Back to school time!

I know I say it all the time, but time is flying by. Summer is over and today, we started 4th, 6th, and 9th grades here at the E household! WOW. Did you catch that...a highschooler?!?! Dang!

We are starting our 8th year of home educating and 6th year of Classical Conversations. That's crazy too. I think back to the days when I was longing for them to all be in Kindergarten so I could have some free time and wonder what I was thinking. I love having my people around. I really do! I can't imagine them being in school all day. I'd miss them.

This year, Captain C is a freshman and in Challenge I. One thing I love about being in CC is that I don't have to plan his curriculum and worry I'm missing something.Wahoo...his was easy. Buy the books and follow the guide. He is doing a higher math than his class so we just adjusted that and he will have the conversations in class about Algebra 1 and doing Algebra II at home during the week. Another thing I love about CC - a perk of homeshcooling is being able to customize their curriculum to them, and I still can. He is also starting football this year and loving it. I'm praying for his safety!!

Terrific T is starting the 6th grade this year and Princess P is starting 4th. It's a good thing we keep rotating toddlers in to keep my young. ;) They will both be in Foundations and Essentials this year at CC and are so excited to get back to their friends there. At home, we are starting workboxes this year. Crazy to start something totally new 8 years in? I think not. The more I read about them this summer, the more I think they will work for these two.  The idea is that I have an 8 drawer rolling cart for each of them and one subject per drawer. They start at the top and work to the bottom...and then are done. We started using it today and it was great to be able to see how many things are left. They also know what's left to do so if I'm busy or something, they can go to the next subject and not have to wait around for me to tell them what to do next. I hope this works!

I ran out of velcro for the labels. I will have all of them labeled soon.

In case you care, here is what we are doing:
Bible - Draw to Learn - I reviewed this last year and loved it and the kids love it so we are doing it again.
Math - Saxon - 54 and 76 and using another fun review item everyday for warm up that I'll be blogging about soon.
Handwriting - CC's Prescripts - Another that I reviewed and got the new Cycle 3 ones and they will continue to do the Math one on off days.
Visual Latin - That review will be posted in the next couple of days...watch for it. Love it!
Language Arts - All this is covered in CC's Essentials this year. I'm excited that the kids will be in the same class and we can work together at home. I'm using their spelling lists in the back of the guide too for them this year.
Reading - we have a LOT of US History based reading books here that they will be reading. I also picked up an Abeka reader on each of their level for reading comprehension this year. I'm hoping to get them reading a ton this year and loving it. A girl can dream...and pray...right?
History - Story of the World and CC History Highlights. I found some worksheets for each of them on CC Connected that I added to that box.
Science - God's Design for Science. I didn't review it but love it and blogged about it here.
Geography - they are going to trace the US map everyday. They are learning it inside and out in CC this year and I want them to be able to draw it from memory too.
Memory Work will be added in when CC starts on the 18th.

I think that is all...and all subject to change. LOL.

I love the blank slate that a new year starts. New school supplies. New outfits. New books. New haircut (for me). New attitudes. I love it!

We are praying that our kids grow closer to God and grow to love learning this year. Day one was a success. Bring on day two!