Incredible Commercial

First I want to say that I am NOT endorsing the product as I have NO experience with it!
I missed Grey's Anatomy the other night, so I was streaming it this morning and this commercial popped up -

I HAD to share! This is so mainstream and realistic! There was no overly dramatized stereotypes and they didn't even use the word "homeschool"!!! It gave me chills and I had to pass them on!!!!! --- now back to Grey's Anatomy!

Lemmings Law

I am finding it harder and harder to appease people. While I think that people should respect each other's choices, I know that is never going to happen 100% of the time. People assume that you are attacking their decisions - or really their conformity - if you make a choice other than the one that is in line with theirs. If you are making a choice that is better for YOUR family, why wouldn't you automatically assume that the decision would be better for EVERY family? It is the lemmings law - follow, follow, follow, don't get out of line - if someone else gets out of line ATTACK!!!



Those of us who tend to make choices that are off the trodden path are often far more understanding, open minded and accepting of choices. We see the great joy that options can bring. We realize the importance of indivual preferences. We accept that customization is KEY! We need to stop coddling these parents. I don't think the public schools are okay for anyone, they aren't! They can't be FIXED! Charter schools and privates are just as bad in most cases. We ALL need to learn to respectfully stand our ground and disregard the falsified counterattacks that are based on the insecurites of those shouting the loudest!

As I have seen these debates getting more and more ferocious with the ease of social networking sites in cyberspace, the anonymity of yahoo groups and the ability to hit send before you reread things or without thinking about the consequences. This is just another reason I DON'T have a facebook account!

 

 I reread this several times and STAND behind every word!

Home Education: Between the Extremes

This video is FABULOUS!
I can't tell you how many conversations I have had to walk away from - IRL and online - when the topics of labels gets brought up. Whether it is educational labels, spiritual labels, nutritional labels - WHATEVER. Why do people have to get so angry when someone makes a choose that is varied from theirs? Why do some people feel compelled to impress their beliefs on others as the one and only path? Why do LABELS have the power to tear apart friendships?

What outcome are you looking for?

I have been speaking to a lot of people recently about the direction that their children's educational paths have been taking. To me, this is an incredibly individualized endeavor that needs to be worked and tweaked to fit each family child. It should be something that is allowed to flow like a river and the child should have the freedom to meander through the twists and turns of life.

One thing that is often forgotten about when one begins down this uncharted path is to really think about what outcome they desire at the end of the journey. This might be something that is really overwhelming for a parent of a four year old to think about - where do I want my child to be in 14 years? - but it really is necessary. I don't mean that you need to pick your child's career or the type of haircut they are going to have. I mean think about the type of person you would like them to be and what attributes you feel are really important for them to be "successful" adults.

I, for one, wish more than anything that I had made the decision to homeschool my daughter when she was younger, however I was at least lucky enough to come to this conclusion before irrevocable damage was done. At 10 my daughter was taken out of 5th grade mid-year and we began our journey. I still had a good amount of time to fix many of the problems that the public school had caused. It has been very interesting since then, we have been on this journey and have taken paths that we never imagined were there.

We started out very much in a "school at home" state, but have evolved over the last 3 years and have moved farther and farther away from the institutionalized mind set. We have moved more towards a system of learning that fits our family. We are fairly happy people around here, but lately we have been evolving again and taking a look at what else we need to change in order to let in more light, love and happiness into our days.

We are taking a few weeks off -from EVERYTHING- in order to really work on ourselves. We will be doing some self-reflection, meditation, yoga and reconnecting with each other. Our lives have gotten so busy and hectic over the last few months and I really feel like we may have wandered a bit farther off our path than I am comfortable with. We are going to focus on what values are truly important to us and what things CJ and I feel are extremely important to convey to our children.

As we take this time to figure out what we want for our future, let us know what types of hopes, wishes and dreams you have for your families!

Sometimes you need to step away!

The other morning KM was busy getting some work done before a friend was coming over to go sledding. She had gone through most of it, but when she got to her Algebra she seemed to hit a wall. Math is generally one of her favorite subjects and she usually breezes right through it, but for some reason she just couldn't focus. She was making silly mistakes and really just needed to step away. So she finished up some vocabulary, had lunch and waited for her friend to arrive. After her visit, she went back to her Algebra book and finished it up in no time, with very little error. 

