The Big Switch

I thought I'd chat about the curriculum switch we made for this year. We have enjoyed our core curriculum, Sonlight, for so many years, I sure did hate to leave it. I am hoping maybe next year we can go back to it. But we’ll see.

I just had too many kids in varying places in schoolwork and was getting overwhelmed with all of the reading out loud and at different levels, needing to adjust for each individual child, plus all of the other subjects being at different levels. It was taking way too long every day and there was no possibility of getting anything else done each day. Not to mention, I want my kids to enjoy school. If the load is too heavy, and if I am stretched too thin in helping them, or learning along with them, the fun and enjoyment stretches pretty thin too.

So, for anyone who may be curious, below is what we are doing daily. Keep in mind that we started out doing something totally different and have phased out the old and, slowly, in with the new, so we are still adjusting to getting everything done. Many days we can’t get everything done, but I aim for them to get Math, Handwriting, Dictation and Spanish done every day at least. If we have to give a little, it is usually something besides those.

Science (Lyrical Life Science for 4th and 6th graders, Apologia for 10th grader)

Math (Saxon 7/6, RightStart for 4th grader and Thinkwell Pre-Calculus for 10th grader)
Dictation, Spelling, Vocabulary, Narration, Handwriting Practice (Spelling Wisdom – This is a change for us too. Previously we were using Spelling Power plus doing dictation, which took more planning to locate passages. We are able to cover narration, vocabulary, spelling, handwriting and dictation all with one exercise. Plus they get some really great quotes and passages, which we discuss.)

By the way, I also purchased Laying Down The Rails as I have felt like we need to make a more concerted effort in this area; a refresher course on habits, especially for the younger kids, since we made a concerted effort with the older ones and some things mightpossiblymaybe have gotten a little rusty. We'd possibly be up there with wild Indians if it weren't for The 21 Rules of This House having become a permanent part of our home many years ago (and that's even a little creaky!).
Handwriting (we use Italic but they requested to learn traditional cursive so we are doing that right now then will go back to Italic)
Reading for at least one hour daily, (Misc. and/or pertaining to current History studies)
History/Bible (Loosely based around the Story of the World, Child’s History of the World and Engermeier’s Bible Story Book, using this chart and this chart for assistance and adding in my own hands-on activities) and age appropriate Bible times for each
Spanish (Rosetta Stone)
Plus assignment completion from their once a week classes (including Creative Writing, Communications, Speech, Vocabulary, Shakespeare and/or Literature, depending upon the child)
Twice per week we do a Nature Walk and once per week we aim (operative term to date) to do nature journaling
Once per week we focus on a new Lyrical Life Science song. They are wordy and informative and we just added this a couple weeks ago, so we have not gotten very far yet.
Once per week the boys have a full day of classes outside the home, my daughter takes two of them. This has been a huge help!
Once per week they have a PE class
They have other activities through church and 4H, basketball starts soon, and they have chores around the house, property and for the animals plus learning cooking and other Home Ec type skills. We have put piano, guitar and voice on sabbatical. We have no extra time!
I am still streamlining and trying to figure out how to balance all of this. This is the first year in 16 years of homeschooling where I do not have any two students doing the bulk of the same work. Plus I have a 4 year old who also has his own little learning times.
I’ll post again in a month or two with a progress report because many days I still feel like there is just too much, especially with high school requirements, to get everything done!

I’m A Project Junkie

I am driving myself crazy.

I like doing projects. But I get bored if they take too long per sitting. So I almost always have several projects going at the same time. That way I can, say, paint some furniture for a little while then go in the house and teach dictation. Try a new treatment for the wall, then plan dinner. Throw in a sewing project {which I am still designing with my kids and have not even taken the machine out yet}, then work on the pile of clothes for the kid’s sale coming up. List a few items on Etsy, help my daughter bake some bread -- and back to painting we go…

Are you getting the idea?

The benefit to being this type of personality is that alot of projects end up being finished around the same time and give me a huge feeling of satisfaction as I survey the results – and all of those checkmarks on my project lists.

The drawback is that I become goal oriented and almost can’t sleep because I am so eager to finish up and settle into a routine. I will finish them up, then possibly not do another project for months.

An even bigger drawback is that I create alot of messes, all at the same time.

Right now I am working on at least six projects, easily, and a couple of them are pretty huge. And I have several in the queue I am excited to get started on. But I am making myself finish up what I started first!

I have friends who start a project, then work on it for hours and days, day after day, until it is done, then start on the next one. I have friends who stay away from projects altogether.

What kind of project person are you?

Ohhh, and that said, I want to remind you that Soup's On Saturday, Third Edition starts NEXT WEEK! Can you even believe it? I guess I will have to embrace fall by then.

I am hoping to have the finalized schedule ready today or tomorrow.

Please join me and give me more soup recipes! And I'd love it if you place my S.O.S. button on your blog too, and help me spread the word! You can find the jibberish (otherwise known as html code) for placing it on your blog over in my sidebar.

Moving Out!

Okay, so I am not actually moving ME out. But I am moving out a ton of STUFF. And it seems the best way to do that is to move it ALL out, clean it as if you are moving, then only put back what you actually use, collect, or enjoy.

Even then it is a fine line. Because enjoyment could be found in any number of collections, memory triggers or just that plain old not-wanting-to-be-without feeling.

I love my small collection of Heisey and Morgantown Plantation glass pieces. Pineapples are a sign of welcome and, well, I just love these sweet little pieces. These are my two favorites. It will be hard to see them go. Maybe I will sell the other four pieces rest and keep just these…

Aren’t they sweet?

I also love the Franciscan Apple set I inherited from a former neighbor when she passed away then added to (we use it everyday now), some pieces of my grandmother’s, and keepsakes from my children’s childhoods.

There are things my kids love that take up space.

Trailblazer glasses for one.

I am, after all, the mother of five boys. Five basketball lovin’ boys.

At least they use them...

I just can’t keep it all. I have to ask myself “What is really important?”.

Because we don’t need any of it to survive.

Here is my pile from mostly just the plastics cabinet, with a couple baking things thrown in. I have so much Tupperware and I don’t use plastic much anymore. The iced tea maker hasn’t been used in so long, it still has dribbles from when we had the new countertop put on our island!

Some of this is hard. My cabinets sure look better!

And I know life will be much simpler yet again once it is GONE.

So, that’s what I am up to today. Well, that and painting. Painting, painting, painting. And redecorating bits of about three rooms. And a few other projects. Whilst also starting school out slowly, with the kids learning how to do dictation – more on that another day.

What are you up to?

I’m looking forward to a cup of tea later today and getting caught up on all of your blogs too! I hope you have something for me!