Summer Plans

I said that I was going to post our summer plans. I have several goals for this summer, some academically, some personally, and I also have some plans for this blog.

I think I will start with the plans I have for this blog. The major change I plan to undertake is to write a little bit of our background, our history. Judging by my "stats" page, I am gaining a few more readers, and for those new to my blog I feel I should "re-introduce" myself. I began writing three years ago, and just about every aspect of my life EXCEPT home schooling has changed since then. I also plan to talk a little bit more about our particular situation. If homeschooling is still an "eccentric" way of life, then how much MORE odd is it to have a single, divorced, stay at home mom doing it all on her own? No husband, no income, no baby sitters, and no family other than my daughters? Hopefully, over the next few weeks/months I can address the girls and I's own unique, personal situation in a little more depth. I'd also like to try to address WHY I am divorced, when divorce goes against everything I believe in, both as a Christian, and as a wife and mother. This part I am still having a few issues in how to approach. I have so much to tell, but I'd like to do it without "invading" too much of my girls and my ex-husband, and my own privacy. And yet, I feel it is important to write down, not only for my daughters, but for any of you moms that may be reading this.

As for academic goals....those are so much more concrete, and therefore so much easier to write about. For C, my 7th grader...our goals are relatively simple. She will be spending 4-5 days a week or more either playing softball, practicing softball, or watching her little sister's softball games. This is C's 6th year in softball. I also plan to have C continue with her violin lessons. She has only had 3 lessons, but I am actually quite amazed at how well she is doing, how hard she is practicing, and how fast her teacher is advancing her. She has passionately wanted to take violin lessons for 4 years, and so far she is exceeding my expectations. (To be quite honest, she is under threat....she knows I have NO income, and those $15 a week lessons REALLY hurt. She knows if she DOESN'T advance quickly I will consider it a waste of not only time, but much needed money, and the lessons will stop.) As for school work...C and I usually do very intermittent school over the summer break. She is already a month into HER break, and we haven't done one thing, which is fine. My goals for her school work are to maybe get one more whole chapter of Math done, and maybe one chapter of Science. And if not....well, then she and I can both enjoy a first....a summer with NO school. At least for her.

E's goals for the summer? Well, E is also in softball....her second year. She will be at the ball park on all the same days as her sister. E will also be continuing piano lessons. I am her piano teacher, and our lessons are very sporadic. I may do 3 lessons in one week, and then go a month doing NO lessons. Anyone who reads this blog knows E is just as much or more passionate about the piano as her sister is with violin. E still plays at a beginner level, but that is mostly due to my busy days and not being consistent enough as her teacher. She memorizes everything, she plays every day, hours a day, and would advance MUCH quicker if I spent more time being able to teach the "extras", like piano. I am hoping with less school work, I can do better at teaching E more.

I also have quite a few school work plans for E. As I said in my last post I hope to have her complete Level 2 of First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, and in addition, have her finish the second half of her Harcourt Learning Language Arts workbook. I also plan to begin and hopefully, complete several of her McRuffy Science 3 lessons while we have time. Science is one of those FUN, but TIME-CONSUMING, classes, and this will be the first year I have home schooled and had the 2 girls in 2 separate science classes. They have always done the Apologia science books together till now. Because of these 2 reasons, I think summer would be a good chance to get ahead with E's science, when we can spend more time since I am not working much with C for a few months.

My MAJOR goal is to have E writing completely in cursive by August. Um....for those of you that are long-time readers....yeah, I know that I may have mentioned this goal of E writing in cursive one or two times in the past. THIS time I MEAN it! LOL E has severe handwriting issues----to the extent that I believe she may have a form of dysgraphia, and I have had to spend far more time just helping her better her PRINTING, than introducing her to CURSIVE.

This isn't necessarily a GOAL, but I have it in the back of my mind to get E through at least the first 20 or so lessons in Horizons Math 3. Math is her favorite subject, and Horizons has so many lessons that it would be NICE to get part of them done, but because she does so well with it, I don't consider it IMPERATIVE.

So...in a nutshell...our summer plans are to carry on with music lessons, get through the hot, humid days of softball, spend quite a bit of time on E's schoolwork, but not every day, and not too MUCH time that she can't be a kid and enjoy playing and being with her friends. And ideally, I will find a way to go into some rather personal things writing here on this blog, without getting TOO personal.There is, literally, TONS in my brain, just itching to get out in print, yet I have to be careful what and how I say things. And if you know me, I am NOT a censor-my-words kind of gal. So...we'll see if I am able to meet this goal.

Blessings to all of you, and Happy Memorial Day. : )