Easing Back Into School

A couple of years ago, we went from being off for two months to starting back on the first day with a full schedule.  To say it didn't go well would be an understatement.  It was a disaster!  The day ended with a house full of cranky children and a cranky mama.  Ever since then, I have used a more gradual approach in starting back to school.

Monday was our first day of school.  For this first week, we are only doing History and Science.  Alex is also still working on The Reading Kingdom and all of the boys have started using Time For Learning (review coming in Sept.)  We are using Mystery of History Vol I for History on Mondays and Wednesdays.  I am doing the readings on Mondays and an activity, memory cards, and time line figures on Wednesdays.  I'm hoping this will work out well, but if it doesn't I will change our schedule a little bit.  For Science, we are using Apologia's Zoology 1 and are following the two day a week schedule that is in the Student Notebooking Journal.  We are doing Science on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  We take Fridays off for errands, grocery shopping, and play dates with other homeschool friends.

The last week of August we will be adding in Art, Spelling and a read aloud.  The next week we will add in Math,Handwriting, and some books for silent reading.  By the end of September I will also be adding in Writing Tales Level 1 for Nick (4th grade.) 

Chelsea, who is in 10 th grade this year decided to go ahead and start in full speed.  She realizes that High School is more work and wanted to get a jump start on all of her subjects.  She does History  with us on Mondays and Wednesdays and does project work for upper level students Tuesday and Thursday.  You can find my post on her curriculum here.  In addition to the subjects listed she is also doing an American Government course and looking for a French course for fun.

I am very flexible in our scheduling.  Sometimes we may have to post pone some (or all) of our core curriculum and focus on reviews.  Also, we may decide to take some time off here and there to go out of town or on a field trip.  We also may have some sick days through out the year, though I hope not!  Starting out the school year gradually and by being relaxed and staying that way throughout the year makes for happier children and a happier mama!