Is being ready for school an impossible dream? I do remember some years--back in ancient history--when I had time to prepare to my heart's content and have everything ready before we started. This year I mostly just feel mentally unready. It seems to me like summer should just be getting going now, not ending! The weather and electricity are helping to get me in gear today, though. It's cooler and darker, so it feels like autumn, and the electricity is out, so I'm working by cozy candlelight. (So, no photos today either.)
While I've been mentally unready, I have been able to sort things out physically a good bit. When we first moved to this house, we moved right at the beginning of a school year. Our school stuff pretty much got dumped into our room, and everything has been almost the same since then. Now I've sorted it out some, and it looks better.
Other prep is actually pretty easy, because a while back I gave up fitting the work of a school year into an actual school year. Everyone moves at their own pace, even if it's faster or slower than "average." When a school year ends, we stop, and when it starts again we pick up where we left off.
What is really different this year is that Bogdan is starting official school! I am going to be doing a mix of AmblesideOnline Years 0 and 1 with him. Right now we just have a checklist of three things for him for each day, and we'll add to it slowly as he is ready. The list is reading lesson (still working on Russian there), one AO reading (first Year 0 books, then Year 1 readings later on), and working on something from this list. Of course, he'll still be with us in "Morning School,"* and he gets a lot out of that. Also, he will be continuing at art school, and he's going to try participating in the church children's choir with his sisters. I say "try" because both he and I aren't sure how he'll do with the long practices during nap time and sitting still on the stage. He'll probably love it, though, and I hope it will make up for not having the preschool singing and rhythm classes that he loved so much last year.
{In the next part I almost hesitate to say which specific AO years we're in, because they sound like grade levels, and then our kids are "behind." I'll just repeat something that is said often: they're not necessarily equivalent to grades. Also, something that I love about AO is that it is so rich that even the earliest years are a feast. I have considered jumping forward some, but since we're enjoying it all so much, moving along at our own pace still seems just right.}
Asya will continue where she left off with AO Year 2 Term 2 and MEP for math. She will be in fourth class at art school. This is her second year at music school, so she will be moving on from recorder to real flute.
At home Raia will be working on AO Year 4 and MEP. At art school she's in sixth class, and she'll be joining the culinary class that Asya loves so much. I think she's in her third year at music school? Or fourth? Everything there should be about the same as it was last year, but we haven't met with her teachers yet to know for sure.
Jaan just has the tiniest bit of AO Year 5 to finish up in our first week back, then he'll start Year 6. He wants to stay with Khan Academy for math. The two of us do Visual Latin together. This will be his last year of piano. (Wow!) He also has a computer and robotics club he really loves that will be starting up again soon. And theater group at church.
And last but not least: I'm going to try art school! The adult class meets twice a week, but I'm just signing up for one evening a week. We'll see how that goes.
*Morning School is what we do all together every day. Maybe I can write another post about that. It's worthy of its own space. :-)
While I've been mentally unready, I have been able to sort things out physically a good bit. When we first moved to this house, we moved right at the beginning of a school year. Our school stuff pretty much got dumped into our room, and everything has been almost the same since then. Now I've sorted it out some, and it looks better.
Other prep is actually pretty easy, because a while back I gave up fitting the work of a school year into an actual school year. Everyone moves at their own pace, even if it's faster or slower than "average." When a school year ends, we stop, and when it starts again we pick up where we left off.
What is really different this year is that Bogdan is starting official school! I am going to be doing a mix of AmblesideOnline Years 0 and 1 with him. Right now we just have a checklist of three things for him for each day, and we'll add to it slowly as he is ready. The list is reading lesson (still working on Russian there), one AO reading (first Year 0 books, then Year 1 readings later on), and working on something from this list. Of course, he'll still be with us in "Morning School,"* and he gets a lot out of that. Also, he will be continuing at art school, and he's going to try participating in the church children's choir with his sisters. I say "try" because both he and I aren't sure how he'll do with the long practices during nap time and sitting still on the stage. He'll probably love it, though, and I hope it will make up for not having the preschool singing and rhythm classes that he loved so much last year.
{In the next part I almost hesitate to say which specific AO years we're in, because they sound like grade levels, and then our kids are "behind." I'll just repeat something that is said often: they're not necessarily equivalent to grades. Also, something that I love about AO is that it is so rich that even the earliest years are a feast. I have considered jumping forward some, but since we're enjoying it all so much, moving along at our own pace still seems just right.}
Asya will continue where she left off with AO Year 2 Term 2 and MEP for math. She will be in fourth class at art school. This is her second year at music school, so she will be moving on from recorder to real flute.
At home Raia will be working on AO Year 4 and MEP. At art school she's in sixth class, and she'll be joining the culinary class that Asya loves so much. I think she's in her third year at music school? Or fourth? Everything there should be about the same as it was last year, but we haven't met with her teachers yet to know for sure.
Jaan just has the tiniest bit of AO Year 5 to finish up in our first week back, then he'll start Year 6. He wants to stay with Khan Academy for math. The two of us do Visual Latin together. This will be his last year of piano. (Wow!) He also has a computer and robotics club he really loves that will be starting up again soon. And theater group at church.
And last but not least: I'm going to try art school! The adult class meets twice a week, but I'm just signing up for one evening a week. We'll see how that goes.
*Morning School is what we do all together every day. Maybe I can write another post about that. It's worthy of its own space. :-)
