Something New ~ a memoir

I used to like to add something new all the time. I think I had an aversion to doing the same thing. I liked to change houses, I enjoyed moving my furniture around, I loved traveling, and I wanted to change homeschool curriculum every year or more :)

However, my life now involves so much change and newness that I really do love having a homeschool curriculum that we have used for 3 years now. Ambleside online is so great. As a part of that there are new books every year, every term in fact we start new books. So, in that way it doesn't get old. But it has enough continuity that we can all get into a comfortable routine of how we do things.

So that said, new stuff for this year:
I am looking into possibly integrating Mystery of History in for history... we'll see. And I'm really impressed with Heart of Wisdom for Bible and adding an element of delight directed study. All will have to complement our AO schedule. So without further ado:

(new AO titles for year 4)
George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster
Poor Richard by James Daugherty
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie S. Bober
The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch preface to 14
The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
A Book of Golden Deeds by Charlotte Yonge
Bambi by Felix Salten
The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
Little Britches series by Ralph Moody
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight
Gentle Ben by Walt Morey
Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
Return To Gone Away by Elizabeth Enright
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia Hale
Calico Captive (girl interest) or The Sign of the Beaver (boy interest) by Elizabeth George Speare
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Tree of Freedom by Rebecca Caudill
Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
The Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery (British view of revolution)
Justin Morgan had a Horse by Marguerite Henry

Homeschool Routines ~ a memoir

I'm playing catch up. Because of our jungle trip, I got all off my routine! ;)

So, my routine is that I work around whatever craziness my husband sends my way... every day! :) Being in ministry he has a schedule that depends on lots of other people. People come by, they call, he has different meetings everyday and has lots of spur of the moment things too. While every day is not the same craziness, it is crazy every day so that is my routine!
heheheh.

However, we do have a loose routine of:
7am wake/read Bible
8am breakfast
9am start school
1pm lunch
2pm nap/quiet time
3pm read alouds
5-6pm dinner
8pm kids' bedtime


I'm always working on ways to make my day run more smoothly. We have a wonderful schedule using Managers of their Homes, but it is in re-evaluation right now, so we're between schedules.

Jungle School

Here's what school looked like for us last week. We spent a total of 40+ hours in the car, 4 HOT nights in hostels and 2 1/2 days in the jungle! woohoo!

The boys had several free-reading books by Roald Dahl that they finished. We kept up on Bible reading and had several nature study opportunities. Fun.



We finished reading Squanto, by Feenie Ziner and Landing of the Pilgrims, by James Daugherty.
These two books coincide perfectly... definitely read these two together for SUPERB living books on pilgrims/mayflower/colonist history!












Jungle school is fun :)

And the winner is....

Well, I just want to thank all of you for playing my game, and for visiting my blog these last weeks.

I also want to apologize because I was unable to finish the week before the drawing with a bang like I'd hoped. But I'm not sorry that we went to the jungle! We had a great time despite the 20 hour drive both ways! More about that on my other blog.

Okay, okay, I'm getting off the subject.

I'm really excited to announce that Gombojav Tribe is the winner of the subscription to the Old Schoolhouse digital magazine! If you're disappointed, blame random.org for not picking you. :)
I wish so much that I had 15 of these to give away! Then you'd all win! But, go on over and check out her food blog... oh my. I get hungry when I go there!

Congratulations!

I'd really like to have another contest someday. I like giving stuff away!

Amy

Contest UPDATE! ...winner TBA!!

Okay! This is really bad! I did not mean to be gone so long. And right at the end of the contest! Terrible.

My husband up and spirited us away to the jungle for a week! So, I was out of commission, completely off grid. I didn't forget about the contest though, and I said I'd select a winner today,
so 4 minutes before midnight, I'm here. :)

But the sad news is, that I'll have to pick the winner tomorrow. Because I didn't have a chance yet to count up chances for each person... and though I got back Saturday night, Sunday was insane-busy and today I've been running all day, didn't get online 'til just now. My mom and dad are coming to visit and arrive tomorrow, YAY!!

I promise things will be better soon :)

Winner will be announced early tomorrow morning... I promise!

Amy

Habits

The last CM blog carnival topic really got me thinking about forming habits lately.

Even though I didn't get to post in time for the carnival, I still plan to post a series on my thoughts about the VERY important topic of habit training. I may even have a guest write a post. cool.

So, stay tuned.

:)
Amy