If you're like me and could use a little renewal of motivation towards your schooling at home right now, here's a few links that might do the trick:

Education is a Discipline: Four Habits that have Made a Difference

How to Simply Homeschool: The Four Simple Cornerstones

Seven Daily Rungs…

How to Feed Brains Everyday

The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught,
as that every child should be given the wish to learn.
-John Lubbock

Well I'm jumping back in for the final week of HOM's "Not Back-to-School"  blog hop.

With the chaos of trying to figure out our new routine last week I missed out on posting our student photo.

So I'm adding that in today for a little bonus!

Here's the first day of school photo. In their finest play-clothes. One of my favorite things about school at home: no drama over what to wear!

On to this week's theme: Day-in-the-Life.

I was so excited when I saw this theme! Over the summer I had the chance to read Karen Andreola's Pocketful of Pinecones. I absolutely loved it. For those of you who haven't read it, it's a fictional story that incorporates a lot of information about Nature Study. I enjoyed the story as well as all of the information. I think what really drew me in was the format of the book. It was written in a journal entry style, and that just made it feel really personal and easy to relate to.

Ever since I read that book I've been thinking about starting a once a month journal entry of our home-school days. Now here is the perfect opportunity. 

I decided to follow the journal-style format as it seems to give more opportunity to share in a personal way.

Here's your first look at our schooldays. (Sorry it's long. Our schooldays are long so…)

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Friday, August 19^th 2011

I’ve decided that the best way to avoid being in a permanent state of frustration on school days is to just get over it and wake up early.

So far I’m doing well about half of the time.

I’m honestly surprised how when my phone starts chiming at 5:30 I somehow just roll out of bed. So completely unlike me. It’s like no matter how I feel, my brain just kicks in and takes over, pushing me to do what I’d rather not.

And after about two weeks of this I’ve decided it is definitely a good thing. It changes my whole day.

I’ve been lazily checking email and doing other things online till about 6, then it’s light enough to read without a light, so I read my Bible for a bit.

(I have this thing about not liking to use a light when I wake up in the morning. Not sure how practical that’s going to be in the winter…)

The girls of course are always up by 6:30.

This morning I was able to have breakfast ready just a little after 7, which meant we had time to go outside before school.

Our basic morning routine has been: breakfast and Bible reading together, then the girls make their beds and get dressed while I put in a load of laundry. If breakfast is done by 7:30, then we can spend an hour outside. I have not been very good about making this a habit lately, and I can tell it’s not good for us.

I don’t know if it’s the fresh air or the sun or the space, but we all seem to feel much more pleasant after a nice chunk of time outdoors. So I really want to get back to making this a daily habit.

Today I watered the garden while the girls played. Another plus of outside time before school: they are able to burn off some energy before it’s time to sit and focus.

The laundry is done washing about the time I’m finished watering, so I can quickly hang that out to dry.

My goal has been to start lessons between 8:30 and 9. We’re doing pretty well at sticking with that.

We practiced our memory verse and the hymn we’ve been learning, then spelling tests for the two big girls, and Miss I decided to be entertained by pattern blocks for awhile.

I feel like I’m getting better at going back and forth, helping the two older girls do the same subjects at the same time, even though their lessons are different. This has been a real struggle for me to get used to. I definitely prefer only focusing on one thing at a time, but that’s just not practical anymore.

I make sure we cover math, reading and spelling first off every day, then we either do history, science or geography (right now the plan is just studying them each once a week).

Today was science.

The beginning of our science book has been a little boring because it’s introducing a bunch of facts about the ocean. Of course we’d rather just get to the part of learning about the ocean animals.

I’m trying something new this year and finding picture books from the library that match up with each week’s science theme. I feel like this helps reinforce what the textbook is saying and also makes science a little more interesting for the younger girls.

Today we learned about the continental shelf and the zones of depth in the ocean. I could tell the girls were really not at all interested, so I drew them a picture of the ocean with all the areas divided up and labeled, then let them each color part of it. They enjoyed that, and hopefully learned something through it.

We usually have lunch around 11:30.

I read aloud while the girls eat. My number one goal in this is to keep them from goofing off and dragging lunch out way too long. But also, we were having a hard time finding the time to read extra things (besides school books) so I felt like this was a good time to fit that in.

Right now we are reading Pollyanna and I just love it. I’m afraid some of the vocabulary is a little over their heads, but trying to trust what I read in A Charlotte Mason Companion: “Wide reading = Wide vocabulary”.

After lunch everyone lays down for quiet time. This is my “break” and I’m always so ready for it. My latest tragedy has been that everyone seems to be giving up naps. I’m not ready for that. I keep fighting it, but I think I’m losing. So I’m just trying really hard to enforce that quiet time means laying on your bed with your books and staying there. Miss I, being four has to be reminded to stay put a LOT.

I try to lie down and rest or do some reading while the girls rest. Sometimes I’m bothered by how lazy this seems, but our days go a lot better if I have that downtime as opposed to spending the whole time trying to take care of housework. When I just push myself all day, by dinner time no one wants to be around me.

This time of rest is probably why my biggest (and ever-present) struggle is keeping up on chores when school is in session. It was no problem to keep the house perfectly clean all summer, but now that we’re back to school, that’s quickly changed. It’s really hard for me to let that go, but I’m at a place where I know it’s just the way it has to be. My goals right now are making sure the laundry is caught up, kitchen is clean, and the rest of the house is picked up. Things like dusting, vacuuming, mopping; sometimes they happen, sometimes they don’t. I’ve forced myself to accept that.

