To Schedule or Not to Schedule...

Have I mentioned that I was gonna try to get back on my schedule that I started in September? Well, anyway, that was the plan. So I went back to it and did a bit of changing and tweaking so that it would fit, again, our ever changing lives. For one; Allan doesn't nap anymore, so I needed to fill in those spaces for him and I am attempting to teach Jayden some piano so I wanted to work in time for that. Well, I got it to where it all looked good and happily printed it off.

And so now for the big question... Has it been working??!

NO.

I just haven't seemed to be able to follow it. I think it's probably too rigid and so I must go back and tweak it again. I do like having a schedule because it keeps me on track and it feels good to look at it at the end of the day, at all we accomplished, and realize that it was productive. But when I've got it so full that we RARELY get through a day doing all that the schedule says... it can be a bit of a downer to look at it and realize that I've failed (in my standards) yet again.

So, looking at it from a different point of view, that of a busy mother, wife and housekeeper as well as "homeschooling teacher", I realize that it's not about just trying harder but that I just need to, yet again, change the schedule to better fit our life.

I don't feel that this is a cop-out to just do less. I've looked at what my days have been like this past week and and am pleased with what we are getting done. So far, I have stuck to the plan for the most part. I've done all except going over the scripture verses of Psalm 23 that we're trying to memorize... I hope to get into that next week... and reading at least one library book to the boys daily. I think I've missed 2 days but DH has read to them in the evening and so I think that is just as well. I have been reading daily to them, though, from the Read-Aloud that we're going through and so I am very pleased about that.

So, like I said, I am happy with what we are accomplishing and feel that, rather than be hard on myself about the schedule and possibly quitting it, I am just going to revise it to look more like the days we have been having lately.

My friend, Carrie, from "Our Journey" spoke of my very feelings so well in a recent post she wrote about her days. Here's what she said:

"Our days have found us enjoying a nice little rhythm. I treasure these days. They are simple yet full. School and chores. Training and encouraging. Relying on His wisdom, His grace, each and every minute. Life. Our beautiful, sweet life."

...and my response to her:

"I can SO totally relate to your last paragraph, Carrie!
The days are full here but not in a crazy sort of way... just a nice, simple, beauty-full.
Aren't these days precious and this season of little ones such a gift?
Thank you for this... you've put the feelings of my heart into words of praise to Him who gives so much grace."

To Schedule or Not to Schedule? Well, I think I prefer To Schedule. I just find it adds structure to my days and, so long as it's not too much, gives me a real sense of freedom.

It's good... for me... how 'bout you?

From this day forward... hopefully! :)

So, I've been going through the school books and making up a bit of a time line for when I would like to have the boys complete their books for the end of this school year. And also for what I would like to accomplish with them, as well, by the end of May.

Why the end of May? Because that's when it finally feels like Spring has officially arrived around here. Most everyone who lives here knows that May 20th (my birthday, btw) is the day that you can finally set out your annuals in the garden without too much fear of frost. And so, to me, it signals the end of one season in my life (homeschooling) and the beginning of another (gardening and outdoor play) for myself as well as my boys. I don't want to have us stuck inside for a moment more than is completely necessary after such a long winter. As soon as the weather warms up... out we go!

It's pretty simple, what I've laid out for them.

First off... Jayden:

• Finish Math-U-See Alpha. That's one lesson (one or two pages a day) per week.

• Finish Plaid Phonics Level B. That's one or two pages a day.

• 2 spelling lessons a week will bring us to lesson 50 in Sequential Spelling 1 (a book of 180 lessons... it may take us 2 or 3 years to get through this if we can even stick to it, that is... but that's okay. We'll just take it a year at a time!)

• And I would like him to continue to read out loud to me daily.

Second... Marcus:

• Finish "A Reason for Handwriting". He'll have no problem with this... He's just learning to print all the upper and lower case letters of the alphabet. He enjoys it and is very meticulous about doing a perfect job.

• Finish "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" That's just 2 or 3 lessons a week. He's already on lesson 62 after only just starting in November! This is amazing to me 'cause I had such a struggle with teaching Jayden to read that I wasn't even planning on starting Marcus until next year. But he wanted to try and asked if I would teach him... I wasn't too sure about it so I started out really casually and he just took off like a rocket with it! I am so thrilled!

And for myself:

• I would like to be more diligent about reading to the boys daily. That means at least 1 chapter in a Read-Aloud and at least one picture book. I've been really slack about this which a feel terrible about because that was gonna be one of my main focuses for this year... read, read, read to them. And so far I've only completed one small Read-Aloud! Terrible. So my goal is to complete the two books I'm working on right now with them and then to complete at least 3 more, depending on the size of the ones i choose. And I'll keep a record of what we've read in the side bar.

• And i would like to continue with our bible memorization of Psalm 23. We started out so strong at the beginning of the year and had committed the first 4 verses to memory and then I stopped! I wish I had just kept going... we only had 2 more verses to go! So, anyway, I would like to work on that with the boys and get it really firm in their memory and maybe, if i get a camera, I will record them and post it here like I did with this one last school year.

So, that's it! Not too difficult! Obviously we'll have lots more casual learning thrown into each day and I'll try to keep in mind to blog about it all, as well.

So how's your school year going and when do you plan to be finished for the summer?
Thanks for reading!

Photos: Adventures of last spring and summer.

February... already?!

I can hardly believe it's been almost a whole year since i was blogging almost daily in this space. We are now into February of my 3rd year of homeschooling! So what has been going on with me?

Well, i started out my school year fresh and excited around mid September with a schedule that i had made up using the guide shown in the book "Managers of their Homes". I went strong for about 3 or 4 weeks and then came crashing down when i went through another miscarriage at 5 weeks pregnant. I left off the homeschooling for about a month after that happened and it just took me that long to get up the ambition to really get back on track again.

So, that brought us to mid November and though i had never got back onto the schedule i had drawn up, we were schooling again 4 days a week. Though we are not accomplishing what i had exactly set out to do for this year, to some degree, i am okay with it. There are only just a few things that i would really like to do more of and so, in order to keep me more accountable, i am going to try to start keeping a bit of a record here again on what we've been doing and also in order for me to try to reach my new goals that i have laid out to complete by the end of this school year which will hopefully be the end of May!

And that's it for now. I will be working on my lists and such tonight and hopefully will have them ready to post for tomorrow.

It's not easy... but it sure is fun!...

...trying to get a good shot of my three little rascals.
They got "the giggles" and I decided to make the most of it.

Melted in Autumn Beauty

Enjoying the Autumn colors during craft time today.

Nature gathered in little hands...



placed on wax paper and sprinkled with crayon shavings...



then melted together by hot iron, to be hung in the window for the light to spill through.

:::

Who hasn't enjoyed this craft in their lives?
Even I, as a young girl, made fond memories of this.

today...

Are your little ones interested in Bugs?

Today we spent about a half hour cuddled up on the couch flipping through this book; "Creepy Crawlies" by Ruth Thomson

We enjoyed it so much! If you've got little ones interested in bugs, this is a GREAT book to look at. A lot of the bugs in the book were common here and so it was really neat to read about them. And we (me, too!) found out how ladybugs change from the egg stage to the adult stage! Fascinating!

Click on the photo to read the words about the ladybugs (or ladybirds) whatever you wanna call them! :o)