Monday Musings... Let the Countdown Begin!

We'll be ready, I think, to start up next week, full steam ahead! Due to college, track, roller derby, work, etc., we have an "odd" schedule...
Sundays and Mondays will be fairly full homeschooling days
Tuesday will be a basics day (icing on the cake if we get to more!)
Wednesday and Thursday will be like Sundays and Mondays

So, what am I up to this week?

I did menu plan, and shopped accordingly (patting myself on the back). There will be some cooking ahead, and M will have to throw a casserole in the oven when I'm at school myself, but he's always okay with that.

I finally convinced myself, after looking at these Book of Centuries samples, and re-reading a few emails and blog comments, that I can let go of the bulk of history and science planning, and just go with my What If approach. What will we be starting with? Well, at the moment we are finishing a Landmark book that The Boy requested - The Wright Brothers - so The Girl gets a turn next. She is very interested in Sacajawea, so I found a vintage book that looks intriguing... Winged Moccasins: The Story of Sacajawea. Who knows where this will lead? If it peters out after the Sacajawea story, then The Boy is hoping to get through The Early Days of Automobiles! And Cassia mentioned something about ancient Egypt, giving us an excuse to use a unit from Builders of the Old World at some point. For science, we have a new microscope that everyone, M and I included, are dying to play with, so I thought we'd start out our year with The World in a Drop of Water, and Adventures with Freshwater Animals. I'll be having the kids each keep a science notebook this year.

I've got a few documentaries lined up that look good too. And we'll be reading about Leeuwenhoek and the microscope.

Other than that, I've got a line-up of great books from the 12 month guideline in A Picture Perfect Childhood. I finally found a reasonably priced copy of The Complete Book of Marvels for geography. I've got a list of good books I would like to read this year. Math, language arts... all my packages are trickling in, and I am starting to feel pretty good about this year! I have to say, the free 2 day shipping with Amazon Prime is a lifesaver this year, since some of my choices were rather last minute.

Also on the agenda...
~ Trying to get a routine down for housework
~ Weeding and deadheading the front yard
~ Putting together my Afternoon Basket for next week, which means a trip to the library as soon as some more holds are in
~ Getting some basic supplies: heavier weight paper than I have, some more glue sticks, new pencils and erasers, and so forth
~ Homework.. my own, that is. Just reading this week. I've been assigned The True History of the Kelly Gang (fairly fun reading, definitely interesting) for one class, and am working on several parts of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (a wee bit more challenging, I must admit) for another class.

And I think that's it! Hope you all