Update July 10

As of today, we officially have 179 of the required 180 days for the 2008/2009 school year.

I had originally planned to officially start our next school year in September, but realized that it would really work better for us to keep it at August 1. We're in a "school mode" right now and even though I'm 7 weeks away from BABY DAY, I would hate to miss counting those days toward next year.

If you remember, last week I planned out the 2009/2010 School Year. In those plans I expected that *B* would finish Singapore 2B, *C* would get to Review 2 in 2A, and Latin's Not So Tough 1 would be completed. So, that's what we've been working on.

LNST 1:
Pages 73-80 (ui, review, bs, bt)

*C* PM 2A: Exercises 8-16

*B* PM 2B:
I mixed up her schedule a bit. I didn't want to bombard her with all of the "hard" stuff at once. (Mainly multiplication facts.) So, over the next few weeks she's doing a little multiplication every day and the rest of the book out of order. This week she did - Review 1 & exercises 13-16, 24-31, 40-45. (x4, money, fractions)

I've also discovered Timez Attack! It's a free video/computer game that teaches the multiplication facts 2-12. We don't have/play video games so this was a BIG treat. They begged every single day to play it.

*T* got jealous so I checked into

and he thinks it's God's gift to children. :)

Beautiful Sunset

Freedom Festival 2009

Our church sponsors an event every July 4th. We're situated on a pretty busy street in town, so lots of people saw what was going on!

We love Rick Strickland, so we were super excited that he came! He even took the kids on a parade around the yard.

*L* with his "adopted" Mamaw. He loves her so much!

Planning My CM Education

I bought the Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education ebook a while ago. Just this week I started to really get down to business with it. I just have to say that it really really helped me break the year up and set some goals. Even if you're not planning a CMish school year, it would still be an invaluable resource.

I'm not going to go into great detail (since that would give away the whole book) but I'll tell a little about what I did.

From the Table of Contents:
Step 1: Big Picture
Step 2: Your Year
Step 3: Your Term
Step 4: Your Week
Step 5: Your Day

BIG PICTURE: This helped me put everything into perspective. I laid everything out that was required for graduation, or that was just important to me.

YOUR YEAR: First of all, I had to find a calendar that I really liked. (Why do I have to be so picky?) So after a while of searching I made my own.
eta: I've had a few requests for the calendar...
Blank Calendars: Aug 2009 - Jul 2010 or Sep 2009 - Aug 2010



The orange boxes are scheduled days off. I used this chart to make sure that our year was a more balanced, year round approach.

YOUR TERM: I broke the year and curricula into terms/quarters/semesters.

YOUR WEEK: Basically used the info on the website, but a little more in depth.

YOUR DAY: I just recently (also this week) put together my MOTH schedule, so I already knew which hours I would do school. All I had left to do was schedule those 4 hours.

I highly recommend this book!

WonderWorks in Pigeon Forge

We had so much fun! The kids were very disappointed that they didn't get to go to camp, so my loving mother paid for a trip to WonderWorks.

We decided to eat breakfast at FlapJack's in Sevierville before we went to the museum. It's one of our favorite places.



The little guy got a bear shaped waffle.



Then we drove 2 miles down the road to the "upside down house," as the kids call it.

From photo album: Wonderworks

It really was neat. (Click on the link above to see the entire album.)

I have to tell you though... the entry really got me! (This picture is from their website.) The lights spun around you and I had to hold tight to the rails... I almost fell over!! You couldn't see ANYTHING but the lights spinning.

 Ok, now my favorite part. I loved seeing the glass on the restroom change! I remembered seeing an episode of CSI: Miami, I think, that had them.





One more favorite part. :) There were a few sculptures made of scrap metal. They looked like nothing. But when the light shined on them at a certain angle the shadow... well see for yourself! WOW!