Our Homeschool, Today

OK, not today, since it's Saturday--oops, Sunday since it just hit midnight.  But I thought I'd share what our homeschool is like these days.  We are in a good place right now.  There was a time, not so long ago, when the warm spring sunshine was an excuse for Basia to take longer and longer breaks outside.  She loves to ride her bike, scooter, roller skates, and skateboard, as well as walk her dog, jump on the trampoline, and shoot some hoops.  I hate to be the mean mom and make her get back to work, so school was not getting done until very late in the day.  She would do a drawer or two, take a break, and take hours to get back to work.  We would usually finish school eventually, but I hated to have it still hanging over our heads late in the day. 

Fast forward to now:  I have compacted Basia's school into four sections.  Section 1:  stuff we do together (read aloud, memory work, history read aloud, and grammar); Section 2:  written work (math, writing, spelling);  Section 3:  her reading (dyslexia reading program, book she's reading to me); and Section 4: hands-on work (geoboard, USA puzzle to memorize states, TKD forms practice).  She gets a 10-minute break between sections, and she has to set the timer and get right back to work.  She also has to complete all four sections before lunch.  She misses longer breaks in the morning, but we both love being done with everything by lunch time.

My favorite part of each school day is the very beginning.  Brishen now joins us for the read-aloud time.   It is so nice to read to him again, and it is a real bonding experience for all three of us to be sharing in the same book.  I am going through and reading books that I read to Brishen long ago and that he has mostly forgotten.  I LOVE getting to read these great books again, and it is even more special that both of my kids are sharing them with me.  Thank you, Sonlight reading lists!

Brishen is finishing up some of his subjects, ready to move on to 7th grade next month.  I am realizing that I really only have until July to assign all sorts of wonderful books for Brishen to read.  After that, virtually all his reading will be dictated by his curriculum.  He will have so much assigned reading that I won't assign anything extra.  That means I have to figure out what I have always wanted him to read but never got around to to assigning. 

7th grade will be a big year.  There will be some big changes.  Things are getting much tougher for Brishen, for me, and even for Jon.  But that's a whole other post...