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What are you looking forward to this school year?


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What Strawberry said, plus these specifics:

 

Using old curriculum that I am comfortable with.

 

My kid has finished learning to read and has already begun reading to learn.

 

I blinked my eyes and my baby turned into one of the big kids. Actually, he isn't "one of" anything, he is himself, unique in all the world. Anyone who says they hate preteens hasn't spent enough time with preteen BOYS.

 

I had an LA evaluation done and the result was pretty much, "Here's a piece of paper with the right words to give you permission to be yourself and you can always show it to anyone who questions you and say, 'This is what they told me and I'm just the parent so I'm going to do what I'm told'"

 

My adult kids are in the process of becoming braggable. They may not be Grant Colfax, but even Grant Colfax isn't Grant Colfax, to be bluntly honest; his mommy worried about him too when she was your age.

 

I don't care what people think about me as much as I used to. If you don't think I'm a "real" homeschooler then whatevs; I'm too busy independenting my kid to get my homederwear in a knot over that any more.

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Spelling! My daughter is almost finished Phonics Pathways so we finally get to do spelling!!! I don't know why this excites me but it just does. :-)

 

And science. We're going for a real, honest-to-goodness science curriculum this year instead of just reading the Let's Read and Find Out books. We'll keep reading the LRAFO books in the background but Science in the Beginning here we come! Woohoo! We even have a big box of lab supplies to go with it. Empty water bottles! And batteries! Yippeeeeeeeeeee!

 

I know the excitement won't last but I'm sure going to enjoy it while it does.

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I am looking forward to our "together time" or "read aloud time" or "morning basket time," depending on what people call it, lol. But I have spent a lot of time putting together the things we are going to do that are really going to cover a lot of materials and skills a little at a time each day, together, and in mostly fun ways. 

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My 7 year old is reading now, so I'm excited to see him reading books for fun. I'm excited to have a few fun things added to our weeks - game days, art days and one STEM challenge day weekly. I'm looking forward to changes - I'm writing a schedule/routine right now. We need more structure, and that has me excited as well.

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TeachRock.org with appropriate Bravewriter Arrows and Boomerangs for each decade, and lots of middle-school appropriate science labs (I'm still hunting for a good resource for this but optimistic that I will find it - something better than "gee whiz it turned blue labs)

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I'm excited about our first year of high school; yet sad too.  My baby is almost ready to leave the nest.

I'm excited that she's very independent; yet she still likes me to read one central book for each class with her.

I'm excited about the electives she chose; yet baffled by some of them - ancient toxicology anyone????

I'm still excited that DD chose those 4 electives; yet I still have to convince her that, no, we can't do all 4 year-round. That would mean 10 credits for 9th grade!

We're excited about delving into the ancient world again and integrating the OT; yet realize there's so much to explore we can't get bogged down too long on one thing.

In short, we're both quietly excited about absolutely everything; yet approaching it very cautiously.

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I am excited about starting a new, child-led-ish schedule. Story: I was rereading WTM for like the 10th time, and I paused to read this bit aloud to DS12:

 

 

On each library visit, I had [the children] check out the following books: one science book, one history book, one art or music appreciation book, one practical book (a craft, hobby, or "how-to"), a biography or autobiography, a classic novel (or an adaptation suited to age), an imaginative storybook, a book of poetry. They were allowed to choose the titles, but I asked them to follow this pattern.

 

I was expecting DS12 to gasp in shock that some homeschool moms are strict enough to make their kids check out so many books at once, so I was really thrown when his eyes widened and he said eagerly, "Can we do that?"

 

...Well, yes. Yes we can, sonny boy! So I've altered our schedule to clear Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for "independent educational reading" time. We stick pretty close to the WTM pattern in literature and history, and the BFSU curriculum for science, so it'll be good to give them some structured time to follow their own interests. (And I'll have two afternoons/evenings per week open for teaching Japanese for cash money!) The only additional requirement is that once per month each of them will give an oral report on what they've read and learned from their Tuesday-Thursday reading time.

 

This is the first school-related thing that DS12 is noticeably looking forward to more than DD10, who generally just does what she's told with cheerfulness whether it's something she wants to do or not. Everything was a battle with DS12 in the spring, so anything I can add to the curriculum that he will "own" is a plus in my book!

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I wrote an "American History for American Girls" course using the AG books and some Childhood of Famous Americans that I am really excited about.

 

Teaching my upcoming kindergartener to read should be enjoyable, if a little bittersweet that it looks like she will be my last kindergartener.

