School, so far

I do think it is good for me to purposefully write everyday. :) Earlier I thought I was going to have to say how bad our homeschool week has gone, but I can now honestly say that the week has ended on a fairly positive note.

The "feeling" of school isn't in the air because the public school kids haven't started yet. I don't know if I will start early again next year or not.

Sleep has not been sweet and I have been sleeping very late, getting started w/ school late...that is frustrating. But for now it is the best I can do. It doesn't do anyone any good if I have a pity party for myself the whole day instead of just going ahead w/ school.

Having an extra student while I am going through this is a little embarassing. I need to meet w/ his parent and mention that I am just a mom, sometimes I run late and have issues. If they are looking for their child to be gone all day, I cannot provide that. He is welcome to join us. This is a family homeschool, not a professional institution. But we won't beat him up, so to me it is worth it! ;)

Something I am working on is continuing even though things get uncomfortable.

Right now we are reviewing math facts(This whole week was addition), and establishing spelling and reading tutoring routines. Each day I tweak the schedule and today it went very good. I didn't feel overwhelmed at all.I had time leftover and we listened to Ginger Pye , (a read aloud from last year that we never finished) on Cd and I even read some science to them.

One thing AVKO recommends is copywork w/ quotations that make the kids think. I have a book of Ben Franklin quotes to be used as copywork. The quotes make them think and I point out the grammatical reasons for the puncuation in the sentence.

It was a real light bulb moment for me. I realized that Sonlight LA does this too! But what was bogging me down about SL LA was the writing part.

I have had a hard time teaching the kids writing w/ all their learning differences.AVKO has them write sentences every night w/ their spelling or reading words. I agree w/ the author that writing sentences should come first, before paragraphs and stories and creative writing.

So maybe I should give SL LA another go round and just use the dictation only for awhile?

And today I opened one of the Science books up and just read about something that was interesting to us instead of what was scheduled. We had a lively discussion. A homeschool mom's DREAM!!! :D

Here is what is hard for me about SL in a nutshell:They give you too much(on purpose) and you decide what you want to use from it.

I decided I didn't like this style and made plans to change to a program that gives you a little and you add it if you want to.

I am wondering if I am finally learning to use SL??? Stay tuned, if you can stand it. ;)