Aah...the joys of homeschooling. One of the great things about it is being able to keep your own schedule. Since the girls were little, I've been bringing them to New Hampshire at the end of February to visit my sister-in-law. Usually we get to play in the snow, we've gone tubing, ice skating, and snowshoeing in the woods. Unfortunatly this winter there's hardly any snow. We got about an inch Friday night but that's all there is right now. If the girls went to school, there would be no February trip for them since they'd be in school.
This year, besides getting in some big mountain skiing/snow boarding, they get to play with their "new" cousin. He's 8 months old and as cute as a button. All Rosie Jane wants to do is play with Z. We haven't been able to play in the snow, but the girls did go tromping in the woods. Not snow shoeing though. Maybe next year.
27 February 2012
20 February 2012
It's only February
Yep, it's only late February and I'm already thinking about school next year. I have most of the courses/curriculum picked out but still have a few glaring holes to fill. I also have some weaknesses that need to be addressed next year. The main thing both girls need work on is writing; all sorts of writing except creative writing in the case of Sweet Pea. I've been mulling over IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) since I keep hearing really good things about it but it's really expensive. I just spent some time (again) looking over their website since it's been a few years since I last looked at it. I think I've found a way I can make it work for both girls and be affordable, I just need to think about it a bit more. I'm thinking I'll probably get it and have them work on the writing together next year and also do some separate grammar and vocab with Rosie Jane.
Apparently I'm procrastinating in figuring out what science to do with Sweet Pea next year. I'm pretty sure it'll be biology but I'm not sure what we're going to use. I'd kind of like to do something totally out of the box with her but really don't feel comfortable pulling something together myself especially at the high school level. Science really isn't my thing.
We're all looking forward to our mini-vacation later in the week. It's time for our annual trip to New Hampshire to play in the snow. Only problem is that they don't have any snow! I guess it'll be time to play with the 8 month old nephew (who is as cute as a button!!) instead of in the snow. After that it's back to school probably for the duration. I don't think we'll take a spring break this year and instead just a few days off here and there to enjoy the nice weather.
Apparently I'm procrastinating in figuring out what science to do with Sweet Pea next year. I'm pretty sure it'll be biology but I'm not sure what we're going to use. I'd kind of like to do something totally out of the box with her but really don't feel comfortable pulling something together myself especially at the high school level. Science really isn't my thing.
We're all looking forward to our mini-vacation later in the week. It's time for our annual trip to New Hampshire to play in the snow. Only problem is that they don't have any snow! I guess it'll be time to play with the 8 month old nephew (who is as cute as a button!!) instead of in the snow. After that it's back to school probably for the duration. I don't think we'll take a spring break this year and instead just a few days off here and there to enjoy the nice weather.
13 February 2012
We've been busy!
We have been so busy recently. I can't believe that February is already halfway gone; it seems like it should still be January! I've been heading down to Massanutten Resort with Sweet Pea at least twice a week since late December for snowboard team practice. As long as she's focused, she has time to get her work done in the mornings before we have to leave. It just makes the week kind of hectic since I'm gone all afternoon/evening on Wednesdays and Thursdays. One of us has been taking her down on the weekends as well, so the time has just flown by! Rosie Jane has been keeping us busy as well; it's just been trying to keep up with everyone's schedule that's hard. March is coming up soon enough though and with that the end of snowboard season. I think they only have practice through the first weekend although the resort will hopefully be open later into the month.
Besides snowboarding, school has been moving along well. Their French and German classes have started up again. After a rough start (the company changed virtual classrooms) they're back on track and it's going well. Sweet Pea found out that their teacher might be offering an introduction to Russian class this summer. She really wants to take it but I'm not sure it will fit in with our schedule; we'll have to see.
It was a good move to ease up on some things while we're so busy with winter sports. It's almost time to start thinking about school for next year. I have a general outline for what the girls will be doing, pretty much just the next thing, but I still have some decisions to make. I need to figure out what Sweet Pea is going to use for biology and English, I need to decide if Rosie Jane is going to do two science classes next year (I'd like her to), and a few other things. I still have some time, catalogs will be out soon (look for Sonlight's April 1!), the convention is in June (I'd better check the calendar and make sure I can go). We'll probably start the new school year in August, but we'll just keep working for now and worry about next year in a month or so.
