Back to the ol’ drawing board

Posted by Heather | 0 comments

After the Christmas decorations are packed and stored, the old year over, the New Year holiday a memory, it becomes that time of year again…the time that I dread….BACK TO SCHOOL!

For those of you who are able to school throughout the holidays, I am soooo looking up to you right now. My kids just can’t seem to even crack a book, let alone do a math problem or make a tin can robot after Thanksgiving. And things begin to mooooooo-vvvv-e innnnnnnn sloooooooooooow mooooooo-shuuuuuuuun.

With the cold winter here, it’s difficult to get the kids excited about school. They would rather just read, or play their new Xbox, or do anything but schoolwork. It’s not like when we started out the year, and everything was new and exciting.

So, I figured, WHY NOT?? Why not make it all new? So, here’s what I did:

I kept the math program since it works for us. But, I am doing a “mini” curricula where the kids can practice their times tables. It takes about 10 days to do, and it’s fun, so that will get them back on track.

For foreign languages, I took a hint from what the local public schools do. The first “semester” we have studied Spanish. Now, we are digging into Greek. We’ll accomplish the same amount in 2 years, but they are getting a break from one for a while. Plus, I am finding that it’s easier to learn a third language than a second.

For science, we are doing this next chapter “backwards”. Usually, we would read the chapter, do the notebooking, and then the project. For the next 2 weeks, we are doing the projects first, then reading, then we will notebook. Again, the key is to break it up a bit.

For home ec, we bought a new Chinese cookbook, and are committed to trying out a new recipe for at least once a week for the month of January. Hopefully, they will like them, and we will have some fun learning new cooking techniques!

And finally, we are studying the states. I was going in alphabetical order in the beginning, but I have let the kids choose which state they are going to do. As long as we cover the bases, I am letting go of that one, and they think it’s cool that they don’t have to do the same state each week as their sibling.

I am praying that we will be able to be back into our routine come February. I miss it!! These are just some of the ideas that I have to ease back into it…I would love to hear if anyone has others!

Heather is a stay at home mother with 3 blessings to take everywhere with her. Teaching women to shop and save and get the most for your dollar are a vision that has been a long time in the making. She enjoys sharing her trials and triumphs at the local stores, as well as some good (and some not so good) recipes to help make those dollars stretch. Her column is a must read for the thrifty homeschool mom. Visit her blog at Titus 2 Woman.