First Quarter Report!

Pin It I cannot BELIEVE that we finished the first quarter of school last week! Nine weeks done!

Here is how it is going so far:

The oldest is halfway through with seventh grade English. Can I get a WOOHOO on that? I didn't realize when we started that English is a one semester class. I'm giving a big WOOHOO for Literature in the spring. Surprisingly, she's a little less excited about it than I am. ;) We are dangerously close to finishing math, which would be fabulous if it were seventh grade math and we could take a break! Unfortunately, it's sixth grade math, so we'll be jumping right into the waiting seventh grade math when she finishes. I admit that it really is bothering me for her to be doing work in two different grades. I know that's part of the "beauty of homeschooling" but to be honest? For this "follow the schedule" mama, it's a little bothersome. (When we changed curriculums a few years ago, we moved up a grade in everything but math.) I'm trying to let go of that, but it's proving a little difficult. I actually DID let up some. Y'all should have seen the original schedule, which had her finishing sixth and seventh grade math by May. Thankfully the Lord spoke regarding that. SHE is thankful anyway. ;)

The middlest is doing great! For the first time, she did an English paper start to finish without whining and complaining, and really did a fabulous job on it. I was SO proud! :) She is also rocking along with math. Thankfully the times tables did finally start to stick. She's actually ahead by a few weeks, so we've cut back on her specific math curriculum and are letting her review math facts and have a bit of a break on co-op days and dance days. She is completely enjoying her reading curriculum; I knew she would. That was our first homesat class with the oldest, and I remember how much she loved it. OOhh -- learned something about the middle one! The girl can SPELL! WOOT! Spelling has been a breeze for her so far, and I am delighted about it.

Our Heart of Dakota Creation to Christ curriculum that we're doing together has become easier as we've adjusted to what it's like, and tailoring it to our needs. It did take several weeks to master the learning curve, plus figuring out which parts worked well for which child and how to adapt it, but once we figured that out ... well, not bragging, but ... we are ROCKING it! I am totally loving it!! I am learning a lot that I either never learned before or forgot, especially regarding Old Testament history. To me, this is the best part of this curriculum. We've done a handful of the projects and those have been fun too. Sometimes the girls look at them and are all ... um, no. Other times they jump right in and have fun with it. Their paintings they do every week are so great! I need to snap a pic and post a few of them. I suspect (well, I know) that we're not using the science plan to its fullest extent, but even that they're getting a lot out of, so I'm delighted with that too. :) I'm already looking forward to next year with this curriculum, except that I think I'm going to need to split them into different ones for next year. Oldest will go forward into Resurrection to Renaissance, and I think the middle one will go back a year. Middle one is getting a lot out of this year too, but I think she would be better suited to go back a year and then redo this one in another year or two. It's so great that I don't want her to miss it, or get it too early for it to really sink in.

And the little one? He is doing so well in preschool! He doesn't wake up every morning delighted to go, but by the time we get there, he's ready to run in. He is LOVING Mrs. Russell and is totally enjoying all of the fun things he is learning and doing. He's learning his letters and putting sounds together, and I really expect that he'll have quite a head start into reading by the end of the year. He's trying to sound out words with letters he knows now, and I'm just so proud of him!

So ... that's it for our first quarter of school. I'm so glad to report that we're finding our groove, so maybe I can get away from it totally consuming my life like it has as we've adjusted to the changes we've made this year. I'm trying to relax on the schedule a little bit and ... um ... well, we'll just see how that goes! Trying to remember that I control the schedule, it doesn't control me. Still easier said than done.

For the rest of you who are completing your first quarter ... how's it going? I'd love to hear! Leave me a comment so I can hop over to your blog and see how you're doing. :)