Back to school 2011

Monday was the kick off to our 2011-12 school year, and the whole week went surprisingly well!  I think this is the best first week that we've had yet.  I'm sure it helps that my kids are a little older now and that we have been doing a little bit of math throughout the summer, not to mention that this is our 10th year of homeschooling!  10 years!!!  It really doesn't seem like that long, though, as this is just part of our normal lives now. Sometimes that line between the words "school" and "education" become a little blurry for us homeschoolers, as it's an ongoing thing, really, whether there are books involved or not.  Nonetheless, "school" has officially begun this week in our household.

The first day, we did not follow any set schedule, as my goal was to have an "orientation" with each of my pupils one by one.  I explained the schedule, rules, expectations, and new books.  Even so, we still managed to get about half of our subjects done for the day.  By doing this, though, we were well-prepared to dive in full-steam (for the most part) on Tuesday.  I'm telling you, that schedule works itself.  (See my homeschool curriculum link if you haven't seen it yet).  Everyone settled very quickly into their new books and assignments, which were well received with fairly good attitudes even.  Everyone is quite happy with what they "get" to learn this year, especially Baby Bach, as he's now officially joining the ranks this year as a first grader. He absolutely loves his video teacher, which he uses for a few subjects.

Here are a few photos of the kids at work (I didn't include much of Sister Strings this time, as she was the main feature of my last blog post...It's tough to keep up with four kiddos!):

 Watching math, Bible, habit training, and activity time online...

 activity time-art

 Language Arts...

 Starting a new English PACE...

 P.E. ???

 more photography from Brother Brass...He LOVES meteorology...

More graphic art features from Sister Strings (this one is done with a mouse)...

 And yes, this is our dog...posing for Sister Strings' next art project...

This one is for ME! ♥ (Done with her new writing tablet)

Celebrations: The Sweet 16 edition

Sister Strings turned sweet 16 this week. Yes, that's a cheesecake, because she doesn't like "normal" cake OR chocolate!  She was delighted to receive this for her big birthday gift this year:

If you're technologically challenged like I am, you're probably wondering what that is. She's been begging for this for a while, because she LOVES to draw digital pictures of animals on the computer.  Before this, she only had a mouse to work with and would draw simple things like this:

After 5 minutes with this digital drawing pad hooked up, she was thrilled to announce how much easier it is to draw things now and produced this quick sketch to demonstrate:

Uh...Don't ask me how she learned this.  I'm just a homeschooling mom.  LOL.  She's working on something more complex now that I'll have to share later.  It's very humbling when your children exceed your knowledge in certain areas, ya know?  I guess I'm working myself out of a job.  That's the idea, though, right?  Here she's looking very natural holding her newest cousin that just recently joined us and came for a visit this week:

 My sweet baby is growing up to be a charming, beautiful, and talented young woman, and I'm very pleased to watch how God is moving in her heart and life.  I'm greatly looking forward to seeing God's plan unfold in her life as He gradually reveals to us His will for her journey into adulthood. 

And to add to the excitement of the week, we all went to the zoo, because you know this girl LOVES animals.  I wouldn't be surprised to find her married to a farmer, vet, or zookeeper one day...who happens to be musical too. :) Here are some zoo highlights, but I will spare you the gazillion photos that Brother Brass took that day, as he has all of the sudden decided that he likes to be the photographer. 

 Taking photos to make drawings from...

 Miss Melody loved the Lemurs best...

 Had to steal the camera to get a pic of the photographer...

And last, but not least...the tour guide...

A fun and eventful week.  Next week we hit the books!  ...A little bit anyways...  :)



Musical Musings: Hello Dolly Edition

 A little waltzing practice...

 A gorgeous set...still getting the finishing touches...

 A full cast of hard-working homeschoolers...

 And of course, don't forget the live orchestra pit...

Can you hear the music?

Two days until showtime!!!  So exciting to see all that hard work come together!  

Homeschool humor from a 5th grader

Spreading her thumb and index finger 3 cm apart, Miss Melody holds her "hand made" measuring device up to tell me, "Mom, I got THIS close to a deer!"  She had just come in from playing outside, and I'm thinking there's a deer roaming our backyard or something, which is unusual to find in a subdivision.  After being satisfied with the surprised and somewhat concerned look on my face as I'm headed toward the window to look for a wild deer, she proceeds to tell me with a cheeky grin on her face (still holding up her finger spread), " ...but, Mom,  1 cm = 1 mile, so it was about 3 miles away."   Pretty clever for a 10 year old.  Way to put those math application skills to use, Miss Melody! LOL

My girls want to move to the country so badly!  They love animals and the outdoors more than my boys. They know more about animals and wildlife than I do.  Seriously.  I don't even like to camp.  They inspire me sometimes, though. :)

Managing our Homeschool Days

I thought I'd post our tentative fall 2011 full school day schedule for those who may be interested in seeing how I "juggle" teaching 4 kiddos at home.  They are color coded, just as you see in our curriculum post.  I got the idea to do something like this from the book Managers of Their Schools.  We are not quite as detailed as they, but it gives us a general overview of what to expect on a typical full day of school.  I do a separate schedule for a half-day of school, when we have our home school music days or simply decide to take an afternoon off for whatever reason (company, field trips, beautiful sunshiny days instead of snow days, etc...)  I'm sure this may get tweaked a bit once we get the ball rolling and I have a better idea of the reality of things, but this gives us something tangible to work with.  By having it stored in a word document, I can go to it any time and tweak it pretty effortlessly.  We've done this for the last two years now, and the kids and I both appreciate the smooth flow and independence that it allows.  Some may think that a schedule like this is stifling, but we find that we are much more productive with it, and things actually get done...and then some. :)
Just click to enlarge:

Time in the PIT

Yes, the pit...Orchestra Pit, that is.  Sister Strings and I are spending most evenings (we had morning rehearsals before now) until after mid-August here:

It's literally under the stage.  You can see the conductor's podium and the chair I sit in right up front, next to the clarinets.  Sister strings is to the right of me, along with 4 other violinists.  Yes, the net keeps the actors from joining us in the pit, should they decide to fall dance "off" stage in the wrong direction. (Yikes!)  That little trap net door above the podium opens up so the conductor can poke his head through to conduct both the singers and the orchestra simultaneously.  It's kinda cool.  It's amazing how much sound actually projects from that pit.  Anyways, this is what Sister Strings and I are busy with these days...for two more weeks.  Fun, fun, fun!  BTW, I think she has ALL of the lines to the musical memorized, and she's not even in the speaking/acting part of the musical. LOL.