How could I ignore all of that enthusiasm??? I decided I better take it while I can get it, so yesterday I sat down with their planners and wrote down their first week. Ms 12 yo and Mr 11 yo got started by 8:00 and were essentially done with the work I had planned by 9:30. Ms 8 yo and Mr 6 yo were as equally enthusiastic, however it took them a bit longer since they had to do all of their subjects with me.
If I can just interject a thought about schedules for a moment...I realized again today that a schedule doesn't just keep me on track and on task, it helps in one other area. As I explained to Ms 12 yo and Mr 11 yo, I have a schedule set out so that I can help everyone that needs my help. That's great that they got all their work done in record time, however, because they were working ahead of schedule, they expected me to be available to them. While it would be nice if I could teach them all different subjects at once, I can't, so they kept interrupting my work with the youngest two. I tried to explain this to them and I hope that as we progress we will all fall into a nice schedule that works for everyone.
It was good to see how fast they could get through the seat work that I had planned for them since it gives me hope that we will indeed have ample time for our geography and unit study! I'm planning out a unit study based on the book about Fr. Marquette to go along with our study of the geography of the United States. I hope to have that done and available soon :)
This week begins some of our clubs and it is also the Sandwich Fair (the biggest county fair in the State of Illinois, btw). Many of us have projects entered so it is always fun to go and see if any of us won ribbons.
Hope your school year is off to a good start!