When you see your child is having trouble with something that normally comes easy to them, you need to think about the situation and the results you are trying to reach. If your child is not focused and in a learning mood, then really you are just wasting time. Sometimes you just need a break. Let the student walk away, take a break and return to later on

Three years have past...

since we started down this road and I don't know where the time has gone.  Looking back to my first few posts about homeschooling I am amazed at how our family and life has changed since taking KM out of PS in December of 2007. When we started out we were much more of a "school at home" family, I didn't know any better, as the only learning format that I had ever been exposed to was the public school system. So when I abruptly took KM out of PS midyear of 5th grade, I knew I could educate her better than they were, but it never occurred to me that she would be such an independent learner and I would become more of a research assistant and event coordinator than a "teacher".

We have had so many fantastic adventures and I cannot imagine where we would be if CJ and I had made a different decision. I am so grateful that we had the confidence to make this choice and I can't wait to see where the next year will take us!

Becoming Unplugged

Unplugged Parenting...Unplugged Education...I have been coming across these terms a lot lately, at first I thought what are they unplugging from? However as I have researched I have begun to realize that  there ARE others out there that have the same ideas as I do.

I have been bouncing around the cybersphere trying to find that little niche that feels right. Where I can read something and think to myself “EXACTLY!” It can be rather difficult with all the labels floating here, there, and everywhere that can seem to mean one thing, but as you look deeper it turns out that most of the people there don't actually “feel” or “think” the way you had thought they would.

From what I have gathered, in this philosphy “unplugged” means breaking away from the mainstream. Moving away from the traditions that we perpetuate because they are habits and not because we believe that they are right. Here is the clearest list that I have come across -

Unplugged parenting includes:

      •Unplugging from Mainstream 'standards'

        •Freeing yourself from others ideas of what happiness is

        •Kids Self Esteem & sense of inner peace are very important to you

        •Education of the whole child is of highest priority

        •Holistic Parenting is the center and mainstay of life

        •Natural Living

        •You live by Homegrown Values

        •You live out-of-the-box and are truly authentic

If this seems like something that might speak to you take a look at these fabulous sites -

• Unplugged Parenting – Parenting from a Whole New Dimension
• Unplugged Mom Radio – blog talk radio show
• Laurette Lynn Ezine Articles
• Parenting Unplugged Radio

You might also want to take a few minutes to watch these videos by Laurette Lynn that give more insight into this new and exciting trend - 

Busy STILL

I really don't know how this keeps happening, we have been so BUSY lately! What have we been doing you may ask? Well there has been lots of fun stuff, lessons, tennis, hiking, web classes, parties, field trips, birthdays, fall activities, theater, volunteering, errands, and the list goes on....who has time to be home when you are "homeschooling"?

I am trying to slow things down, but it looks like at least the next two weeks are going to be the same. Once Thanksgiving week rolls on through, we should be good to be SLOOOOOWWW!

I just have to keep my fingers crossed, there has to be end somewhere....Right?

What do you do when things seem to be getting too overscheduled?

Some things we have been thinking about lately...

So you might remember the post from just a week or so ago about KM wanting to be more independent and schedule her own week, well she has decided that she doesn't want that responsibility any longer. Personally, I thought she was doing a decent job, but she was feeling a bit overwhelmed by it and really didn't like that she was doing lessons 6 days a week instead of 4. She has asked if we can go back to the previous setup ~ me giving her the weekly list, which is broken up into four days for her ~ but instead of her doing things right off the bat in the morning, she can do them whenever she wants throughout the day. This is TOTALLY fine with me. However she wants to get her lessons done is up to her. She is starting to really understand that she is in charge of her learning.

A few days ago I was asked by a friend what I would do if KM didn't want to do "lessons" anymore and I was a bit taken aback by this one, as I had no idea what I would do and honestly had never thought of it. There have been programs that she has decided that she doesn't want to complete for whatever reason and that is totally fine. However I don't know, for sure, what I would do if she just flat out didn't want to do any of it.

I think that if she really and truly didn't want to do any lesson work, then I would talk to her and see why she felt that way and/or what her plan would be moving forward. As I also mentioned in previous posts, I truly don't feel like you can force anyone to "learn" anything. You might be able to get them to memorize something or test through something, but in order for them to truly absorb, understand and retain it, they have to be invested and interested. I don't think that my feelings on this will ever change.

Having gone to school and having always done work with me over summers and during vacations, it has just always been the norm for her to do academic studies. She really enjoys the programs that we use. She has a huge hand in the decision making process and makes the final picks on what she will be using, as she is the one that has to do it and why would I want to waste money on something that I would have to fight with her to get done. She is even liking the writing workbook that she has been doing - Spectrum Writing, Grade 8 - which is a huge find! She has goals that she has set for herself and now it is my job to help her get to reach those goals. If for some reason she has a change of heart, I will keep an open-mind and work with her in whatever manner she needs me to. 