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I'm excited to be starting a new year with new books and new topics and the first year of high school with my last and younger daughter. Last year was so overscheduled in so many ways and I'm looking forward to a "slightly" more relaxed schedule and a stronger inclination to work harder and accomplish more academically. I finally have my daughter's basic scope for the year in mind, but I still need to work out the exact sequence and more details. I'm also excited to try a new writing program with her. It seems that finding an approach for writing that fits our ideas has been very difficult, but I'm hoping this one will work.

 

Hope everyone has a great year! :)

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I'm doing a six week rotation of topics with my two boys. We'll do something fun, something more rigorous, something interesting, something intense, and switch just when it starts getting old. 

 

. . . And everytime ds#2 finishes his math book, I get to recycle the teacher guide for that level.   :hurray:

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It will just be BabyBaby and me! Diamond is moving away to college, and SweetChild will be commuting to beauty school, so she'll be gone from about 8am-6pm M-F.

 

One day/week BabyBaby will do some classes at the enrichment center. I'm meeting a new friend to talk about starting a high-school-only activity and field trip group. BabyBaby will learn to drive in December. She's restarting One Year Adventure Novel, continued wih Latin, continuing all of her martial arts.

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Hopefully building friendships. We took a year off from homeschooling and have stayed in touch with a few families. I'm excited to see that we'll be back in the same groups as a few of them and hopefully can set up some hang outs even if they are outside of the group activities. Turns out I'm not the only mom of a child that has had trouble making friends despite trying brick & mortar school and being involved in other things.

 

Also not having to leave the house before 8am every day.

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. I'm also excited to try a new writing program with her. It seems that finding an approach for writing that fits our ideas has been very difficult, but I'm hoping this one will work.

 

Hope everyone has a great year! :)

I feel the need to ask "which one?"Ă°Å¸ËœÅ 
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Getting back into a routine. We have several unknowns in our schedule right now and I will be glad when everything is settled. We start back 7/31, but activities and extra curriculars fade in over the course of August and early September. 

 

History! I always love history. 

Teaching writing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I feel the need to ask "which one?"Ă°Å¸ËœÅ 

 

 

The Lost Tools of Writing

 

I took Andrew Kern's workshop of it through the WTM Summer Workshop series last summer and I came away from it thiinking that this program might be the one that would allow me to incorporate CM with the tools it provided for a more structured, upper level approach to essays, etc. 

 

I still need to look through it, watch the dvds and decide how to carve out our writing instruction for the year. I'm hoping this will work. :)

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We have a good year planned, I think.   We'll be trying IEW for the first time, and Runkle Physical Geography should be interesting (and maybe some field trips to caverns, gem mining).  What I am most excited about is MIT Kitchen Chemistry, our culinary arts elective and possibly the Great Courses cooking dvd if we decide to extend it out all year.  Even if my son changes his mind on becoming a chef, he will use these skills his whole life. 

 

Also, we are no longer going to be following the public school schedule.  I did that because my oldest was in public school but now he has graduated so it's not an issue.  I planned on having larger blocks of time off instead of a day here and a day there.

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Apparently I'm the only one looking forward to checking all those shiny, unchecked boxes?

 

As a more traditional response, my olders are finishing up with Latin this fall. My younger is starting to read on her own and we have a line up of Jean Fritz books for her related to her American history studies, and I'm flexible about how she constructs her output which is a nice feeling.

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Not going to co-op every Friday! We finally decided to drop it, and I feel like I have a whole extra day to work with (because I do!).

 

DD12 has several online classes so I'm excited to help her establish a new routine. She is very much looking forward to the independence/interaction.

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I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine and only having two to teach.

 

Our year seems to be shaping up to be heavy Language Arts-wise. I'm hoping to focus more with them on writing.

 

I'm excited about my son's Literature. Mostly because, while he's not a reluctant reader, it's hard to find genre he enjoys. I showed him the Memoria Press 6th grade pack and he was genuinely interested!

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The routine!  

 

DS15 is studying U.S. History this year, and we are using Oak Meadow for the first time.  It doesn't have a text, so I've pulled several sources for him to choose from for each lesson.  We're even using the musical "Hamilton".  I'm interested to see if having a variety of sources piques DS's interest more than World History last year.  He's also interested in the military, so we will focus some on US military history.

 

DS13 is studying the World Wars for history, and I've put together most of that.  I LOVE history, and World War II is kind of my jam, so I am excited to tackle that with him.

