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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

A Quick Hello

PSA

I miss being here on my blog, but real life is where it’s at right now. {grin}

We are working so hard at getting our routine down. It’s been a little tough with everyone sick this past week (the downside of being in a weekly class), but we’ve kept shockingly close (for us) to the basic schedule I have outlined. It’s the same old story. Not enough hours in a day. And NEVER enough hours in a night.

Boys Studying

We are getting up early (for us) and starting our day with a bang. Shower and breakfast prep for me, math for Levi, and dishwasher and piano for Luke. We eat breakfast, finish up our chores, grab water bottles, put on our boots, and head down.

Someone asked how far the studio is from our house, and whether we get snow in the winter. It is about 80 feet from door to door. No, we don’t get snow (or much cold weather)—just  a lot of rain. We’ll just slip on hooded jackets and rubber boots on the front porch. They’ll slip off at the studio entry. Not a big deal.

The morning starts with Bible (I’m loving Telling God’s Story), including independent reading, Bible memory songs, and hymns. Then spelling, geography, memory work (CC and poetry while jumping on the mini trampoline), Latin (on DVD, usually while I’m putting Lola down for a nap), literature read-aloud (snack and bathroom break), and grammar/language arts. We wrap up the morning with a poem by our monthly poet, then head up to the house for lunch.

Grammar is still my favorite subject. And I adore Michael Clay Thompson. We are adding in some sentence diagramming, and I think it is going to be a hit with all of us!

grammar

The afternoon lessons consist of math for Luke, writing (loving IEW’s Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales Theme-Based Writing Lessons for Levi), and science or history. We sneak in presentation prep (public speaking for CC), literature reading, and other fun stuff in the cracks.

Boys Studying (2)

Late afternoons are filled with swim practice, piano lessons, and library trips. I am overwhelmingly thankful that Russ has taken on the swim practice responsibility, and even takes Luke to piano practice every once in a while.

I have never been good about getting everyone to bed at a decent hour, but that is a huge thing that we’ve been working on recently. And succeeding!! If only I could be so successful at making a decent dinner every night. Well, I can’t work on everything at once, right?

This is our basic routine for Tuesdays-Fridays. I have a feeling that at least one day each week will get interrupted with appointments or activities, so we’ll just listen to CDs in the car, do assigned reading, and fit in other lessons as we can. Mondays are reserved for our Classical Conversations classes in the morning. With lunch and social time we often don’t get home until 1:30 or later, and then we all need some down time. Quiet reading time for the boys and lesson prep time for me might be all we can fit in before swim practice.

So, that’s a basic week for us. I decided not to do weekly reports like I was doing earlier in the year. I’ll probably keep track of highlights, reading lists, basic updates, and links and post them monthly.

How is the new school year going for all of you?

7 comments:

Timi said...

I like the first photo :o)))!
That door is fantastic :o)! (I mean, what you wrote on the door...:o) )
Have a nice day!

A said...

Love the door! Looks like the new space is being enjoyed! So happy for you and your family! :) Amelia

Anonymous said...

Heidi,
I was wondering which parts of Telling God's story you are using...did you get all components,or just one?
Thanks!
Julie in St. Louis

Heidi said...

Julie~ I did get all the components. The Parent's Guide was a fantastic read. It is more of a general overview how-to that covers all the years. The Instructor Text contains a year's worth of lessons which you read to your child (with a brief nod to the general overview as well as background notes for each of the lessons for the parent). The Activity Book is similar to the activity book for Story of the World. It has corresponding coloring pages, games, and craft activities.

MomStarr said...

Hey, that new space looks so fun! Can you give the steps in painting the door in chalkboard paint? I want to do a section on the wall but want to get a good brand and be sure I do it right. Thanks!!

Anonymous said...

Heidi, Grandpa wants to know if we have the order of the boys at their desks correct - left to right, Luke, Leif and Levi. We always enjoy your blogs so much. We think it is going to go much smoother for school, more organized when you all take off for "school" away from the house. Grandma

Heidi said...

Mom Starr~ I'm not sure I'm the one to ask. We just got the chalkboard paint sold at Home Depot (I don't know the brand). I think we are going to have to sand down the surfaces and repaint, though. I wasn't thinking about it and we used a roller, which leaves a rough surface. It needs to be brushed on an extremely smooth surface!

Grandma~ In this picture it is Luke, Leif, and Levi--you are correct. But usually it goes from youngest to oldest with Luke in the middle. Luke's math program is loaded on the left computer, though, so they switch occasionally. We are sure enjoying our new space. It helps us be focused and consistent!!