How is this school year going?

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

We are getting into our groove lol. It really is starting to go better for us now.

[elegantlion]

We finished day 4 so I'm still holding my breath a little. We're not doing every subject this week, we add in math next week. That may throw off the even keel we've been on so far.

[Amy Jo]

We are on our 3rd week and it's going well. The File Crate System is working great for me (we've actually DONE 3 outdoor hour challenges!), and the boys love work boxes. I'm still dialing in our schedule and a weekly work box sheet.

[MissKNG]

We started our school year on August 30th and are doing great!! We were sick this past week and changed stuff up to extra reading and crafts (momma didn't feel like really teaching anything!).

 

Praise the Lord I have no complaints! ;)

[Jamee]

Our year is off to a great start as well. DS has been so cooporative and actually working more effeciently than I had expected. I think we're going to have a fun year. (we too have done some outdoor hour challenges too!)

[MomLovesClassics]

Our year did not get off the the best start. It is getting better though.

[patchfire]

Tomorrow is our forty-fifth day, so we're nearly a quarter of the way through our (official) year! We haven't had any flops, our schedule works, and I've finally found a rhythm to having two students (and a toddler) instead of one student, a preschool-age kid, and a baby/toddler. We haven't been quite as diligent on a few things as perhaps we should be in the last two weeks or so, but these are also the busiest weeks we'll have this year.

[robsiew]

Most of us have hit our groove and things are going really well. One of my children has some "issues" so dealing with him is still frustrating. I'm hoping over the next several weeks that he'll settle in as well.

 

Probably the thing that is going the best is I've added in a bit more "fun". We are pretty much a "get er done" schooling family, but I really wanted to add in some things the kids will have fond memories of. My goal is to actually do the science project each week, do one history project every week to 2 weeks, actually do an art lesson a week (well, we're finally getting to that one) and adding in more videos when appropriate. So far, so good! Oh, and we are making Friday's mostly art/project day with a "game" time thrown in where I teach the kids a new game. We have TONS of games and the kids love playing them so I want to teach them more throughout the year now that they are getting older. Tomorrow is our first one as it's our first 5 day week where we can "afford" the day off! :D

[galtgrl]

Great so far, although it's only our 4th "full" day :tongue_smilie:.

I've convinced the 5yo that FIAR is fun to do with mom. However, she thought we would keep reading "The Story About Ping" for the rest of the year, lol!

 

The 10yo is doing better at spelling, and the two 9th graders are finding high school work not to be as intimidating as they had thought.

 

I think we're all pretty happy so far.

I'm thanking God for that!:001_smile:

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

We are supposed to be on Week 7, but we are still working on week5. I went out of town on a Thursday and while I was gone my oldest cut his hand open falling off a bridge. It of course had to be his dominant hand, we did modified school that next week but it made us behind.

We have had 2 rounds of sickness, you know the kind that hits only one family member at a time so you all stay sicker longer.

 

Curriculum wise it has been awesome. I finally found what works for everybody!! :hurray:

[misidawnrn]

Ours is going well, although we really didn't stop over the summer, just did a lighter load. We are in full swing now and have been for 5 weeks. I took the plunge and did a file folder system and I love that! I messed up the first 3 weeks and didn't file a subject correctly but it is all fixed now. DD is so into the swing of things she is doing a lot of stuff independently and she loves being homeschooled. The only thing I haven't started again is SOTW and only because we left off last June/July in chapter 6 so I am going to wait until this coming up week to start it since we will be in week 6. I plan on doing a chapter a week to correspond with our week of HS.

[Holly]

We are 1/2 way through week 7 (of 34). I'm really loving our curriculum.

 

Today we hit a wall with DD's Singapore. I printed off some MM pages and I'm going to switch to it for a bit.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Our year did not get off the the best start. It is getting better though.

 

 

That is how our beginning was. Its getting much better now though!

 

Ok I must have missed this- what is the outdoor challenge?

