Friday 4 January 2019

Easing into the New Year

We've all really enjoyed the Christmas break. Personally, I'm happy to be getting back into our normal routine now and have made a start in regards to my work, but haven't made much headway into our home ed routine.

Boykin doesn't want to start back fully until Monday when The Girl goes back to college. We have started easing in gently with read alouds over breakfast and elevenses. We're currently reading To Kill a Mockingbird. It's an IGCSE English Lit text and we're going to read them all before deciding which to study properly for the exams. I'd forgotten how good this book is and I'm looking forward to watching the film when we've finished it.



Other than that, I've managed to plan some of the books we'll read between now and Easter, and I've made some rough notes on ideas from Exploring Nature with Children. If you're in the UK, don't be put off by the price being in US dollars. The curriculum is written by a UK home educating mum so is perfect for our climate and wildlife.  I've also ordered another Kiwi crate because he loved the one he got for Christmas. I'd like to incorporate more engineer-y tech-y stuff to our week. I'm aware that he's growing up fast and soon he'll only have time for exam slog.


Boykin's discovered that he enjoys painting miniatures, so I'm looking forward to reading to him while he does that. So far he has painted a small collection of stormtroopers from his new game. Painting miniatures was something my eldest son enjoyed as a teenager and I was so pleased when he visited at Christmas and started to pass his knowledge and enthusiasm on to his younger brother :)

We'll start on Monday with lots of reading aloud, a little maths and  maybe a science experiment. I always think baking is a good way to ease in, but I think we're all so sugared out after Christmas, we might give it a miss this time.

In my news, I got a haircut. I had about 10 inches cut off. My head feels so much lighter now. I love how New Years give me a renewed sense of optimism and drive. Let's hope it carries on through to February :)


Have you had a break for Christmas? How are you planning on easing back into the new year? Or do you just jump straight in with both feet?