Now we return to our regularly scheduled programming

Yay! School's back in session! I, for one, am ecstatic about this. You might think, after looking at the pictures below, that the kids aren't nearly as jazzed about this as I am,

but you would be wrong. Okay...so Maya isn't all that excited about having to get up by eight in the morning, but other than that, she's on board.

We're trying something different this year. That's the beauty of homeschooling. If something doesn't work, then you try something else. 

We usually take about nine weeks of school off per year. That doesn't include holidays like Memorial Day or Labor Day. We take a big bulk of that time off at once during June and July...and every single year, right smack dab in the middle of this time off, the kids start getting antsy. They bicker more often, they complain about the heat, they want more television, more Wii, less outside time...

Steven and I have come up with a different approach.

We are planning a year long curriculum, breaking it into four equal parts and taking two weeks off in between each quarter. We'll take an extra week for Thanksgiving and be in school during both the coldest and hottest times of the year when the kids can't stand to be outside anyway. 

It's an idea that all of us like, plus they still get the same amount of time off. I had worked hard on my schedule and curriculum, but with a bit of tweaking, got it to fit exactly right. Our first official day back was August 1st and it felt great to slip into that schedule again.

Scott is a fourth grader this year, although I have had to bulk up a lot of his lesson plans because they weren't substantial enough for him. I pulled a lot of things for Social Studies, Lang Arts and science for him from a fifth grade curriculum, and he's reading at an eighth grade level, so his independent reading choices are hardly what an average fourth grader would pick.

Maya is in the same boat. She's officially a seventh grader...but only in science and math. Her scores for reading were off the chart, which means she's way above high school level, and I had to boost her 9th -10th grade spelling list with a page or two of Spelling Bee Challenge words just to keep it interesting. (I don't want her falling asleep at the table now, do I?) Her U.S. History, World Geography and map skills are an eighth grade level as is her Lang Arts curriculum. 

All three of us are learning Spanish this year, as well. We bought the Rosetta Stone Homeschooler Edition for Level I Spanish and are off to a good start. After two years of Japanese, Maya decided upon a course change in her foreign language studies. They will both be sticking with piano, and Scott has also picked up the guitar. (Thank goodness for Steven. He keeps those music class bills cheap.) :)

We have decided against joining the swim team again for this fall, but the kids have a couple weeks left in their summer league for bowling and are already signed up for the fall homeschooler's bowling league that begins on September 7th. Although they are not part of New WAVE, both Maya and Scott continue to swim several times a week, practicing their strokes and flip turns. We are always open to new opportunities that may arise. 

Even Joey is ready for school. He likes it when the kids are at the table all day long. He gets lots of snacks and belly scratches and he can keep his eye on all three of us at the same time. He might even be learning something while we're in school. It's hard to tell, but he seems as happy to be back on a regular schedule as the rest of us are.