2009

Resolution... update blog more often...

Outlook for the first half of 2009: transition to first grade curriculum sometime in the spring or, maybe, early summer. Depends on reading fluency.

In preparation for this transition, with the new year I've implemented a new, more in-depth and structured, homeschool routine. It looks like this:

Monday
Mathematics
Spelling
Grammar
Reading
Writing
History/Geography
Music Appreciation

Tuesday
Mathematics
Spelling
Reading
Writing
Science

Wednesday
Mathematics
Spelling
Grammar
Reading
Writing
History/Geography

Thursday
Mathematics
Spelling
Reading
Writing
Science

Friday
Spelling
Grammar
Reading
Oral Reading
History/Geography
Art Appreciation

Some of these subjects are still a bit nebulous, as we aren't actually working through our formal first grade material right now... History/Geography and Science, in particular, are currently offshoots of other material (as an example, this week's Geography lessons consisted of finding Russia and Pennsylvania on a map, related to Tchaikovsky and Cassatt, this week's composer and artist). Spelling is still very much a part of Reading and Writing, and Oral Reading is also part of Reading (like most beginning Readers, Isabel reads everything aloud).

So far the new routine is working well for us, though.

For winter/spring, we also have a host of activities:

Monday
Homeschool group
Irish Dancing

Wednesday
Homeschool group
First Communion class

Thursday
Science Museum group

Friday
Gymnastics

Sunday
Irish Dancing

Add to this impromptu get-togethers with friends, and probably guitar lessons. Isabel wants to take up the violin as well, which we're considering.