Perhaps you should sit down

Put that laptown on a safe perch. Move your beverage of choice to a location where you won't accidentally knock it all over your keyboard.

This is a homeschooling post.

Why yes, dear reader. Long, long ago, this started as a homeschooling blog. A whole bunch of you still come here from the well trained mind site only to learn about rescue dogs and cleaning carpets and floppy stomachs.

But today is different. Today I'll discuss our homeschooling plans for the year. Enjoy because who knows when I'll work my way back around to this topic again.

Both children are studying pretty much the same things, at different levels, and sometimes using different resources. Here's a quick snapshot of what we're up to. I'll just list the major resources we're using.

English LA:
-Explode the Code
-Phonics Pathways for phonics & spelling
-Key Words with Ladybird
-Write with the Best (Amelia)
-whacks of books from the library

Math:
-Singapore Math
-So You Really want to Learn Maths! from Galore Park

French:
-So You Really want to Learn French! from Galore Park

History:
We're taking a detour to Canadian history this fall. I'm hoping to finish by Christmas or end of Jan at the latest, and then we go back to the Ancients.
-Canada, A People's History plus whatever books from the library look interesting

Arabic: (YES, Arabic! Egyptian Arabic. Latin has been shoved aside in favour of Arabic.)
-Pimsleur & Rosetta Stone (free access from a local library!!!)
(& may I just say how bloody hard Arabic is? Lesson One of Pimsleur had me spitting on myself and I just couldn't get anything beyond 'ingleezie'. And I already knew that from Amelia Peabody.)

Science: (not arrived yet because I didn't order it until late)
-So You Really Want to Learn Science! (Yes! Galore Park again)

Art:
I think we'll pull out Artistic Pursuits again. We didn't finish the 2nd book the last time around.

Cooking:
-weekly cooking afternoon. Kids will pick a recipe, make sure supplies are available & prepare the recipe.

Extras:
-gymnastics for Hugo
-sewing for Amelia
-english riding for both - still to be arranged
-fostering animals & volunteering at the animal shelter
-attempt to resuscitate a girls craft club
-still pondering something else for Hugo, like a lego or robot club or something....
-garden
-winter bird count for Birds Canada

As always - weekly library visits, piles of books & audio books, Zip DVD membership

Schoolwork every morning M-F and no outside appointments or classes before 1 pm. Phone is not answered before 12:30 pm (no hardship as we actually never answer the phone)

I think that's it. Year 9, here we go.