Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Getting Ready

What do you do around your home school to get everyone excited about starting up again?
It is funny here. Sarah is ready. She never wanted to stop. All I have to say is, "Next Monday we are starting school." and that is enough to make her do flips. Isaac, needs a little more coaxing. He has had fun flipping through all of the new books and is ready to start some of them. I would not use the word excited, though. Today I took them shopping for school supplies and the box of 100 colored pencils was calling his name. He really gets in to new art supplies so he is a little more excited. This is the first year for Zach. He was so funny to watch. I basically have a list of what they need, but let them pick, within reason, what kind of brands and such they get. HE was so excited over the pencils that I was nervous about letting him know he could get crayons, markers, scissors, etc. as well. He was quite overwhelmed and wants to start NOW. They are also excited to set up their desks. We will do that tomorrow. I realize as they get older shiny new supplies will not do the trick, but it is fun to see the excitement now.

10 comments:

Anne said...

My 14-year-old still gets excited about new school supplies!

This year to get ready, I took each child (I have a 9th grader and an 11th grader) out separately for a meal. We talked about the coming year and what to expect. My goal was to have them understand that their calling right now is to be a student.

When do you start school?

Julie said...

We are starting most things on Monday. Isaac is taking a couple of online classes so, we will wait to start those subjects. I will have him working on the readings for those. I also need a little more time to prepare for the class I am teaching. So, we will not start everything until the week of Labor Day. It is easier to follow the online schedule since that is what controls all of our breaks. Did you start this week? How is it going?

Julie said...

Oops! I was not done.

I like your going out to eat idea. We go as a family, but as they get older I like the thought of doing it with each of them individually. We will go out to breakfast the first day of school. I heard Isaac telling Sarah the best part about starting school is going out to breakfast. (I have the feeling Micah will be saying the same thing if he continues to get as excited about food as he does now.)

Anne said...

We started this week with only Omnibus III, math, and Latin. We'll add some more subjects in next week, and then the online ones won't start until after Labor Day. It's nice to ease into the year!

I think I'm going to try to stick with the schedule of the school where I'm teaching part-time and see how that goes. So when I'm off there, we'll be off here at home -- except for the online classes.

Momathon said...

Ha! I think you're right about Micah.

Beth@Pages of Our Life said...

We went to a local zoo and had some great time together "bonding". I have 2 boys. Blessing on your adventure teaching this year! I will be teaching a IEW and LFC A in my home this year. It will be a first for me. I am looking forward to hearing how the new online classes go. I am glad that they are doing that.

May you have a "my burden is light" year!

Beth
from the VP Yahoo group

Julie said...

Thank you Beth. I am excited about teaching the class online. It has been fun to delve into the time period. I am teaching Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation. I was nervous but am learning so much as I study.

I hope your year goes well. LFC and IEW are great programs. I think you will find them both wonderful once you get into them. IEW has helped my son tremendously. When you see those kind of results it makes the teacher intensiveness (Is that a word?) worth it.

Beth@Pages of Our Life said...

I agree about IEW.
I hope that as you find them you can post the books or things that you really enjoyed with that time period. I really enjoyed the series on Wordmp3 on the Reformation's key people. If you don't mind me asking what book has been the most helpful as you are preparing for this?

Julie said...

Beth,

Right now I am just using the books VP has for the time period. I have to use them all when teaching, so I am just trying to become really familiar with them. I am also finding it helpful to read the essays in Omnibus that pertain to the event that I am teaching. I am reading Speilvogal(sp?) as well. I then do internet searches on interesting facts about St. Augustine, Beowulf, etc. If I had to pick right now, I am early in the game, I do not really have a favorite. I enjoy reading Speilvogal. History fasinates me and I love reading that text. Sorry I am not more help. I'll let you know once I start teaching which ones prove to be the most helpful and which ones I find I rarely use.

Beth@Pages of Our Life said...

Thank you Julie,

Your info was very helpful.

Beth