 

DS15 is doing a tutorial again, this time for geometry and chemistry.  Jazzed not to be teaching those two classes and very jazzed his class schedule doesn't start and end within a 15 minute time frame as our PS DD19.  Basketball practice also will not be 1:00-3:00 PM during the season...do NOT get me started on what THAT did to our homeschool days...

 

 

 

 

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DS is entering the second half of second grade (we school year-round), and I am starting a new semester at university. We both thrive on structure and consistent input, so I'm really looking forward to falling into a good rhythm and feeding our brains to keep them happy.

 

Also, our language arts focus is shifting from reading to writing, and I'm looking forward to watching these new skills develop.

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Morning basket

Teaching my 5yr old to read

Diagramming sentences!

 

I'm going to read through The WTM literature list for 3rd grade along side DS8 - he'll read adaptations of most books at his reading level and I'll read the original (or, I'll read the original to him). This is exciting for me because I haven't read lots of classic books (I was always into science fiction).

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DD13 is doing an in-depth study of fairy tales and mythology this upcoming year which I've spent most of the summer putting together. I can't wait for her to get started using it.

 

DD10 is clipping along nicely in math and I'm always curious every year to see how many math books she gets through. So far her average is three.

 

DS7 is finally beginning to read albeit slowly. I'm excited to see what kind of progress he makes this school year.

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I am looking forward to more of a relaxed homeschool year. I am focusing more on extra curricular activities for my kiddos and it's going to be so fun for them. We are doing a few different online curriculum for them, and putting our interests and money towards activities.

My boys will continue with their fall and spring sports leagues ( football , soccer, tball). My three oldest will continue their weekly homeschool band coop. Weekly art lessons for all four, fencing for one, horse lessons for another, swim lessons for the boys, science coop for the youngest three, ...it's gonna be crazy but I'm super excited.

 

I am also looking forward to Disneyland season passes !

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Our life is finally, blessedly calming down. I'm looking forward to just having quiet, calm learning time with my kids.

 

This.   The last year and a half has been crazy, and I never felt like we got a good routine going last year.  I'm taking steps to hopefully keep this year on track a lot better.  Mostly having more of a schedule than we've had in the past.

 

We're also going to be using some new stuff this year.  I can't tell if I'm looking forward to it or not.  I am in the sense that I hope the new stuff will work better for the kids, I'm not in the sense that I have to learn a new program and how to present it.

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Being DONE.

 

 

This. 

 

Just the other day I tallied up all the expenses we WON'T have this fall b/c our last child at home graduated and is headed off to college. These were just from 3 of his activities and they were a sizable chunk.

 

Today we took our car in for some small repairs and one big one. The bill was $5 higher than the amount I'd tallied.  :glare:

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Writing with the kids more. I've gotten back into writing recently and it has really gotten the kids, and even dh, interested in writing. My 8 year old and I have sat down together and given each other writing prompts. He really pushed me with his, write about a rodeo.

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Nudging the youngest a bit more than I have in the past in writing.

 

Branching out with some outside classes (online and in-person)

 

More scheduled field trips around science/history 

 

Not moving even one town over (even if I have to duct tape Dh to a chair)

 

More interest-led learning

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I wrote an "American History for American Girls" course using the AG books and some Childhood of Famous Americans that I am really excited about.

 

Teaching my upcoming kindergartener to read should be enjoyable, if a little bittersweet that it looks like she will be my last kindergartener.

Would you be willing to share with me? I'm doing something with AG and still looking for ideas/suggestions. Particularly with josefina and melody.

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I wrote an "American History for American Girls" course using the AG books and some Childhood of Famous Americans that I am really excited about.

 

Teaching my upcoming kindergartener to read should be enjoyable, if a little bittersweet that it looks like she will be my last kindergartener.

 

This sounds great! My dd would love that. I used AG books for a book club with my oldest daughter when she was in 3rd grade I think? We loved it and went on to do a middle school book club 6th - 8th. 

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Using Exploration Education: science is always a source of stress for me, so I'm looking forward to being more hands off.

 

Starting A History of US: DS may not care, but I'm excited to read it! 

 

We used EE for two years -- once with my middle boys and then again with my younger two. We/I loved every single thing about science that year. Hands-down one of our best years of science (outside of some classes I put together for my olders). Enjoy!! He's great about answering questions if you have any. 

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I'm excited about NOT having a high schooler!  This will be the first time in 11 years that I don't have a high schooler. My 12-year-old will be doing two local classes but I hope that we won't have the press that schooling high schoolers often brings. 

I'm looking forward to focusing on my youngest two. 

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