I forgot to post this some weeks back, but here's where we are and where we plan to be.   We do homeschool year round, but will take off a week every six weeks or so for refreshment, projects, field trips, etc. 

     I've actually got Sonlight 3 scheduled through Nov. 2008, and if we clip along at that pace, we'd finish our US History 2 year rotation in the middle of 5th grade.  I'm not plussed with that, as I'd really like to restart our ancient study at the beginning of 5th grade, which is the logic phase.  But, I'm not going to worry about it now, because my experience with SL in the past is that we tend to zoom ahead in many of the readings because they are so awesome. 

     I guess I should also throw in the caveat that Latin, while going well now, is becoming low on the priority list right now, especially as I anticipate starting K with Smiles in January.  I truly value the intellectual rigor of Latin, its help in logical reasoning, vocabulary development, and grammar reinforcement.  But, hey, I've got to prioritize. After my meeting with the principle last weekend, I realize I don't have an endless supply of time during the day and there are non-negotiables to our homeschool:  character development, family relationship building, and intellectual curiosity.  I'm not going to sacrifice my relationship with my boys just so I can say they've been studying Latin since 2nd grade.  I do intend to put Latin into our school, but it may be something that we have to hold off on until Hugs is a little older and that will be OK (the italics is for myself as a reminder that it is OK to let some things slide).

    This great quote from Marica Somerville at Tapestry of Grace has helped me come to this realization:

He [God] is with you, and nothing you "drop" in your homeschooling journey will truly HARM you or your kids.  If we are doing our level best, it just humbles us and should make us trun to Him to make it all ok.

I've just finished entering Chemistry into Homeschool Tracker, which marks the end of my planning!  Phew, just in time for our family vacation.  I feel great about all that I've done to get us ready for school and am excited to tackle some of the material that we're planning to complete this year.  The Chemistry especially looks amazing.  While we really loved the Biology I course, some of it was review for us;  however, Chemistry will all be new, and there are an amazing number of experiments, which Hugs will just eat up.

I've also finished putting together my Teacher's Guide.  Here's what's in it to spark some ideas:

1. Goals for the school year in a page protector.
2. Hugs's contract (page protector).
3. Weekly Plan tab:  Our print outs from HST for both Hugs and Smiles; Our family chore schedule.
4. Library Lists tab: Books I have to check out of the Library for our history/ literature studies; the list of NEST videos at the library
5. Long Range Plan tab: our MOTH schedule; our subject planning grid for the future, all in page protectors
6. History Guides tab:   I've pulled out the first 4 chapters from the SOTW Activity Guide for handy reference
7. Read Aloud Guide tab:  Pulled from the Sonlight IG
8. Reader Guide tab:  Pulled from the Sonlight IG
9. Miscellaneous tab: extra copies of Mental Math sheets,  and the lyrics for the scripture memory CD we're using
10. Smiles PreK tab:  At this point, there isn't a lot there, but I've got the answer guides for the Developing the Early Learner books that we are using.

Just 11 Days until the first day of school!

     Hugs has been using a 3-ring binder to organize his daily paperwork since 1st grade.  It was hard to rip up some of his cute little workbooks (like the Explode the Code books, spelling and math workbooks), but it has made life so much easier.  He has pocket dividers labeled with the days of the week.  Each divider has two pockets:   in the front-facing pocket, are his pages he needs to complete;  on the back-facing folder are his completed pages.  This has worked fabulously for us over the years. 

     I'm not changing much for this year, though I am adding a reading log page I found somewhere on the web (I honestly can't remember where I downloaded it from).  I've asked him to write down library books he reads in his free time.  I've also put a copy of his signed 3rd grade learning contract. 

     I am excited because I just spend (way too much time) making a colorful cover insert for his binder:

     I know Hugs'll love it because it has da Vinci on it (Hugs loves da Vinci's inventive side), exploring and chemistry on it.   I found the pictures at photobucket, mostly, downloaded them to my computer, and used an old photoediting software program that came with our computer way-back-when (Microsoft's Picture It!).  

     Honestly, this is the most prepared I've been in my 4 years of homeschooling Hugs (preK -2nd)!  I am loving Homeschool Tracker and it has really helped me to put together a lot of different resources to complete our history plan through December, when we'll finish Renaissance/ Reformation, then jump on ahead to U.S. History (Sonlight's Core 3). 

