Tweaking

As this is the fifth week of our new homeschool year, I'm still doing a bit of tweaking.  Schedules, curriculum, supplies, extra-curriculars...all need some type of adjusting whether massive or tiny.  For example, I've realized that school from 8am until 12 pm just isn't practical when swim lessons begin at noon twice a week.  That's a moderate tweak to our schedule.

A simple tweak is the addition of chocolate.  You might think I'm saying that tongue-in-cheek {actually there's a Hershey nugget planted in said cheek}, but in reality the chocolate stands for whatever mom needs to get her through a tough week day.  Sometimes it's my pseudo-coffee {all hail Suisse Mocha} or maybe a handful of Dove bites {the chocolate, not the bird}.  Usually the noshing is combined with sinking to my knees in prayer.  God and chocolate...my favorite duo. It's a simple, but very necessary, tweak.

Another area where we need a change is in our history studies.  This year we're studying world history from Creation up to about 1500 AD.  Our method is pretty much what-I-think-is-best, though some might refer to what we do as similar to the 'Charlotte Mason' style.  In a nutshell, we read historical fiction aloud together along with select history books {e.g., Story of the World}.  We keep separate map pages for each book we read, labeling and coloring cities, countries, and areas of interest.

The map pages are kept in a notebook along with drawings, notes, and photos of projects.  Instead of a new drawing and narrative every day, I've decided I'm going to supply template pages.  That way, if the kids don't have a particular picture to draw or we're pressed for time, we can easily grab the corresponding sheet and write our narrative along with adding some coloring to the already printed picture.

One company that carries fantastic notebooking products is Hold That Thought, and right now they're holding a special offer where you can receive a free cd of notebooking pages with your order.  A few years ago I purchased their Advanced World History Volume 2, so now it's time for an update based on our current studies.  This time I'm buying Advanced World History Volume 1 and my free cd is their awesome notebooking set U.S. Geography.  This will really come in handy when we start our full-time travels!

Have you made any adjustments since your first day of school?  What works and what did you want to throw out the window?  If your schedule is just not working or your curriculum needs a boost, be sure to tweak it until it works for your homeschool bunch. It makes for better school days, enthusiastic kids, and a blissfully happy mom.