We interrupt this program...

I KNOW I said I was taking a blogging break, but I just couldn't resist jumping on the bandwagon at The Homeschool Blog Awards. This week the assignment is to list our homeschool schedule. I am so excited about this homeschool year. Yes, it's true that lately I am going back and forth between panic and exultation; but I think that's normal for those of us homeschooling moms who are of the mere average ability (versus my dear friend Mrs.Darling;). Please tell me I'm normal!

Home schooling has now become an adventure for me. To be sure, I'm normally NOT an adventurous person. I don't do roller coasters, or climb mountains, or ride rapids, or... well, I quess I'm somewhat boring;) But the attraction of homeschool is that I get to choose the heights and depths my kids can reach with their learning. We can explore anything we want to. I have always enjoyed learning new things myself, and we definitely learn together. Can it get any better than that?

And while I'm at it, I have to thank the previously mentioned Mrs.Darling for helping our little homeschooling boat not to sink early on. Her prodding and pushing (LoL) and incredible help have encouraged me to hang in there when the going was tough; let's see, that would be atleast the first two years;) Some people may be able to homeschool without someone else offering support and encouragement, but not this mom. So thank you dear friend for keeping me on my toes.

Now, down to the nitty-gritty.

Here is our (tentative) schedule for the fall:

6:00 AM Breakfast with Dad, short family devotion (hubby leaves at 6:30)
7:00 AM Get ready for the day, Morning Chores

8:30 AM Start school with Bible and Memory Time

The Boys will be doing CLE for Math, Abeka for Language Arts, and Reading and Spelling a variety of different sources. Monday afternoons, we will be part of a newly created co-op that will meet every 3rd week in our house. The classes/activities covered in this co-op will be the following: Writing with spelling incorporated, a Book club, Art, PE and educational games.

For History we will be continuing our unit study on World Explorers, which incorporates just about every subject in some way. Science will be experiments (which my boys love!) and studying the Human Body.

Other Electives (which I love!) which we will be incorporating: Languages (Spanish and ASL), Architecture (this will be SO fun) wood-working, wood-burning, pottery, and other art forms. I'm sure I'll come up with more, LoL.

On top of this, I'm considering having my kids in choir, band, and PE classes at a nearby Christian school. This would mean I have to commit to being outside our home much more than I usually prefer, but I know it would be something the boys would enjoy, so I'll probably go with it.

As for the Princess...still working on that;) I'm considering Time for learning, but whatever I use will have to be done in conjunction with her speech learning techniques. Like I said, it's going to take more thought.

This schedule will be revised somewhat no doubt, but it's a good beginning.

I also plan to turn the ringer down on the phone during school hours (a neccessity, believe me) and I am planning on using homework (to be done during the kids "free" time, not mine) occasionally. There are so many ideas running around in my head right now, but I'll share more of that in future posts. Just thought I'd warn you now;)

Now back to my previously scheduled blogging break:)