Counting Down The Days: Back-To-School

Today is August 1st, and the beginning of our countdown to the end of our Summer vacation.

We will begin our new school year bright-and-early on August 13th.

I am busy preparing lesson plans, and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the final order of our school books. We are using a wide variety this year, mostly from the Ambleside curriculum. And of course we have added a few things that we will all do together. For planning, we are trying the CM Organizer from www.simplycharlottemason.com .

Our children have each said independently that they are "ready" for school to begin again. And I think they are ready for that "routine" that seems to come naturally with our "school year" as well, after a few rather chaotic monthes. They each seem to genuinely be looking forward to this year.

Cherub 1: Grade 8
Cherub 2: Grade 6
Cherub 3: Grade 5
Cherub 4: Grade 3
Cherub 5: Grade 2

... and even Cherub 6 (grade PreK) will be a "student" this year, but only for as much as he is ready to do. We are going to focus on his pre-reading skills, letters, basic math skills (numbers), and basic penmanship.

For the remaining summer vacation days, we have some projects to complete and some fun times planned.

Projects:
1.) Deep room cleaning (children's rooms) and toy organization.
2.) MAYBE paint the boys bedrooms (paint and supplies on hand - just need to find some time.)
3.) Chicken House and Pen clean out.
4.) Trip to "big city" library to renew our out-of-county membership.

Fun Times Yet To Come:
1.) Trip to the local lake to swim, maybe a few more times.
2.) Swim practice through this week, followed by the County Swim Meet on Saturday. (then Summer Swimming is finished.)
3.) Trip to Coolidge Park to ride the carousel and play in the fountains.
4.) Trip to the Art Museum (combined with Big-City library trip - free admission on Tuesday evenings !). We are hoping to take our sketchbooks for this trip !
5.) Nature Hike and Nature Study planned with some other homeschoolers - scheduled for mid-August.

And soccer sign-ups are this month, and so Fall Soccer will officially begin September 8th. We think only Cherub 5 and Cherub 6 (finally - he is so excited !) are playing this season. Plus our VIP soccer team, of course.

Then in mid-September we are planning a trip to the Aquarium with the passes Grandpa bought for our family last Christmas - THAT should be a lot of fun (and educational too !).

I will post a final list of "studies" for each child for this upcoming year - book (or resource) titles, or project details.

I am best off to get my day started ... lots to do, lots to do.