Homeschool Highlights #10

Instead of trying to remember what I did throughout the week, I planned our week in a blog post and then edited it as needed. I still hesitate to call it a schedule (more like a plan), but certain work was scheduled on certain days. Does that count as a schedule? First of all, the boys all have daily independent work (help is available as needed). I read in The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling, by Debra Bell (a book I am reviewing) that one way to prevent burn out is to create independent learners. While, I do enjoy the teaching time we spend together, I can see the wisdom in that. Here is a list of our Daily Independent Work:
  • Bible
  • Think of Me
  • Reader
  • Language Lessons
  • Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting
  • Explode the Code 8 (Dylan completed this book this week)
  • Apologia Science (Zoology 3 & General Science)
  • Singapore Math/Life of Fred ~ Fractions
  • MathScore (in the morning)
  • Mathletics (in the afternoon)
Zoo 3: Lesson 8 ~ Rodentia and the Rest, Nathan and Dylan learned about mice, squirrels, beavers, porcupines, lemmings, gerbils, chinchillas, groundhogs, prairie dogs and chipmunks and completed their notebooking pages. General Science: Jordan finished Module 2, Study Guide lapbook (review) and Test (It took him longer to complete this module than I anticipated, so I am checking his progress sheet daily, rather than weekly, to see what he did that day). The boys are given time in the morning to complete their independent work. Here is how our afternoons looked this week: (Our work week begins on Sunday, the first day of the week, and ends on the 6th day and we keep the Sabbath on the 7th day as a day of rest)

Day 1:

  • Nature Study ~ Cattails
  • Instant Challenge ~ A Mouse House
  • History Read Aloud ~ Mara, Daughter of the Nile Ch. 1-3
  • Math Tutor DVD ~ Word Problems: Fractions
Day 2:
  • Madsen Method
  • AAS Level 2, Lesson 3
  • History Read Aloud ~ Mara, Daughter of the Nile Ch. 4-6
  • Chopin ~ The Early Years: Ch 1
  • Volleyball practice (N&D)
Day 3:
  • Madsen Method
  • AAS Lesson 4
  • History Read Aloud ~ Mara, Daughter of the Nile Ch. 7-10
  • Chopin ~ The Early Years Ch. 1 & discussion questions
  • Volleyball practice (N&D)
  • Volunteer at the Dog and Cat Shelter (1 hour ~ Jordan)
Day 4:
  • Pancake Breakfast at the Y
  • Madsen Method
  • AAS Lesson 5
  • Simply Grammar Lesson 3
  • History Read Aloud ~ Mara, Daughter of the Nile Ch. 11-12
  • Chopin ~ The Early Years: Ch 2 & discussion questions
  • Homeschool P.E. at the Y
  • Volleyball game
Day 5:
  • Madsen Method,
  • AAS Lesson 6
  • History Read Aloud ~ Mara, Daughter of the Nile Ch.13-15
  • Ray's Arithmetic/Math Mammoth (short division patterns/long division)
  • Math Tutor DVD (Multiplying fractions/mixed fractions/improper fractions)
  • Volunteer at the Y (1 hour ~ Jordan refereed his first volleyball game)
Day 6:
  • History Read Aloud: Mara, Daughter of the Nile Ch. 16-17
  • Sabbath Preparations
  • Library Day
  • Lesson Planning
  • Chess Club
Day 7:
  • Sabbath day of rest
  • Family Bible study, worship and fellowship.
Well, this might be the closest I get to a schedule. I pray Father will help me become more organized in our homeschool, for His glory. It feels more peaceful to have a sense of structure. I must fight the urge to not be disappointed when things don't go as planned, though. I have a strong drive to accomplish much (some may call that being an overachiever, but I call it homeschooling heartily as unto Yahveh) and we often have company during the week. We have an open door policy for fellowship in our home ~ in other words, our doors are always open. When people stop by to visit, we stop what we are doing and welcome them into our home. Sometimes, that means putting something off for another day. I ran on the varsity cross country team in high school and one of my favorite quotes was this:
"Do today what other's don't, so you can do tomorrow what others can't."
To me, this meant intense training, running long distances and pushing the hills. Well, I have a tendency to push the hills in homeschool and I have had to retrain my thinking because homeschool is not a race!

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