momma aimee Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I know a lot of families plannin to 'go back to schooling' today -- though i think we all know we never are 'not' schooling our littles. So how about a check in of the people counting today as their offical start date? Today marked our first day of Kindy and we did great. 7 am to 9:45 with 2 small breaks. Little Brother hung with us the entire time and talking over his near constant chatter of "look, what that, that, that, see" was one of the bigger challanges so i am happy. I need to switch things up so i make sure to start with math and phonics (after Bible?) -- but even with phonics last he held in there, but not as well as at the start. Now :D too see if they are this cooperative and hard working tomorrow?? :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RainbowSprinkles Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We actually started last week. It was however, a short three day week because dh had Mon and Fri off. So this week is our first full week. :) Today has been good so far. We still have history do to after lunch. I'm also still waiting on ds's math workbook and some science books we need for Elemental Science before we can start that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbaeimers Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We started today. It went well, but I am SO tired now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We started last week as well, for the next few weeks we're only doing short days of math, reading, and spelling. August 15, we start full days with everything incorporated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn E Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We officially started back today and are almost done. A couple of subjects were just review today, so they didn't take as long as they normally will. Writing, independent reading, and piano are all dd has left. YAY! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We started back today as well. I hadn't planned on it even though it is our normal start back date. But, yesterday, after another scorching day with no one wanting to go outside and the pool water 93+ degrees in temp, I looked at everyone and said, "I can't stand it anymore! We are trapped inside, so why are we depriving ourselves of beautiful fall days outside for this?" Since, I had already finished most of our planing, I told them we were starting (with the exception of my 6 yod. Since our dil and our granddaughter are living at our house for a couple more weeks, I told her she could wait until they left.) Our day has been wonderful. My 4th grader just finished. I am waiting on my 7th grader to work with her on a couple of subjects (we already finished her alg, grammar, and spelling), and my 10th grader only has a small amt left with me. (we did a lot of discussion while I was cleaning up after lunch.) Great day and I am so glad we started back! (Oh, as a funny, my ds looked at me this morning and said wryly, "It seems like only yesterday that I still had weeks of summer vacation left!! :lol: ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baybedaul Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Today was our first day back at it for real, and we just finished up around noon. Well, kinda. We did cookie dough maps and they're still baking in the oven. We'll add the frosting "seas" later today when they've cooled. Our days are probably going to be a lot fuller this year since we've added a few subjects for first grade (and I'm trying to take Wednesdays off from any formal work), so I was a bit concerned how long it was all going to take us. I know a lot of the stuff was simple since we're just starting up with some of the curriculum, but it still only took us 3 hours this morning (and that included making the cookie dough, etc). I think the kids enjoyed their first day back (even though we were still doing bits of summer school last week - ha!). But they each had a small back-to-school surprise waiting for them this morning and a tiny piece of candy in each of their workboxes. I'm trying to talk myself into prepping the boxes for tomorrow instead of reading the forum, but you can see how well that's working out for me... ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCJessieRN Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We had a GREAT first day today! We started late b/c I had an OB apt. and then we had to do our traditional 1st day of school breakfast at Waffle House! Lol. We just finished a few min. ago.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I started half the kids back today. We started K and 1st today lightly. Right now they are just doing Math, handwriting, phonics and some light history and science (just magic school bus and magic tree house read alouds) I wanted the boys to get back into the swing of things before the girls started back so it will be an easier transition to having all 4 kiddo's in full time school. The boys will lightly add in ECC with the girls when they start. I have not actually started yet as here it gets to hot to be outside around 1pm so that is when they will come in and get started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baybedaul Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We had a GREAT first day today! We started late b/c I had an OB apt. and then we had to do our traditional 1st day of school breakfast at Waffle House! Lol. We just finished a few min. ago.:001_smile: I definitely need to start this tradition! The breakfast part, not the OB part. :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doodle Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We have been doing some light school for the past three weeks. Today is the first official day of second grade. It started a bit rough (math), but got better. We have finished the plans for today, but will continue our day with whatever Doodle is interested in doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCJessieRN Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I definitely need to start this tradition! The breakfast part, not the OB part. :laugh: LOL! I would prefer Cracker Barrel but I get out voted every time! However, when this little one comes, I don't know if we can even fit at Waffle House! Our other tradition is making a small poster that says "First Day of School" with the date and each child has one with their Ht. and Wt. written on it and we take pictures! I just looked at our ones from last year and it's amazing how much they have grown! