We're still not starting school....

Most of Michigan's public schools begin the new school year tomorrow, Tuesday, September 2nd. Many of my homeschool friends are following suit.

We, on the other hand, won't start our 2014-15 lessons until next Monday, the 8th.

A friend asked me why and I gave her a couple of reasons, but as I thought about it, I realized I'd only given her part of the story.

Quite a few reasons figured into my decision to wait another week before hitting the books this fall.
1 - I hate starting on a  Tuesday. Mondays are my best "get school done" days.
2 - I have a work commitment this Wednesday and therefore will be out of the house most of that day. Great second day of school THAT would be.
3 - I have NO planning done yet. I mean that. None. So, I need this week to plan.
4 - We were originally thinking about going out of town this week - until I realized that A) I have to work on Wednesday and B) We had to buy a new alternator instead of a vacation.
5 - My summer hasn't been long enough! And now we have some nice weather! I don't WANNA sit inside.
6 - And last, the public schoolers are starting, but that's no reason for us to copy their schedule. I don't copy their snow days, government holidays, or end of school schedule, so I don't need to worry about when the first day of public school is either.

So, this week will involve lots of lesson plans. I hope to post some of that!

And best wishes to all those starting their lessons on September 2nd. I'll think of you! :-)

In which no lesson plans have been created....

Here are my lesson plans 45 hours before we start lessons for 2013-14.

 (Yes, in case you are wondering if something is wrong with your screen, that page is blank.)

This may be the least prepared I have ever been at this point.

Check back later and see how this pans out....

First Day of Lessons

The first day of lessons begins like every other day, with cereal. But earlier.











Traditionally we have a treasure hunt to find our new school supplies. However, only my 5th grader was interested in a hunt. My senior didn't even WANT an Avengers or Corvette folder! Can you believe it? So Suzy did the hunt by herself. I've been using pre-made clues from The Treasure Hunt Book (Klutz) for years now.

New school supplies are a tradition too. Apparently 7th grade (and even 10th!) is not too old for neat folders. Heck, I like them myself!

David is listening to Huckleberry Finn. I think. 

Here are what our monthly lesson sheets look like.







And here are Emily and Suzanne working on the laptops.

"Night Before Lessons" Ice Cream Sundaes!

Our First Day of Lessons tradition is to have ice cream sundaes for lunch! But this year we broke with tradition and had "Night Before Lessons" ice cream sundaes.

Why? Because 3 of the kids had soccer that night, including David's 1st game, we decided that ice cream would not be a satisfying lunch.

Ice Cream Sundaes

As I mentioned, ice cream sundaes are our traditional first day lunch. Yes, lunch.

First Day of Lessons

Our first day was September 13th, a little later than most Michiganders and a lot later than those of you down South. That's ok - works for us.

The first day for Cornerstone Home Learning never has an academic focus. We always have new school supplies, a treasure hunt, and ice cream sundaes for lunch. This year was no different, though I changed up the treasure hunt for a letterbox. The picture is Emily reading the clues.

What's a letterbox? It's like geocaching, if you've heard of that, except without the GPS. Letterboxing is something I've heard of for a long time and wanted to try. How do you do it?

1 - Decide on a box to search for. (Use your zip code, or someplace you are traveling to.)
2 - Go there and read the clues.
3 - When you find the box, it should have a rubber stamp for you to stamp in YOUR logbook and you should stamp your own rubber stamp in the book inside the letterbox.

Easy peasy, right? There happened to be a letterbox hidden right in our town, within walking distance, so we took a short stroll and searched for it. James is walking near one of the things mentioned in the clues.

And we found it! The clues were confusing, but we found it! David actually found it. In the picture, he is holding the "letterbox" and opening it.

All of my kids were into this, from the 8 year old to the teens. Here Suzy is holding the logbook from the letterbox.

I encourage you to give it a try! What a fun family activity!

I will post some ice cream pictures separately.

Jumping Back In

I spent my energy teaching this week instead of blogging. LOL My goal was to jump right back into the routine on Monday and do a full week of lessons.

We did it! I didn't add in science for anyone except David, but we did all our other subjects. Even history, which has been a sticking point for us all year.

I decided to just move Emily on in math even though she still can't consistently do a couple of non-essential concepts. She needs to get on with the basics. So, who cares about the area of a parallelogram? Do YOU know how to do it without looking?

David had fun with the microscope again. He was catching up on some of his assignments from units before we got the scope. One of the things he looked at was algae, similar to the photo here. He seems to really enjoy his choice for literature - Tolkien's Silmarillion for literature. Challenging choice!

Suzy surprised me with her good attitude toward her phonics and reading. An older friend has been encouraging her with reading and hopefully that is helping. She also wanted to do Spelling (which I generally don't start until age 8 or 3rd grade) so we did a little Spelling also.

My speedy one is James. He plugs away at his work without distraction until it is finished. He is usually first to complete his assignments each day. He is reading Farmer Boy (and so is Emily, though it's easy for her) and seems to find it interesting. We are doing a free lapbook study to enhance the story.

10 Instant De-Stressors

Today we started back to our regular lessons. What can I say about it?

Some of it went well - David sang during the hymn time. That helps on the first day of the month when the little ones can't necessarily keep up with following along. He loves his new literature choice - The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. (Yeah, I'm surprised too.)

Suzy read a whole Bob book without whining!

James got all his work done in a timely manner and mostly cheerfully. He seems to like his new book too - Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Notice someone missing?

'Nuff said.

Anyway, I was perusing the Feb. 1 issue of Woman's Day from the library and ran across an article called 10 Instant Destressors. I can't locate the article online, or I'd link you. So, I'll list them here for you. Maybe one of them will help, if you had a stressful day.

1 - Listen to slow music.
2 - Give yourself a time-out.
3 - Burn a scented candle.
4 - Laugh.
5 - Lend a hand (help someone out).
6 - Walk with a friend.
7 - Listen up. (Give emotional support to someone.)
8 - Chew sugarless gum.
9 - Distract yourself. (Their example was BEJEWELED! lol I love Bejeweled!)
10 - Loosen your clothing.

I think I'll go play some Bejeweled.

First Day of Lessons

Long overdue this post is....

From School Year 2009-10

Here they all are on our first day of lessons, more than a week ago now. Our first day is generally a Bible lesson, a treasure hunt (complete with clues) with school supplies as the prize, and ice cream sundaes for lunch. This year was no exception!

From School Year 2009-10

From School Year 2009-10

From School Year 2009-10

From School Year 2009-10

More photos HERE:

When Will We Start?

When are you starting?

That's the question everyone's asking!

Some people have already started, even way up north here in Michigan. But not us! We're not hitting the books just yet.

A lot of my friends are beginning their lessons on the day after Labor Day - September 8th - but not us! I am going to a book sale on 9/8 and another on 9/9. Trying to make some money!

We will have our first "official" day on 9/10. Our first day is traditionally ice cream sundaes for lunch and a treasure hunt to find our new school supplies. 9/11 is our first day of our new co-op year.

So, it looks like we'll start in earnest on Monday 9/14.

First Day Lunch

Our First Day of Lessons is traditionally celebrated with ice cream sundaes for lunch. Today was no exception!