My "why we homeschool" for today - I was just sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper (yes, I still get a newspaper) and happened to glance up. The boy next door had just gotten home from high school and was letting his dog out, at the same time I was hearing Sweet Pea getting into the shower. Yes, she did all her work this morning in her pj's. Nothing unusual there. The only reason she got in the shower when she did is that we were supposed to have Girl Scouts this afternoon so she needed to get a move on and get dressed (had to cancel - one of our few girls was sick - feel better!!).
Besides snowboarding, school has been moving along well. Their French and German classes have started up again. After a rough start (the company changed virtual classrooms) they're back on track and it's going well. Sweet Pea found out that their teacher might be offering an introduction to Russian class this summer. She really wants to take it but I'm not sure it will fit in with our schedule; we'll have to see.
It was a good move to ease up on some things while we're so busy with winter sports. It's almost time to start thinking about school for next year. I have a general outline for what the girls will be doing, pretty much just the next thing, but I still have some decisions to make. I need to figure out what Sweet Pea is going to use for biology and English, I need to decide if Rosie Jane is going to do two science classes next year (I'd like her to), and a few other things. I still have some time, catalogs will be out soon (look for Sonlight's April 1!), the convention is in June (I'd better check the calendar and make sure I can go). We'll probably start the new school year in August, but we'll just keep working for now and worry about next year in a month or so.
My "why we homeschool" for today - I was just sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper (yes, I still get a newspaper) and happened to glance up. The boy next door had just gotten home from high school and was letting his dog out, at the same time I was hearing Sweet Pea getting into the shower. Yes, she did all her work this morning in her pj's. Nothing unusual there. The only reason she got in the shower when she did is that we were supposed to have Girl Scouts this afternoon so she needed to get a move on and get dressed (had to cancel - one of our few girls was sick - feel better!!).
20 January 2012
Readjusting
Like the lovely voice in the GPS says, I'm readjusting the direction of our school. We're only a few weeks into the new year but we need to readjust already. We've become super busy with a few things and I've decided that at least for now school needs to be simplified. Sweet Pea is on a snowboard team and since we live no where near a ski resort, she and I are doing a lot of driving. Totally worth it, but it takes a pretty good chunk of time out of our Wednesdays and Thursdays (not to mention Saturdays and the occasional Sunday).
I think at least for now, I'm going to set aside the French unit study I wanted Sweet Pea to do. It's an extra that she doesn't need right now. Maybe this summer. I'm going to focus on some basics with her for a couple of months, until the snowboard season is over; mainly math and science and her writing. Rosie Jane is another story, with other problems. I just need to figure out how to use my morning time more efficiently with them. I do need to keep them on track, especially Sweet Pea since she's in high school. Since she's a freshman, it's not quite a make or break year, but still things need to get done.
I think at least for now, I'm going to set aside the French unit study I wanted Sweet Pea to do. It's an extra that she doesn't need right now. Maybe this summer. I'm going to focus on some basics with her for a couple of months, until the snowboard season is over; mainly math and science and her writing. Rosie Jane is another story, with other problems. I just need to figure out how to use my morning time more efficiently with them. I do need to keep them on track, especially Sweet Pea since she's in high school. Since she's a freshman, it's not quite a make or break year, but still things need to get done.
03 January 2012
Back to school
It's a new year and we're back to school. I tried to spend some time over break organizing but didn't get as far as I wanted. I've spent some time frustrated with computers. My old laptop is about to bite the dust; a couple of the keys aren't working well, the air card is dead as is the sound. I transferred my last backup of my Homeschool Tracker data file to the new laptop, but that was from mid-October. Sadly, I hadn't done a backup since then and can't get another one to work. I spent some time today filling in the blanks from mid-October to early December. I should be able to finish tomorrow. I also need to copy over all my other necessary school files after I resave them all into Word or Excel documents. For some reason when we had my computer fixed the last time, Office didn't get put back on and we couldn't find the disks for it. I downloaded Open Office and used that for all my documents and spreadsheets and now need to resave all that stuff to use on the new laptop. Still a work in progress there.
We started back to school with just a few things yesterday. Bob had to work and frankly, I hadn't realized that it was a holiday, so it was off to school we went. I gave the girls a few things to do, then we watched the Rose Bowl Parade, and relaxed the rest of the day. Today was back to it with pretty much a full schedule. There's still a few things we haven't gotten to and I need to remember to get Sweet Pea to start the French study so she can finish before her French class starts again at the end of the month.
