Back to School!

We are almost done with our first week of school for this new year, and it looks like we will survive! I'm always excited to start a new school year, but usually a bit nervous as well. It can be challenging to get back in the swing of things after the relative freedom of a summer break, and this year the break has been longer than usual.

The boys usually move through their curriculum more quickly than suggested, and we just start the next level as they finish the previous one, rather than waiting for the next year. Well, with the double-doozy combo of pregnancy exhaustion and morning sickness, we just stopped doing certain subjects as they finished the current grade level, rather than moving on. So for several months now, their course load has been getting lighter and lighter, then we took about a month off completely for summer.

In light of all that, I was VERY concerned there would be all-out mutiny when we hit the books this week...but the boys have done phenomenally well!! We did have some convincing to do with Jordan, who is now officially a 1st grader and not accustomed to lots of school work, but otherwise, the boys have been responsible and eager to learn. Yay!!! What a relief!

We're still in the process of ironing out our routine--figuring out what order is best for our subjects, and how to juggle three different grade levels--as well as a preschooler and toddler!! I'm doing myself a favor and only trying to come up with a routine; i.e. just doing things in a particular order and not worrying about scheduling times yet. That's just too hard for me to accomplish while pregnant! My plan is to school up until baby arrives (she's due around Thanksgiving) then take off from Thanksgiving through the end of the year. I'll still have the boys do math worksheets and read daily, just to keep in practice, but we won't resume our full curriculum until the first week of January. Hopefully I will be getting some sleep again by then! :)

So for anyone who's interested, here is what we're studying this year:

Joshua:
Math--Math-U-See Epsilon (fractions)
Grammar--Rod & Staff English 4
Spelling--Spelling Power
Logic--Mind Benders warm-ups and level A, followed by A Case of Red Herrings
Reading--various literature, and selections to go along with history and science studies

Jonathan:
Math--Math-U-See Delta (division)
Grammar--Rod & Staff English 3
Spelling--Spelling Power
Reading--various

Joshua and Jonathan:
History--1600-1850...using Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World right now, trying to decide if I want to go ahead and get Story of the World 3 (we used 1 and 2 previously)
Science--chemistry...Adventures with Atoms and Molecules--starting in September
Latin--STILL finishing up Prima Latina, then moving on to Latina Christiana 1
English From the Roots Up book 1 for Latin and Greek root words
Bible--reading 3 chapters a day (chronologically) and scripture memory
Writing--book reports, letters, etc. and Writing Strands 3

Jordan:
Math--Math-U-See Alpha (addition)
Grammar--First Language Lessons
Reading/Phonics--finishing up Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Adding in History/Science/etc. sometime in September...trying not to overwhelm him all at once!!

All three:
Art projects--various
Some sort of music appreciation done weekly or so...still fleshing that one out!

Whew!! Looking at those lists, it looks like a ton of work. But it really isn't too bad...several of those subjects are done on alternating days, and a few of them don't really take very long to do. We're also still trying to figure out what to do about piano lessons for Joshua and Jonathan since our piano teacher is going off to college this year. I'll probably just do it myself for the fall, and maybe put them in lessons somewhere in the spring...I don't think I want to be shuttling them around to lessons in late pregnancy or with a newborn!

So those are our plans so far! We're looking forward to having a great year!!