A New Year

Today we kicked off our new school year.  The schools around here don't begin until after Labor Day, so I realize that we are in the minority by starting at the beginning of August.  But this has worked well for us in the past, and we always manage to be finished by Memorial Day.  I know our Arizona friends are starting now too, so that makes it feel not-so-bad.

This year I have a third grader and a kindergartener!  So we are figuring out how best to integrate another learner into the process.  And I'm realizing after just one day - albeit the first day which always holds a learning curve - that we probably won't be able to finish school before lunch anymore.  There's just too much to do.  So I guess my new goal will have to be to finish before rest-time in the afternoon.

This year we are studying the Middle Ages in history, so much of our reading will center around that time period.  And I am so excited - we'll be learning about the church fathers, the Vikings, knights and Shakespeare, the early explorers and more!  The boys love checking out library books about the middle ages, so they are waiting with great anticipation to dive into the books about the Vikings and the knights.

Recently a friend sent us an organizational tool that she used in homeschooling last year, and we're finding it to be a big help already.

The boys enjoyed this visible reminder of how much there is left to do.  They got to move the subject card to the "Completed Work" area after finishing something, and they could easily see how much they had left to accomplish for the day.

My sweet friend included a second one for my second student. And even though he isn't reading much yet, he knew which cards to move down by figuring out which letter it started with.  He's my problem-solver!

I am interested to see how apparent it will be that the boys learn differently.  Luke is very much an auditory learner and easily retains information that he hears (audiobooks are awesome for this boy!).  Cade seems to be more visual and hands-on than his brother.  So I'm sensing some challenges coming my way as I cater to their strengths and work to build up their weaknesses.

And as far as the little lady goes...she did a pretty good job of playing on her own today until Cade finished his school work.  That's probably because she had taken over the Cars town that the boys had set up earlier. At least she wasn't off giving her babydoll a bath in the sink this time...poor Laura!