Time for another entry, that is.  Time to start school for real.  ACK...I'm  not ready.  My house isn't perfectly organized like I wanted it to be.  Our calendar is filling up way too fast.  I can't handle all these 'extra' events that just keep coming and coming.  How does that keep happening?? 

Last week, we did some flashcard review and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the boys have gotten their addition/subtraction facts down.  We drilled families 1-11, I'd show the flashcard and whoever got it first received a mini-chocolate chip.  I was worried one would WAY outdo the other, but they traded off the lead each day.  We also drilled over the phonics special sounds....man, having those flashcards donated is going to be a great help.  I remember drilling over the phonics charts every single day in second grade as a class (they used Abeka at my school).  I have neglected to do this enough I think...really cementing it in their heads.  Well....no more.  My hope is with all this review and daily drilling, they will have more confidence as they do their seatwork (especially David).  I am planning to have them do their seatwork more on their own this year.  Hoping that will work.  I went ahead and started Anna's regular work last week...it's so easy for her right now, but it gets harder pretty fast.

We also did our first lesson in Zoology, covering the classification of animals....yikes, lots of big, Latin words!  And we covered the principles of flight, which was really cool.  And talked about habitats, instinct and extinction.  Now, this week we are going to jump to lesson 9, an introduction to insects. 

David's birthday is today!  We aren't celebrating until tomorrow night.  Actually.....I am posting about 10 minutes after he was born 9 years ago!  He was born around 9:05am.  He went out to camp with Matt this morning for session....he wanted Hairy (the puppet) to sing to him.    We're having a family supper tomorrow evening with Matt's mom (spaghetti-david's favorite) and presents.  I'm making him a border collie cake with "Rob" on it (his favorite sheep dog from our friend's farm) and we're having some of the neighbor kids over for cake.  Then, we're going out to Harvest Home Farms for a bonfire and smores...and "Rob" will attend.   "Betty" gets to come too.   

I guess I'll post our daily schedule for this fall too.  This is how our school days will go ideally.  I think there are some segments where there's some flexibility built in.  Not every activity will take up it's whole slot, I don't think.  The key to this whole thing working is kicking myself out of bed on time!!

6:30 - mom and Betty run

7:00 - coffee, devo, shower

7:45 - KIDS UP

8:00 - breakfast, morning chores

8:30 - Bible

9:00 - Mom do Math, Phonics, Writing with Anna, Boys do spelling/writing copywork then take break, Leah watch video

10:00 - Mom teach boys Math and Language lessons, Anna play with Leah

11:00 - Boys do seatwork pages for Math and Language Arts, Mom do Anna's Science or History reading and her reading practice when applicable.  

12:00 - Lunch

1:00 - Boys alternate reading to mom, Leah nap, Anna break

1:30 - Do science or history reading with boys

2:00 - project time (science or craft)

3:00 - OUTSIDE (15 minutes of piano practice somewhere in here for boys)

5:30 - supper

7:30 - ready for bed, evening chores

8:00 - bedtime stories

8:30 - individual reading time

8:45 - LIGHTS OUT 

'Whew'.  Now, off to finish cleaning up since we're having company tomorrow evening and I am planning to start the full school schedule tomorrow.  We also have to do grocery shopping this afternoon and I should really get the cake as much done as I can tonight.  I know I won't have much time tomorrow.  I don't anticipate having much time to post here until this weekend.