We began school today

We officially began school today. Neither my children or I were excited about starting again. We had done quite a bit of school throughout the summer and I was tired. But we began anyway. We're actually beginning a week later than their public school counterparts because of a family situation.

My children cruise through Math-U-See. I think I forgot to mention them in my previous blog. This is our second year of MUS and I'm grateful for Steve Demme. He has made math understandable and accessible to myself and my children. One child even enjoys fractions whereas before the fractions brought tears of frustration. www.mathusee.com

Romans, Reformers and Revolutionaries began with discussing the key points and beginning to listen to Ms. Waring's insightful scholarship. My children really did discuss the questions. Even my youngest piped up with insights that brought sunshine warmth to a mother's heart. The child stated that the early Christian Church grew despite persecution because of faith. Two of my older children "debated" the merits of dividing the Roman Empire under Diocletian. We also enjoyed learning a bit about Georgia's history.

Even though grammar was buried and put in the dark closet for three weeks, we were able to pull it out and get in the swing of Shurley English again. I don't think they're fond of subject-verb agreement and I must say I don't think it was explained very well. The rules though make sense and I'm hoping that through use, it will become easier to understand. What I love most about this program are the introductory practice sentences done three times a unit.

Writing Strands 4 didn't start out well, but I think it will get better. The "flow" lesson didn't make much sense to me, but we all struggled through it and came out victorious on the other side. The next lessons make a lot more sense and hopefully we'll all be better composers by the end of this program.

We're still waiting on the art, music and Spanish. Latin was fun though at co op. We may actually figure the language out. I'm finally understanding the difference between declensions and conjugations. I can barely wait to figure out how to USE the declensions. I remember when I learn conjugations during Spanish class (many years ago), WHAT A REVELATION!!! I keep hoping for that light to go on in my children.

My children have been using Spelling Power for so long that they correct me when I mess up. It's just has to be the easiest, most delightful spelling program on the market. My favorite part are the generalizations. They reinforce phonics though none of my children are phonetic. The 10 step worksheet is a great reinforcer also.

We had a great discussion while introducing folktales. We talked about how the origin of many folktales can be found in the Bible. We'll be tackling Aesop's Fables and Canterbury Tales (various translation and editions) for this unit. One child still thinks Shakespeare is the foundation of all literature. I can't wait until the child finishes Canterbury Tales and realizes Shakespeare read Chaucer and not the other way around.

Getting Ready for School

School began this week in our school district of Georgia. Wow! Because one of the children is not here we have decided to put off starting until next week. We don't take as many breaks as the other schools, so we make up our days further in the year.

After home schooling for 13 years now, I finally feel like I'm getting how to put together our schedule and our curriculum. We belong to a co op and the children are involved with music one day a week. So I've learned how to work around those activities. Plus this year, one of the children is trying to do two years in one so that adds another dimension to the schedule.

And this year, I finally feel confident in the ALL the curriculum we're using. So for any of you that are interested, this is what we are using this year:
History - Diana Waring's Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries, www.dianawaring.com,
Story of the World Vol. 2, www.peacehillpress.com,
Georgia Dailies www.gallopade.com
Science - Apologia's Physical Science and Chemistry www.apologia.com
Language Arts - Shurley English www.shurley.com,
Writing Strands www.writing-strands.com ,
Spelling Power www.spellingpower.com, and
Drawn into the Heart of Reading www.heartofdakota.com
Foreign Language - Learnables' Spanish www.learnables.com and
Latina Christiana www.memoriapress.com
Music - Harmony Fine Arts www.harmonyfinearts.com
Art - Artistic Pursuits www.artisticpursuits.com
I have a few more "extras" that I'll probably be using throughout as I love the Eleanor Hoomes' creative writing series www.amazon.com and Wordly Wise vocabulary www.wordlywise3000.com. We are also picking up Shakespeare again with our co op this year and I have a slew (or is that slough) of books for teaching Shakespeare.

My reasoning for using these particular curriculums and my Shakespeare picks will have to wait until another posting. I may post our schedule. And because I think I'm finally wise enough, I'll post my recommended scope and sequence. (We have to tootle off to take a child to work.)

In the Beginning....

Hi All! Wow! When my sister and sisters-in-law said this would be easy they weren't kidding! We'll see if I can keep this up. I have so much I want to share in regards to my many interests that I thought this would be the best avenue for doing such. So this blog will be about home schooling, stamping anything and everything, sewing and some fashion, and handicrafts - mainly tatting, crocheting, and jewelry making. I might even throw in some LDS seminary and book reviews. I haven't decided whether this will include much about my children as I'm VERY paranoid about having them on the internet.