I keep trying to post and this silly thing keeps trying to publish before I'm done.
We are now fully immersed in the 2007-2008 school year!
It is going amazingly well. We have a very full plate this year. My plan to leave workbooks behind is turning out to be a real bonus, but it's also extremely Mom oriented.
We are really getting to the meat of each subject, doing a lot more discussion and research. Lots more interesting projects, but also a LOT more preparation! I'm not complaining. I feel like we are really all on board and it's only been a couple of days.
John is just interested in everything! He has so many questions and insights. I am constantly going to the internet to find answers to complicated questions.
He is getting into the Revolutionary period in American History and there are so many places we can go to experience it. Heck, we have an Inn downtown that used to be one of George Washington's hangouts and Rochambeau camped right behind the Middle School!
Brendan is reading Treasure Island and I think it's definitely his kind of story. I will have him write a little report about it and it will be interesting to see what he has to say...
He is such a funny kid. He can be fuming about something he has to do one minute, and then he just jumps in, grinds away at it and gets it done. He is usually really proud of himself and the harder the job is, the happier he is! He is always the first to finish his chores in the morning and he first to be ready for the day.
This writing program that I am using is going to be great. I think Brendan is going to be quite a writer.
I really love our Religion program this year too. Brendan will be making his First Communion in the Spring and the book he is using is just so good at explaining what The Eucharist and the Mass are, to children.
Paul...Wow, this is a kid who doesn't need a teacher! He just pulls things out of the air. He has just finished the First grade First Reader in his reading books, and I consider that to be a pretty big accomplishment , but he isn't even slowing down. He can read anything! I don't know how. I haven't even taught him most of the phonograms yet. We are still going to do a very comprehensive Phonics program this year, but only to teach him the rules so that I know he hasn't missed anything. He has just been sitting in the school room for the last five years, soaking up all of what I have been teaching the other two.
He is going to start piano this fall. I know he is going to love that. He has had to wait and it's been killing him. He is our little theme song boy. He hums a theme song to everything!
John plays well because he enjoys the accomplishment. Brendan virtually attacks the piano and pounds it into submission, but he is really getting it. Paul is going to play because he loves the music. Period. He is going to be so happy when he can make the piano share itself with him.
I think I'm really going to enjoy this year. One thing I want to be sure and do is to do as many family field trips as we can on the weekends. Tim rarely gets to go with us when we do these things and he misses some really great times. We want to go to DC several times and see as many museums as possible. We need to get up to the Franklin Institute again. The boys love it up there! We are studying Astronomy in Science and we will try to get to as many planetarium shows as we can.
The Key is to be sure the time doesn't get by without actually carrying out the plan.
Well, I'd better sleep now or I'll never keep up tomorrow.