We started back to school with just a few things yesterday. Bob had to work and frankly, I hadn't realized that it was a holiday, so it was off to school we went. I gave the girls a few things to do, then we watched the Rose Bowl Parade, and relaxed the rest of the day. Today was back to it with pretty much a full schedule. There's still a few things we haven't gotten to and I need to remember to get Sweet Pea to start the French study so she can finish before her French class starts again at the end of the month.
29 December 2011
Christmas vacation
Merry Christmas!! We're taking it easy this week, sleeping in, visiting with cousins, lots of family time. The new math books came in the other day. I had a chance to look through them. Bob wanted to know who on earth would name math books "The Life of Fred." It's actually quite the enjoyable series, a funny story of a 5 year old teaching at college and all his adventures. The math comes in as it shows how math is used in his daily life. Not sure how that's going to work out when we get to Calculus (I sure don't use calculus every day, do you?) but I guess we'll find out when we get there.
I spent some time yesterday organizing a few things but still have more to do. I got a new-to-me laptop and need to transfer over my school files and some other things to it, I need to get the girls agendas done for next week, and I need to spend some more time figuring out how to make school better. It's pretty good but both girls are struggling with math right now so I think we need to refocus and spend more time on math and less on history (Sweet Pea) and science (Rosie Jane). I think Saturday while the rest of the family is at the ski slopes I'm going to finish my organizing for the next few months, do at least enough to get us through to our February vacation.
I spent some time yesterday organizing a few things but still have more to do. I got a new-to-me laptop and need to transfer over my school files and some other things to it, I need to get the girls agendas done for next week, and I need to spend some more time figuring out how to make school better. It's pretty good but both girls are struggling with math right now so I think we need to refocus and spend more time on math and less on history (Sweet Pea) and science (Rosie Jane). I think Saturday while the rest of the family is at the ski slopes I'm going to finish my organizing for the next few months, do at least enough to get us through to our February vacation.
17 December 2011
One more week
We just have one more week of school, and not even a full week at that, before we break for Christmas. This is the first time I've taken things a bit easy in December. We went on vacation to Disney in early November, then came home for a week or two, then was Thanksgiving and Sweet Pea's birthday. We just haven't gotten back into our groove. We took things easy this month but still got the most important things done.
Coming up this week is a trip to Williamsburg. We're going to wander the colonial area for a bit before we meet a friend for lunch, then we're going to Busch Gardens for Christmas Towne, there will be some rides open, shows, Christmas fun. Hopefully the girls will enjoy it; we've never been before so we're not quite sure what to expect. We have been to Dutch Wonderland (Lancaster, PA) and Hershey Park (Hershey, PA) during their Christmas displays and have had fun there. Then school on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Hopefully we can take Friday off. Both girls are at the point where I think they need the full week to complete a few things and get the chapter test done. Hopefully we can squeeze it in! Sweet Pea and I are also going to be heading to the ski slopes Wednesday and Thursday afternoons for her team practice. Rosie Jane will go with her dad to her Girl Scout awards ceremony on Thursday night. Busy week!!
While we're taking our break, I'll be finding a bit of time to look over school stuff. I need to get us back on track in January. They have off from their French and German classes until Jan. 30 so they'll have one less thing to do for a while. Almost done with the first semester of high school and right now I'm feeling pretty good about it.
Merry Christmas to all! See you in January.
Coming up this week is a trip to Williamsburg. We're going to wander the colonial area for a bit before we meet a friend for lunch, then we're going to Busch Gardens for Christmas Towne, there will be some rides open, shows, Christmas fun. Hopefully the girls will enjoy it; we've never been before so we're not quite sure what to expect. We have been to Dutch Wonderland (Lancaster, PA) and Hershey Park (Hershey, PA) during their Christmas displays and have had fun there. Then school on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Hopefully we can take Friday off. Both girls are at the point where I think they need the full week to complete a few things and get the chapter test done. Hopefully we can squeeze it in! Sweet Pea and I are also going to be heading to the ski slopes Wednesday and Thursday afternoons for her team practice. Rosie Jane will go with her dad to her Girl Scout awards ceremony on Thursday night. Busy week!!
While we're taking our break, I'll be finding a bit of time to look over school stuff. I need to get us back on track in January. They have off from their French and German classes until Jan. 30 so they'll have one less thing to do for a while. Almost done with the first semester of high school and right now I'm feeling pretty good about it.
Merry Christmas to all! See you in January.
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