[whitestavern]

We are finishing up our second week and (knock on wood) things are going really well! We began using workboxes this year and the kids LOVE them. When I am working with one child the other is plugging away independently on those subjects they can do by themselves. We also started some new curriculum this year, which is also being well received: MCT and Singapore Science. DD is really enjoying and doing well with Rosetta Stone Spanish.

[Homeschooling6]

We are finishing up our third week, so far so good:)

[kwickimom]

we are finishing up Week 8 of our very first year and we LOVE it! Aside from dictation trying to slowly kill us all, we are going great :)

[bbrandonsmom]

Lol-I was just going to post something similar :) We're on week 3 I think, and when I looked at the calendar today I thought to myself we should really have a lot more done. Then I look at what we have done, and it is a lot for a 5yr old! And he's retaining it, and we're not falling apart, and I'm some how keeping the house together-mostly.

We sort of half did science/history though, so we'll see how it goes when I add more in. I checked this book out called "homeschooling at the speed of life" and she has a cd w/ a breakdown of how to set aside school time, cleaning/house time, family time etc, with out going crazy. I hope it helps, because though I'm keeping things together, some stuff is already slipping already. I haven't found a happy balance between little guy, school, husband, myself and play outside the house yet, so I hope her breakdown helps.

[Violet Crown]

It was going famously--eldest dd was doing her work somewhere else, taught by various people who were Not Mom, which has done wonders for our relationship; littlest dd is talking and reading to herself and counting to 100, and not needing every ounce of Mommy's attention now; and middle dd is finally getting some real homeschooling, with well-chosen, successful curricula that she (mostly) likes, some extracurriculars for a change, and some attention from Mommy.

 

Then everyone came down with Martian Death Flu. Oh please, let it pass.

[Hedgehogs4]

We just finished week three and are starting to find a groove. I think it will be a good school year.

[Wyndie]

It's going great! We've had some bumpy weeks but have caught back up on things and it's really going smoothly. My youngest is a bit bored with us being busy for so long but she's enjoying all the uninterrupted playtime for the most part. Big kids are doing really well and I sometimes even have a moment to myself in all of it!

[nono]

Not gonna jinx it......

 

 

 

tiptoeing out....

[cheryl h]

Most of us have hit our groove and things are going really well. One of my children has some "issues" so dealing with him is still frustrating. I'm hoping over the next several weeks that he'll settle in as well.

 

Probably the thing that is going the best is I've added in a bit more "fun". We are pretty much a "get er done" schooling family, but I really wanted to add in some things the kids will have fond memories of. My goal is to actually do the science project each week, do one history project every week to 2 weeks, actually do an art lesson a week (well, we're finally getting to that one) and adding in more videos when appropriate. So far, so good! Oh, and we are making Friday's mostly art/project day with a "game" time thrown in where I teach the kids a new game. We have TONS of games and the kids love playing them so I want to teach them more throughout the year now that they are getting older. Tomorrow is our first one as it's our first 5 day week where we can "afford" the day off! :D

 

Ditto, ditto, ditto! I have a highly 'reluctant' ds7, that falls to pieces everytime I ask him to write a word, and trying to balance that and give fair time to his dd7 that would do absolutely anything I tell her to, with perfection. We are also trying to incorporate SWB writing into our day, and there are a serious amount of growing pains going on in that department. All that on top of switching from a box, all inclusive, type curric, to suggestions from TWTM...and we are having what feels like another "first year" of homeschooling. I know it will get better, it did last year, it will this year too. Though I am totally impressed that we have been able to fit in art on a weekly basis this year. Yippee. We are finishing up week 3 tomorrow, and I would love a day off already. I have my lesson plans done through week 8, but I will absolutely be taking some "teacher days".

[Tree House Academy]

Our year has been FANTASTIC so far and we are finishing our 6th week of school! We started the year with a few big changes (mostly math - going from CLE to Singapore and French - from The Easy French to Right Start French). Once we got those things settled and squared away, this has become the best year yet! We are using two of the HOD guides (CTC and Beyond) and our days have been the most pleasant, wonderful, happy days in our little homeschool history. I am so very thankful! I couldn't have handled one more "up in the air" tough year.

