All in all, not a bad week for the start of our homeschool warmups last week. The boys were pretty adept at their math facts and quickly got back in the piano-playing mode. We all remembered most of our memory work from last year with the exception of one Latin prayer, so I pulled out our flash cards for that. Latin readalouds went fine, but we only did them twice. Still, fine for a first, "warmup" week.

Handwriting was a big surprise, because Son1 wrote his Monday assignment (to make a lunch plan for the week) very neatly, whereas Son2 was clearly out of practice: his terse breakfast plan was scrawly and wobbly. On Wednesday, they each wrote a note to me requesting video game time, and Son2's handwriting was better. On Friday, Son2 was to copy the alphabet using a Getty-Dubay Italic practice half-sheet, and his effort looked much more like his handwriting from late in the year. Yay homeschool warmups! I can imagine how stressed he would have been if he'd been thrown into the first day of lessons without a handwriting warmup, after a summer of little to no writing.

Hmm. What else? Right, history reading. Over these first four weeks (warmups and then light regular schedule), I want to zip through Rome and late antiquity, which we didn't really wrap up last year. We'll start our year-long study of the Middle Ages after Labor Day. So a new idea is part of these warmups: a weekly reading schedule for each boy wherein different types of reading are on different days, and chapters are assigned. For instance, ancient history is MTuTh, literature TuTh, classical studies (Rome & Greece) on Wed along with church history, and early American history on Fri.  Chapters are assigned so the boys see that it's a modest amount each day and keep moving along.

Son1 tackled his week's reading plan and did pretty well. He fell behind in two books, but I had him do some catch-up reading over the weekend, tinkered with this week's schedule, and considered it knowledge gained for me. Last week Son2 and I didn't get as much of the read alouds done as I had planned. I'm actually waffling on how much of his reading to read aloud vs. have him read. He's a strong reader and I just can't decide. So, I pushed some of his reading into this week and we'll try a couple of different things.

This week I've reintroduced math drill worksheets (MWF) alternating with math fact games (TuTh). Son1 and I have started reading aloud his Latin book readings from last year. Son2 will continue to practice his handwriting. And we'll be more focused on the history reading to figure out the best approach for each boy.

In the meantime, I've planned the entire year in terms of history, church history, and literature (everything else is kind of "do the next thing"). Now it's time to plan the missing link: the two weeks of light regular schedule that start next Monday. What does that mean? Math textbooks! Latin programs! The new and improved weekly routine!

Two weeks later, we'll start the Middle Ages, Son1's history program, and the boys' writing/composition lessons.