Beginning of the academic year 2008-2009

Today was the opening of the academic year of 2008-2009 at the American University in Cairo. Courtney went out to the new campus for the first time to teach, and we began our academic year here at home. We had a very slow start with an art project, a few fun math pages (color by numbers and dot-to-dot), free reading (August read a couple of his favorite stories to William and ‘the baby’), I read a lot from some of our new books (one on the Earth, one on Space, St. George and the Dragon, and Beowulf), a little handwriting, and then we watched a movie on Black holes until the electricity went out. We were all still suffering from jetlag and very tired; it wasn’t a very structured day, but I wanted the boys to ease into the discipline and excitement again, and I think it worked. I have been preparing all our material and this year's curriculum (well adjusted to our personal family situation), and I know exactly what we need to do by when. Both boys should be able to make a lot of progress this year – I’m quite confident, and I imagine we’ll have a busy but pleasant year. August will study second grade spelling, cursive writing, grammar and reading, while William concentrates on first grade phonics and writing. Both will do math at their own level, but most other subjects we do together: thematic reading, science, history, language, religion, geography, art and music. They will both do soccer and Taekwondo at separate times, and we’ll all go swimming several times/week. I will ‘fly solo’ for as long as I can, allowing Courtney to concentrate on his work and finish a few projects, but I expect that he will have to take over more, closer to the baby’s due date. We both keep saying how great it is that we have several months before the baby comes – this way we can plan ahead and shift workloads so that things can slow down in February. A few things still need to fall into place: for example, we don’t have a doctor for prenatal care and delivery (recommendations, anyone?), and Courtney doesn’t have an office at the new campus yet; his books that he packed up in his office before leaving this summer are ‘somewhere’ (perhaps with his computer and printer). I’m sure all our odd ends will come together though – they always do in the end.