Where we're at, a long Fall update for you

Since we started the new school year, we have been trying to get into some sort of routine.  It hasn't worked too well.  There have been doctor/dentist appts. to go to, which are necessary but they are time suckers. I am sure you understand that conundrum. Then of course, just dealing with every day life has been a challenge at times.  I still struggle with grief.  It sneaks up in unexpected places/times and will knock me back a bit.  I also have brain fog from it, so deep concentration or planning is almost unattainable. I am keeping a schedule book-but that really isn't enough. Some days are better than others.  So being consistent and thorough hasn't been our strong suit. None the less, I am determined to meet our basic goals and to do my best.  I have to be kind to myself (all things considered) and pray for the Good Lord to walk me through this valley.

What we have accomplished: 

*We finished the Asian continent for our Geo studies.  Wow! That had a ton of countries to cover and yes, we covered them all.

*We started Africa. I have set up a basic layout to follow to get it completed by the end of February. Well that's the plan anyway.

*We only have a few weeks left of the SL 5 program. I actually mentioned it in another post, but the basic 411 is that I have been saving the final weeks for when we started the African continent, because they cover it.  I also have a few extra books I found (via the library) to add to it over the 14 weeks it's going to take to complete Africa. Finishing the SL 5 series equates to us reading just about every book in that program!  And there are a lot of em!  The only ones we didn't read were the ones we have already covered, or are ones I want to read later.  So that alone is huge.

*We finally started the Route 66 Bible program. We had to wait until my hubby was able to resurrect my old 'puter that has a CD drive, which we need for the teacher's guide.  I will update you on that after we have used it for a bit.

I have a little snapper turtle from one of our Safari Toobs-

so we pulled it out and moved her along the map as we went.

*We completed our final book/map of Minn of the Mississippi, from Beautiful Feet Books Geography-A Literature Approach.

All four maps are now complete and on display in our classroom!

Some changes and improvements to our curriculum:

*The notebooking pages for geography were proving to be too time consuming and too ink "needy". So I went on the hunt and found a new notebook page that has the main info we need without being so intense.  I only had to add the capital of the country to list on the blank lines at the bottom. 

You can find it here at The Notebooking Fairy.

*After the rebirth of our old computer-I found the All-About-Homophones worksheets I have wanted my son to go through but couldn't for the past few years due to the demise of the ole thing. Yeah! So I printed off 3rd grade to about 5th so far. It goes to eighth grade, but frankly-any age is OK to work on it.  I have seen many adults make homophone errors.  So it doesn't hurt to have him go through them as a quick review [like 5-10 minutes a day] as well as introduce some I simply haven't covered. Whoops. I love All About Learning Press' products (they make the All About Spelling and Reading programs) and this beauty of a supplement is a great refresher to cover these words.

*I love reading other homeschooler's blogs and watching a variety of YouTube channels.  I was on Erica Arndt's channel watching her 7th grade curriculum video where she mentioned this nifty program-Spelling You See.  I explored the site, but currently don't have the funding to make a purchase. What I have done is downloaded the free level samplers I thought best met my son's skills and tried it out.  I like it. He doesn't seem too terribly annoyed by it either-which is a great bonus. Currently,  I'm having him color highlight the different parts on the copy work paragraphs in his Learning Language Arts through Literature workbook.  I make a couple extra copies of it beforehand and have him work through the week on it. If I see him improving his spelling by this method, I will find a way to get a workbook, but for now I am "testing" the waters here to see if it suits his learning style.

Total "shoulda, woulda, coulda" moments:

*Should have already done an artist (Monet).  Epic fail.  Goal:  week of Nov 16, start it.

*Would have loved to have ordered the download for Saxon Math Algebra 1/2.  Hasn't happened yet. We have been slammed with many unexpected misc. and medical bills.  So I have temporarily switched to Life of Fred Pre-Algebra in conjunction with doing the last few chapter of our previous Saxon book for review.  

*Could have been more diligent with daily schedules, which would have meant accomplishing more.  I tend to beat myself up over this.  But then again-seeing how much our family has been through this year and what we are still going through, I guess I am shocked at all we have accomplished. Seriously.  

I know there are more things I can add to this category-like winterizing, deep cleaning and various other things that simply have been chucked aside for now.  It is what it is.  I'm OK with that.  

And there you have it.  A very long post with snippets of our life of late.  I wanted to catch you up and let you know-we're here, we're chugging along and we're making due.  Sometimes, that is all one can do.                                    

A little "keeping it real" pic here.  This is our coffee table in the family room,  There are books/teacher's guides and more piled up next to the chair by the couch too. Oh, and I couldn't bare to take a pic of the classroom tables.  Those puppies are a disaster.  So know that this is the normal look for us during the week.  As long as the cat doesn't decide to chew on any of it-it's all good. :)

**FYI:  I borrowed product pics from the listed sites so you could get a visual on the product I described.