First Day

This morning I began my eighth year of homeschooling.  I have to admit I was dreading it after being burned out by the end of last year.  And despite this year being our eighth (and you'd think I'd have all my ducks in a row), they all seem to need more of me instead of less.  Caleb is doing a different grammar program which is more than simply assigning a workbook page.  And all four olders are doing an Institute in Excellence writing program, which I love, but none of it is on DVD this year, which makes me (gasp) the teacher. 

Abigail has been pestering me to do math as well as Bible and read stories and teach her to read.  So of course, we worked on some of that today.  I don't want to infuriate The Pickle.  This takes away her ammunition of saying to Mark when he asks what she learned, "Nothing.  Momma didn't teach me.  I'll learn something tomorrow."

So we began today with what I call a soft start.  We did everything except for Sonlight.  Bible, math, science, grammar, handwriting, writing, Spanish, and spelling.  Next week I will add in history and their readers and we will hopefully be up to speed.

I came downstairs after dragging myself out of bed to find Caleb had already completed his first lesson in algebra.  When I asked him what it was about, he said the computer teacher had talked about how algebra is not this horrible, torture-filled subject.  Maybe there is some hope for this year.  :)