To Read on the Journey

Monday, August 22, 2011

today was one of those moments

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Denise 
first day of school here in jonesville with an 8th grader, 7th grader, 
and 4th grader. you should have smacked me upside the head when 
i didn't believe you {when mine were little} that "it goes by fast." 
you were right. 

Comments 
 Karen All the smacking in the world could not have driven the truth home.
It just hits you in the heart at moments down the road.

Denise hits you in the heart hard. today was one of those moments.








first day of school photos taken after the traditional first day of school breakfast by our resident photographer.


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some fellow home school bloggers share their curriculum plan at the beginning of the school year.
i am always inspired by what you are doing and often find ideas for my own children.
here is what we have planned so far for this school year.


Math~ Teaching Textbooks
Noah- Algebra
Emilie- Pre-Algebra
Josie- Book 5
Language~
Institute of Excellence in Writing {IEW}
U.S. History Based Writing. Vol. 1
101 Way To Love A Book {various writing prompts & activities} 
Writing & Art Go Hand in Hand
Reading Together~ Narnia Series
{the girls and i read Little Women last year.  What a blessing!} 
History~ The Story of the World 
Volume 3: The American Revolution - Volume 4: The Gulf War. 
Science~ Physical Science
{weekly class with a teacher who LOVES science.  phew!} 

Spanish~ Rosetta Stone
Music~

Noah- guitar
Emilie & Josie- piano {& hopefully violin}

Plus a whole LOT more!! 

{btw- this is our first year using I.E.W.  if you have used it please tell me 
do you think we need spelling or grammar books in addition to the IEW curriculum?}

14 comments:

Grace DePledge said...

IEW is a great writing curriculum. It does not address grammar and spelling as separate parts, but expects those elements to be done correctly as part of good writing. I think part of the answer lies in your kids. Is Noah already a good speller who rarely makes mistakes? If so, maybe don't do spelling separately. If not you could add spelling or pick words for him to practice that he misses in writing. Personally in 7th grade and below I still always used a spelling and grammar program. The ultimate goal of those is to produce competent writers, but I think it's helpful to know the rules along with the writing.

mel @ the larson lingo said...

Happy 1st day of school! I love your kids school pictures. so cute. And, wow...your girls look SO much alike!!! They could be twins!

Kathleen said...

Such beautiful children, Denise! They're gorgeous.

Have a fabulous school year!

Holly said...

Hi~ I'm pretty sure that I found you by way of Lindsey a while back and have been lurking ever since:)

We love IEW and I think that IEW has a spelling curriculum??? Haven't used it though...


I think I need a good smack to remind me that the years go fast...

Hope your year is off to a good start~

TDM Wendy said...

Your kids are beautiful! You should take them to Starbucks and get them a hot chocolate or a cake pop. It's a coffee shop with a lot of coffees and treats.

grey rose (they/them) said...

adorable photos!
praying that your school days are off to a wonderful start!
xoxo

{cuppakim} said...

your school looks FUN. :)

for school, that is.


and your kids look fun too.

like mini-denises x3.

Tasha said...

I keep trying to take it slow with my little guys knowing it really will go much too quickly.

Gina said...

Hope you've had a great first day, we're getting started next week...I'm really looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time! :) We love the Story of the World, and are almost done with Narnia. I have LOVED reading these with the kids, I'm wondering what to do this year? Don't think my boy will go for Little Women!

Heather said...

I love your post! It helps remind me to savor the moments with my littles :) I love the curriculum plan that you've chosen for your kids! It's all curriculum that my families use with our charter. IEW is awesome. Students come out with great writing skills, although it's a rigorous course. I especially like their "banned" word system. Kids come out with little mini-thesauruses in their heads!
XOXO Heather

Kris said...

Hi Denise,
We are home from Bass Lake and I was exploring your blog a little bit, and discovered you are lindsey's sil. So, you must be married to her brother? I know her folks live at the lake. I will be at Blog Sugar with my daughter. I look forward to meeting you both! I didn't get to have a fudge bucket at Miller's. But we ate just about every other single thing that they offer!!! LOVE BASS LAKE!!!
Where do you live in relationship to the lake?
Kris

Linda Z said...

Your kiddos are just gorgeous... just like their mama! :) But I hate the growing up moments and I wish they would stop!

I've heard really good things about the IEW curriculum.

I'm all set to blog about you tomorrow! :)

Simply Sara said...

happy first day.
you are a good mommy.
xoxo

LittleGreenThread said...

I'm a new reader & just wanted to say hi.
I recently blogged about my decision to homeschool my children & one of my readers linked me to your blog. Glad to have found you!