I don't know if this is what's bothering me...the fact that this is our last weekend before we start school, and things are really going to pick up now.  I didn't want to get so involved with activities that we get burned out, but I'm sort of feeling like the walls are going to close in pretty quick.  So here I am hoping to get myself excited again about starting school.  

I've already blogged about History, Bible and Math.  So what's left,  we have Language Arts and Science and "extra curricular" activites.

Language Arts - we are using Total Language Plus again this year.  The books we are going to use are: Julie of the Wolves, The Twenty-One Balloons and Swiss Family Robinson.   Because I haven't been impressed with the grammar section of TLP, we are doing a separate grammar workbook for grades 7-8 called Building Grammar.  We will also be going thru an e-book writing program called Igniting Your Writing.

Science - we are going to use Apologia Zoology 2 "Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day".  Even tho Bridgette is technically a "middle schooler" we decided to go with this "elementary" science, first because I really liked the look of it...and second because Bridgette hasn't had higher math yet we felt that we should wait on upper levels of science that might include higher math.  And last but certainly not least, marine science was what Bridgette had specifically requested to study this year!  We are also planning to do some extra "unit" studies on some of those "swimming creatures" such as dolphins, killer whales, manatees, sea turtles, sharks, starfish and jellifish.

Extra Curricular activities - well this is where some of the business come into the picture.  We have joined Homegrown 4H this year...and so Bridgette is doing a couple of projects the first part of the year.  She'll be going to a cooking class once a month starting in September through March.  She is also doing a photography poject.  She went to a class today, and will be going on several field trips to have hands on practice.  Plus we will be doing several Living Arts field trips with our homeschool group -  going to see some plays -  Anne of Green Gables in September,  The Somewhat True Tales of Robin Hood in October, CSI Live in November,  The Hundred Dresses and Holes in March & April.

Plus we are involved in a play that is practicing for a performance in November...called Freedom's Journey.  It is based on the book Hind's Feet on High Places.  I am playing Aunt Dismal.  My husband is involved with set construction and painting as well as with some of the Audio/Visual stuff. 

So you can be praying for our family - that God gives us the strength to make it through everything.  Maybe it doesn't seem like a whole lot to some of you - but for us a decidedly "homebody" type family I'm exhausted just thinking about it all.    And I thought blogging about it was supposed to help me feel better.  Hmm...not yet.  But I also think there are some other unresolved issues rumbling around in my brain at the moment...so maybe I need to go and browse some other HSB blogs and get inspired.

Posted by byourlove1

THanks for visiting my disney post. Your tiger pics are beautiful! I can see why they were one of your favorite. We just started school this past week, I know what you mean about it being a busy time-we have to be careful about that too! If you get a chance come by and look at our first day. I try to make it fun, it seems to help me get more excited too doing that!

Angela

Posted by Lalaith

I definitely understand about buying the kit. I should've done that myself, I think. There will be activities we bypass because I didn't plan ahead and get the needed items.

I didn't link to Teaching Textbooks, but I did talk about it. You can choose to do either--all completely on the computer or a combination of the two. Katie wanted the book to write it, so she does both. The lecture and problems are on the computer, but she figures them out in the book. She still puts her answers on the computer, and it keeps track of everything for us. I am loving it!

Posted by tlpgina

We did Julie of the Wolves last year and my 12 year old is doing Swiss family to start off this year! We love TLP! The grammar usage works out much better for us then a lot of rules and worksheets. Hope you have a good year! We're starting Tues. too, yikes...
Gina

Edited by tlpgina on Sep. 1, 2008 at 5:40 PM