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColoNative Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We started today - had a great day. Will do Science after lunch when ds3 is napping....then we'll go swimming when our school day is done! Melody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 PreK & Kindy are done. 4th grader has a list for this afternoon; restarting at 1:30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfcartmama Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Ours went great except Math for DS. He acts like he can't remember anything except 2+2...it may be a long week of review! We do Dunkin' Donuts on the first day of school--only day they ever get donuts for breakfast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We started today. It's 11:45, still have history and Latin to do. I'm exhausted. I think part of our slowness is due to new curriculum. Should pick up speed in a week or so! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aoife Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 today was our first day of K :D we had a blast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicagoshannon Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Today was our first day of Kindergarten. We started at 7:30 ( so daddy could entertain the baby while we did reading) and finished at 9:30. I scheduled too much handwriting for her so we'll be scaling that back starting tomorrow. We start with the hardest/least fun subject for her and go from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandty Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We just finished our first day. Went great and my boys liked their new school year gifts! My youngest needed some reminding on how to behave during school time, but wasn't too bad. I learned that Math Mammoth 2 is more advances in where MUS Alpha ended last year . . . . . not sure yet if we will need to pull some lessons out of MM1 or if I can teach it as we go along. Struggled with Megawords with my oldest, but that is another post. We have a light week and that makes me happy!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nrself Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 It's our first day too. I was soooo looking forward to starting school after spending the whole summer planning things out. I guess our day would be rated as "ok" since it could definitely have been worse. ;) WWE and SOTW both went over very well. Math was good. Beginning cursive with my new 3rd grader was difficult and getting two boys to pay attention and keep their hands to themselves during Grammar Island was a problem as well. Hopefully, when we settle into a routine things will get easier. Nicole (1st full year hsing with 3rd and 5th grade boys) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccouch Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Today was our first day back, too :) We had an easy day - - just science and history. We started the day with waffles , strawberries and whipped cream. Did a bit of reading and narration. Then we made a model of the earth with personal pizzas for lunch (RSO Earth, Pandia Press). FUN & yummy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Alfred Academy Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Started back today. It's going to be a long year. :glare: Oy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classics4us Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Today was our first day back. We started around 9:30 had a 45 minute lunch and finished at 3:00. It was good for a first day. Now it's mommy time. Yay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyderiver Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 First day done and we are celebrating with cupcakes and a Wii dance party! Only one meltdown the whole day and we pulled off a full day that included a new chore chart. I am impressed and excited for our school year. They are growing so fast and I am trying to enjoy ALL the moments! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlamom2ansnm Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We started today, for our first official day of homeschooling ever :). It went fairly good! My oldest loved it, just as I suspected, my middle didn't like the writing, just as I suspected, and the 3yr old was a pain in the booty, just as I suspected LOL. Honestly though, we started at 9, did all our calendar group time stuff, a nice talk about what we're doing and what is expected, had a recess time, and were done with most everything by about noon (6 yr old at 11:45, 9 yr old at 12:30), with 1 "recess" break in the middle. We do still have history that we're going to do when the 3 yr old is down for a nap though. I didn't want to take that on with her butting in the middle all over the place LOL. We accomplished reading, spelling, handwriting, math, letter writing (thank you letters to our uncle for organizing a family reunion), art (name plates for workboxes), english (oooh - just realized the 6 yr old didn't get to FLL today - better do that before we get to history), character building and will be doing history after nap. Not bad for our first day! I felt a little like a chicken with her head cut off, but I have a feeling it will get easier as it goes. They each needed lots of direction for what they do next, and what they do with each lesson. I felt like I was going back and forth like a crazy person, but it worked, and I can only see it getting better from here on out. Excited for the future here :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfinlady Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Started 5th grade with DD today. She really likes that we switched to Teaching Textbooks for math. She told me several times how much she likes it. I think her favorite part is her little hippo "buddy" in the corner. :D DS started 8th grade in December and is still working on it, so nothing new for him today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We started today. We had a late start to the day and the older kids have been dragging 1 lesson out WAY longer than necessary. So here it is 3pm and we have only finished read-alouds and 1/2 of history with a long list to go. Oops, breaks over time to get them back on task Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenL Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Our day started out a bit rough. The little man needs to understand that he cannot bother his older brother when his "work" is done. We have some character training to do with him. ;) Ds1 did well at his first day of 3rd grade. He has his own checklist this year, and can choose the order of his tasks after he does the work he needs to do with me. He really enjoyed the freedom, I think. I'm exhausted! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KerriBerri Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 We started back today also. All was good except the history part. It seems like I'm going to need to edit quite a bit to keep DD's attention. Definitely do-able though and the rest of the day was GREAT!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaylk in tx Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 only doing half days this week to ease into things. plus trying out a completely new way of organizing the days so it'll take us a while to find a groove. went well except for the usual whines about having to actually go back and look at the history text to find the correct answer. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morosophe Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Well, we started today, too. My husband was actually around to corral the younger boys, which is good, because I kept having slightly longer lessons as I was reading the introductions to the new materials. Still, it went pretty well. Now for the rest of the week, when my husband is off to a convention and my middle son still has a month before he starts his morning preschool classes up again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Started back today. It's going to be a long year. :glare: Oy. Yeah I know that feeling - and I am only schooling one child doing K this year :glare::banghead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Add us to the list. I have a 2nd grader and a 4th grader officially now. We spent the morning decorating their folders and notebooks and going over our new schedules and such. They each did a handwriting sheet (still working in last years' books there.) and dd7 did the first lesson in her big girl English book. We didn't get to spelling and phonics and math, since we spent so much time organizing this morning. Both girls read to me. DD7 had a test in her reading workbook (continuing w/what we were already working in) and both practiced conjugating Latin verbs, had a piano lesson, listened to a chapter of history, and we all did a couple of Drawing With Children exercises. It was a good day back. I plan on getting in all of the subjects tomorrow to see how my new schedule is going to work. They both loved all of their new supplies, especially new sharpies for art! They were really good girls and had great attitudes today. I took first day pictures this morning that are adorable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 We had McDonald's for our first sort-of-official day breakfast. (We started a little last week, but I am going to add the hours to this week to total our first full week.) The 8yo completed 30min of reading in Alice in Wonderland, about 15 minutes of violin, and Kumon math. He has been going light all summer with these three- reading, violin, and math drill. He also completed T4L (LA, LA extensions, Math, Science and Social Studies) in a little over an hour. He started this last week. Today we added history. He read a few pages in America's History: Land of Liberty- Chapter, chapters 1-2 from Pocahontas and the Strangers by Bulla, and the first third of North American Indians by Gorsline. We also listened to about 30min of Johnny Tremain and together looked at a couple of poems in The Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems. After we finished we went to see the 3:45 showing of Captain America. Now I am off to take a photo and measure and weigh my kidlet. Thanks for the suggestion.:001_smile: Mandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiegirl Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 We had our first day today and it went swimmingly! :party: Usually our first days back are discouraging but today went exactly as I had planned. It was very long (8:30 to 4:00 for me; the kids had breaks) and I can see where I need to do a bit of tweaking to my plans but, on the whole, I am very happy with how everything went. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twins05 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 First day of our third year. Two in 1st and one in 3rd. We started with breakfast at IHOP and they were ready to get started when we got home! They seem to be really ready and excited to be "back in school"--who knew?!?:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 We usually school year round, but had to move in mid June so I decided to take off until Aug. 1st. A nice idea but did we start today? No, sooooo not ready.... Oh well, try again next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTJo1996 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 We started today too. I am also following the "start slow" method. We aren't going to get all subjects done for the first few weeks. Today I saw some progress on telling time which made me smile. This will be our second year HSing and I hope I will start to see more signs that she DID actually learn something last year! Can you tell I'm excited? