A NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year!

We start back to school tomorrow....that was one quick break, but much needed and much loved! We are ready to get back to the books and hit it hard for the next 3 months! I hate the cold and am ready to just snuggle in and get the work done so when the weather warms up we can play!

My plans for December and doing a book a day and making a craft didn't quite pan out. I think we got three books and crafts done. Ah, oh well, that's the joys of homeschooling. I do have several books we were going to read that relate to the winter months and snow so I think we will continue to do those. Homeschool Creations just posted printables for "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats. See here for the link to the homepage with literature based printables. Luca loves the fun things they create. They are quick and easy.

The start of the new year is bringing us to the start of some new topics. I like ending, before our big breaks, by wrapping up some of the subjects and topics. Everything worked out great this year. In health we finished up the organs and will be moving onto the brain and nervous system. In math we finished MathUSee Gamma and are moving onto Delta. We should progress pretty quickly through the beginning of Delta and then start the long division. Luca will be starting MUS Primer. He is pretty good at counting so we will start working more on recognizing numbers and writing them. In science we have one last chapter in Chemistry and we will be moving onto Physics. We finished "Tree in the Trail" for Geography and decided before moving onto the next book we will do a mini unit on Native Americans from the Great Plains area. Reading has us wrapping up the book "Loser" and then we are going to start working on Spectrums workbook for Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary.

This year is also bringing a change in my work schedule which is throwing a crimp in our school schedule...but we will make it work. Every other week I now have to work Tuesday night as well as Sat, Sun, and Mon. We have decided to split up the subjects between Monday and Tuesday and fill Wed, Thurs, and Friday. We may end up with some carryover into Saturday, but we'll play it by ear and tweak it as we need to.

I am not big on making resolutions because I can never stick to them, but Nico made one for me this year. To paint our bathrooms and to redecorate his room. I will start working on that by the middle of January. We have also decided to do some major decluttering and selling of old toys and items that are sitting around and stuffed in closets. I started, well my husband started, by selling my Saturn SC2 today! He practically sold it right out from under me....but that is okay, we had discussed it, but I didn't realize it would happen so quickly. I feel a bit lost because it was the first item I bought after getting divorced in 1994. I traded in my van three days after the divorce for that car. So, next on my list is trying to sell the old Super Nintendo and Playstation and all the games. Really, why am I keeping them and moving them from one place to the other. The boys will be plugging them in and trying out all the games this week to see what works and what doesn't. Also on the list of sales is the Fisher Price items. The boys just don't play with them. I have kept them since Brian was little, but it is time for another little boy or boys to enjoy them rather than collect dust.

I am definitely looking forward to a fun start of the year even though it sounds like work.