Planning, Planning and Replanning...

That seems to be all I do these days. Even once I am sure about what we are going to use, something always seems to fall through the cracks, crumble into a million pieces at that the last second or just not turn out to be what we thought it was going to be.

What I usually do in the spring is get a general idea of what KM wants to learn over the next "school year" outlined and try to plan out what we will use to accomplish the goals that we have set. Then I use the summer to really dig through the books and programs that we hope to use, as well as having her try out things and see if she really thinks they are going to fit with her learning styles. We also pick apart programs and decide what pieces we will and will not do.

So this past week I have been steadily finalizing the programs that KM is sure she wants to use and trying to find replacements for those that she is sure she DOESN'T want to use as well! There were some rather big changes that suddenly needed to be made for reasons beyond our control this week, but we are going to make the best of what we have. As I refuse to purchase even ONE MORE text or workbook for her for quite some time. We have more than enough that I have stockpiled when things were on sale, gotten from friends or of course received through Paperback Swap!

I will be finishing up our tweaking over the next week and will be editing our resources page to reflect our picks as well. I may even get the ambition to finish some reviews that readers have been asking for, so please stay tuned...as I try to finish getting things under control around here!

Fantastic Article and Video

Finally an article and video that truly expresses a home education philosphy - somewhere in the midst of unschooling, homeschooling, child-led learning - in a way that can be understood by the general population. There are no extremes or radical parenting styles expressed, just the need to address children as individuals! I am very impressed!

Why such short breaks?

I am on a national homeschool yahoo list and when I responded to a scheduling question I got an email asking why I felt we needed only 2 or 3 week breaks. I have been asked this in the past and thought since the year round schooling and amount of "vacation time" is always such a big topic of debate amongst homeschoolers I would post my response here as well.

We do 10 week sessions that correlate with the seasons and have two or three week breaks in between them and a week off at Thanksgiving. Whenever we are out of our routine for more than two weeks and are at home, it is HORRIBLE! KM will do nothing but watch TV, she is not terribly restricted from television the rest of the time, it is just all that she will do unless she has someone over or I suggest something else. She has no issue doing something else but won't take the initiative herself and it drives me BANANAS!!! She also starts to get really cranky and easily irritable. There are plenty of things for her to do, but again she just loses all motivation.

During our spring session which should have ended 6/11 and we would have had a 3 week break til 7/5, my dd decided to work hard and get her lessons completed two weeks early, so we have been off since 5/28 and it is getting to me at this point. We have been doing a lot of things, we spent the first two weeks of the month getting in all the field trip locations that we don't like to go during the summer because of the crowds, have spent time at the beach and with family, this week her PS friends have all been out of school so they have been doing things, but the days that we are just home "not doing anything" - cause you know there aren't any chores or projects or gardening or anything else to do around house on a regular basis - it is TV, ROKU, TV, ON Demand, TV....I think you get it.

But as far as our schedule we do the 10 weeks because we also only do lessons 4 days a week, it was 3 days last year because she was doing co-op and theater group on Mondays. We leave Fridays open as field trip day or as a catch up day if we decide to do something in the middle of the week. This ensures that our weekends stay as down days. This coming year I am doubling our ELA days to pick up some of the slack that we have had in this area to prep for High School level work next year (2011-2012).

I have also found that homeschooling year round significantly reduces review time! This allows for us to get more done as we can often skip a far amount of the repetitive work in Math and can stay on track with the flow for history and science.

Hope that clears up why we homeschool year round and take such short breaks! Every family is different, but that is one of the greatest gifts of homeschooling, customization to whatever fits your family!

How do you get it all done?

I have gotten quite a few emails over the last few days asking this very question.

I just wanted to preface with my strong belief in that all children are different, so though I can let you know what we do here, it may not work for your family.

With that being said here is what we do...

Our general schedule that we have done for the past 6 mo can be seen HERE - this has totally changed the length and flow of our day. KM gets up some time around 9, eats, gets herself ready and does her chores before starting her lessons. I hope to start each day by 10, but it tends to be closer to 10:30. We work on the main subject area for the day first, unless she is really running behind ~~~ I will not just hang around and wait for her since I work from home, help moderate several lists, am secretary and membership coordinator for our local homeschool group and am on the board of directors for our state homeschool organization, so I have far too many things to get done in the day - as every homeschool mom I know does - to just wait for her ~~~ so if I am in the midst of something when she is ready to start then she will do Math, Spanish, Reading or Piano as these are her daily independent study assignments. Her work is usually completed by about 1. Sometimes it is later in the day, but that is usually only if she is really into a project or experiment. If she started on time in the morning and only did her main subject for the day, then sometimes she will work on her independent things in the evening.

