Gearing up...

Monday will be the first day of our new academic year - first grade and third grade, here we come! We met with our resource teacher today, coming away, as usual, with a huge armload of books. This afternoon I am putting together our work tubs - workbooks, blank books, crayons, etc., and putting the finishing touches on next week's lesson plans. I also need to check and make sure I put all my library hold requests in - Elf will start up with The Mouse & the Motorcycle next week, plus we'll start our nature studies with One Small Square Backyard, and we'll need D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths.

The meeting went really well. As usual, she asked me what I had planned, and then gave me materials to support my goals. I have heard that this is not the case with all resource/independent study teachers, that some are much more directive and forceful, so I feel grateful that I have such a good one! The class schedule is the only thing that bothers me this year - they changed it quite a lot from last year's... no Spanish for the little kids anymore, and instead of art and science on one day (which would have worked very well for us), they split them up and combined them with other classes. While my kids are fine with gardening classes, they don't care so much for music and creative movement - it's just not their cup of tea. So, Elf will have art and gardening, while the Fairy will have gardening and stories/arts & crafts. We do plenty of science here at home, so I am not too worried about that. Plus, with Mondays free, we can keep up with roller skating!

We also start dance classes next week. Elf is excited about tap, and Fairy is looking forward to her combo class. The homeschool 4H is starting up again soon too, and the kids are interested in felting, engineering (I think Lego), cooking, and of course the project I am leading - global arts and crafts. Maybe hiking too. Thankfully for our schedule, these classes are only once a month each. Plus we have field trips, and a drop-in homeschool gymnastics class, oh, and of course Park Day.... I think we're going to be very busy people, but busy in a good way! Makes me want to be much more organized!

Other than that, I am enjoying the reading for my Children's Lit class - fairy tales right now, and am deep in Frankenstein and other readings for my other class, which starts this Saturday. And now I am off to water the garden, which is wilting in the nearly 90 degree heat!