After quiet time we’ll finish up anything we didn’t complete in the morning. Then I pack in the chores and try to give the girls some free time to play.

I feel like I have all of these ideals about how I want our schooldays to be, but when it comes down to it there’s no time to think about much but just getting through the day.

I’ve tried to set less rigid expectations for school this year. Really hoping that will leave room for adjusting things. It’s only the end of our second week. I keep reminding myself of that. We’re still finding our routine. There’s plenty more time to perfect it!

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I'll be back here the 22nd of every month to share another entry from our Home-School Days. I'd love for you to join me!

I'm playing catch-up with Heart of the Matter's "Not Back-to-School" Blog Hop.

This week's theme is: the schoolroom.

About a year and a half ago our schoolroom underwent a thrilling transformation.

And yes, I still completely love it! It's been such a huge blessing.

This year before we officially got started with school I did a bit of rearranging. Here's what it looks like now.

Although sometimes it can be irritating (like when girls start shoving each other's books onto the floor), in general I really love having us all at a table together as opposed to separate desks. It's an opportunity to learn how to work together, not to mention it saves a lot of space.

Here are a few of my "inspirational" touches that decorate our room. (I am not a decorator, so I use that term very loosely!)

"First Steps" by Van Gogh.

The top quote I read recently and absolutely love. To me it just gives such clarity of purpose.

The verses are the same. I feel like these two kind of set the tone for the vision of our home-school.

Some of mommy and daddy's grade school art work to inspire our little artists.

A cozy reading spot beneath the window, surround by bookshelves.

Finally, this is something new I'm trying this year. Certain "extras" tend to be neglected in our schooldays because we're always so busy with the essentials. But I'm really not happy with it that way. I feel like the beauty of homeschooling is that extras can be just as important as essentials.

So I set out two baskets. One is full of books of poetry, and the other all of our resources for Nature Study. Two things I want to make sure are not neglected in our days. Having them right there to grab our attention seemed a helpful way to do that.

That's our schoolroom! Thanks for taking the tour.

Since today is our first day of school, I thought it would be fun to participate in Heart of the Matter's "Not Back-to-School" Blog Hop. If you haven't decided for sure on all of your curriculum yet, this carnival is a great place to go for ideas. If you're not interested in a bunch of books, then feel free to skip on over this post.

I of course, being the obsessive over-planner that I am, had all of my curriculum selected back in March (I know I'm ridiculous). I'm so excited to finally start using it all!

I'll start with the basics: this year in our home-school we have a 4th grader, a 1st/2nd grader (she's way up there on some subjects, and a bit slow on others), and a four year old who is so excited to start pre-school.

For my little pre-schooler I selected a lovely set of workbooks from Rod and Staff. They are super basic, super cheap, and very cute. To be honest I'm not really wild about formal schoolwork while my kids are young, but when there are two big sisters doing school of course the little one is going to want to join in. I think these books will be perfect because it will give her some "real live schoolwork" without taking up too much time or overwhelming her with something too challenging.

On to the big girls.

I've grown very fond of Rod and Staff's spelling books. This year we'll be using the 2nd and 4th grade sets. This will be our third year using their spelling materials, and I really do love them. Obviously the price is a draw, but I also appreciate that they're very basic and take a minimal amount of time. Once general phonics have been learned, I feel like spelling is just all about the practice. These books are perfect for some focused spelling time every day without getting long or boring.

For reading practice my girls really enjoy these Pathway Readers, also from Rod and Staff. They are sweet with simple black and white drawings and pleasant stories with zero questionable content. This is wonderful because I can send them off to do reading alone without feeling the need to keep an eye on what they may be reading about.

Next, the dreaded mathematics! We use Singapore math and I'll be honest, it's been a bit of a journey for me. First of all, almost nothing is taught in the way that I learned it as a child. There's a very heavy emphasis on mental math skills and that has been a stretch for me to adjust to. But I do see the benefits, and that's why we've stuck with it the last three years. 

Partway through last year I got extremely overwhelmed by trying to figure out how I was supposed to be teaching certain things without doing them the way I'd always learned. I was ready to throw out the whole book and forget it. But I did some searching around online and discovered the missing piece to a blissful math experience…. instructors guides! I had only ever used answer keys, but these instructor guides changed everything. Math has been so much more enjoyable ever since.

For my 4th grader we'll be using Writing Strands and Wordly Wise to give some added attention to composition and vocabulary. We used Writing Strands last year and were very happy with it. This will be our first try with Wordly Wise.

For the rest of our subjects everyone will be working together. 

Science: Apologia's Zoology 2 and nature study

Geography: A Child's Geography (I'm so excited about this one!)

Art: Drawing with Children (used this growing up and with my oldest previously and loved it)

Music/Bible: Passion Hymns for a Kid's Heart

History/Social Studies: I am mapping out my own study of our home state. You'll hear more about that later, if I succeed!

Bible: A Family Guide to the Biblical Feasts and a more devotional style Bible study that I am again making up on my own (with lots of help from my husband). 

Looking at all of this stuff listed out, it looks like so much! I'm really not sure how we're going to get through it all. But I'm working on being flexible.

My book for inspiration and instruction over the summer that I will still be referring to regularly has been The Charlotte Mason Companion. I love the methods explained in this book and am working to incorporate more of them into our school days.

Well, I think that's about it for our curriculum this year. Just in case you're wondering, we really loved all the books we tried out last year.

Now tell me about what you're using this year!