It wasn't always this smooth, mind you. It has taken us the better part of the past 2.5 years to figure this all out. One of the biggest things that we have changed is that I have done away with all the "busy work." If something doesn't seem like it is productive, is just a battle to get her to do it or just seems like a disconnected subject that doesn't need to be done right now or would be better if we waited to do it when it connects with something else, then we do away with it - either for the moment or permanently.

One of KM's biggest problems when she was in PS was always dealing with the repetition of things so now I really think "Is this necessary?" before I plug an assignment in. I also tend to look at things that she takes a long time to complete and see if it is because she is not understanding it, doesn't really want to do it, or if it is just not of any interest to her. This is not to say that I don't assign her anything that she doesn't LIKE to do, because I do, I just really think about why I am having her do certain things.

I know what her likes and dislikes are and how she learns the best in each subject, so I try to tailor things to that and don't really bother with the excess. I really try to allow her to make as many of the choices as I can. There are some things that do just need to be covered and I don't budge, but we might just glaze over it rather than force her to spend a ton of time on things that she has either already covered or is just not interested in.

We also do a lot of things like Health, Economics, and any other elective type things on Brain Pop or other computer games. We LOVE LOVE LOVE the wii and use it for as many educational areas as possible. We have things like My Word Coach, Deep Blue Ocean, and Wii Music. We also have lots of educational games for the DS- Spanish for Everyone, Future U, and so on. Basically I am very flexible in what I see as educational and have tried to think outside the box as much as I can. This has lead KM to be able to do the same.

My daughter isn't fully self-motivated, as some have suggested, but has begun to understand that I am only trying to help her and that her education is her choice. I can't FORCE her to learn anything, I can only expose her to things and hope that it sticks or sparks an interest for her to want to delve deeper.

I really love getting questions and they tend to inspire my postings, so please feel free to ask or even just let everyone know what the best way is for your family to get things done.

Final Push...

I tend to schedule the last few weeks of a session a bit lighter than the rest so that we can have time to make things up that may have gotten pushed to the side earlier on. This time however, we are right on track and I think that I have managed to convince KM to push a little bit harder to get some extra weeks off! I printed out all the assignments for the remainder of the session and she couldn't believe how little there was. If you don't hear much in the next week or so, please no we are still here, but are just finishing up to have a nice LONG break at HOME this time!!!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway, it will be closing out tomorrow!!!

Wrapping things up - SORT OF!

I have to say that I think we are really getting a handle on this "homeschooling" thing! The past few months have been going by so fast, so smoothly and SO productively ~ I am just amazed at how much we have gotten accomplished. Our homeschooling style has changed a lot over the last two and a half years, without a doubt we are much more relaxed and go with the flow so much more than we did at the beginning!

In the springtime a lot of homeschoolers who follow the traditional "school year" start to look ahead for curriculum and programs for the next school year. As we school year round, things can get a bit fuzzy as to where one grade stops and another begins. For reporting purposes our "grades" go from July to June - so KM will begin her 8th grade school year this coming July. Since KM has a tendency to want to blow through some programs at the speed of light while she meanders and delves deeper into others we also tend to have books and programs on all different levels at one time. I have been getting many emails from interested readers about our picks for 8th grade and we are in the process of making the final decisions, but aren't quite done yet.

We began a good amount of new programs during this spring session - you can see the current things we are using in the right hand column near the top of the page - and many of these we will continue with throughout the summer. In the past we have done a substantially lighter workload during the summer, however this year we have cut back to 3 days of book work, so we will be staying with the same pace for the summer months. I am thinking about changing up our one a day plan though and trying something like focusing on one subject each week over the summer, but I am not sure if that would be too overwhelming or pushing too much at one time. This is something that I will have to discuss with KM and see how she feels before I make the final decision.

So as far as resources go, just check back and I will let everyone know when I have the final list together or something changes.

Taking Advantage of Nature!

This post was inspired by a QOTW that was posted to several Yahoo groups this week - QOTW: Do you include outdoor time and nature study in your homeschool? If so, how do you incorporate it? How much time do you spend doing it?

