Twenty-four down; twelve to go

Weeks of school, that is.

Just this morning I realized that we've completed 24 weeks already!  With 36 weeks in our plan, that means we're 2/3 of the way done. WOOHOO!!

Then I got the bright idea (yes, 2/3 of the way through the year) to log the books that Luke has been reading throughout the year.  It gives me a sense of accomplishment to have a to-do list to check-off (and in light of that, sometimes I have been known to add "done" tasks to a list that didn't contain that item to begin with, though my husband objects to this practice).  So having a list of books that Luke has read gives me a sense of what he's accomplished...even if they weren't all planned out and then completed. 

He's read 26 books so far this school year!  Some are longer; some are shorter.  But just having that list to look at makes me feel as though we're accomplishing more in this homeschooling business than it might sometimes seem.  He seemed to feel that sense of accomplishment too when we were looking over his list, and it also appeared to motivate him to read even more.  He started Robinson Crusoe (the Great Classics version) this morning.

I'm actually already planning for next year, crazy as that may sound.  I love the planning; but I do also have a good reason for getting started early.  You see, there's a baby to be born 'round about the end of this school year, and I, for one, want to put school completely out of my mind for the 2 or 3 months of summer.  Just adjusting to having a baby in the house again and lovin' on her.  No pressures of school.  No planning over the summer, no curriculum to order. 

So...yesterday I received my first order of materials (phonics, grammar, and logic stuff), and I placed my second, and much more exciting, order.  Next year we are going to use Tapestry of Grace Year 2!  This really could only excite you if you are familiar with this curriculum.  But I have been looking it over for several years and trying to figure out if it's worth the $$ and if it would work for us.  I think I'm finally convinced that it is and it will.  Now, I just have to wait until it arrives so I can peruse to my heart's content...and then order the books to go with it. (Can you tell this is giving me goose-bumps? It's SO exciting!)

I'm doubly excited because a friend will be using TOG Year 2 next year with her kiddos as well, and it will be fun to be studying the same topics at the same time...and maybe even work out some fun field trips together. 

Anyway, a lot of our curriculum will remain the same - First Language Lessons 1 & 4 for grammar, Sequential Spelling 2, Explode the Code for phonics, Writing With Ease, Building Thinking Skills for logic, Math Mammoth, and Handwriting Without Tears.  We will probably also continue the awesome Bible curriculum that we've been using even though TOG does include Bible...just because we love it.  

Science has been a little flaky here this year, although we have made a basic study of biomes and now human anatomy.  We had started off with Apologia's Exploring Creation with Botany, but after ten weeks of using it, we just weren't happy with it - dull and way too much information for a K-er and 3rd grader who aren't science-machines.  So we changed it up, used Mr. Q's Life Science for a while, and now we're just reading real books on anatomy.

I think next year we will use Elemental Science - Chemistry for elementary.  It uses mostly real books rather than a text, which I like.  I expect we'll have plenty of experiements - which I don't much like but I know are needful.  And it's not expensive.  So we'll give it a shot and hope it's a good fit here.

I guess that's pretty much the run-down on our next-year plans. I can't believe that I will have a fourth grader and a first grader.  It seems like the fourth grader just was the first grader last week.  And the three-year-old just was the baby...although she's the first of the bunch to have turned three without having a new, littler brother or sister around.  Well, time marches on, as they say...