Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Reset






So my grand plans of a school related blog have been pretty much a big fail.


So... reset.

Ta-da!  We are in our new school year!  2012-2013 has already held a bunch of changes and I've exercised one of my favorite parts of home schooling - change stuff that isn't working!

We had high hopes of a new curriculum/style for this year but it wasn't meant to be.  We are box checkers, book readers, and generally like to have order/structure for certain things.  All this is good to know about when attempting to make changes.  We tried to be foot-loose and fancy-free and unstructured following vague plans, etc.  It made everyone cranky and stressed out.  So we scrapped the new stuff and went back to some more traditional things.  Now planning is easier, seeing what is next is MUCH easier and we are a generally happier bunch.

B is now officially in high school.  We decided to just skip 8th grade and bump him up since he's doing just about everything at the high school level anyway.  He and J are back to working together on several subjects and it makes life so much smoother all around.  They study together, quiz one another, help with tough spots.... it's a great thing!

We are almost finished with our first quarter and I'm tremendously pleased with their progress, grades and attitudes.  B has even had the amazing gift from God of an apprentice type situation once in while with a great guy from our church who does carpentry/construction.  He loves it and I love that God has provided a way to 'do shop' for him.

So... we'll see how my 'reset' goes, but I'm not holding my breath... I have lots to do!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Planning

So this school blog is a big fail generally.  I just don't keep up with it in the way I anticipated. *shrug*  That is life in the real world.
I'm considering allowing J & B to add posts here... might be a good exercise for writing, etc.  Will have to mull that one some more.

We are beginning to plan for our 2012-2013 school year.  This will be a year of big changes for us.  We are shifting dramatically in our style of schooling and really attempting to shift ownership more to J & B directly for their learning.  We will begin using two related programs for the kids this year. Far Above Rubies for J and Blessed is the Man for B.  These are unit study programs based on passages of scripture designed to guide & grow young people in the way God has instructed.

We are excited about the opportunity and challenges we will encounter this year as we seek to keep Jesus at the center of our home and use God's Word to guide our daily life in a practical way.  Schooling is really prep for life... we really need to prep with the one instruction manual that applies to all of life. Right?

*photo credit http://www.wazmac.com/teaching_learning/school_planning/images/planning_cycle_500.jpg