I wrote about planning part 1, here, and planning part 2, here. Here is part 3!
The neighbor's Little Free Library has been motivating for morning walks. We have wanted to open our own for a long time, but the neighbor's gets the kids moving to bring a book and take a book and take a walk!
I had intended to come back and post this a little sooner, but life has been busy. I took a little time to look through posts on my old blog, which I have privatized for safety reasons. I miss that blog. There is so much history and information there that I want to just link to or sort and copy over parts of, but the time...Time is whizzing by me and really ruffling my nostalgia and melancholy, so I have really been trying to wade through that. For example, my search through my old blog included a skim through Lala Bug's 4th grade year, since that is Brown Mouse's level now. The photos made it feel like yesterday. I can't believe the end-of-year images I was seeing were already 2 years old and I am keenly aware of how much my kiddos have physically grown lately. I worried so much about her being "in FOURTH grade!" This feeling only lends to my constant battle with the "we're behind" monster.
So, this is a surface level hint at the (over) thinking place I have been in. I would have liked to have waited a little longer to start the school year, but we began slowly this week, as our charter school actually started 2 weeks ago. The week was a bit bumpy because (ahem), we have not finished 4-H record books (due Monday), so we spent a lot of time on those. We will begin easing into our new and consistent rhythm and our first blocks this coming week.
Art and copy work this week were from our experience of the eclipse, which honestly, due to drifting clouds, was underwhelming.
This year, according to our charter (which we love, for the record), my kiddos are 4th and 7th grades. I am using grades loosely now, because neither child is at grade level for everything and I have one child who is developmentally younger than birth age (although both look at least 2 years older than they are! Oh, the height!).
Our little homeschool tribe will be schooling through our charter again this year and they are the most supportive group of education coordinators one can imagine. There are some changes in staffing this year, so there is some newness to explore. The community that blossoms out of the charter is wonderful too. The kids will be participating in classes and activities our charter offers, which is wonderful for them and for me. As these guys are growing, the classes become less supplementary and more supportive for me, the home teacher. (Unfortunately, our charter only goes through 8th grade, so I think some of my current anxiety stems from thinking ahead to high school.) Brown Mouse will likely be in a Mythology class and local living history class this fall. Lala Bug will be in a class that adventures around the community (encouraging and teaching independence and meeting and learning about different businesses) and also in the local living history class this fall. She will also be in a foundations math class the entire year and possibly a book/writing club, if it comes to fruition.
We will be participating in 4-H again, although much less intensely. Brown Mouse doesn't love it and I needed a break from leading. My personality couldn't seem to just let us take a year off and there are many things to love about 4-H. We will be active with our charter, as mentioned above, and both kids are on local rec soccer teams this fall, which have already had their first practices. (Success and bravery!) A favorite activity for all of us is our American Girl Boy club. We meet monthly for history, crafts, and appropriate food, through the American Girl doll historical characters. And we are part of a larger homeschool group, through which will participate in some of the group activities, like the math & science and history fairs.
Both kiddos are in therapies for different reasons and these take time and energy, so are part of our rhythm. (Although I have alluded to this before, I don't write much publicly about my kiddos higher needs. Perhaps I should. They have a huge impact on our home learning.)
Also part of our rhythm will be a weekly nature walk/journaling outing, weekly library visit, and weekly art.
For my 9 year old this year, I hope to cover the following blocks in this order: math, Norse myths, local history, math, a catch-up block (I know we will need it), math, local geography, and human and animal. These are Waldorf blocks, but we are definitely Us-schoolers, so I know we will get lead away by interests here and there along the away.
For my 12 year old this year, I hope to cover the following blocks in this order: Geometry, Business Math (setting up an Etsy shop), Writing, Rome, Middle Ages, Astronomy, Renaissance, Physics, Anatomy and Physiology. Again, these are Waldorf blocks (for a mix of grade 6 and 7), but we are definitely Us-schoolers, so I know we will get lead away by interests here and there along the away. In addition, I have so many blocks (too many) that I want to cover for Lala Bug, that I will likely drop a couple of the subjects out of block form and sprinkle them throughout the year. This works for us, since we have to turn in work samples to our charter for every subject, every month. If you noticed few math blocks, it is because I will be working it into the existing blocks, working with her on an Etsy shop, and also she will be in a class through our charter. Also, because I am blending some of the grade 6 and 7 history/story blocks, I am thinking to cover it as European history over time.
Back to school goodies were plentiful and joyfully and gratefully received this year. The basket is full of the art supplies we didn't already have but need this year for our family weekly art lessons. In the packages for each child were fountain pens, a book (The Dangerous Book for Boys for Brown Mouse and his Dada and The Alchemy of Herbs for Lala Bug and me), and a new spiral notebook for daily/weekly task lists. Lala Bug also received a parent made gift certificate for 'handmade by' labels for her handwork and Brown Mouse also received his own tin of soft colored pencils.
I had planned to share the resources I am thinking to use, but the list is incredibly long. This is not because I am actually going to use tons of books, but because my own understanding for each block is coming from lots of bits and pieces pulled together from many resources along the way. There are a number of excellent websites offering free background and resource information for Waldorf, Charlotte Mason, and more. I use a little of this and a little of that. I do want to mention a few of the materials I am using that I am really excited about. For our nature studies, I am using Exploring Nature with Children by Lynn Seddon and also resources from John Muir Laws. For weekly art (besides nature journaling), we are signed up for Waldorfish Weekly Art lessons. We are so excited about those, that when the kids opened the basket of art supplies on the "first day of home school," they were thrilled and asked if we could do the first art lesson right away. (It hasn't begun yet!) I keep a long list of resources right here on my blog (although I need to update it) and I will be using many of the resources I share there.
And so another school year begins. Before we know it, I will be looking back, wondering where it went, so I am encouraging myself to be present and make caring for myself a priority. Have a wonderful day!
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