It has been pretty much a lazy summer for us...and while that has been nice in a way...it may make getting back to a normal daily routine a struggle.  One good thing was that I had everything organized and ready to go back in June...so I wasn't scrambling all summer to get ready for this year.  But now I need to go over it all and remind myself of just what we are doing!

Here's what we have planned for this year. 

Bridgette requested that we read through the book of Isaiah for bible.  Our method of "bible study" has been that she would read the chapter on her own, then we would read it together and she would draw something that stood out to her.  Then we listen to the chapter on cd and there would be somesort of devotional from that passage.  This year with Isaiah being a longer book, we will have 2 chapters a week...with basically the same set up, but instead of the devotional part, I found an actual bible study for Isaiah (that I downloaded) that we are going to use instead.

For History we are continuing with our unit study style method for more American History...with 1800's Pioneers and Westward Expansion being our topic.  I have several source material that I'm pulling from (with reading/ Q&A) as well as living books and notebooking assignments and some essay writing planned.

Science we are using Apologia's General Science...and have purchased a lab kit to go with it as there are a lot of experiments to do.  We really enjoyed the Zoology 2 from last year, and I hope that Bridgette will enjoy science again this year.  But the book seems big to me and more involved than she's had before...so hopefully it will go well.  I would also love to see Bridgette participate in our homeschool group's annual Science fair this year...held in the spring...we should start researching ideas early!

TLP/Writing - we are continuing with Total Language Plus (our 3rd year) and this year she will be reading Words By Heart, The Hobbit and Around the World in 80 Days.  We also purchased Painless Grammar to use  this year as well.  But the big thing is writing for Bridgette.  She has decided this year that she wants to become a writer.  This past year she has begun writing a couple of stories that have been in my probably somewhat biased opinion, very good!  So our plan is to focus more on writing in the coming years.  I originally was only going to give her creative writing assignments to do through out the year, but we recenlty got the opportunity for her to take a writing class with someone who has a bachelor's degree in English...so starting in September for 12 weeks she will be taking this writing class and we are very excited about that!

Math - we are continuing with Math U See.  And as any of you know who have read any of my previous posts of what we use...Bridgette is a bit behind where 8th grade public school kids would be, but we are okay with that.  When we began homeschooling we decided to start over with math and get her feeling comfortable with it.  So this year we are moving into Epsilon...which if you are familiar with MUS focuses on fractions.  It's at this point in the game that even mom will be getting an education...I always had trouble with fractions.  And so from now on I plan to learn right along with Bridgette! 

I'm not sure what "extra curricular" activities we'll be doing this year.  We decided not to stay with 4H...Bridgette only did a couple things last year and so we just decided it really wasn't worth it for us.  I wish there was someplace she could take dance - I mean obviously there are places to take dance, but we don't have the extra money to put her into a class.  She used to have her worship dance class...that was a free thing at our church lead by a volunteer...but unfortunately that is no longer an option and there isn't anything anywhere else that I know of.  So I guess other than going to some plays or other field trips, we probably won't do much.  Maybe that's a good thing?!  

Well all this begins in just 4 weeks...Monday August 31st!  Perhaps this year will go by without any major distractions...such as whooping cough!!!!

Tomorrow officially begins our last week of school!  Yeah!  We are so ready for the break.  It's hard to believe that we are finishing up our 3rd year homeschooling! 

I have been working for the past few weeks getting ready for our evaluation in June and organizing everything for next year.  And hopefully within another week or two, everything will be all set and I just might be able to enjoy the summer this year!  

I am hoping to work on some scrapbooking this summer!  I should also work on some of my writing.  Both of these tasks require some inspiration.  And I have been feeling a lack of inspiration lately...sort of goes along with part of todays sermon.  To stay under the annointing...at least when it comes to my writing. 

Bridgette's plans for the summer?  Well, I think she is looking forward to spending more time reading and writing.  I'm sure that we will be making several trips to the library over the summer!  I think she should learning how to use her sewing machine more too!

But before we can "close up shop" for the school year we have plans to end with a field trip.   Since we've been studying Marine Science we are taking a trip to Mote Aquarium in Sarasota!

Well since this is supposed to be a blog for homeschoolers, I figured I should probably blog a little bit about our homeschoolling from time to time. 

Most of my posts lately have been about things I'm personally dealing with on a spiritual level...and that's okay with me.  Writing about the things God shows me is a big part of who I am.  But another big part of who I am is a God called homeschool mom!

This year has been interesting to say the least...filled with unexpected obstacles.  But overall our homeschooling has gone well I think.  At this point in the year, we are looking forward to some much needed time off...beginning next week with spring break, followed by summer break 7 weeks later! 

So far Science has been Bridgette's favorite this year.  She is facinated with learning about Marine science and is a little disappointed to not be studying it next year.  But we will be moving on to other Apologia Science courses...which will eventually lead her back to their High School Marine Biology course.  Unfortunately for her, there are pre-requisites and so first things first.   Back to this year...her Ocean Box is coming along nicely despite some mishaps...namely one of our cats!  We made the mistake of leaving it on the kitchen table and Heidi (or should we call her the SEA MONSTER!) got into it and caused some damage.  We had claws broken off of the lobster and crab (who also lost an eye), a fish with a missing fin, the snail was relocated, the shark had some battle scars and the dolphin had some teeth marks on it's dorsal fin.   But Daddy felt bad about all of Bridgette's hard work thus far and helped her glue everybody back together! 

