November 1st - Changes

 It's a new month, and I can hardly believe how quickly this year has flown by. We have had so many changes the past few months, but this is the biggest one of all:

Public School

I decided to put the older three in public school this year. We had started homeschooling and were about two weeks in when I decided I just could not do it. Trying to help Mercie with Algebra 2 while bouncing a crying baby on my hip was about to make me crazy! I've been homeschooling for over 16 years, and I've been through this stage before - but I was completely done. I told Rod I wanted to put them in school, and the next week they started. 

Mercie is a sophomore, we put Silas back in 7th for football (this is a football obsessed school/parish), and Titus is in 6th grade. Silas loved junior high football! He had never played on a team before, but he has played lots of backyard games with his brothers and cousins. He is really good! He had so much fun and met some new friends. 

Mercie went to homecoming dance with some friends

It's been quite an adjustment. Learning to juggle homework, classwork, tests, and projects has been the biggest hurdle for the boys. Mercie went to public school last year, so she hasn't had an adjustment period. Silas and Titus are getting the hang of things now, and Silas had straight As on his report card while Titus had A-B honor roll.

It's been so different having just the younger two at home all day! I'm enjoying the time with them. I felt like I was missing out on just spending time with them, especially Zoey, with so many other things I had to do. Homeschooling is wonderful and fun and beautiful, but this is just a new season in our life. It's also beautiful, and less stressful and overwhelming for me.

Co-Op

I joined a homeschool co-op before I decided to put the kids in public school, committed to teach three classes. I teach a Global Art class to 1-3 graders, an Ancient Greece History Pockets class to 4-6 graders, and then Aesop's Fables Literature Pockets to 1-3 graders. It's a lot. I wish I were only teaching one or two classes at the most. 

Zeke is in the kindergarten class, and he is loving it! He is thriving being around some other 4- and 5-year-olds for several hours on Thursdays. Zoey hated the nursery and cried the entire time for three weeks, so my mom is now watching her on Thursdays while we go to co-op (which is a 45 minute drive from our house) and then speech therapy (which is another 20 minutes from co-op). It worked out that we got his speech therapy appointment at 2:00 on Thursdays, since I'm already over half-way there!

Zeke is doing fantastic in speech therapy. He has had several weeks of growth and improvement with his articulation! He can now say the hard /g/ and /k/, even if he has to stop and repeat himself or think about it for a minute.

Kindergarten

We are using My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum, which I used with Silas and Titus when they were Zeke's age. It's so much fun, and I love the new additions and improvements they've made to it! Here is a brief look at the first two weeks we used (we skipped the Creation weeks):

I'm planning to start blogging regularly again (how many times have I said that?)!