Basics Week Here We Come!

We’ve finished just over half the school year at my house.  I didn’t realize that until Saturday.  I figured it up, with taking a few weeks off around holidays and mid-winter blahs we will still complete our school year (according to the state’s requirements) in early March.  Do you see why we homeschool year round?  It just makes sense. 

To celebrate and give us a bit of a break we are going to do basics week this week.  That means the only lessons the kids will find in their workboxes are:

1. Gospel related – our usual children’s hymn of the week, scripture story, and memory verse.
2. Math – much to Makayla’s dismay math really is a basic.
3. Writing – for Makayla this is more lessons preparing for NaNoWriMo next month.  For Joseph and Emma it is handwriting.
4. Spelling/Phonics – Makayla will keep up with All About Spelling level two.  Joseph and Emma will continue Rocket Phonics.

Just in case you are wondering what Mommy will be doing with all her spare time, here is my list:

1. Read The Horse and His Boy to the kids (the 3rd book in the Chronicles of Narnia).
2. Write some reviews that are coming up.
3. Wrap my head around new review items and decide how we’ll use them to fit our family.
4. Plan homeschool for the rest of 2009, bringing us up to Christmas.

Right about now I can hear someone asking why we don’t just take the week off completely.  I have a simple reason.  Actually, I have 5 of them.  My children thrive on our family’s routines.  Dropping all the usual routines of homeschool would throw them out of balance.  Whining, boredom, and tantrums would result.  As it is I will be hard pressed to keep them from some favorite subjects like science and art.  My plan is to hand over the books and let them go for it without me if they ask. 

We do have a few fun activities planned.  Monday Makayla and I are teaching a class on lapbooking to some homeschooling families.   We’ve planned a get together with friends on Thursday if our fevers and runny noses are gone, and a trip with family to the zoo on Saturday (shhh!  it’s a surprise….). 

PS.  Remember our opossum and raccoon adventures last week?  We did trap another opossum Friday night.  We’re working on alternative solutions for the cats’ food now because the kids want to keep every animal we trap.  For some reason that seems like a very bad idea to me.