Stop the Madness - Incredible Video

This video brought me to tears. My friends and I were in the generation at the beginning of this craziness! We were given label upon label and many of us often wonder WHERE we would be if we hadn't been. We have friends that AREN'T around, is it because their dreams were squashed? Because they were told they needed to be fixed? Because they were told they weren't good enough? Because they were CHANGED into what others wanted them to be?

Stop labeling children! Start supporting the incredible things that make us all individuals!

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!

The Freedom of Pure Thought

We just finished reading Joy Hakim's The Story of Science: Newton at the Center, the second in this three volume series, and we absolutely LOVED it! The first was great, but this one had so many entertaining stories and was written in such a way that truly kept us engaged through the whole book.

In the last chapter Hakim asks the question, "Why did science, the quest to udnerstand how the universe works, flourish in the Western world long before it did elsewhere?" and in her attempt to answer this question she writes ~

"Thinkers elsewhere were apt to be more practical. But the Greeks celebrated thinking - they called it reason - even when they had no idea where it was going to go. And pure thought, allowed to flourish in freedom, often finds itself in unexpected and splendid places. It's like exploring unknown territory when you don't know what the goal will be. Often there are dead ends, but the surprises makes it worthwhile. The Greeks had the courage to go where their minds took them. 

Note that word freedom. Science just doesn't get anywhere when there are dictators or even well-meaning leaders deciding what scientists should do."  - Pg. 429

This paragraph explains to me why I love her writing so much. Her books are not just textbooks stating facts, figures, experiments, proofs, equations and so on, but truly tell the stories of how simple situations, errors, and sometimes luck, brought about some of the most incredible advancements in history. Her ideas and writing flow seamlessly into our day as a time when we get to see what happened next, instead of an "Ugh do we HAVE to read another chapter" moment of drudgery.

I am fairly certain that most of us have had those moments of amazement that have resulted from allowing our children the type of freedom that Hakim mentions ~ the time to explore whatever realm they choose. I am quite astonished at the incredible amount of information and varied directions that these quests for knowledge have often taken us on. I am so grateful that our path of home educating allots us so much freedom to meander our way through ideas and switch courses whenever we want.

I highly recommend that everyone read this series. Even if you don't think you are a "science" person, these books might just change your mind!

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 - 

A FINAL realization on writing curriculums

I am once again having a difficult time with our writing curriculum and I feel that I am at the point of no return. KM is not complaining and does seem to be gaining a good deal of confidence, so those are pluses, but I just really feel like every single writing program out there is so unadaptable. They all teach the same sorts of writing, but in different orders and completly disconnected from any actual content areas. None of it truly makes sense to me, so how on earth am I suppose to help her understand it.

I had decided over the summer to pull back on any structured writing books, we would use the essay response questions in STOW and SOS, to do content directed writing work. However by the time the fall session rolled around I had caved in. KM had mentioned that she had taken a look at one of her friend's Spectrum Writing books and thought it might help her improve her skills. I went online, found it and ordered it. This was my first mistake. If I was going to not do a structured program, why on earth did I order another workbook? Well she had asked for it, it was inexpensive and I thought well she is thinking about it, so maybe I should be taking it more seriously. This then led me to the oh, I can supplement with this and maybe that will also help add to it, which in turn takes you down that slippery curriculum overload slope.

As I have been looking at the 6 different middle school program books that I still have in my house for writing ~ I say still because I don't even want to think about the number that I actually had last spring when I cleaned out the homeschooling book cupboard ~ I came to the aforementioned realization of: “They are all the same and NONE of them make sense.” I then really began to think about how I go about writing something, not that I am an expert in this area by any means, but I do feel that I can get my point across when I put my mind to it....I know, I know, there are some ramblings here and there, but let's just ignore those! I managed to achieve a perfect score on my essays for the GED, had two papers published and never got lower than a B+ on a research or term paper in college, despite NEVER having passed a high school English class.

When I have an idea for a blog entry, I just type. I don't systematically plan things out. When I was in college I did the same thing. When I had to answer an essay question or had to write a research paper, I would just start writing. I would get out as much as I possibly could and then I would edit, move things around, change things here and there, and make it better, clearer, and more concise. I didn't do venn diagrams, writing process trees, story webs, or anything of the like. I just researched and typed. As I sit here right now, I am just typing.....no preset direction, other than to get my point across.

So why do I feel the need to have my daughter do all of these ridiculous things that I DON'T GET?

It is another one of those tapes that blares in my head. You know the ones I mean. The ones that say things like - “all kids should be in school”, “Kids should be seen and not heard”, “What do you mean there is no oversight?”, “WHAT ABOUT SOCIALIZATION?” We all have them. They all say different things for various reasons, be it culture, background, religious beliefs, or some other random reason. While I have managed to destroy most of these wretched thought patterns, some still seem to creep back in and get their tape around the spindals causing a cacophony of negative statements and ideas flooding into my ears and causing anxiety to spread through my entire being!

