2012 ~ NOT in Review

It's the day for the 2012 Review posts. But I just can't come up with anything clever. And with the skewed way Google Stats works, actually identifying my "most popular" posts for the year is kind of a waste of time and isn't even truly accurate. Do I really want to re-read my whole blog to choose MY favorite posts from 2012? Nope. I know there is some value to identifying what's been done in the past to improve what will be done in the future. But that just tends to make me feel like I haven't done things good enough. And that's an emotional trap!

So I have decided not to review 2012 and, instead, just think ahead to 2013. We will start back to school lightly on Thursday and then get back into the full swing of things in one week. We still have some relaxing to do!

What will our homeschool look like in 2013?

• We will continue to start each day around 10 a.m. and end each day by 3 p.m. My day will start at 6:30 a.m. with my quiet time, my bike ride and walk with my mom and friends, and getting ready for the day before the kids start school.
• We will start our day with Bible and then choose sticks to determine what subject is next.
• We will continue doing unit studies with a primary focus being geography. In fact, we will be starting on an Arctic unit next week, along with my friends Erin at The Usual Mayhem and Andrea at No Doubt Learning. I have also heard a couple of other ladies will be joining us, so that should be fun!
• We will concentrate on multiplication in math for the remainder of the year. And we will temporarily replace formal grammar with cursive handwriting. Our grammar will continue to come in the form of LOTS of reading and writing!
• The kids will continue to work toward their goals of reading 100 picture books this year (they are halfway there) while also reading chapter books.
• We will continually try to throw in nature and art although they have, again, been pushed to the back burner anytime we get busy.
• We will be starting a new homeschool co-op on Thursdays, so our Thursdays will be changing in their content and form. I haven't figured that all out yet.

So, in summary, we will be doing pretty much the same things we did last semester, with our focuses being reading, writing, cursive handwriting, multiplication, and geography unit studies. Literature will continue to be at the forefront of all we do. Hopefully with our new co-op we will make some new friends and go on some great field trips. We will also be doing our reviews for the Schoolhouse Review Crew. And there are some GOOD ones coming up!

Here's to a successful 2013 school year!