New Academic Year comes with a New Torch

A New Academic Year will come with a New Torch or at least a slightly different model. My prayer is that it will be carried full of grace and mercy showered upon these beautiful children with whom we've been blessed. With my daughter starting first grade, thus a "full" load; my son starting his second-half of grammar school (4th grade); my desire to write and run; and a continued commitment to the Body of Christ and our community; I am even more motivated to organize life in such a way that hopefully empowers more of the Fruit of His Spirit. Hmm! Faithfulness, Gentleness, Goodness, Joy, Love, Kindness, Patience, Peace, and Self-control. That wraps it nicely into a complete package on how I should respond to life... though when giving each one of these gifts separately to my children and praying without ceasing that I would live them out, I am stretched. :-) More to come on what this year's scope and sequence will actually look like. In the meantime...

James 1:2-5 Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you experience trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lack wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously without finding fault, and it shall be given to him.

Come Monday

Come Monday, summer school lessons will be in session. These lessons are different from our Fall-Spring session. At this point, we are bringing any final lessons in for a landing. The schedule will include the following for ds: literature & piano; independent & group Bible; Math & History. And for dd: piano & literature; independent & group Bible; Math & Phonics. Though the piano will be review & literature will be worked in throughout the day, based on time.

With the good weather and friends coming to play in the afternoon, perhaps a little swim time is in order, a fairly assertive morning will be needed. So... here I am pondering the latest topics and concepts. In Math, our little "kindergartener" will be discovering the fun in adding ten to a number and our energetic 3rd grader will be also, in renaming fractions. In Phonics, we will be discovering the WH sound and in History we will travel back to when the Slave trade ended and the Trouble in Africa. We shall dive in by 9 a.m. and should finish about noon.

"Scrapping School"

We are currently on summer break, though over these next final weeks of July we will bring our lessons for academic year 08-09 to completion. DS will be completing his third year of grammar school and DD will be "graduating" from kindergarten. I have been deliberating on how to approach her next year since she doesn't actually turn six until October. Our compulsory attendance laws are six years old by September but I plan on providing for her a full first grade curriculum. I am not sure if the state allows a child to report early or if I should give myself another year before I officially begin reporting.

In the meantime, we are looking forward to completing his final lessons of Math and History; her Math and Phonics; my 09-10 lesson planning; and my newest addition to record keeping will be in the form of "record journaling." We will continue to keep everything in notebook format, but I will begin a daily journaling activity. It will definitely be an experiment but I look forward to the method since it will serve as an outlet for my writing and as a scrapbook keepsake perhaps we could call it "scrapping school." Hmm! A little out of the box for our traditional little homeschool. :-)