We ABSOLUTELY incorporate nature study and outdoor time as much as we can! Our local group does Family Hikes during each season - where families choose a location to hike and everyone shows up to enjoy a fantastic day in the woods! We take advantage of the many local resources for nature education as well and our local group does a TON of field trips for canoeing, tidal pool searches, Questing (another local version of letterboxing or cacheing), naturalist led hikes, park days, picnics, ~~~ the list goes on and on.

At home we have a garden that we expand every year and my daughter is responsible for helping with that and often does all the research on any new items we want to try to grow. We take lots of hikes on our own and will often incorporate photography, sketching, painting, and nature study when we do so. My dd's favorite alternative study spot is a tree platform in the sideyard that is just within wireless range of our house - so she is often found there with piles of books and her laptop! She always seems to be the most productive when she is outside - as if the fresh air reminds here that she should just get her lessons done, so she can go really enjoy the day!

I think that time spent in nature is one of the GREATEST benefits of home educating children! Allowing them time and freedom to spend outside - even if that just means moving lessons to the back porch or doing backyard science experiments - heightens all experiences for our children.

What do you think? How much time do you spend in Nature? What types of things do your kids like to do outside?

End of Winter Session - Time for a Break

So we have completed another session and are really in need of a break! Things have went really well during these transition times, but it has been QUITE A WHILE since we have taken a real break from things. But since we have a few weeks off we have decided to head down to visit my dad in sunny Florida!

So in closing our session I thought I would mention one method that we use that can be a bit of a sore spot for some homeschoolers. I know some homeschoolers are against grading for various reasons, but I think for KM it gives her some sort of grounding as to where she is and where she needs improvements. I am certain it is also largely a carryover from being in PS. I know other homeschoolers who don't do grades because they work through things until they get an A, but KM gets graded on a percentage based system based on the work that she has done. I do give her a second chance on things at times, like if she is completed her math exercises and she gets on wrong, I will have her try it again and then if she gets it correct she gets 1/2 credit for it.

Methods of homeschooling are totally personal choices, but IMHO if grades aren't introduced at some point and the kids are going to be attending colleges or any higher education facilities where they will be graded, then it could be detrimental to them to not have been intergrated into in some way. There are many schools of thought on grading and point systems and the such, so to each his own!

I brought this up though as it is the first session that KM earned all As and she was SO proud of herself. She recognized the progress that she had made from last session in some areas, bringing her grades up even a few points here and there. I think it gives her a sense of accomplishment as well.

As for our break we will be heading out to visit my dad next week, so it might be a bit quietier until we get back. - Watch for some fun pics though!

Winter Session - Coming to a Close

We are finishing up our winter session over the next week and a half, so I am looking towards the spring session to get it in order before we head off to Florida for a well earned and much NEEDED vacation.

We have been going pretty hard core for the last 2 years since we started homeschooling. I can't believe how much she has gotten done and after looking at some of the state and national framework outlines she is a good bit ahead of schedule at this point. We also have A LOT of things going on with our local group over the next few months that will be taking up most of the Mondays and Fridays with some great extra trips and events!

So for the spring we are going to be doing a lighter approach to things. We are sticking with our new schedule, but of course we are tweaking it just a bit!!!


We will be doing this great 3 day a week schedule. KM will be working on her Math daily, but otherwise we are sticking with the one a day core subject schedule. This has made such a HUGE difference in the amount of work that we can get done and the depth of information that we can get covered in one day. With her new sleeping schedule on top of this, we have been doing more electives in the evenings and she is really able to focus and enjoy what she is learning.

For the Spring session we will be moving on to some different resources and I will be sure to post those over the next week as I finish collecting them.

Unschooling Video

Bopping around the blogosphere I came across this incredibly interesting video interview of Astra Taylor and her life as an unschooler. It is an incredible glimpse into a really wonderful perspective of the system.

I can't wait til her movie Examined Life becomes available on Netflix streaming on the 23rd!

Winter Session 7th Grade Curriculum Picks

As we are drawing our fall session to a close over the next week, I figured it was time to look ahead and finalize the choices we have made for the upcoming Winter Session! Since we are always changing things around here, this is of course a rough guess of what we will be doing. Most of our picks for the fall session worked out rather well, but there are some areas that we needed to tweak a bit. Here is our "intended" outline -

ELA -
We have swapped out our ELA system SEVERAL times in the past two years, but I do think that we have finally made a bit of progress in this area. KM worked through Levels 3 & 4 of Writing Strands rather quickly and decided to work through a few workbooks for latter half of this past session and the next.

