Sunday, September 28, 2008

Time for a rebirth

Ok it is time to wake up the world to home schooling....time to get mothers and fathers to take charge of their children's education. Stop complaining about the flaws of the public school and take back the classroom.

Tonight I am starting on a new campaign. Not only to continue this blog but to improve upon it. Tonight I will being the production of several YouTube videos to explain why you, yes YOU, should home school!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

The first week down!

Well this house has survived the first week school in our house. We have been able to keep up with everything!! Which I am surprised as I figured it would take us a while to get back into the swing of things. I think part of the benefit has been my limited ability do walk right now, the joys of knee surgery.

We have managed to start each day with the Pledge of Allegiance. The kids have taken turns holding our flag for the class. It is funny because we are learning how to hold the American Flag correctly, right hand above left. They have also learned how to stand reverently in front of the flag with their right hand over their hearts. Anna has the Pledge down now, however Christopher is still a work in progress, but then again he is only 2.

Anna has started her Kindergarten work and is loving it so far. She gets upset each day when we put her books away as she would love to work in her books nonstop. I hope this love of learning continues. I will admit I have been spoiled by Catherine as she loves to learn and learns very easy, I am not sure how I will handle it if one of my kids hates learning or struggles a great deal.

Catherine has begun her studies this year. She actually started History this summer as we like the idea of doing one chapter a week and thus we started in July so we can have our breaks when we want. Now that we are in full blown school her work load has increased. She is enjoying her study of Oceanography, this year we will be building a diorama of the Ocean and adding to it each chapter with new creatures we have studied. We have begun her new reading curriculum "Drawn Into The Heart of Reading" This study has begun with the reading of a Biography, which we are reading Walt Disney: Young Movie Maker by Marie Hammontree. We are thinking about take a road trip to Marceline, Missouri after our study is over as that is the childhood home of Walt Disney and only 2 hours away. All other subjects are similar to last year and they are great as usual.

Co-op started this week. Needless to say it was a stressful first day. This semester I am teaching a beading class, called Building Bling, and working 3 and 4 year olds in Pre-grammar. Catherine is taking Building Bling, Recorder, Baton, and Etiquette. She seems to really enjoy her classes. Christopher and Anna are both in their age group of pre-grammar.

So one week down in the 2008-2009 school year. We pray that your school year is going well and with little stress and frustration as possible.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Happy Labor Day

Well in our house, summer is officially coming to a close. Today is Labor Day, which for most people is just a day off work and day to cook out. I have to say for our house it is a lot the same. Although because of medical issues (Knee surgery) today's labor day is not as exciting as in the past. Today we use the pool (an out door inflatable pool) for the last time, although as of this blog it has not gotten warm enough for the pool. Today we will cook hamburgers and corn and other yummies.

Today is very special for us when it come to education. Today we finish setting up our fall classroom. We organize our cart so it is ready for the kick off of school tomorrow. Our children are excited about starting school for real. Although through the summer we do like mini school, tomorrow starts the real thing.

So as schools around the world have either started or are starting we wish everyone a great fall full of great educational experiences.