Homeschooling~A Fresh Quarter

I divide my school year into quarters. There's a couple of reasons for this and they are not fancy. My history/lit curriculum (Tapestry of Grace) is divided this way and I find that 9 weeks of teacher's manual fit nicely into one notebook. I like the idea of totally putting away one notebook and taking out the next. :) It feels clean and fresh and I do love *clean and fresh.*


This weekend I'll be busy making sure everything from the first quarter is graded and recorded and removing the kids' first 9 weeks out of their student notebooks and putting them in a "We're Finished With It" notebook. 

Last week I made sure we had all of the books we needed and I showed them to the kids. I let them choose from a list of literature books 3 that they would read and analyze before Christmas. That gives them two weeks to complete each one. 


Homeschooling is such a fluid process. It's always moving and flowing. It would be nice to think that I would buy a curriculum and discover a method to use with my firstborn and do the exact same thing with each successive child. But schooling individuals (at least in my family) doesn't seem to work that way. Each child/now teen is completely different from the others. We use the same basic curricula in most cases (but not all) but interpret it differently.

One major difference between High School with Tyler and High School with my younger two is with Tyler I really pushed him with a larger amount of material. With my other two I am working hard at showing them what to do with the material. I mean, I did that with Tyler too, just not at the same level. The younger two are taking more tests and we spend much time looking at what is on a test and where it is in the material and how to prioritize your notes. Hopefully, both approaches are "Spirit-led" as I do pray God will lead me as I teach. 


So...this week is a fresh start which I love. I'm going to try hard to leave no loose ends on the last quarter but to have it all graded, recorded and organized. I learned that lesson the hard way with Tyler as I was grading certain courses 3 years later for his transcripts. NOT COOL!! Every day is a new day and a new chance to do things better. :)