     Resources we're using for history include SOTW, the Activity Guide, the Aztec history pocket from Ancient Civilizations, and a Renaissance lapbook from Hands of a Child.  I've selected only a couple activities from the Activity Guide beyond the mapwork and a couple coloring pages, because the lapbook is scheduled to cover about 6 weeks of our studies.

     Then, I've taken all the copied sheets and put them in 2 pocket folders, one for each week of school;  handwriting and math drills and any other copywork will be added to these folders as well so I can prep for the new week in just a few minutes.

     I've also already selected out the books I want to borrow from the library and have that sheet printed out so that I can request the ILLs about a week before I need them.

     There are still a few more things I need to do:  separate the Mental Math copies and put those in folders, schedule Science (I just ordered it yesterday) in HST once I get the IG; Our FLL3 should be here on Saturday, so that I can finish up any scheduling there.  Oh, I need to get Latin all squared away and separate the vocabulary flash cards and put those in their respective weekly folders.  I'll do that when I watch an episode of 24 tomorrow night!

     This has really taken a lot more time than I imagined, and the kids have noticed, but we've still had playdates, done swimming lessons, and eaten healthy meals , so I know that the short term inconvenience will pay off in a better quality of life this school year, and a happier mama.

My sweet Smiles said this afternoon, "Mommy, when will you teach me to read?"  So, I finished the project I was working on, got Hugs started on his math, and sat for a cuddle with my Smiles for a lesson.  I purchased All About Spelling and got it this week, but haven't really had time to look at it and figure out how to use it with Smiles.  I was planning on not starting to teach him to read until January or so.  So, I grabbed 100EZ lessons and we whipped through about 3 lessons in 10-15 min. or so.  Then, he climbed down from the chair, happy as a lark!

The reality of the situation is that we'll progress at his calling at this point.  If he wants more tomorrow, great, but I'm not going to push it.  It is joyful, though, to see his desire to learn blossom!

I have to write this down now while I'm remembering, or I know I'll forget.  One thing I learned -- from the TOG forums I think -- but never implemented was getting 40 2-pocket folders and putting in all the paperwork/ seatwork sheets ahead of time, so that on Sunday night I can open up a folder, pull out the week's papers, sort them into the Monday-Friday folders in Hugs' school notebook and be done.   This sounds SO good on paper, and I'm going to try to implement it in sections.  I've got assorted folders I purchased (10c apiece!) and each 10-week quarter gets it's own color: blue, red, green, yellow.  Here's what I need to put in each folder:

1. SOTW map
2. Any SOTW AG activity pages we're doing (coloring pages)
3. Handwriting
4. Singapore Math Mental Math sheets
5. Prima Latina flash cards (5 per week until we get to Latina Christiana)
6. Weekly report card.  Thanks Jessica at Trivium Academy for this great idea!

Alright, so here it is, on a "piece of paper" I can't lose or misplace.  LOL!  Soon I'll add pictures of our new-and-improved schoolroom.

I've just purchased a SL Core 2 IG to help us finish up our Middle Ages studies.  I feel good about this choice, as it will help me to see if I do want to return to SL for our US studies, or entertain other options (going with TOG's year 2, units 3 and 4).  The IG I purchased is actually a brand new 2004 IG but has never even been opened.  Since we use many of SL read alouds, this will provide the structure I was hoping for;  and, I don't have a consistent plan to give to Hugs for Bible reading, so I'll use SL's reading schedule as well.  I feel very comfortable with this and a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.  I'm hopeful that we might even get in a bit more of world history so that we can have a view of the world upon which to layer our US studies next year.

We've chosen to use a Christian Classical model.  As Marcia Somerville and Lampstand Press so carefully explain:

• “As Christians, we believe in a sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient God who rules and reigns in all the details of history. 
• We believe that He created all the earth and its inhabitants for His divine purposes. 
• Therefore, all of history glorifies Him and teaches us something about Him. 
• Knowing history helps people to know our origins and sense our destiny. It humbles us, reminding us that we are creatures, finite, small, and completely in God’s power. 
• We do not deny that human beings have free will, nor that our choices are real, and have real consequences. But, in our modern world where we seem to have so much control, it is important for our children to learn that their lives are to fit into God’s plan, not that they are only required to "make room" in their busy lives for Him.”
1. Children are naturally curious and this should be encouraged and nurtured, never sacrificing this curiosity to stay “on schedule.”
2. Children in the early elementary years are in the “grammar stages” of learning:  they are learning the details of academic subjects – facts, lists, rules, etc.
3. Education should create children who want to learn, know how to learn, and can communicate what they learn to others.
4. Use living books as much as possible.

