A New School Year

Summer is over! And with that, most of Coqui's same-aged friends are going back to school. Not us. We are staying home because we are homeschooling. And I am so blessed to be able to do this for my children. (If you are interested in my/our reasons for homeschooling, go back to my post Why I want to homeschool.)

As you all know, we had a baby (and if you missed it, please go back and read here). So with a new baby, things are just a little different in our house these days. To say it shortly: our world resolved around one little Lady, and we love it.
I am also starting Peanut with 'real' school this year, so I am going to be very busy....

I was a little nervous all summer long, about what would happen in late August/September. How can I handle a newborn and two schooling children all at once, all by myself? About two weeks ago, God gave me a vision that brought me much needed peace. He told me how to do our school this year! Wow, what a blessing! My fears were gone, and I had the confidence I needed to get started.

Needless to say, we started school in the beginning of August. We started slowly. Two worksheets the first day, three the next, ....etc. After the first week, I knew that I could handle it! So we have been at it for the past three weeks, and it feels great. I used workbook from last year to repeat and repeat what we had learned last year.
I always wanted to try out one of those curriculum that are all laid out for you! All year, every subject. I decided on one and got it last spring. A Beka was my choice. I love it to be Christian. And I think they are reasonable about what a second grader should know (or not yet!). I am very happy with my choice.

When it arrived, I put the two boxes in a corner to forget about it until the school year was over. Eventually, I pulled it back out and unpacked it. Wow, Coqui has alot of work to do! Last week, I went through the entire thing myself. And it doesn't look that bad anymore....

I ordered Second Grade. Yes, he is only six, but with being home-schooled for the past three years, and doing First Grade last year, I feel he can do it. Once I looked through it, I know we can..... with one thing in mind: if things don't work as planned, with the baby and all, if we need more time, we can take the next two years to accomplish everything. I have that liberty and I feel really good about it.

So today was a special day: the kids were off from school. But tomorrow, tomorrow is another special day, because we are starting our new curriculum. I am very excited. It will be nice not to have to prep too much in advance. And I love that I have all the books already.

Besides loving those books, I am less happy with the what-so-called specials. There is only one tiny book for history, one for science, and one for health/manners. Where is Geography? Apparently, they plan on alternating them every four weeks. No no no.... I think Coqui needs to do this every week. We did it last year. And he loves to do experiments! I can not tell him to wait a month!

We will still be doing lapbooks. One of these days, I will do a tutorial, but in the meantime, you can just google it, and enjoy what all the other people have done. It's so much fun and Coqui really enjoys them (here and here and here). I have come up with an entire list all the way until Christmas. 

Back To HOME School tomorrow.....
....and yes, that is our stack of books for tomorrow. Don't worry, there are some reading books in there.... and my teachers\'s handbook.