HOMESCHOOLERS--Fall is near

[wife]

So what are you all doing to gear up for the fall? We take one month off during the summer and this summer it is July... So we are off this month and I am getting everything organized. Hubby got a few cabinets for the "dining room" and I am having fun getting it all in order.

I purchased the last of our curriculum and the kids and I are excited about getting started in August when hubby starts back at teaching.

[NewWorldOrder]

I still have two math curriculums to buy, then I'm set. Well, sorta, I'm buying the curriculum as we go for my highschooler, because she's moving at an unusual pace.

We won't be starting until September after Labor Day, except for my highschooler, she schools all the time. She's eats, breathes, and sleeps school work. She actually brought it with her when we left to visit my dad for a few days. Gee, I wish she would start sneaking out or something, what's wrong with her. :nerd Study, study, study......we need prayer, I just don't know what to do with her. :book

BTW, I'm am being fecisious, fecicious, feciscious, oh you know what I mena. mean. :groan

[OnTheHorizon]

So what are you all doing to gear up for the fall? We take one month off during the summer and this summer it is July... So we are off this month and I am getting everything organized. Hubby got a few cabinets for the "dining room" and I am having fun getting it all in order.

I purchased the last of our curriculum and the kids and I are excited about getting started in August when hubby starts back at teaching.

It nice to hear someone excited about getting back to school. I feel like I wish summer could last forever.

[Leialoha]

Madly working on book lists for next year. I'll be using Tapestry of Grace for the first time, and I need to go through week by week to figure out which books I'll use.

I also am trying to figure out what extra stuff I want to do -- and of course starting to wonder how I'll get it all done in a day!

We have a busy summer of team sports, sports camps, summer camps, camping and cabin trips so after a while I feel like I just need to chill out and let the homeschool thing alone until August.

This is our sixth year and I still don't know how I accomplish everything that needs to get done.

[HSmomto4]

Ohy do I have so much to do to get ready! The sad part is that we should just be finishing up our year in September and I just don't see it happening. We were so lazy this summer and I am a good 5 weeks behind! I asked my husband last night if he would start taking a more active role in asking the kids what they learned, looking at their work and talking to them about what they are studying so I feel more accountable to actually get it done with them. My oldest daughter spoiled me by being self-motivated and doing her work with little to help from me, but my others aren't like that and they are the ones behind.

So to get back into the swing of things, I have to get the entire weeks worth of work put together over the weekend and then make myself make them get it out and do it. I WANT to do so many fun learning things with them, but truth be told, I just get caught up doing other things! I am going to turn the computer off (A HUGE distraction for me) and the phone during school time and really focus on making learning as fun as I want it to be for them. We also have to make our days earlier. I need to start getting up by 6 and having the girls get going by 7:30. I need to have time for my personal bible study and prayer time, exercise, gardening and breakfast before we get going on schoolwork.

I did hit some of the school supply specials already. Wal-Mart has glue and crayons for 20 cents a box (24 count), rulers for 97 cents, colored pencils and markers (both small and large) for 88 cents, scissors and pencils for 50 cents a box and paper at 10 cents. This is all the name brand also; the rose art was even cheaper. I am waiting for the no sales tax week before I buy anything else and then I want to get pencil boxes, high lighters, dry erase makers, more paper and some other odds and ends. I always buy enough to last us an entire year because it is never that cheap again until the next school drive.

I think I also want to split up where we do our learning. Right now we spend ALL our time in the dinning room and I want to get out of there except for instruction time, science and history. I want bible, math, writing, reading and vocabulary/spelling done in other places. I want to do more stuff outside as well. We are building an outdoor kitchen that will be completely closed in with a lattice roof and have everything a kitchen inside would, minus the dishwasher. There will be a nice table and chairs and wicker sofa and chairs. LOTS could be done out there, even when it was chilly because we are putting a fireplace out there. Then we are converting the front porch into an outdoor living room with a couch, big chairs with foot rest and a coffee table so learning could be done out there as well. I just want them to enjoy relaxing and learning and not sit at my table all day and then for dinner at night. Plus if they aren't in the house learning, then one of the other girls can be working on their music (piano or guitar) without disturbing the one trying to study.

And...man this is a long post...I am going back to my keepers of their home book and putting everyone back on their chore packs. It worked really well when I was doing it and we just got lazy and stopped doing it and now I could pull my hair out. The girls are even asking to go back to them! So I have lots to do this week. I am getting my husband to help me, and I need it BAD!

[lisaann]

I just ordered the last of the things I think I need today. I havent gone through and weeded out the old and put things in order yet......that can wait for next month. :thumb

My kids are going into 4th and 2nd this coming year. I have been making them read every day and practice their math facts. They hate it but it only takes about 1/2 half hour a day. :rolleyes

[christianmom]

I'm ordering the Sonlight curriculum for my 3rd grader. My teenage son will continue to do the Robinson curriculum for his junior year and will also be taking several college courses.

I can't believe the time has gone so quickly. Lisaann, my 8 year old is the very same way, she hates having to practice her math fractions but I still make her. Complaining all the time that school is out and why does she have to. I tell her because you are homeschooled and whether public school is out or not has no impact on us. When I jokingly tell her she has the option to go back to public school in the fall if she prefers she does the heavy sigh and the sagging shoulders thing and does this :ohno

See, I know how to threaten her :heh

[funmudder]

We school year round with good sized breaks here and there. All Fall means to us is more outdoor classroom time :heh

[HSmomto4]

We school year round with good sized breaks here and there. All Fall means to us is more outdoor classroom time :heh

AMEN to that!! Of course we have to wait till November but I'll take it!

[lisaann]

Ok, I have been wanting to paint a mural of a timeline on my wall for awhile now and as soon as I am done typing this I am going to start. I have had a paper one on my wall this past year and it just looks awful. I plan on having a timeline up until they graduate so I want to make it more permanant. Plus we have alot of unsaved friends so I am hoping it will be a good conversation starter to how God shaped our history.

My plan is to make it a serpentine shape from the top of the wall down. That way it will only take up one wall space and not circle the room. I am going to make it look like a road that changes with time. At the top it will be very rough rocks and dirt, during the flood era I think I will make it water, then make it look like a cobbled Roman road which will then morph into a modern blacktop road.

Ok here goes................