Our new school year starts in 2 days. The kids claim they're not ready, but they are also starting to act bored. In other words, things like TV and computers are trying to take over their day. It happens every year. Here's a sneak peek at what I'm planning for this year.

We do a 4 day school week, with Tuesdays being a "no-school" day. However, we do actually have school on Tuesdays, just not normal school. On Tuesdays, we have PE class at the YMCA and this year we are starting a co-op. We'll have art, Spanish and the Prairie Primer on Tuesdays as well.

The other days of the week will be regular school days. I use a variety of curricula for the kids. What works with one may not work with another and what works in one subject may not work in another. Here's what's planned:

Eric, grade 9:

Math--Teaching Textbooks, Algebra 1
English--Learn to Write the Novel Way
History--Streams of Civilization
Science--Apologia's Physical Science

Greg, grade 8:

Math--DK workbook and Daily Math drills
English--Wordly Wise, Winston grammar
History--Story of the World, book 4
Science--Apologia's General Science

Janelle, grade 4:

Math--Teaching Textbooks, grade 4
Language Arts--Handwriting Without Tears cursive, Wordly Wise, Spellwell,
                           Daily Grams and Easy Grammar
Science and History will be done through the Prairie Primer

I don't usually plan out our Bible lessons too far in advance. I try to correspond our lessons at home to either what they're doing in Sunday School or to some lesson that needs to be learned, like self-control, kindness, etc.

In addition to this, the 2 youngest have music lessons on Monday. Janelle will probably have gymnastics on Monday evening and children's choir on Wednesday evening (I'm directing this year for the first time). Greg will also have barbershop rehearsals on Thursdays and he just got a role in our local homeschool fall play, so we'll have rehearsals for that, as well.

Our daily schedule? What I plan and what actually happen are usually 2 different things, but here's the plan:

I get up at 6:00 to have some quiet time and then go out to milk cows.
The kids get themselves up and out to take care of their animals and feed calves around 7:30-8:00.

I get in by 8:30, shower and make breakfast. Once that's done, we start school around 9:30 and go until we're done each day, usually by 2:00. I don't plan out which subject is done when, I let the kids decide what order to do their work in. They each have a weekly plan that lists all their assignments. If they choose to do one subject a day, they may. The goal is to get the weekly work done by the end of the day on Friday.