School Plans 2012-2013
This is the Year of Catching Up. I slept most of 2010, being pregnant with Pipsqueak and all. Then I spent 2011 and 2012 dealing with a new baby. We used to school year-round until Pumpkin Girl started doing ballet summer intensives and workshops which took up 5 weeks of summer. And now, here we are, woefully behind where I would like to be.
But oftentimes, the lesson is about family. Picking up the slack for mom while she rests and sustains a growing new life. Trips to the midwife where everyone can see the miracle via ultrasound. Learning to care for the newest, weakest member of the family. Math can wait, people cannot.
Yet, falling behind my personal schedule bothers me. So we will work on catching up this year.
This school year we have grades 2, 6 and 8. Additionally, the two boys will receive a total of three sacraments. Exciting times!
We continue to use Sonlight. My children always sigh at the end of most read aloud books and declare that, “Sonlight always sends us the *best* books!” I can’t argue with that! Boo and Pumpkin Girl are in the middle of Core 5/F, a year long study of Eastern Hemisphere cultures. We’ll be done around January, I think. Then on to Core 6/H. Bip is doing Core K (C?), World Cultures, I think it is. All are using the corresponding science programs.
For math we have a new approach. We liked Horizon, but it is mom intensive. That worked fine until the addition of Pipsqueak into the equation. (Ha! math analogy!) The boys are using Math-U-See at their respective levels. They like it and both can use it on their own. Pumpkin Girl is using Teaching Textbooks, which fits her well. Having them all do math on their own frees me up big time!! With TT, I don’t even have to correct the tests!
We’re doing something new for creative writing, too. For the older two, they are using Institute for Excellence In Writing for both creative writing and grammar. Again, they are able to do this with minimum effort on my part which is good as I deal with Bip learning to read. More on that adventure later!!
Religion is more complicated this year. We are using Seton for regular, grade level work. The boys will be required to attend the sacrament prep classes in person at our church, which irks me. But since we have a “home study” option for their regular classes and I’m “allowed” to use my own books, I’m willing to make this effort.
Extra curricular-wise, we have soccer and scouts for boys, ballet for Pumpkin Girl. Whew! I’m wiped out just typing that all!
Yep, you’re in the middle of it. My daughter said she was going to get me a water bottle she saw that said, “My daughter is a dancer. I have no life.” Lol. It’s not quite that bad. But some days… She’s dancing in college now.
Sandy recently posted..Getting A Head Start
@Sandy – My anti-spam word is ballet! HA! We just started Nutcracker 1 rehearsals and Nutcracker 2 auditions are tomorrow. I’ve got big ballet news coming up in October, but I want it to actually happen first before saying anything more. Not a Clara role, but a Major Milestone. Congrats to your daughter, too!