Planning and Peace

Since my moment of panic a couple of weeks ago, I have been diligently working on preparing and planning for our great homeschool experiment.  In little pockets of quiet time during the day and after the kids have gone to bed for the night, I have accomplished quite a bit.  So far, I have mapped out the first two weeks of lesson plans.  For now I am sticking with the sheets I printed from the websites I mentioned in my panic post and not ordering a formal planner.

I ordered the rest of the reference books and materials we will need to get started and have a short list of the remaining supplies I need to purchase.

I've been thinking about white boards.  I don't have a white board.  I don't want a white board.  After delving deeper into the curricula as I plan, however, I am starting to think that I may need a white board so I am going to look for one that can rest on a easel and be stored without too much trouble.

As far as each subject area goes, I've made some progress here, too.  All the maps and evaluations we will use in the first unit (20 weeks) of our history program, Tapestry of Grace, are printed, three-hole punched and placed in each boy's history binder in the order they will work on them throughout the year.  I also completed the daunting (for me, anyway) task of combing through the weekly reading and assignment lists for TOG and deciding what each of our dear test subjects will be working on for the first two weeks.

Today was a gift!  I spent the better part of 5 hours hitting the books in an effort to prepare for the first few weeks of homeschool.  TS1, TS2 and RA spent the entire day at my parents' house- something they LOVE to do.

Today I was able to watch the first teacher and the first student DVD of TS1s writing program: Teaching Writing Structure and Style/Student Writing Intensive from IEW.  (Why IEW post in the works!)  It seems like a wonderful curriculum and I am excited to delve into it.  I learned quite a bit already and was able to tweak what I had originally planned for writing a bit based on what I learned.

I also watched the first DVD lessons for each of TS1 and TS2's Math-U-See curricula.  I read the first lessons in the teacher text for each level as well as skimmed the workbooks and test booklets.  This turned out to be very important for my plans with TS1, which have changed quite a bit today.  I realized that because Math-U-See is uses different language and models for teaching math, I am going to have to back up to the beginning of the Delta level so TS1 can get the hang of the language and how the manipulatives are used.  Once he masters this, I think we can fast forward to near the end of the Delta level and then finish up the year somewhere in the Epsilon level of the curriculum.  

There is much more to do and I know that once we get into the day to day schedule, things will change.  But today was a gift and I want to celebrate it!  I am grateful for parents who are willing and able to be hands on with their grandchildren.