     I had our portfolio review today.  This fulfills our state requirement to have each homeschool child's work assessed each year for progress.  I'm copying the summary that I write for our evaulator, a fellow homeschool mom (graduated 4) and licensed teacher.  I find that completing this summary for her helps me to see where we've been and where we will go for next year.   I need to plan on doing mini-summaries more frequently throughout the year to assess how we are doing towards our goals in homeschooling our boys.  In all, "we" passed and I reported to Hugs that he could go on to 3rd grade .

***                                 ***                                ***                               ***

Our year did not go as planned! We moved which put a major kink in our progress through our history, science, and Latin studies. During the time of our preparations to move as well as the moving itself, Ben continued his math and language arts materials. Other subjects slid a bit, however. 

            Hugs completed the Let’s Go Learn Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment (DORA), which he has completed each year since kindergarten (attached). Hugs continues to be an excellent reader. He is able to read for factual comprehension quite well; he does have more difficulty with inferential questions that require him to “read between the lines.” Hugs also requires cues sounding out multi-syllabic words that he has never seen before (usually 3-4 or more syllables); I usually have to remind him to slow down, break the syllables down, and he can usually do fine with it from that point on. While he made progress in his spelling, it was less than I thought. I do see that he is having some trouble carrying over spelling skills to his writing, and am open to suggestions on how to change our current program. I am considering Spelling to Write and Read (by Wanda Sanseri) or another program that looks more teacher friendly: All About Spelling by Marie Rippel (formerly known as The Complete Guide to Teaching Spelling).

            We continue to use narration, dictation, and copywork for his written expression skills. Hugs is able to provide a detailed narration of his history and science work, which gives him practice putting ideas into his own words.  I have begun to gently introduce the idea of summarizing a history reading. Dictation exercises give him practice writing with a focus on spelling and grammar; copywork gives him practice with well-written sentences of varying structure and length.   We have begun paragraph construction (explaining how to do something; writing his morning routine) and will continue with narration, dictation, and copywork as his primary writing program into 3^rd grade. Additionally, he has begun a journal for his own writing; through the next year I plan to formalize it’s use a little bit more.

            We are at the beginning of our Singapore Math 2B book, working on mental math techniques for multiple digit addition and subtraction.  Hugs continues to progress in his ability to handle these facts and we have begun to work on multiplication and division facts (2s and 3s).  Our math studies have also included telling time and weights and lengths.

            Our “dessert” classes (history, science, Latin, art and music) continue. We will continue our study of plants, animals, and habitats into the summer. We will pick up the SOTW 2 in the fall (followed by a two year study of American History). We will also continue with Latin, piano lessons, and art appreciation and expression.

            It was very helpful this year to remove the hat of “piano teacher” from my head. Hugs is taking piano lessons with a young teacher, and is flourishing. I am considering removing the hat “art teacher” as well. 

            Spiritual Studies:  Hugs is reading his Bible (NIrV) as assigned, and we have started a semi-independent Bible study Choosing Obedience. We did not participate in CBS this year, but are considering it for 3^rd grade. Issues of character continue in our homeschooling and as necessary become more of a focus than the “dessert” studies.  

Areas of note for 3^rd grade:

Ø      Improve our efforts in memorization of a variety of material (geography songs, Bible verses and passages, poems). Goals for memorization include (1) learning good linguistic patterns (2) practicing public speaking skills (3) hiding God’s word in our hearts (4) enjoying poetry and prose

Ø      Improve our consistency with Bible study and discipling our sons.

Ø      Monitor our spelling program/ make improvements

Ø      Continue to follow a classical writing program, with an increased emphasis on having Ben take over the copying of his narrations

Ø      Work on comprehension of inferential material in read-alouds and readers.

Ø      Re-discover the “natural curiosity” in our studies again (we seem to have lost a little of the wonder in our studies this year).