School Adjustments.

We are entering our 4th week of school today and things are going well. Because we took a week and a half off while family was visiting, I decided to focus on reviewing some things last week and getting the kids back on schedule. I'm glad that I took the time to use the week to also reevaluate our daily routine and curriculum. Since then, I have decided to make a couple of changes.

For curriculum, things are going great and I am very happy with what we have except for a minor exception. I decided to switch Isabella's kindergarten handwriting to Handwriting Without Tears. The CHC handwriting course is very nice and I like that the lessons are short, but I have not been happy with it's instruction on letter formation. Since I have used HWT K for Marco in the past with success, I've decided to give it a try with Isabella. We will still be keeping up with work in Writing Our Catholic Faith.

For grammar, we have been using Rod and Staff English 2 for Marco, along with First Language Lessons. Both books are great...FLL has a bit more drill in terminology and R&S seems a bit more rigorous in practice. In the end, I decided to drop FLL. Marco absolutely loves doing R&S (a big surprise for me!) so this wasn't a difficult choice to make. I'm also planning on continuing with R&S for the future, so it was the most logical decision to drop FLL.

In the scheduling department, things are still being worked out. We are starting school about 30 minutes later than before the baby was born. I imagine that once the baby starts sleeping longer through the night, we should go back to starting at 8am. I have also been clumping Marco and Isabella for more lessons; this has been shortening our times and is working well. Once we get our kinks out, I plan on making a new updated schedule to post.

We are learning as we go, but things are going as I would like them to!! Baby Jimmy is doing great with out school and daily schedules. I'm hoping that things keep rolling along pleasantly.