On Vacation...

When I originally planned out our school year, I planned December as a month off. Then I thought we should go for at least a couple of weeks, and then yesterday, I decided Plan A really was the best plan for this time of year, so yes, we are on vacation until January! (Although, we are going to finish reading through The Magic of Reality this month)

And I like the time off because it gives me to review where we've been so far, and where we are going.

What's Working...

I love that our days are simple. Math, writing (The Boy), reading (The Girl), and then our focus point/block study. And yes, that's it, unless you count the reading aloud I do as well. The kids have time to play outside, to draw pictures, play board or card games, to watch random documentaries, or not-so-random documentaries, and things of that sort.

What's Not Working...

While we are loving The Magic of Reality, I think it isn't really quite focused enough for a block study, since it covers so much scientific territory! And it is hard to really plan a lot of hands-on things to go with it, or maybe not hard exactly, but again, with so much going on, it is hard to choose wisely when it comes to hands-on.

Math is going quite well, but I need to be more diligent about having The Boy write every day.

What I'm Planning...

I'm thinking about our next block study, which will focus on Greek mythology and some Greek history (book one, book two, book 3, or book 4? Yes, I own far too many books on Greek history), just in time for the National Mythology Exams! I know I want to work in Rosemary Sutcliff's books Black Ships Before Troy and The Wanderings of Odysseus, specifically the versions illustrated by Alan Lee.

OR, we may well go back to unschooling. Both kids have requested this. The Girl wants dinosaurs, not Greek mythology so much, and The Boy wants Greek mythology, and not dinosaurs so much.

The Girl has asked for a break from Reading Horizons--she says she is tired of spending time in front of the computer, so I think we'll take a break from that, and work through Reading Pathways again for a while. It is really good for review and building fluency.

And What We're Doing...

Besides reading aloud from The Magic of Reality and A Wrinkle in Time, we'll be watching a handful of Dickens movies, since I am really hoping to take the kids to the Dickens Faire again this year. We'll be making cookies and fudge to give away; getting professional photographs done of the kids for the two relatives that really like that sort of thing; celebrating the Solstice; decorating a Christmas tree; and getting the house generally ready (steam cleaned and decorated, etc.) for our annual Christmas Eve celebration with family. We'll be watching Christmas movies; making a few gifts; and generally spend time enjoying the month!

I'm glad to be done with another semester, and M finishes up next week. And then I don't go back until mid-January!

Can I please ask anyone who reads this to keep their fingers crossed for us? M is trying very hard to find employment, as all federal unemployment extensions (of which he is on one) are being stopped completely as of December 28th. We're trying to stay calm!