[Satori]

We're finishing up week 3 of our first grade (that averages 3 hours a day Tuesday - Friday). Mondays are our school day where she goes to a class without me. It's going great! We've added a few subjects (Spanish, Latin and new grammar and writing programs) that have been a hit.

 

We've been fitting in lots of art this year too, yay!

[clarkacademy]

week 1 went great!!! This was week 2 and a tree feel on my house crashing through an awful lot of it so kind of messed us up a bit!

[nukeswife]

We're finishing up week 2 tomorrow. Week 2 took an actual 2 weeks to complete because we had a little bit of "life" happen last week.

 

So far things are going ok, we had a few curriculum stutters, but I was prepared for them and was able to pull out back up items I had on hand.

[sagira]

We are getting into our groove lol. It really is starting to go better for us now.

 

Same here. Ds is easier to work with, more cooperative. We're in our third week. Smoother days :)

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

I am delighted with how things are going here - loving the schedule and exceptionally pleased with recent curriculum changes, like I've finally found our groove or stride. We're finishing up week 5 (although we started attempting to begin this year back in June) and I'm contemplating adding art and drama ... slowly and carefully so as not to upset the apple cart, as my mother would say.

[MyLittleWonders]

We are finishing week 9 (we go year round and I planned 6 weeks "off" between Thanksgiving, birth of baby and Christmas/New Years). It's going really well. I am using the file system, which is keeping me on task even on days when I feel like letting the kids watch TV all day. ;)

 

We added IEW All Things Fun & Fascinating, and are switching from FLL to GWG (I needed something less me-dependent and honestly FLL 2 was boring me!). We used IEW this week instead of WWE and the older two boys loved it. I have already planned which weeks we are using IEW instead of WWE. GWG is shipping; I am hoping we like it (it's mostly a supplement right now to what we are doing in MCT).

[kalanamak]

Really well. Reading is taking off, math tolerance is up, story problems no longer make me want to stick pins in my eyes, kiddo sits up at night and reading for 1.5 hours to finish chapter books, no tears with cursive, art is fun, chemistry even more so.

 

I feel so very, very fortunate to have a healthy average child. I feel like I'm not hitting the bumpers on either side, nor having to duck, nor scraping bottom. Nothing in life is assured, and I'm taking this good patch and putting 10% aside in a piggy bank of hopeful memories, so as not to lose steam during bad patches.

[Tress]

We are in week 6 (of 40) and things are going reasonable well.

 

I was very nervous about R&S English + Spelling, but that is going quiet well. And she is even enjoying the English read alouds:svengo:, such a change compared to all the whining last year.

 

The most difficult thing was getting my 2yo and 4yo used to our morning work. Last year I thought that having a 1yo and 3yo was tough, but the combination of a 2yo and 4yo isn't really easier :glare:.

 

Oh, and we finally finished remodelling the kitchen. I will have running water again, after 2 months!

[Joyofsixreboot]

It's going well with a few little bumps. DS 9 is hitting a groove with CLE. I sure would never have thought that and would never have tried that curriculum without this forum. He's even working more independently. DD 6 catches on to everything easily but doesn't like to 'do school'. She also has rejected the Sonlight K read alouds and every FIAR book I've tried. She's up for any experiment or project though. Science we have veered away from the plan already but we're doing something each day so if that consists of following bunny trails it probably won't matter in the grand scheme of things. Hey, my 4th grader may not do his chemistry this week but he learned all about cells and organelles.

[Closeacademy]

I have been very happy with this school year. Switching to Oak Meadow was the best decision I made. We are actually making progress and my girls are learning to like learning even if they still hate schoolwork.:001_smile:

[bbrandonsmom]

We are finishing week 9 (we go year round and I planned 6 weeks "off" between Thanksgiving, birth of baby and Christmas/New Years). It's going really well. I am using the file system, which is keeping me on task even on days when I feel like letting the kids watch TV all day. ;)

).

