I am slowly organizing and planning our tentative schedule. We took a trip to the library yesterday and got a card for my daughter. The cards for children are so much more interesting than the plain blue adult cards so she was really excited.

My son on the other hand, did not appreciate being left out and thought it was terribly unfair that he did not get his own card. I told him that he has to be able to write his name properly and then we will talk, InshaALLAH.

I think we will have to establish a nice reading list with a minimum required number of books for the school year. I am thinking at least 100. There are approximately 36-40 weeks in our school year so I think this is more than reasonable – especially if she reads at least three books a week. She reads more than that on her own anyway.

Another thing I would like to do is make time in the school day for read aloud sessions each day. We did this last year when she started her kindergarten curriculum but my son was so disruptive that we were not able to continue with any regularity. I read a chapter a night to her before bed and she loves it. I think I will continue this and also read aloud for about twenty minutes during class.

For my own reading,I picked up The Well-Trained Mind because I have heard so much about it.

It does have some valuable information such as recommended subjects and how to present them for each grade, but I think a child can spend more than 10-15 minutes on their religious studies. It’s all in how the material is presented.

It is very thorough, I must give credit for that. Also, it is adaptable to suit different homeschool styles and situations, I think.