Planning's over, let's get to work!

Another year of homeschooling has officially begun. All the books came out, along with the new schedule I drew up, and we were putting it all to the test.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how well the day ran, and how well the children took to the idea of running to a schedule. We still had some adhoc things happening in the day, such as giving the dog a good grooming, some shopping during our lunch break, and a phone call from Papa to share notes about how he was going on his First Aid course. 


Our morning started with the usually routine and chores. Mariposa was then keen to get the maths done, but I suggested we try with the Spelling and Language Arts today to see how it would work. Maestro ended up needing some help tuning a new melodic minor scale during his violin practice, so I had to help him out with that on the piano, leaving Mariposa to finish off for herself.

Then we came to Maestro's Sonlight Read-aloud. We're reading "A Single Shard", and Mariposa wanted to hear the story also. This meant her computer time got bumped to later on.

A break (where Mariposa decided Midgy, the dog, should have his grooming done), and a cup of tea for me.

Then back again with Maestro reading his science (Apologia General .. still finishing last few modules before starting Apologia Physical), and Mariposa did her maths.

Maestro then took up his Wordly Wise whilst Mariposa and I read another chapter of "The Apprentice".

Checking back with Maestro, I looked over the history reading he needed to do for Sonlight, as well as his reader, and checked he could go ahead. He spent this time reading a number of chapters from Story of the World. Mariposa then took up her Science; we're still finishing using the NOEO Chemistry I. Today was all about experiments related to states of matter.

NOEO Science - comes with experiment packages

collecting gas from bi-carb and vinegar

gas created as tablet reacts with water

liquid and solid: cornflour mixed with water
getting the 'punch test'

With her science completed, she then did her computer time. This was a program from EdAlive that is to build word skills. I bought these discs many years ago, but they weren't being used. Mariposa also doesn't have the natural attraction to the computer that Maestro has, so this helping her develop some more of those skills.  I also have Times Alive ready for her to use, received from a TOS Review last year, and Typing Tournament which she tried out last week.

Lunch time .. and a quick shopping trip for me. Thankfully the store is only 5mins up the road. I really need to do another stocktake of our fridge and pantry, but that'll have to be later. At least I have enough to make a few day's worth of meals.

After lunch, Maestro took up his Maths. We'd started to try out Math-U-See's Pre-Algebra, so he continued with that today. He's grasping these lessons pretty quickly, so it won't be long until he's completed this and then I hope to take him back to the Singapore Maths (NSM level 1).

Watching Mr Demi explain how to convert
Celsius to Fahrenheit.

More reading for Maestro (Sonlight reader to be read: The Samurai's Tale) and Australian history for Mariposa (learning about Abel Tasman).

We decided to take 10 mins for another breather, then sat down to learn about some Composers. I know I said we'd start with Bach, but the book I had ordered from Christianbooks had arrived: A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers. I read the first chapter on early music, which lead us to Gregorian Chants. I've requested some cds from the library to use as samples, and I'll check for a few other resources online during the week.

Yes, a VERY full day ... but we did it! We had from 3pm to 6pm free from bookwork (and I then did some household chores). Maestro's ballet started at 6:15pm, which was the only other activity this afternoon.

Trying to adhere to this schedule has meant:

* I didn't spend more than 15mins on the computer myself this morning.

* I actually managed to get more housework done than anticipated.

* Both children got through their work quickly and really looked forward to that free time that was coming up at 3pm.

* Tonight, we're all suitably tired, but satisfied that we'd all done a good job.  Now that this has been posted, I'm curling up in bed with a good read myself. :)

Thank you for dropping by!