Percolating Some School Plans

I'm disappointed in myself for taking some time off during our spring/summer school term. We should have been able to finish this week, but instead we have to continue this week and next week, as well as doing a little extra each day. It's not the end of the world, but how I wish we would've stuck to the plan. It was entirely my fault, not the kids'. Well, and we did get sick and that threw us off for a couple weeks. So I shouldn't blame myself entirely, either.

However, I'm looking forward to being done in the next two weeks! I'm working a little here and there on plans for next term, and enjoying that. I'm kinda wanting to be DONE with this term's school, but that's because of how excited I am for next term, and I want to make sure I have everything laid out for a very successful term!

I'm actually working on some plans for the whole year, because it doesn't make sense to only plan one term. It's more like a term + a year, since I consider our school years beginning in January with the new yearly schedule I laid out for us a few months ago.

The main thing I'm excited about is my history plans. The history we have done so far in our homeschool journey has felt a bit off, and even quite a bit disjointed-feeling to me, to tell the truth. But I'm feeling really good about my intentions.

I plan to study 1800-1900 United States history, as well as a special look in particular at the history of our state in that time period. I still need to find the specific resources I'll be using, but I have an idea of what we'll be covering:

        Westward expansion - Lewis & Clark, Oregon trail, California & Klondike gold rushes, and the addition of territories and states
        Immigration during this time period
        Civil War
        Indian relations
        Highlighting some of the inventions/inventors of the time
        And of course numerous smaller aspects of this time period

Also, I'll need to choose composers, artists, & poets that correspond with the history rotation. I already have a couple of ideas on each of these, but will be looking into more. I think I may know what I want to use for a history spine book, but I'll want to check further into this as well.

At the moment, however, I'm trying to get an idea of a schedule down on paper to see how and where everything is going to fit. I've just begun to mess around with that. We have quite a list to try to accomplish.

In no particular order -

Daily:
Bible reading
Copywork
Math
P.E. break
Spanish
Piano practice
Free reading
Short Nature Walk
"Science" (nature books)
Literature

Weekly:
History (twice)
Biography
Geography
Art (twice)
Artist
Composer

I have additional notes on these for myself, and how to fit it all in. It seems that Son should be able to complete a reading every day, Sissy should be able to complete a reading every day, and I should complete a reading every day in addition to reading a few verses from the Bible every morning. I will also do any reading involved in the less literature-based subjects, such as art, composer study, spanish, etc. The children should also do "free reading" for about 20 minutes each afternoon, that is based from my selections for free reading (so I might choose 15 books per child for the year, and then they can choose what they want to read - but they must read from these selections for about 20 minutes per day).

Hopefully this will all work out well. I am enjoying preparing. I'm hoping that my "little-by-little" work will mostly get the plans ironed out by the time we take our break in two weeks, and then maybe it'll just take a couple days of concerted effort to get all the finishing touches planned and start ordering resources. If THAT works out like I want (I'm trying to be realistic, though...), then I hope to spend the rest of the break cracking down on some things that need changed around the house in general. Decluttering mainly, but also "spring" cleaning so maybe everything will just feel a little more fresh and prepared when we begin next terms work. (Beginning in August - so not too much of a break!)

Come to think of it, if I'm being realistic, there's not a whole lot of chance that I'll be that close in the next two weeks. We have a wedding to attend this Saturday, and possibly having company who will be in the area for the wedding. Then the next Saturday is our Hayride Weekend, which will be very busy. Last year our family didn't have company except one of my sisters, which was okay because we came down sick that week. But the year before? We had a houseful! So far we don't know if we'll have anyone here for this year's Hayride Weekend, but we probably will. These events will be fun, but very busy! Especially on top of trying to go ahead and get our school term finished up, because I think it would be better to do school during this busy time, and still get our break as planned (almost - just one week shorter). The alternative would be to say "Forget this!", and leaving the school behind for now, start it back up again much sooner than planned. I just don't think I'll be happy with myself if that is how it goes down. So instead I'll keep plugging along, and look forward both to our break, and to a more well-planned year to come!

Fireworks

There was a pretty small crowd at church last night. Church didn't last very long and afterwards, we made the short drive to our favorite place to watch the fireworks, inviting some friends to go with us. It was fun. I still enjoy fireworks, and the children LOVED THEM! On the way over, we would see an occasional firework go off here or there, and the kids were so excited they were semi-hyperventilating over them. It was adorable!

After the grand finale, there weren't any fireworks going, so Honey asked me "Are they done?" I told her yes, there wouldn't be any more. Immediately another one lit up the sky. After a couple seconds of contemplation, Honey, in a very soft voice, started giving instructions: "Guys! Silence. We have to be silence. If it's silence, they'll do another one." SO CUTE!!!

On the way home, the kids conversation centered around how stars don't like the fireworks, and how fireworks don't like music. The latter stemmed from my Man & I quietly singing a hymn together. After the kids tried to get us to "Hush! The fireworks don't like music!" we finally felt it necessary to inform them that fireworks aren't living beings.

It was a wonderful evening. (I sure am tired today...)

Exhaustion of Motherhood - When the Babies are Young

I'm tired. I'm always tired. I was telling someone the other day "That's just a part of motherhood!" She replied "You'll just  be tired for the rest of your life, right?!" We were interrupted at that point, so I wasn't able to answer her with "Well, that's not exactly true..."

My mom (mother of nine children in just under 13 years) had told me that her friends had told her that it would get better after the baby was about two years old. She couldn't quite believe them. But she was always expecting again by the time hers reached about two years old. She told me that when my baby sister was about two, there was a huge change! I knew it must be true, because she'd told me other things like that and I had later proved them. But it didn't change the fact that I was still tired.

About 3.5 years ago, I had a two-year-old and no baby coming. I had so much energy! I got so much done! For now, I want to enjoy my little ones (and of course, bigger ones). I need to remind myself that I won't always be tired. And I need to get to bed earlier, because my exhaustion doesn't have to be as much as it is.

But not tonight. Tonight is church, and if we're out in time, then watching fireworks. It's a special day, and I want to celebrate our nation's birthday with my family.

Oh. And Sissy finished her learning-to-read book yesterday, and we went to the library and got her a library card according to the long-standing promise. (This promise began when Son was going through that book). Now Honey is asking for reading lessons.