so cold we let the outdoor cat inside...she joined us in the school room
so cold we let the outdoor cat inside…she joined us in the school room

When I last sat down to write this we were preparing for a winter storm and I was rather sick. The weather experts kept putting off the arrival of the winter storm until they eventually cancelled it all together. Too bad they couldn’t cancel the record cold temperatures…brrr. The worse part of my illness lasted until a couple of days ago…no more fevers, headaches, and body aches. All I have left is a nagging cough that will likely take a week or so to clear up.

Littlest at the school table..."Can we play yet?"
Littlest at the school table…”Can we play yet?”

I spent the weekend finishing up our lessons for the 4th/2nd grade year. We’ll be finishing up in the next ten weeks. So I must begin planning in earnest for the next few months. The next school year begins in July so I still have the months of April through June to fill. This year I plan to fill those months with extra math work and a United States geography course and possible road trip to the nation’s capitol. Next year I will plan out our school year differently so that we do not have a large break.

This week in school I made a schedule for us to follow. I’ve always planned our lessons

Sparkles brought her paper dolls to school
Sparkles brought her paper dolls to school

but never planned how the day should go. We always just did our subjects in whatever order seemed right for the day. This week I sat down and worked on an order for our day to see of I could make our day a bit more…streamlined and productive. Now that I think about it maybe I should have asked my husband for his insight on the subject…he is an expert in efficiency and quality control management. Anyway, now that we have a schedule (and stuck to it all week) we have found ourselves with quite a bit more free time. Here is our daily breakdown:

8:00 begin morning block: Bible, Vocabulary, Writing, Spelling, Penmanship, Language Arts, Reading/Literature

10:30 snack break

11:00 PE, silent reading time, math and music practice

12:45 lunch and clean up

1:30 World History, Science or American History (alternated weekly)

We usually finish up our day by 2:30 or so. We finish up much earlier on Thursday and Friday due to tests and some subjects are finished up in four days. Many times our labs and hands on projects are reserved for the end of the week so we can take our time and have s bit of fun.

working in his very own school book
working in his very own school book

Littlest started preschool this week. Sometimes I help him do a page in his book and other times oldest works with him. Other than not being able to physically hold a pencil properly he is zooming along. Sometimes I can see Littlest’s frustration with his physical development not keeping up with his intellectual development. He really wants to write and spell but just cannot physically do so…the fine motor skills are not yet present. I am not sure what to do for him…some things come with time (and physical development). Got any ideas???

kris_weekly-wrap-up