I am done. I will not be doing any more writing curriculums. Though I will keep the few writing resource books that we have around the house, things that cover grammar and research paper guidelines, I will be getting rid of all the curriculum guides and workbooks. I will encourage my child to express herself on paper and assist her in improving answers to open ended and essay questions in a manner that is clear and concise, but that is IT!  

How Do You Socialize Your Children?

Though this is not 100% secular it is 100% funny!

Just what we needed!

Sometimes when you send something out into the universe, the universe sends you back EXACTLY what you needed. We had planned on running a few errands and maybe getting some tennis in today, but the weather decided that we needed to stay inside....and I chose to listen! We got lots of lessons done, pumpkin cookies and pineapple upside down cake baked, laundry and cleaning down!

It was such a restful, relaxing day. KM had a friend over in the afternoon and they had a great time playing Wii Sports Resort and making a Reese's Cake! CJ had the day off and finished some random projects around the house. I even got some fabulous rain shots, you can check out on our 365 Photo Project and our Nature Photo Blog. I don't know what it is about rainy days that sets that nesting instinct in to gear and makes me feel revived, but I am sure glad that it did!

Rather Unique Experiences - PART 1

KM was rather excited when she learned that she would be able to be part of a live webcast event with one of her FAVORITE artists - 

Although this is something that is open to all classrooms across the country and worldwide, you have to wonder how many teachers actually have the time to allow their students to enjoy a presentation like this.

We used SnapIt! to grab some great pics of the program!

Replays of this program will be available HERE.

For more information about other scholastic programs check out - 

 

This is a week of unique experiences...check back tomorrow to see what else we have been up to!

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. 

Building Time Management Skills

We have been discussing time management skills lately and being in the right mindset to learn. It is rather difficult to truly retain and learn information if you are tired, stressed, or just not interested! We have been going through and streamlining some of the things that she is working on and KM has decided that she would like to try to work on her time management abilities.

There are often mornings were she feels as though she is just going through the motions and not really sure that she is truly learning what she is feeding into her brain. As we have done away with all forms of "busy" work, I was a bit surprised that she came to that realization on her own, but I am learning to trust her and her instincts. I am willing to give anything a try as long as I see that she is putting forth effort in her endeavors.

KM really enjoys doing her lesson work and is often inspired by the programs that she is working on to delve far deeper into areas than I ever thought she would want to. So I am going ahead with her request with all the hopes that she will succeed.

She has asked to be allowed more freedom in the scheduling of our days. Now I must say that I have never been extremely strict with our schedule in any manner. I do request that the work be completed on the day it is assigned, unless we decide to bump one or two things, but have always been more than willing to allow bumping to happen. I am not the mom that says, "No, you can't go to the - fill in the blank - because you have to finish your school work."  I feel like learning should be intertwined with life and not be the be all that ends all of our day to day life. So KM would like to have her assignments given to her all at once at the beginning of the week, rather than daily, so that she can work on them and have them completed by Sunday. CJ and I were a bit hesitant at first, but she has been showing a lot more responsibility lately and decided that if this was truly going to work, we would need to have some sort of consequence set up in the event of a crash and burn situation. We decided to compromise with her and have the assignments due on Saturday, so that if they are not done there will be no social engagements on Saturday evening and ALL work will be completed on Sunday.

I have no problem admitting that I am a bit of a control freak and I will not allow things to get pushed and pushed and pushed to the next week so that then the list of uncompleted tasks is so long that I cannot bring myself to look at it without feeling like I will throw up. I will be having enough trouble allowing the work to possibly pile up even until Saturday, but I am going to force myself to be okay with this. It is not the end of the world, it is only 8th grade!

I think that if this project is successful, she will be a much stronger independent person. I will keep you all updated on our progress. Time management skills are important at all ages and stages of life. How are you helping your child develop stronger skills in this area?

Gifts of Homeschooling

One of the greatest gifts that homeschooling allows me to give my daughter is time! Time to...

• spend with friends
• be a kid
• learn in her own way
• explore whatever interests her at the moment
• spend with her family
• enjoy the beautiful fall days
• learn at her own pace
• be by herself
• do whatever makes her happy

Today she was quite content to have time to soak up some rays, while reading a large stack of Manga books!

Transforming Space

One of our biggest changes this "school year" will be the loss of our "classroom". Really this was more of a work/craft/study/play room, but KM liked to tell people she had her own classroom. With the recent events around here though we have decided to give up this space to turn it into a room for DN.

So in light of this change, we reorganized some small lightly used areas to fit our learning tools...

We moved the spare counter shelf into the corner of the kitchen dining room and that will be used as a display area.

I consolidated the totes and moved around the boxes and shelves to get a more organized system for books and supplies. I set up a "command station" for myself in my bedroom. I also consolidated the hall closet and put some things in the attic to make room for the science equipment and extra books. Finally I use a set of old cabinets from when we remodeled our kitchen, for future curriculum storage.

