Homeschool Mother's Journal - In Which We Survive Week #1

In our homeschool this week... we got started with our new school year on Monday, and I think I am taking it too easy on Landon - he finished the week's assignments in one day.  Granted, I only had him working on one subject to begin with, but still!  Spencer and Kennady both finished their first-day assignments with ease as well, so I am hoping that the first day successes will build confidence for the days to come.

We did a little bit of social studies this week, and I decided that we will start Science on Monday instead of waiting till the 29th.

In other news... We started moving furniture around this week - a cabinet from the family room to the living room, bookshelves from the living room to other rooms, and we're considering having the piano and a large wall unit trade places.  That will be a big job...  the wall unit is crammed full of Coca-cola memorabilia and collectibles, so it will have to cleared out and all of that stuff sorted out before making any moves.  The sheer quantity of Coke collectibles we now own is daunting, and we are having to admit that it's time to sell off a large portion of it and keep only our favorites.  But how to decide?  And how to sell?  I am not a fan of holding my own yard sale, but I don't see many other options.  We shall see.  Believe it or not, all of these decisions came from a discussion over where to put our new TV once we buy it.  Which we are planning to do soon - we've been using Harrison's TV ever since ours got fried in a power outage, and we are finally ready to start shopping.  Oh - and we pretty much decided that a new TV will go in pretty much the exact same spot where the old one was! LOL

The kitchen countertops have all been recaulked, so my kitchen is looking more orderly again.  The fabric I wanted for re-covering the dining room chairs was on sale at a significant discount, so I bought several yards and that is the project for the weekend.  I need to get started on it in the next few minutes, actually!

My favorite thing this week was... everybody being AHEAD of schedule in their schoolwork!  Aaaaaaah, that's a good feeling.  I'm basking in that "I'm such a good homeschool mother" feeling right now, because I know that all too soon it will be replaced with that less-euphoric "what was I THINKING????" feeling, when we have our first less-than-stellar school days.

What's working/not working for us... the new telephone intercom feature! Argh!!! It works great, and I thought it would be handy to call upstairs and tell kids to come down for dinner or to do chores or whatever.  And it is.  But the kids are having a bit too much fun with it.  Landon and Kennady are calling each other on the intercom to insult and tease and make weird noises.  *sigh*  I can only hope the novelty will soon wear off and we can use it for more utilitarian purposes.



Homeschool questions/thoughts I have... How strictly will we need to adhere to a daily schedule?  We've had a loose schedule for the last couple years and in some ways it worked very well, but it's also tempting to slack off when it's so easy to ignore the schedule.  Also, I'm determined to get piano lessons worked into the school week for Kennady, and keep some controls and routine in my days, so I may have to submit myself to more disciplined scheduling than I've been used to.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

"By bells and many other similar techniques [schools] teach that nothing is worth finishing. The gross error of this is progressive: if nothing is worth finishing then by extension nothing is worth starting either. Few children are so thick-skulled they miss the point." ~ John Taylor Gatto

I guess that's something I should keep in mind as I'm figuring out the schedule...

On the Bookshelf...

• Persuasion by Jane Austen


• Child of the Mist by Kathleen Morgan


• Deep Church by Jim Belcher


• Already Gone by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer


• Read for the Heart by Sarah Clarkson

Finished Surrender the Dawn by ML Tyndall, and As High As the Heavens by Kathleen Morgan

A Parting Shot...



This post is linked to The Homeschool Chick - come see how everyone else survived the week!