchen, ds7 and the littles do any extra picking up around the house.

6:30 Everyone puts on jammies (the littles brush teeth and wash faces) and prepares for Bible time with Daddy. He reads a Bible story and we have prayer time. Usually around 7:15 everyone is tucked in and the olders have free reading time for an hour or so.

That's our day in a nutshell. We try to stick with the routine as much as possible - makes for a smoother day.

Have a blessed day!

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