Back To School 2010

-or- I Really Needed a Summer Vacation

So some of the FIAR ladies may have noticed I haven't been around the boards much in the last few months. We had a lot going on this summer but I won't bore you with the details. The most significant thing we had going on was that we almost decided to send the kids to public school. But after a long couple of months of not having to think about anything school related and getting to be "just a mom" and not a mom and a teacher and chauffeur and...well you know how it is....anyways, we are going to continue homeschooling. :D

I'm going back to basics this year, keeping things simple, trying not to worry that I'm not doing enough or doing it "right" and just try to enjoy the kids and seeing them learn.

So here's what "basics" looks like for us, I've got a 12yo sixth grader, 10yo fifth grader, 9yo 4th grader, 4yo kindergartner and a 2yo Tazmanian Devil to teach this year.

Beyond Five In A Row (4th/5th graders as a group)
Five In A Row Vol 1-3 (K'er)
Ambleside Online Year Pre 7 (6th grader)
Spell To Write and Read (6-4th graders as a group; K'er gets her own lesson)
Math On The Level (some group and some individual lessons)
BraveWriter (Mostly for the older 3 but some for the K'er as well)
TOPS science books (just because we are a science loving family :) )
KISS Grammar (older 3)
The Arrow from Bravewriter
Bravewriter Lifestyle (to include Outdoor Hour Nature Study, Ambleside Online Poetry, Classic for Kids, Friday Freewrites and weekly library visits)
Art lessons from FIAR lessons, DeepSpaceSparkle.com and Primary Art

So that's my plan more or less. All the basics are covered and I'm working on keeping it simple with FIAR. No fancy lapbooks or paper proof for every project this year. They will have notebooks to keep any paper products we do produce but I refuse to stress myself out by trying to have at least a notebook page for every thing we do. My lesson plan notebook with dates completed I've decided is plenty of proof that we "did school". :)

We are looking into homeschool PE at the Y and art lessons at the university and we've heard tale of some neat horse classes that my older daughter is interested in. I will definitely count them as part of school but I'm determined not to overdo it this year. :D