It's All New

It is a new semester, new year, new History study, and new Bible study. It feels like it is the begining of the school year. I had every intention of diving into the second part of World History way back in October. However, God had different plans. As it turns out this delay has been such a blessing. Princess K is more mature now and can take some things on idependently. I can take more time to work with Little Dora, who by the way proceeded to show me that she already knows how to write almost all her big letters and some of her small letters. Boy she is making my job a lot easier.

The past couple of weeks I have been sending my printer into overload trying to print everything I need for the rest of the semester. It is daunting, that is for sure, but I have found that if it isn't all ready to go then a lot of the fun things get put on the back burner. I insert the worksheets or project ides into my Sonlight folder under the week I want to use them. In Homeschool Tracker, I am putting in all the fun extras as assignments. Then they are automatically put into our schedule. I am hoping there will be less.."oops I forgot that I wanted to do that way back in week 2" realizations. And since it is in Homeschool Tracker, I hope that it will be ready for when Little Dora and Bubba go through the same topics. Of course this does make my folder way a ton. But I don't have it out for everyday use.

Speaking of Bubba, the last time I posted we endured the wrath of a red head. We still have the evidence of a broken screen door, but he rarely hits it anymore. Nothing like learning your lesson quick. He is finding fun in less destructive activities like Play Doh, and coloring, and hissing at the cat. Well ok hissing at the cat may be seen as destructive, but she doesn't run too fast from him so I am wondering if she strangely likes the attention. Anyway, it is quite a relief to see Bubba joining in more of our lessons, listening a bit to our read alouds, and not trying to be so disruptive. Maybe there is hope for sanity yet.

Organizing - Year at a Glance

Well I have seen many Homeschool moms use a Year at a Glance tool, and at first I thought it wasn't something I needed to do. However, I have determined that it would be a very useful tool for me to keep track of what we are doing each month. Here are the links to two of the ladies I have seen use it.

1. Jessica at Trivium Academy

2. Jennefer at Smooth Stones Academy

I am sure there are others, but these are the two ladies who have inspired me to do my own Year at a Glance. Hats off to them as they have created an amazing tool. As I have come up with mine, I can see how it helps put the year into perspective. It helps me see what we are going to study so I can keep a weather eye out for any supplemental material. I like being able to see what we have done and I will have the ability to keep track if we get behind in a subject. I still use Homeschool Tracker, but I like this high level view. So without further ado... here is mine (please forgive the quality as I don't really know how to get documents on the blog except converting them piece by piece to an image.)



It is actually 40 weeks because our current studies will go into next year... Except Biology. I thought we would be going to NOEO Chemistry after the first of the year, but I don't want to split Science between this school year and next. Why... I really don't know... it just doesn't feel right. So now I am looking into doing a short study on the Solar System. Nothing fancy or overly involved. Since NOEO doesn't have an Astronomy study, I think this is a good time to do one. So I will go off hunting on that one and report to ya' what I find.

As for the holidays, well we are planning a trip in December, and with Thanksgiving and Christmas... well that puts a welcomed crimp in our school schedule. Since we are ending Sonlight Core 1 with the Birth and Resurrection of Jesus, I thought it would be great to do a lenghtened study on our Savior at this time. I am including Mystery of History's study on the the first churches, and Paul's journey. For our homeschool group we are making ornaments for an Jesse Tree Ornament trade (ours is the Sheep and the staff). So we will be adding the Jesse Tree study in for our Bible Time. I also LOVE the book Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean



It is a story centered around a rather grouchy gentleman telling a young boy the story of the Jesse Tree. There is a transformation of the characters in the end. I will be looking to purchase it this year as I want to get it from the library every year and keep it all holiday season.

Well that is my plan and the things rolling around in my head for right now. Now to go get some laundry done. Have a Blessed Day!!!