First Day of Third Grade
Well, here we are… the first day of Gillian’s third grade year. We decided it was important to have extra days to take ‘off’ of school in November, so we started earlier than usual - three entire weeks earlier than usual. This also gives us some flexibility for later in the school year. Chances are, I’ll have plenty of assistance during November and even December, but once we hit January and February, some of that assistance will begin to disappear… not the least because my mother will be looking to find herself a job again!
So, we started today. I did a few things new this year, in terms of organization. I set up a notebook for myself with three sections - state forms, day by day lesson plans, and other forms. The state forms section has all of the year’s attendance forms, addressed and stamped envelopes for each month’s form, and an overall calendar for the year. Other forms is pretty self-explanatory. In the final section, I have my lesson plans for the year… but not by calendar date. They’re listed as “day 1″ through “day 180,” and then I have one file that corresponds the day with an actual date. This way, whenever we inevitably get ‘off schedule,’ I have to fix one file and reprint… the rest continue on as they are. I think this will help me feel less out of control.
The other thing that is new and different is that Gillian has her own “assignment book.” At the beginning of the week, I take my notebook and lesson plans, and fill in the book for that week. That’s the plan that we both use. That way, she gains some responsibility in terms of checking things off (I did that previously), and she also gets the privilege of knowing exactly how much work is expected each day and week.
So, today, we started with language arts - grammar, then handwriting, then spelling. She whipped through her math pages, did good time on her drill page (YAY!), and has covered quite a bit of Latin (reviewing where she was up until this point, since she hasn’t done Latin in a bit). She read in Blood on the River, which is her assigned reading for the week, and she did her first lesson for Classical Studies - she’s using the Memoria Press guide for D’Aulaire’s Greek Myths. I’m reading aloud to her each day this year, so we started Hans Brinker today.
Overall, it was a good first day… we’re doing a bit more in terms of Latin and spelling than I’ll expect of her once more activities begin. Jacob’s class at Little Gym did start today, but his tumbling class doesn’t start until next Wednesday, swimming for both doesn’t begin until next Tuesday afternoon, and Gillian’s Master’s Academy doesn’t begin until the Monday after Labor Day! So I’m again taking advantage of this extra time to pack in a bit extra Latin and spelling.