History has been good for the most part...considering we have taken bits and pieces of a variety of materials to make a unit study of sorts on the 1700's Revolutionary War era.  We have gotten thru all the "activities" I had planned already, and so for the rest of the year she is just reading historical fiction of that time frame and probably doing some notebooking.  Which she is happy with...my little bookworm!

Math, we are plugging away at.  There have been some frustrations...just little things that get to her.  But overall she is doing well

For Bible we have been going thru the book of Acts...it's been interesting...and I am looking forward to watching the Acts Visual Bible on dvd when we have finished reading it all.

Total Language Plus...She has completed 2 books so far this year, Julie of the Wolves and Twenty-One Balloons.  She is currently reading Swiss Family Robinson and seems to be enjoying it.  We don't use the grammar from TLP, but instead have a separate grammar workbook.  This has been a tough thing...she dislikes grammar with a passion.  And I have to agree with her.  There are some things that come pretty easy, but others are not and I'm not an expert and so there have been a couple of pages that we've skipped simply because I didn't understand how to do them either....even with the answer key I was confused.   Really when in life are we truly going to need to know how to identify predicate nouns, noun clauses or objects of the preposition in our sentences?    And I suppose having good grammar skills will be helpful for her in her writing endeavors, but seriously...

That leads us to her writing.  Not to brag or anything, but my kiddo has some talent when it comes to writing.  She is writing the way I wanted to when I first got the writing bug.   My dream of writing fiction may just be realized in her.  This is the first time she has actually expressed a desire for something to do as a "career"...saying that she wanted to make money writing.  That is exciting to me, especially knowing what she has written so far.  I believe she will actually accomplish this goal.  She is a voracious reader, and gets ideas from and picks up on the styles of the stuff she reads and blends them all together with her own quirky humor and imagination.  Recently she had part of a story published in our homeschool group's kids newsletter...and has both sets of grandparents eagerly awaiting the rest of her story!  I might get her permission to post it here.

Well that's about it for a homeschool update...I will have to post again soon about our plans for next year, and about how our evaluation goes for this year.

This year is off to a very good start!  I am so thrilled!  I think we finally have a smooth running homeschool.  Not that our first two years weren't good, but I can honestly say that none of the jitters are there this year.  Bridgette has gotten right into her school work, and overall she knows what is expected of her.   I have no idea what may be down the road for this year - I'm sure there will be curves and bumps and possibly a pot hole or two - but I know who's in control and will trust him to get us through whatever obstacles may pop up.

I am especially thrilled with notebooking - I had hoped that Bridgette would take to it very easily (tho I wasn't sure if she'd say stuff like "I don't know what to do")...and she has.  She's already done a couple pages about Colonial life and they came out great!  She really enjoys showing what she knows with a sense of humor...and I don't know if I should ask her to be serious some too, or just let her have freedom with  it all.

I don't know if this is what's bothering me...the fact that this is our last weekend before we start school, and things are really going to pick up now.  I didn't want to get so involved with activities that we get burned out, but I'm sort of feeling like the walls are going to close in pretty quick.  So here I am hoping to get myself excited again about starting school.  

I've already blogged about History, Bible and Math.  So what's left,  we have Language Arts and Science and "extra curricular" activites.

Language Arts - we are using Total Language Plus again this year.  The books we are going to use are: Julie of the Wolves, The Twenty-One Balloons and Swiss Family Robinson.   Because I haven't been impressed with the grammar section of TLP, we are doing a separate grammar workbook for grades 7-8 called Building Grammar.  We will also be going thru an e-book writing program called Igniting Your Writing.

Science - we are going to use Apologia Zoology 2 "Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day".  Even tho Bridgette is technically a "middle schooler" we decided to go with this "elementary" science, first because I really liked the look of it...and second because Bridgette hasn't had higher math yet we felt that we should wait on upper levels of science that might include higher math.  And last but certainly not least, marine science was what Bridgette had specifically requested to study this year!  We are also planning to do some extra "unit" studies on some of those "swimming creatures" such as dolphins, killer whales, manatees, sea turtles, sharks, starfish and jellifish.

Extra Curricular activities - well this is where some of the business come into the picture.  We have joined Homegrown 4H this year...and so Bridgette is doing a couple of projects the first part of the year.  She'll be going to a cooking class once a month starting in September through March.  She is also doing a photography poject.  She went to a class today, and will be going on several field trips to have hands on practice.  Plus we will be doing several Living Arts field trips with our homeschool group -  going to see some plays -  Anne of Green Gables in September,  The Somewhat True Tales of Robin Hood in October, CSI Live in November,  The Hundred Dresses and Holes in March & April.

Plus we are involved in a play that is practicing for a performance in November...called Freedom's Journey.  It is based on the book Hind's Feet on High Places.  I am playing Aunt Dismal.  My husband is involved with set construction and painting as well as with some of the Audio/Visual stuff. 

So you can be praying for our family - that God gives us the strength to make it through everything.  Maybe it doesn't seem like a whole lot to some of you - but for us a decidedly "homebody" type family I'm exhausted just thinking about it all.    And I thought blogging about it was supposed to help me feel better.  Hmm...not yet.  But I also think there are some other unresolved issues rumbling around in my brain at the moment...so maybe I need to go and browse some other HSB blogs and get inspired.