 

What's the file system?

[JenC3]

We are finishing week 11. We don't stop either, but we haven't really taken any breaks since we started our bible program. I'm going to try and not break unless we get sick or it's a holiday. Things are going well!

[Medieval Mom]

We're finishing up Week 9, and all is going very well :) I feel so much more confident about our choices this year than I did last year. Recently, the little ds is beginning to sit at the table, studiously scribbling for a minute or two, in imitation of his brother. :lol:

 

As I write this, I cannot believe we're almost a quarter of the way through 2nd grade already! I find that a little frightening for some reason!! It's going so fast! ;) (We school "year round", with 40 weeks, taking 1 week off each month.)

[lionfamily1999]

Dd is finally going to start homeschooling at the end of next week :D That makes this year the best yet :laugh:

 

The boys and I have gotten back into a groove of starting around 9 and getting done around 1. It's so nice to have my afternoons back.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Lol-I was just going to post something similar :)

 

 

:D

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Not gonna jinx it......

 

 

 

tiptoeing out....

 

 

:smilielol5:

[MyLittleWonders]

What's the file system?

 

There's a huge (understatement ;) ) thread buried around here somewhere, but the short of it is planning and filing all your schoolwork for the year at the beginning of the year so that each week you can just get up and teach without worrying about what you're teaching that week or making photocopies, finding books, or ordering supplies. Catholicmom here has a wonderful blog post about her filing system. I filed history (world & US), science, nature study, Latin, WWE student pages, and IEW lessons (for the weeks we are skipping WWE) for each week of the school year (38 weeks). I have lesson plans written for math, but do not file math, spelling, grammar, or MCT materials.

[SBP]

Best year EVER, which is pretty amazing considering how much I did NOT want to keep homeschooling at the end of last year. But we're six weeks in now, and I can honestly say that they've been the smoothest and least stressful six weeks I've had in 7 years of homeschooling.

 

Must go knock on wood now.

 

SBP

[Teresa in MO]

we had a great first week in mid-August and then things went downhill very fast. My dh has been struggling the past 5 weeks with kidney stones. He has endured 3 surgeries, 3 trips to the ER, 2 hospital admittances, pneumonia from aspirating during one surgery, and a severe reaction to an antibiotic that left him almost unable to move. He also has had 2 stents which are extremely uncomfortable. So, I have been gone alot. He was released from the hospital on Wednesday and I spent yesterday and today just trying to find out where they are at. What they have been able to do and what we are behind on. I am feeling very overwelmed. I also am trying to catch up on housework.

[cheryl h]

Ditto, ditto, ditto! I have a highly 'reluctant' ds7, that falls to pieces everytime I ask him to write a word, and trying to balance that and give fair time to his dd7 that would do absolutely anything I tell her to, with perfection. We are also trying to incorporate SWB writing into our day, and there are a serious amount of growing pains going on in that department. All that on top of switching from a box, all inclusive, type curric, to suggestions from TWTM...and we are having what feels like another "first year" of homeschooling. I know it will get better, it did last year, it will this year too. Though I am totally impressed that we have been able to fit in art on a weekly basis this year. Yippee. We are finishing up week 3 tomorrow, and I would love a day off already. I have my lesson plans done through week 8, but I will absolutely be taking some "teacher days".

 

I admit when I wrote this I was very discouraged. Our first 3 weeks really are going well. We are doing more than we have ever been able to get done, but when I put so much of my heart and work into this homeschooling thing, it is really easy for me to get discouraged when things don't go as I have planned. Our summer was very short here due to rain, rain, and more rain, so I am feeling CHEATED of my downtime. I am chosing to have a better attitude, and embrace fall and all it's fun activities. Sorry for being so negative, that isn't very encouraging.

