School Ramblings {October 17, 2016}

This blog post is a little late since I took on a closet cleaning project over the weekend. I did get the hall closet cleaned out (which houses a lot of school stuff) and rearranged my "desk". This closet business has been on my list since summer and I was happy to cross it off the list.

I also worked hard on writing end-of-term examinations for the boys. This is the last week of term one! The boys will finish up their term one work and do examinations this week. That means next week is break week!

One of our views from last week's nature hike.

What's in the Morning Basket? I'm excited to finish term 1 and move onto term 2 morning basket plans! I'm not sure what those are yet . . . . but I'm ready for something new. We will finish Beethoven, Constable, and Little House in the Big Woods this week. Some books will continue to next term though. Remember when I said last week that we thought the cheesy Fall in Love With Music was a hit? Well, episode 2 was not a hit! We will move onto episode three before calling it quits.

I won't be sharing any Favored Books this week. I will do a post with all of our favorites and not so favorites for term 1 in the near future.

What's this? (improvement needed) Not really school related, but we are having a lot of bad attitudes around here that need some work. There is a lot of showing of complaining (vocally and physically) when asked to do something. Even though I thought I was working at preventing this it seems to have sneaked in and exploded. I do have a plan to work on this. Pray for us!

Looking ahead (teacher's duties). I have a ridiculous amount of work to get done before term 2 starts. I do most of my planning in the summer, but I had so holes that needed to be filled and I completely forgot about those!!! My goal is to get started with the work before break.

How was your school week?

 

School Ramblings {October 1, 2016}

What's this? two School Ramblings in a row?? I can't believe it either. I was hoping to have another post done and ready to publish, but that did not happen. I felt like I should do a quick School Ramblings to make up for it.

What's in the Morning Basket? I added something new to the basket . . . . well, I can't actually put it in the basket. There is a show on Amazon (free for Prime members) called Fall in Love with Music. It was recommended somewhere online by a fellow homeschooler for music study. We've only watch one episode and it was a little cheesy, but there were no complaints from my crew. I plan for us to watch one episode a week during Morning Basket. Go check it out if you have Amazon Prime.

Cassie's favored book (of the week): I have another surprise book! I've been reading The Revolution Against Christendom by Carroll with Caleb for his history. It's a meaty book, but I enjoy the writing style and so it's been a pleasant read. 

We've got this! A couple weeks ago I broke down and purchased myself a Erin Condren Teacher's Lesson Planner (this is an link that will get you $10 off your first purchase and I will get a referral credit if you purchase through this link). This was a good purchase! My system (for school planning and paperwork) is now running smoothly.

Another improvement for this week (the new planner was instrumental in this)was daily meetings with each boy and going over all of the day's work. This was a pleasant change! No more of me getting upset on Friday evening (or Saturday morning) when I go through all the week's work and find things not completed. Stress saver!!

Friday's nature study was a cloudy one. It is beginning to look like fall.

What's this? (improvement needed) Weekly nature study/hikes are not happening. We did go out yesterday, but the boys had to do their nature walk all on their own. I'm waiting for a freeze before I go back into the woods. Twice this summer I stepped into a nest of itty bitty ticks and I really don't want to do that again! Of course, I'm not looking forward to a freeze and the fall landscape is very inviting. Maybe next week? The boys did come out of the woods tick free.

Looking ahead (teacher's duties): This is my stack of pre-reading for the weekend. It all got done last week and I'm hoping for the same result this week.

 
 How was your week?