I Will Survive!

Well, it took us two weeks to finish a week's worth of work, but that's kind of how it goes sometimes, especially in the beginning. I'm not going to go through everything we did because I think that would be the world's most boring post. Here are some snapshots and thoughts about the first bit of school:

• My biggest challenge this year? Figuring out how to organize my days. I have the work figured out, the papers are all in folders, and the books are checked out and ordered. Those are variables I can control. What I can't control are the people. The best laid plans are still at the mercy of Emma wanting to sit on my lap, Annika not understanding 3+5, Sam forgetting he just read, or Harry freaking out about writing a sentence. Or me losing it because all of these things happen at once. I need to make sure I can keep my calm and project it to those around me. Much easier said than done.

Annika's first science page.

• Harry hates writing. I do mean hate. With the passion of a thousand fiery suns. Which kind of makes me hate writing. He started Writing with Skill this week. That seems to be going fine, probably because the book is telling him what he has to do. The real problem is the written narrations he has to do. He looks at me like he's never heard of something so cruel and promptly forgets what he's just read. I'm mean enough to tell him to sit still and think. I think he's old enough to write on his own five sentences about a book he's read. Otherwise he's doing pretty well. His work is basically a continuation of what he's been doing for the past few years.

This is how we are keeping track of books or chapters read. Annika gets a bead for each chapter she reads, the boys for each book. Emma pretty much if she asks. (What can I say, she's really cute.)

• It's fun to teach Annika. She really likes to figure things out. She can whip through the work I give her in just about an hour which means she spends the rest of the time that I'm working with her brothers asking me for more. Thankfully we have a bunch of cheap workbooks. Her reading is taking off and I'm having a blast starting First Language Lessons and Writing with Ease with her. It's a lot of fun to do the same things with her than I did with the boys. And to find new things just for her. She's starting Singapore Math from the beginning instead of Math U See. She's also reading different little stories than the boys did. I'm trying to make sure I spend time actually with her on my lap, reading. It's something that gets lost easily in the chaos.

From a Classical House of Learning project. They made people out of beans. Emma just used the glue. 

•  Sam does everything quickly and perfectly. My challenge with him is to keep him challenged. For now I've added Latin to his studies and he's reading a lot. He has a tendency to "shut down" if challenged to much, so I often feel like I'm walking a tightrope between what I know he can do if he tries and what he's willing to try to do. I've added Latin for Children to his work this year and he's doing a bit of Singapore Math with his Math U See. MUS is going well, I just want to make sure his whole brain is working. I'm also trying hard to keep him in books. Some kids outgrow their clothes all of the time, Sam outgrows his books. I'd say it's annoying but it's really pretty cool.

Our archeological dig.

I'm always more interested in projects at the beginning of the year. By the end I just want to get through things.

I wonder what a car, baby, dress, money, gun, Cub Scout belt loop, Pokemon, and stick can tell us about the civilization that went before?

 As you can see we have some challenges ahead, but that's always true. It wouldn't be homeschooling if I were completely confident about everything I'm doing. Oh, one thing that's going well is our memory work. I put it in their Fancy Folders (Annika named them) and we pull it out first thing every morning. It's been a great thing in a lot of ways. The obvious one--they are memorizing and using their brains. But I didn't expect the kids to become closer because of it. Some of what they are memorizing is the same for each child, so they kind of compete on that (not cool, they are different ages) but most of it's different. But because Harry can see Annika and Sam working hard to memorize something and actually get it, he cheers them on. And it's the same for the other kids. Totally unexpected benefit, but absolutely worth it.