[HSMom2One]

I can honestly say that this year (6th grade) is the best year of homeschooling we've had so far. I asked a lot of questions last year and got great input from others here on the boards. Thanks to that, I'm now using TOG with a bit more flexibility than I did last year while also following TWTM guidelines more closely, and it has made a huge difference for us. This is our fourth year of hs'ing, and thanks to the great group of helpers from The Hive, I think we're finally starting to get it!

 

Here at our house we are finishing up our fourth week of TOG YR 1 Unit 4, and it has gone extremely well. The study of the Romans is proving to be much more interesting than I thought it would be for both dd and I, so that's been a nice surprise. Also, I have been introducing some of the D level literature and Bible into my UG level daughter's lessons so that we can gradually move up to D level for YR 2 that comes next for us. It has been a good eye opener for both of us in that it is definitely more challenging, but dd has picked up the baton and started to run with it. We'll be heading into YR 2 in about a month, and we are both very enthused about it.

 

All in all, this is a great start for the year and I am quite pleased.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[FO4UR]

So far, so good! We just finished week 7.

 

We had a sick day yesterday (yucky!), but I was able to condense some work down (Friday is generally light to begin with...) and finish all I had planned without missing much. The kids watched Liberties Kids for about 2 hours on their "sick day," so I am totally counting that towards our American History requirements for the state.:D

 

ds7 is reading fairly well!:thumbup: (...so momma is breathing now:tongue_smilie:) dd5 is reading just as well. 2 down, 1 to go! ds4 is finishing all the preschool stuff I had for him at a quick pace (I filed his stuff and he's on week 20 LOL!)...he likes to write letters & numbers (yeah!). I'll have to figure out what to do with him in a few weeks.

 

All in all, I'm adjusting from having one 1st grader (and 2 preKers) last year, to having a 2nd grader, a Ker (doing 1st grade level work), and a preKer (trying to keep up with big sister). The time I spend on HS just tripled, but I'm enjoying it!

 

dh is unemployed and so we are going to be moving at some point this school year...I don't know when, but hopefully SOON! I am just trying to do what we can before the chaos of moving begins!

[Mommyfaithe]

:cursing::banghead::willy_nilly::nopity::cheers2: ~~~~:auto:

[Tress]

:cursing::banghead::willy_nilly::nopity::cheers2: ~~~~:auto:

 

I feel you! I should NEVER have posted that things went well before I started the day. I totally jinxed myself :willy_nilly:.

[momto2Cs]

Hmmmm... well, we had a harder time settling in, partly because I can't do MY classes online this semester so I'm out of the house more. Then, we switched history and science around a bit. So while we've done a good 3-4 weeks math, and reading, we're adding in/changing to the following next week:

 

History: Middle Ages (instead of American). We're using good books (A Book in Time mostly), and A Little History of the World by Gombrich. We'll finish watching America: The Story of US for an exposure to American history, and yes, we like the dvds!

 

Science: switching from homemade curriculum to Mr Q's Earth/Space Science, plus we'll still be doing fun science projects at 4H and learning about nature.

 

Other: I'm adding in Progressive Phonics for dd, and Intermediate Language Lessons for ds. Both will be listening to Grammar Land (Nesbitt) and will be doing the free worksheets from a fellow blogger. Dd will do this orally, and ds will write his answers. We might start loosely using English from the Roots Up as well.

 

In a nutshell, I find we're gravitating back to Classical/CM!

[kmacnchs]

wonderfully! we just finished week 7 and I am still loving it (the schedule, the curriculum, etc.) this is the first year I have been able to say that. I am due in December and I am a little nervous that my perfect school year is going to go bad. I try not to think about it and stay positive but b/c I have NEVER had it together this much, I wonder if/when it's going to all fall apart :)

[dm379]

It's going great here. We're on week 10 and we're actually ahead of schedule. I've either ditched or just plain don't like most of our curriculum so there's been a lot of switching and dropping and changing. Both kids have had major attitude and behavior improvements since I pulled them out of ps and they're finally enjoying learning again.