Love it!

DD is having a blast with her school this year. Yes, I know we are only a week into it but so far so good. I'm even finding her doing some "learning" without knowing it. She thinks it's just a game or is just goofing off.

Oak Meadow is... hmm how shall I say it... laid back? Not quite but it will work. There are lots of games for her to incorporate into her learning and she loves reading out loud to me each day. She's still not fond of her math but it's not as overwhelming and she is doing it well.

We are having wonderful time with this curriculum. She is thoroughly enjoying the art and music part of it. She so looks forward to it.

Don't get me wrong. Last night when I said that we would be getting back to our school work today, she said, "Oh, I was hoping you'd forget!"

But then this morning without even knowing she started her lessons right away. I had some cards with words on them sitting on the table and while I was preparing breakfast, she said, "I think I'll make some sentences with these cards." It is so fun to see learning happening so naturally.

DS on the other hand is so much more independent. Maybe even a little too much so. I think he is enjoying it though. Of course he would never say that. He is actually doing 2 lessons in his Geometry today! We've had a little skirmish today but it's not really anything. I just worry that he might not be doing quite enough each day. The lay out of TRISMS is so different and like I said he's so independent about it. I need to trust him and just let it happen and then at the end of the first unit (2 weeks) if he's not done he'll have learned a lesson in time management. Mom probably just needs to relax and give him a good chance. It's so hard!!! Hmmm.... sounds like Mom is maybe a control freak..... shhhhh don't tell anyone!

Starting again.... or A New Year

Oh, I have been trying to get on here all week to tell you about our first day of school and just have not had the time. So now I guess I'll tell you about the first few days of school.

DD is using Oak Meadow 4 this year and is enjoying it so far. I think some of it may be a little too easy for her but it's review for now I guess. I'm thinking right now that if it continues as is that I will have to start supplementing, but we'll see how it goes. She is having fun and that is really good. We are needing some fun in our learning again.

DS is just getting started with DAW from TRISIMS. He just keeps saying it's school but I think he likes how independent he can be with it. Once he gets used to it's format and finds his favorite research sites I think he will enjoy it more. He has also started his French. It's not exactly what I had expected but it will work. I think he is just wanting to learn it so he doesn't care what it's like.

So, this is our first few days in our new year of learning. I like that better, learning, instead of school. School just has such bad connotations for my kids so it's much better this way. I'm hoping any way.

Catching up...

Well dear friends,

I'm sorry that I have been so neglectful. We've been rather busy and lazy all at once. Let's see if I can get you all caught up on us.

Well, the last post was about soldiers in need. We got that taken care of. My family stepped right up to the bat and purchased them around 20 mattress pads and they were all very appreciative.

Let's see... what next.... well, DS was involved in our local theater this summer and was in a play for the Writer's Conference here and then he also was part of the informance they had at the end of their summer classes. He will continue with this in fall on the weekends. He really enjoys this. He will also be picking up guitar lessons in a couple of weeks at the Community School of the Arts at our local college. He is excited about it as well. He has been teaching himself and is getting really pretty good. He sounds a lot like the radio and some times I have hard time telling the difference! Of course we have continued on with his Archery and will continue to do so. He actually won one of his shoots this summer against several adults. He got a really nice trophy.

DD has had a very lazy summer. She has watched more than her share of TV and so I am weaning her off now. She will continue with her Dance this fall. She is very excited about it as she is in the intermediate class now. She is also going to participate in our Community Youth Choir at the Community School of the Arts as well.

As far as what curriculum will we are using this fall.... For my Freshman (UGH!!!!) DS we will be using TRISMS Discovering the Ancient World, Teaching Texbooks Geometry, High School Physical Science at home, and Power Glide French. He should be good and busy. Believe it or not he complained that last year was not hard enough or structured enough and that he didn't think he did enough. So he'll have a full year this year.

DD will using the Oak Meadow 4th grade Syllabus. She is pretty excited about using it although she doesn't want to start yet.

We will be starting next Monday, Aug 11. I was really wanting to wait a bit longer but I want to take off when DH comes home on leave and then I want to be totally finished for the year when he comes home for good. So to get our 180 days in this is what we have to do.

Well, I think that you are now up to date on this homeschooling family. I'll try to do better but I think you have heard that before right?