T is for Takeoff for the New School Year (ABC Blogging)

Well, I had great plans on being all prepared for our new school year this year, but God had other plans. I had plans on Labor Day to finalize everyone's schedleu and get their books ready, but ended up spending a big chunk of the day at the hospital with a family from church. So on Wednesday of last week, I told the kids to get the math books out and we would start in small bits. So between Wednesday of last week and Friday of this week we completed one full week of school and amazingly we all survived. I think. I still have a few small extras I'm finalizing, but those we will slowly add in during the next few weeks.

 Here is a look at what has been happening:

1. Chantry reading the Bible for Morning/Circle/Devotions Time (I have no clue what we call it!). I kept our MCD time pretty simple and just stuck to Bible reading, a devotional, and poetry. Next week we'll attempt a few more things.

Chantry has dove into his work. I am attempting written narrations with him again. This is my 3rd attempt and I am hoping to have success this time. I realized that he could be doing more in his science book and will be adjusting that in the next week or two. He also started Rod & Staff English and I can see this subject will still need a lot of oversight from me for awhile. History is going great, though we are still trying to finish up a book from last year. Right now it gets squeezed in when I find the chance.

 2. & 3. Delani is one happy girl to start school. She is learning to read and I forgot how much I hate teaching reading. It is probably bad of me to say so, but that is the honest truth. Her favorite subject is reading, which makes it at least bearable. We picked up where she left off in the Math-U-See Primer book and she has been flying through that. I also purchased a set of My House Books and we have been reading in the first two books of the series.

4.  Destini was glad to start up school since it does give more structure to our lives. She is very organized and always stays up on her work. She jumped back into Pre-Algebra with both feet. She has a lot to say about this subject, but she still keeps working on it. One thing I want her to improve this year is her typing skills. I ended coming across Typing Web and she really seems to like it. This wasn't in my original plans, but I think it will be a good fit for her.  She seems to be enjoying Rod & Staff Grammar, which is new for her and of course, she loves her Rod & Staff Spelling.

We also started co-op last week and now have two under our belt. I am teaching Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal Finance to the teen group. Since the books weren't being sent out until September, I had to use the first lesson from the Internet. (I was glad it was available!) We weren't supposed to get our material until yesterday, but I did some praying and it arrived on Wednesday. I had a busy evening, but it felt good to teach and have some sort of clue what I was doing.

This year Chantry and Delani have a new PE teacher and he came home and said that he should lose weight by the end of the year since she was going to work them so hard. Hmmm, maybe I need to join the class.

On to other things:
5. Our friend, Hannah, which I have mentioned many times before has forsaken left on an adventure of her own and is in Scotland right now attending Bible School for the next 10 months. We have been pretty sad for ourselves, but happy for her. Last Sunday we were able to talk to her on Skype while we were eating out after church.

6. Caleb is interested in doing an apprenticeship, but we have been having a hard time finding the right information. We have tentatively decided to enroll him in our local community collage to take a few classes which requires him to have a photo ID to take the placement test. Well, he doesn't have one and to get a photo ID costs almost $50. This required a crash course in the driver's manual so he could get his permit, plus he has been wanting to start driving so this isn't a bad thing.

7.  I found some apples in the freezer and since we will be getting 100 lbs of apples in a few weeks I decided that I better use them up and what better way than with apple crisp!

8. We passed this house on our way to the post office on 9/11. I don't know how well you can see the picture, but the front yard was filled with flags. I think what made it more memorable was that this part of town isn't the nicest and it was neat to drive down this street and all of sudden come upon this scene.

10. He did it! He went down and took the written test, passed it (the DMV lady couldn't believe he passed it on his first try), and now has his driving permit. I told him he has to have a couple of driving lessons with his dad (who is considered a professional driver) and then he can start escorting me around town. Actually, that is a scary thought...

Oh, the picture with the window in it that I forgot to number--that is new shades in the boys' room. They have lived all summer without anything on their windows (no worries, our house faces a wall so it is private). It amazed it how well they could sleep with sunlight in their eyes!