Things I will not miss

Only 2 more weeks of school. Then I will bring my little boy home for a good long while. Maybe even for good.

I have been walking around my house singing the tune "One More Day" from Les Miserables. I realize that, in the play, the song is the harbinger of personal disaster and failed revolution, but the spirit of it matches my feelings right now. Part of the song is about hope and courage and conviction on the eve of a rebellion that the young students hope will become a revolution.

One day to a new beginning. . . .
Raise the flag of freedom high! . . .
Every man will be a king . . . .
There's a new world for the winning . . . .
There's a new world to be won!

Tomorrow we'll discover
What our God in Heaven has in store!
One more dawn
One more day
One day more!

Here are some things I absolutely will not miss:

• Getting up at 6 am so my son can be in a classroom by 8:30.
• Getting up at 6 am no matter how late I worked last night or how horrible I feel. (I am certain this is going to put me in an early grave.)
• Breaking my neck to have my kid dressed before the bus comes. I don't even know the bus driver. Why am I letting her run my life?
• Starting into the cabinet in the morning trying to figure out what the hell I can pack into a lunch.
• Hearing my little boy telling the cats "You are a stinky booty-butt. Kiss my butt" and other gems he learned at school.
• Seeing my kid for 20 minutes in the morning, and then not seeing him until the next morning because I have a long work night.
• Having my son's teacher send home weekly reports that my son is fidgeting and daydreaming, not learning, when she and I have just heard from a team of experts that he apparently learns BEST when he is fidgeting and daydreaming.

Bring on the revolution!

Book list for grade Levels 1-3 with book levels.

King School's Accelerated Reader Quiz List - Reading Practice

I found this on line while looking for information about my local library. I think in may be helpful because it lists books according to the reading level.

If you don't know, the reading level is a number that corresponds to the grade and month of the school year that a child should be able to read a book of such-and-such complexity. For example, if the Reading Level is 2.3, he should be able to read this book in his 3rd month of second grade. They get this number by a mathematical formula that considers the variety and difficulty of the words used, the average sentence length, and so on.

The Reading Level as such will be pretty useless to home schoolers, I guess, but it is nice to have a list of kids' books ranked in order of complexity. I will be referring to this frequently as we advance out of "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons."

Book Lists Ongoing Post

Helpful books for home school parents

Prehistoric Book list 1st grade level.

My Ongoing List of Things To Do in My Life

Travel

• Vienna, Austria, to see the Lippazaner Stallions at the famous Spanish Riding School (done, November 1994)
• Paris, France (done, may 1992)
  
• Ireland, to see my family's home
  
• The Grand Canyon
• The Great Plains to see the wild mustangs
• Olympic games, at least once

Reading

Personal Achievements

Dreams

• Take my son to Europe for a grand tour when he graduates high school.
  
• Own a cottage in Door County, Wisconsin
• Keep a condo in Chicago
• Buy a Jaguar
  

Misc.

• Get my motorcycle back on the road and actually ride it somewhere

My Ongoing Gratitude List

• Nice summer weather is coming.
• I live in a country that values individualism enough to make home education legal in all 50 states.
• School is almost over for the year
• Mozilla FIrefox has a spell checker, which works most of the time, and keeps me from revealing the depth of my ignorence of spelling rules and lack of typing ability.

Possible Weekday Schedule

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
7 am	Erin Wake, Dress, Morning Quiet time
8: am	Connal Wake, dress, morning play time Erin make breakfast and plan day’s work
9 am	Breakfast Read Aloud Bible Story Phonics Connal Reading Time
10 am	Erin Fitness Connal Free Play			Erin Fitness Connal Free Play
11 am	Lunchtime and Read-Aloud
12 pm	Ready to go		Ready to go

Afternoons

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
		Ice Skating		Ice Skating
History	Science	Pioneer Life	History	Manners

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