Thursday, August 30, 2007

Back to school, back to blog

Yes, so scold me. I don't have much time these days. Homeschooling four boys is amazingly busy.

We are back to the grindstone full time. This year, I am determined to teach Seth to read. I found this great book "The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" that is pretty cut and dry. No fancy flashcards, no complicated instructions. Just teaching the vowels and letters and blends. I also found my copy of "I Can Read It!" which is from Sonlight, but they no longer pubish. I got it years ago (when I taught Legoboy to read) and then stashed it away. I was cleaning off the bookshelves and came upon it. So we are using it along with the Ordinary Parent's book to learn to read.

I print LittleJ a schedule on Edu-track just like my older boys. He loves it, and is very much the stickler about following it. It makes him feel so grown up. He also started piano with Hannah Jackson. She's very sweet and gentle with him. Only two lessons, but so far, so good!

Nathan got that Black Belt! Whoohooo! We are so happy. Now, Tom is working on credits for his 2nd degree black belt, which he will test for next summer. Good news is, there is a high probability of him having his driver's license, which means WE WON'T HAVE TO DRIVE HIM AT 5:45 AM!! Okay, I'm done shouting.

Our co-op starts tomorrow and I will be teaching a class (last year I didn't teach). Art History, and I am kind of stoked about it. (Do kids still say "stoked" or am I still living in the 80's?) More later!