Homeschooling affords much freedom. One of many options is the running of our Academic Year. Traditionally in the US, school runs fall to spring with summers off. This is a wonderful option, one which many homeschoolers follow for their Academic Year. I would like to present another option, which is to align your Academic Year…
September?! Say it isn’t so! We had a good week. Most of the time. That’s the joy of writing a weekly review like this. The moments can be frustrating. Seriously frustrating. Our plans and idyllic imaginings can get derailed as we deal with the issues and frustrations of living and learning with the same people…
Before this week I would have written that I liked essentially everything about six weeks on, one week off routine. I found something I don’t like: the first week back. It is surprising how quickly good habits about doing lessons can go by the wayside with one week off. The week wasn’t terrible by any…
We have officially finished our first half-term of six weeks. What a great first term it has been. Don’t get me wrong, we have had token fighting over school work and bad attitudes have been righted on a daily basis. There is still a lot of detraining of bad habits to be done and retraining…
I am so completely thrilled. This was the week – the homeschool – I hoped for. Oh, it was not perfect. We still had children pushing back over assigned work, some. Monday was the best day of school we’ve had in years. Tuesday was harder. Wednesday, early, we had a “Come to Jesus” moment. Things…
I think one of the big problems we have had is that the kids are squirrely and I am not. I can sit down at 8:30 and do school work until noonish with no problems. Only that is a problem for my fitness. Last winter I attempted Couch to 5K, running in place in my…
One of the similarities between Charlotte Mason and WTM is the idea of narration. One of the big differences is how narration is done. We have done written narration as one sentence per “grade” in school for each reading. So, first graders write one sentence. Third graders write three. We’ve done this for literature, science,…
So, here’s the first “I’m not really sure yet” post. I told you yesterday that I’ve long been intrigued by/interested in/drawn to Ambleside Online. I’ve used their free reading lists and their annual booklists for free reads and read alouds. I know they ask you not to do this. I would like to continue to…
Whew. First, I had to admit that I was clearly wrong. Broken. Then, I had to admit that my devotional life was clearly lacking. Today, I have to tell you that I have changed my mind. I thought I was going to be one of those Well-Trained Mind all the way, philosophy laid out, hardcore…
This one isn’t entirely homeschool related, but enough that it fits into the discussion. I have tried over the past couple of years to read the Bible for personal devotions using Grant Horner’s Bible Reading program (described here by Tim Challies). And when I’m in it, I love it. It is a fantastic way to…