The first days of school (2021)

And just like that our 7th year of homeschooling is well underway! Our days have changed considerably this year as Ryan takes more outside classes and Caleb officially joins us to begin kindergarten!

Now an 8th grader, Ryan’s subjects are all outsourced which means I have a mainly supervisory role.Through Classical Conversations’ Challenge B program, he takes literature, writing, Latin, logic, debate/mock trial, and science. We also added in Algebra 1 with a professional math teacher in a classroom environment. The class meets weekly with homework completed and graded at home between meetings. For an elective, he chose Digital Arts through another co-op. The co-op also offers lots of fun opportunities such as Secret Santa and themed parties.  He continues his weekly piano and fiddle lessons, too. This new schedule has introduced Ryan to longer school days and weekend homework! We told him to get used to it for at least the next 9 years!

Miles is in 5th grade and finds himself in a bit of a holding pattern. With a summer birthday, he could be in sixth or fifth grade this year. For a variety of reasons, we prefer that he be the oldest in his class rather than the youngest. Because Miles is very social, I have worked hard to make sure he has an activity to look forward to everyday. So Monday through Thursday, he has Lego League (where Paul serves as assistant coach), a Zaniac coding class,  banjo, and piano. Then on Fridays we all attend Classical Conversations classes. Next year I will likely outsource more to help him stay busy and stimulated. I am against overscheduling, but underscheduling can be a thing, too, depending on personality!

Speaking of outgoing personalities, Abby also loves to be out and about. She is in 3rd grade which means she has added Latin to her other schoolwork. She continues in Ballet 3 and now attends class twice a week. Like her older brothers, she also has piano, fiddle, and Classical Conversations. Thankfully, we have a lot of girls around her age in the neighborhood. So our doorbell rings frequently, and Abby is gone for hours playing with friends. As you’ll see, she regularly joins in with Caleb’s kindergarten activities. A good book is impossible to resist!

 

Caleb is my last kindergartner! This is such a fun age to homeschool, and Caleb begs to do his schoolwork everyday. His subjects are math, handwriting, pre-reading skills (letter recognition and sounds), and literature. As I did with Abby, I do what I call “lazy unit studies.” Each week, I pick a new theme and gather books and poems on that theme. We read on the topic throughout the week and share in one simple, on-theme craft or activity.

So far we have leisurely studied….

Lions

Healthy Foods

Farms

Primary Colors

Fall/Leaves

Owls (with the fun of studying owl pellets at CC!)

Apples
We did a taste test of seven varieties and made apple pie with the leftovers!

Pumpkins (with pumpkin carving, of course)

Homeschooling is definitely a full-time job for me, but the harvest is worth the labor! (Sorry, I can only think in seasonal themes for the foreseeable future!)