First Day of School 2014

I just realized how little I posted the last school year, only twice. I think we were just so busy with life I didn't remember or think about stopping and posting. We started school earlier this year because we are doing our breaks a little differently. I always start out the school year thinking I will be better at posting, but some years I don't do very well. Let's see how this school year goes.

  

I did manage to get a couple of pictures of each teen on the first day of school. I am working on setting up a photo shoot with their big sister for the school pictures. Last year's pictures turned out so good. I am hopefully this years will be even better. (The one below is just great because he is laughing. I love it!)

The teens had a hard time getting up this morning but once they did it was great work. They worked right up until lunch and then even a little after. They did more in the evening and finished up the major subjects. It is going to take some trial and error but as long as they are putting forth the effort, I know we will have a great year.    

  

Their first break will be Labor Day, after only four weeks of school. We normally start school that week after Labor Day weekend. We have a family retreat that weekend and then they have the entire week off. I'm not sure what we will do that week since our business will still be open four of those days. But we will plan some fun things to reward them for the hard work. After that they won't have time off until the week of Thanksgiving and then two weeks for Christmas. They will have spring break off but we aren't going anywhere for that. I will try to find some fun things here to do.  We are hoping to wrap things up by the end of May, if not sooner. It's going to be a GREAT year!

That is our progress report for today. Thanks for stopping by. 

First Day of School

Yesterday was our first day back to school. We have a full range of subjects and will be adding more little by little. They are as follows: Bible, English, Ancient History, Biology, Math, Art, Music, Computer, Typing, Consumer Math, Critical Thinking, Latin American Spanish, PE, Sewing, Cooking and Auto Maintenance. I purchased them some fun new crates to keep their school stuff in and even added a few items just for fun, like duct tape.  It is my HOPE that they will keep them organized so they can find things easily instead of it being a mess with things misplaced. 

They are working at the big table most of the time, although they can work in their rooms or any other room in the house. We keep the table cleaned off between meals so that their school work will not get spoiled and they will have plenty of space for the items needed for each subject. They are doing great with the online program. It takes them directly to the text book page or the piece of literature they are supposed to read for the day. I am looking forward to hearing some feedback from them on Friday after they have completed a weeks worth of school. Plus, I have some surprises for them throughout the year when they work hard to keep a good attitude throughout the week. I don't expect perfection but I do expect them to give it their best in effort and attitude.

We will be having their older sister do "official" school pictures later this month but I was able to get a "first day of school" picture out of both of them. They turned out pretty good. It really isn't something they LIKE doing. But I told them to humor me because they are growing up so fast and I will be left with just memories of this time.

That is our progress report for today. Thanks for stopping by.

First Day of School 2012

We started back to school on September 4 after a wonderful family getaway with a group from church. It was great to get away before we started back full force. Our curriculum has not changed for the new school year. We LOVE the stuff we have used the last two years and plan on using it through High School. The kids will be doing school pictures later this week but we managed to get in the "first day of school" picture on the second day of school. 

We got the kids new laptops this year so that they can look up the things our curriculum tells them to but they can do it at the table with me and we can share the information learned right then. Also, I wanted them to be able to do their math (they have a video at the beginning of each lesson) when they were ready and not have to wait for someone to get off the computer. So far, so good. We have been able to do many things for school on them and they enjoy using them in their free time, as well. 

We started reading through the Little House books and are almost finished with book two, Farmer Boy. We have some great books that we will be reading this school year and I look forward to sharing them with you. 

That is our progress report for today. Thanks for stopping by.