Friday, September 2, 2011

The Lazy Days of Summer…

I’m trying to console myself over the fact that today is the last day of summer.  We have a long weekend, and then on Tuesday we are full swing back into school. My kids have a lot on the docket this year.  Aside from the stuff we will do at home: English, spelling, math, history, reading, copywork, Bible…they will have 3 courses they will take at our co-op.  They will be doing this… Introductory Logic

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And this… Apologia Physical Science

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They will also be taking a civics course, but I’m not sure what book they’ll be using for that.

We’ll be continuing with the Queen’s Copywork series, because I LURVE it!. There are some great quotes, Scripture verses, and poems the kids have to copy, it gives them great writing practice.  Our Rod & Staff English also has writing lessons every few lessons, but they are pretty tedious, and my littles hate doing them.  My friend Heidi gave me a great idea for writing practice, and it will also give my kids typing practice.  They already practice their handwriting with the Copywork, so learning typing skills will be an asset too.

Once a month both children will put out their own one-page newspaper/newsletter.  They will review the books they have read on their reading lists, will review what they’ve been doing in their lessons, and will update on any family news.  There will be a small section for a comic/picture that they will each draw.  The newspaper will be printed and sent to my MIL so she knows we are actually teaching our children at home :).  It will also give them writing/typing practice.  Great idea huh? I loved it!

We don’t have a reading curriculum per se, but we will be heading to the library next week and the kids will pick 10 chapter books that must be read by the end of the semester.  They are not the biggest fans of reading, so we’ll start with 10 and see how they do.  I’ll give bonus points for extra books read.  The books they pick will be the ones they review in their newspapers, and they must write a book report on each book they read as well, so I know they read it. :)

It’s going to be a fun, but busy year….I’m really looking forward to it! I’ll post our annual first day of school picture on Tuesday! :) You’ll be able to tell by the looks on their faces how THRILLED my littles are to be back to school! ;)

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