I have heard from many people, especially those that have transitioned from PS, that they started out with a "classroom" and slowly worked away from it. This has been true for us as well, we have done lessons in various areas of the house since we started, but always had a specific "school" area and had the classroom for this past year. KM has been doing her lessons in her bedroom, curled up on the couch and out in the yard, more and more this summer, so really this won't make a huge difference. The biggest thing will be the lack of schoolly posters and such that will be up on a regular basis. We will probably still make some collages and such, but I think since KM is getting older and not really needing those repetitive visual cues.

We slammed this last week of summer session lessons into yesterday, so now we will have three weeks off. I am just about finalized - hahahaha - on next sessions picks and am looking forward to finishing up my responsibilities in the camper as well as getting into some fun fall activities around here. I will be sure to post a few reviews that I have been meaning to get to, as well as our final curriculum choices.

Not Back to School Day - 2010

Every year, since we have been homeschooling, we have celebrated the day that our local public school goes back by doing anti-school things! KM usually plans the day out and I get to tag along. So today was the day and she decided to -

1. Sleep in...
2. Play some games...
3. Go out to lunch...


4. Go to the movies...


5. Watch the smurfs...

Do you do anything special for your "Not Back To School Day"?

Shifting Ground

I have always loved this Peter Simpson painting - shifting ground. This is also what is going on around here lately. We are in the midst of some big transitions, all for the better of our family. DN has been visiting more and more lately, so we are trying to find the balance of the new flow within our home. Trial and error, along with lots of cleansing, discussion and asking for guidance! It will take some time, but I am sure it will eventually all work itself out!

KM is moving swiftly through her summer lessons and will be completed in the next two weeks. I decided to have a lighter load year and I have rearranged our schedule a bit for the fall which will allow for a good deal of creative, spiritual, family and social time ~ not that we didn't have this before, but it has felt as though we still needed to add some more. We will be adding a lot of yoga and meditation time into our routines, as well as learning some more about energy and alternative healing methods - which I will be sure to post more on as this all comes to fruition.

I have been getting lots of questions and I am trying my best to keep up with them, so please forgive me if I am slow to return your emails or reply to comments.

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!

Air conditioned induced comas...

are happening quite frequently around here. The heat and humidity have been so intense that we put the air conditioners in this week for the first time in almost 4 years. The kids have been sleeping late and when awake can be found in the pool. Lessons started back up this past Monday and KM has been finding some shady spots outside to get her work done in between dips in the pool -

She has been getting things done very quickly and I have been thoroughly impressed! She actually seemed excited on Monday when she walked into the work room and to check her assignments for the day. I think she was getting a bit bored with the nothing planned month and honestly seems to be glad it is over. I think from now on we will stick with our two to three week breaks and not push it to the full month.

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!

Writing BREAKTHROUGH!!!

I can't even tell you how EXCITED I am right NOW! KM's writing issues have been the bane of my existence for the past 6 years! If you search this blog you will find nearly every frustration I have had with homeschooling has stemmed from writing. However I have had a breakthrough! I decided to take a look at the Official SAT Study Guide, that I got off of Paperback Swap so that I could use it as a guide for our studies over the next few years, and I came across this AMAZING little paragraph...

"There is no formula for writing an effective essay. You are free to choose your own writing style. For example, you can write an essay that is narrative, expository, persuasive, or argumentative. Furthermore the SAT will not reward or penalize you if you write, for example, a five-paragraph essay. Good writing is marked by the strong development of ideas, the ability to connect to an audience, precise use of language, effective organization, and appropriate choices of evidence." p. 103

Why on earth have I been trying every method under the sun to teach her to write a five -paragraph essay if it is not even REQUIRED on the SAT? Why is this nearly the ONLY method of writing that is being taught to children in Public, Private and Homeschools, yet the national be all to end all of tests doesn't even require it?

I am baffled, dumbfounded and completely elated all at the same time. I read on to some of the example essays that were given perfect scores and was ecstatic to see that the content was the main derivative for the scores. They want the student to be able to express their point of view clearly and thoroughly!

I am DONE trying to teach KM how to write. She knows how to write and has always known how to write, she just has had a very difficult time getting her information to come across intelligently in the 5-paragraph essay format. Instead I will be helping her to develop her point of view clearly and effectively, organize and focus her ideas so that they are coherent, enhance her use of language by using varied vocabulary, and to continue to improve on her grammar and mechanics.

I had KM read through this section of the SAT guide herself as well, so that she could get a grasp at what she should be aspiring toward. She was also SHOCKED to find out that the writing style wasn't all that important. We spent quite a while discussing strategies and wondering why in the world the school had spent so much time and beat her down so hard over something that apparently means very little in the grand scheme of academia.

Of course we never came to a real conclusion, yet we did develop another truly solidifying moment for homeschooling!

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.

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.