• She has been working through 5-Minute Daily Practice Grammar, she tends to do all 5 lessons for the week at once on Monday, but she is getting them all correct, so I guess I can't really complain can I.
• Quick Practice Writing Skills is a bit more of a challenge for her - well it varies day to day. There are some things that she just needs a slight reminder on and others that have never been covered, so when we come to an area that needs to be covered completely we stop and cover it. It seems to be working and she is far less weary of asking for help.
• For writing itself we have gone back to the 3 minute non-stop writing and are using 350 Fabulous Writing Prompts. Some of the prompts are not so fabulous in my opinion, but we just skip those ones and take those days to go back over and review or edit her previous days writings.
• We will also begin working through the Grammar and then Writing on BrainPop.
• For literature we will be using Teacher Created Resources for Tuck Everlasting and The Island of the Blue Dolphin. As well as a Scholastic Book Guide for Around the World in Eighty Days which will coincide with our Geography. KM of course will also be continuing her free time reading - not that I have to worry about that.

Math -

• We will be finishing up The Complete Book of Algebra and Geometry this next session so that she can feel confident when she goes back to the Teaching Textbook for Algebra in the Spring.
• I also thought that it would be fun and interesting to take a look at Women Mathematicians during this session. This book features 15 women and we will spread them out covering one or two a week for the 10 week session.
  

Science -

• We have decided to put off Story of Science again as KM wanted to slow down a bit on her Physics so that she could really investigate each area more closely. So for the next session she will continue with her Physics Workshop Kit from Thames & Kosmos. She will also continue to supplement with Brain Pop.
• We are also going to revisit Chemistry. She had done a bit of it last year at our co-op, but I think we will try to dive a bit deeper this time around. I have gotten a light textbook - Chemistry of Matter - from Paperback Swap and she has agreed to try it. I have the Periodic Table from Basher Science Books - WHICH SHE LOVES! - as a stand by in case the text flops. I have a lot of projects and kitchen chemistry things to add in as well as BrainPop - AGAIN!
  

Social Sciences -

• For history we will be working on Ancient Rome and finishing up volume one of Story of the World. This will also conclude our Giant Lapbook! I will be sure to post all the info on that when it is complete! This will be our final history pocket as well. KM is very happy that we will also be continuing with the Horrible Histories series, which despite mixed reviews from others, has been going over very well with her! We started out with the books, then I purchased the animated series on Ebay and now have been using the resources for the CBBC series.
• We will be finishing up Rand McNally's Intermediate Geography as well as doing a cultural study of each area as it is covered in the book. I am using several other resources for this including Global Trek, Hands-On Heritage series and Art Projects from Around the World.
  

Health -
KM really likes the Learn to Be Healthy site - though some of the content is a bit below her level, most of it seems to be sinking in and she is moving right along through it. They do have a high school level, but I don't think she is ready for that set just yet. She is also working through the Health topics on Brain Pop.


Electives -

• Staying with our strong Science focus - per KM's request - she will be studying weather and meteorology this session. I will be listing our resources for this in a separate post.
• For her foreign language she is going to be doing Spanish. We were lucky enough to get a FANTASTIC deal on Tell Me More by Auralog through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op last summer and she is REALLY enjoying the program. The voice recognition software is great and the homeschool edition has worksheets that you can print off to supplement with. I will be supplementing with two workbooks - Let's Learn Spanish Grades 7 & 8. I also picked up to sticker books that I thought KM & SC could do together. This would help reinforce the basics for KM and would introduce SC to a bit of Spanish as well.
• Music Alive! is still a big hit and we will continue with this through the next session. We also will be taking a look at some opera pieces from Opera for Everyone and will be going to the Boston Lyric Opera's presentation of Barber of Seville.
  
• Piano Adventures is working incredibly! She will be starting on Level 2 and I am amazed and awestruck by how well she is playing with no outside instruction. There was talk of an interest in Flute, but I am not too sure how serious that was...
• She will be continuing with Drama at our co-op and they will be working on another Shakespearean play with music and dancing, but the title has not been disclosed yet!
• We will be continuing to work through the Meet The Masters for our art practical and theory section. She will also continue on her cross stitch work and may start some sewing as she interested in working on her costume for the play this spring.
  

Again I can't stress enough how much of a guideline this is and it is in NO WAY set in stone. I am very open to changing things that are not working and try to make sure that KM feels that she can be honest with me about how she feels something is going.