latin – The Places We Learn

October is upon us. The school year is not so shiny and new and exciting anymore. We aren’t tired and bored yet (I hope!) but we’re finding a groove and getting comfortable with what works–and identifying what does NOT work.

I am directing Classical Conversations Challenge B this year. It’s incredible, for so many reason. I am falling in love with Challenge B and I didn’t think anything could top Challenge A!

Much of what the kids learn in Challenge A carries over. The Latin is the same (but faster), the writing curriculum is the same (but the books they write about are different), the math presentations are done using the same methods. The research is similar–but instead of anatomy and animals, we are focused on astronomers right now and will move on to chemistry later. But there are new things. LOGIC! And current events! And the biggest NEW THING is that our Challenge A homework schedule is just NOT WORKING for Challenge B.

Practicing Latin vocabulary with alphabet pretzels in Challenge B at Classical Conversations!

Continue reading “B is for Block Scheduling: Finding a Schedule That Works for Challenge B”

A few of our favorite things in our morning basket.

I can’t stop raving about the way that loop scheduling and a morning basket have completely changed our home school mornings around here. It’s only been two weeks since we made this change and already I know that this is IT. This is what works for us.

So what is IN our morning basket? It’s not a simple answer of a particular curriculum or collection. I pulled from all different places but mostly I pulled from my curriculum shelf. I looked at all the things I purchased with such good intentions that we’d FOR SURE use that and then life gets crazy and schedules go off course and we’d quit. But that’s why loop scheduling is helping us now, because when you loop, you are never behind. You just pick up where you left off and keep on rolling. Continue reading “What’s In Our Morning Basket?”