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chepyl Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I just posted in a different thread...There are a few a think!! We started today. It took 30 minutes for my 3 year old, and my First Grader finished all I had planned, plus extra math in a little over an hour! That was with some arguing about starting and a lot of "When can we be done?" See my blog for some pics and more details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalmia Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Had shared my plan to start on August first with the children, but when today came, I decided to postpone the start date until Wednesday to catch up on some much needed cleaning. My 1st grader objected strenuously. So we did about 2 hours of school, by the end of the two hours the novelty had worn off and she asked to stop "playing school" now! Big brother was never on board with the start date in the first place and so was happy with a mere two hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Well I finally finished my day, mostly. DD took FOREVER to finish her school work today. What should have been a 4 hour day turned into a 13 hour day. But in the end she finished it all, and I got the house cleaned, and the laundry caught up. Still to do tonight, write tomorrows lessons on the white board, write out the bible verse for copywork from History of the Horse, and get the stuff ready for their explorers lesson. The rest of the kids did fairly well, DS dragged out some of his work so his day was slightly longer too, but when he realized he was running out of time to use the computer tonight AND if he took more than another 20 minutes he would lose all screen time for tomorrow he wrapped the last of it up very quickly. (DD had the same warning and still took another 3 hours :glare: She assures me tomorrow she will buckle down and get it done. We are not even doing everything yet, just 3/4 of our schedule this week, so she needs to step up to get it done. DS7 and DD3 were mad when their day was over and kept asking for more schoolwork to work on. Too bad that doesn't rub off on the older kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma aimee Posted August 15, 2011 Author Share Posted August 15, 2011 alright -- eveyone on week 3 -- check in and let's hear how it is going???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 We have started week 3. We are doing well. We are finishing a little earlier each day, which is good because that means we're getting used to the curriculum. I think all our changes were good fits for the kids who needed the changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doodle Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 I can't believe it is week 3 already. Everything is going great here:thumbup1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBMama Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 We started week 3 today. I am still trying to figure out how much to schedule in a week, since I work 2 week days. We are getting everything done on my days off, and usually 1 subject on my works days. We're just doing K, so I'm happy with that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicmommy Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Well, in the middle of week 2 I fell and very, very badly sprained my ankle. I was on crutches for Wed - Fri and my parents picked up the 2 youngest so that I wouldn't have to keep them going. Putting their stuff together this morning for Week 3, I realized that we got enough done last week to be able to squish a few things together and still stay on track. Yay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicMouseTN Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Week 3 started here too! Going great so far!!! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma aimee Posted September 10, 2011 Author Share Posted September 10, 2011 check in time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 All I can say is....I'm glad we started when we did. With the arrival of the babies, life has been crazy and I'm glad we had a month under our belt and our routines established so I didn't have to deal with all that, too. It's been good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Ok, we are doing well. We finished all of the lessons in the core subjects in August that I had planned. We still haven't started SOTW4 yet. I took an extra couple of weeks to do some state history when we hit a chapter that covered it. I knew that was coming up and planned on it. I do feel like we really need to start vol. 4 or we will never finish it. We only have 1 and half chps left of vol 3 now. We have not kept up piano as well as I would like. I need to be more vigilant about enforcing practice there. DD7 is progressing amazingly in reading, writing, and spelling! There is such an improvement over what she could do last year that I can hardly believe it sometimes. Rod and Staff math grade 5 seems to only be covering the same things as grade 4, with nothing new. Anybody else notice that? We are already in chp. 3 and I thought we would be getting to some new material by now. So we are moving quickly through it. I guess we worked all summer to finish up grade 4, never taking a break. So dd9 has not backslid at all, and doesn't need quite so much review. I had a friend that skipped grade 5 and put her dd into grade 6 R&S. I can see why now. We started our year in a new scout troop and our co-op has started back, so our weeks have gotten busier. We are getting projects ready for the state fair. That is always a lot of our art in Sept. and Aug. We will probably be adding another dance class soon. I am always glad that we start early in August to get a good jump start on the year before all of the activities start up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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