T minus 12 hours!!

It's been almost a month since we've done school. We took the entire month of December off and it felt so good, but unfortunately it's almost over. Since we started school on August 3rd this year, we are right on schedule, so taking the month break was legit. The only problem now, is trying to motivate myself enough so I can motivate the kids to get back into school-mode. I'm actually looking forward to having a real schedule once again, so I think the transition will be pretty easy for me, but the kids? I'm not so sure.

So...this afternoon I spent most of my time going through their books, writing up new schedules, and basically figuring out what we need to get done for the rest of this school year. Hopefully we'll stick to the schedule, and will be done by the end of May...we'll see.

Hannah did most of her history before our Christmas break, so I'm going to add a couple extra books to her curriculum list which she's actually very excited about. The books were both written by Peter Marshall and David Manuel and are activity books covering some of the subjects we've already read about this year.

"The Light and the Glory"...visits American history from Christopher Columbus through George Washington's presidency in 1789. They can make a canoe adventure down the Mississippi or decide what to take to the New World on the Mayflower. They may even assemble their own colonial house. The many activities display God's grand work in the North American wilderness.

"Sounding Forth the Trumpet"...brings to life one of the most crucial epochs in our nation's history - the events leading up to and precipitating the Civil War. It opens with John Quincy Adams' struggle to preserve the right to petition in Congress and closes with the election of 1860.

There is a third book in this series "From Sea to Shining Sea" which we'll do if we complete the other two books.

One other 'fun' book I've added to Hannah's curriculum is simply entitled "Great Map Games". This book, created for grades 3-6, is full of 20 fun, easy reproducible games that build key map and geography skills. I love geography, so I'm really excited about this book!! I'll update and post about some of the games here as we go through the book.

As I was working, I noticed Zachary posted something on his Facebook page...."School tomorrow!!!! I am excited." I guess I don't need to worry as much as I thought about motivating the kids. Yaay!!!

Well...gotta run and finish organizing everything for tomorrow. Only 12 hours until school!