It’s officially fall. I know this because Pinterest keeps sending me pins of cute outfits with tall boots and scarves, and recipes for pumpkin spice lattes.
In past years, I would be saying we’re just getting started on school, but this year (for various reasons including early May AP exams and a September trip to London) we started in mid-August. So we’ve done 7 full weeks of school. The kids keep asking if this means we’re going to finish in April. Unlikely.
New rhythms: Friday poetry teas.
I don’t think we have any budding Tennysons or Dickinsons in the family, but I sure like reading poetry and drinking tea.
Also new to us are Jonah’s online classes. We’ve had classes online before, but this year he has set class times and virtual online classrooms with attendance as part of his grade. He’s being very faithful about it, but a 90-min online class Friday afternoon is kind of a drag.
New resources: for the first time, I’m using some materials from Teachers Pay Teachers. This lesson, from Mme R, was to create a menu for a French restaurant. Moriah had a blast with it.
I’m upping my geography game. So far it’s working, thanks to a globe I’m keeping in the living room, and a huge world map I hung in the dining room. Now, I throw out 1-2 geography questions every day (“Name three countries in the EU,” or “What are the countries laying claim to the South China Sea?”). We’re all learning.
Not working yet: third grade. She just hasn’t found a rhythm yet. Each of my kids have taken years to learn the lesson that getting the work goes better when you do it first (before Legos and cartwheels and bike rides and playing.) I can’t tell if it feels like it’s taking her forever to settle down to a routine is because I’ve already taught (and learned) this lesson multiple times, or because it really is.
Certainly when the older kids were figuring this out, I wasn’t driving anyone to swim team or dance in the afternoon, so I was available for helping/teaching in the late afternoon. This year: not so much. Right now, it’s hard.
How’s your rhythm this fall?
Learning As We Go 
K is actually my earliest kid for her age to get to reading but working on fluency. But once Ben got into college, I felt like, “What, we are still going over phonics? How come you can’t read, I taught Ben already?”
Head shake, back to trying things and writing plans.
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Exactly. I’m with you.
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Your 3rd grade problem is fascinating to me because I realize this is what I had been struggling over with my two girls over the past couple of years! We found our way, but I thought I was the only one with this problem. Thanks for the kinship. I hope your 3rd grader works it out!
This notebook thing has really changed the game for us. It keeps us all more disciplined than we would normally be.
http://amongstlovelythings.com/spiral-notebooks/
Also, giving the girls their own bedrooms has both reduced drama and increased productivity immensely. I credit Jesus for that idea.
Also, YOUR idea of going to Singapore math has been a huge gift! I thank you, and so do my children!
On another topic: Have you seen these “Draw Africa” and “Draw Europe” books? They’ve been on my list for awhile but I haven’t gotten to it yet. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1502918994
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I have been doing the spiral notebook planning this year, too- it has helped me keep track of things, but I still have too enforce every.single.thing. in the book.
So glad Singapore has been a hit! And I’m going to go look at the Draw Africa and Draw Europe books right now. Thanks!
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