CTC Users...when are you starting back to school?

[Momtoamayalilal2]

I am still trying to decide on a date to start back to school. I have baby #4 due in December and would like to take some time off to get things done before and some time after...so starting earlier than normal just seems more practical.

I am thinking I will start the beginning of August with just our basics and wait patiently for the CTC manny and add that in the week after it comes (so I can spend the week getting to know it ) OR I may just schedule us to start Mid-Aug and do it all at once (not full speed..but doing it all as opposed to waiting to add to it) but I will be waiting to start on DITHOR for a few weeks. We are taking a mini-vacation the following week, which would really throw me off though! Sigh.....

So when is everyone startingand are you going full steam ahead...or easing into the new year ??

[Michelle My Bell]

We will be starting the beginning of August with our History Night projects. We usually take the month of January off of regular studies to do this, but since we won't have CTC until August, I decided to start CTC in September.

Michelle

[my3sons]

I am getting very excited to start!!! We're starting in September. We'll be doing Beyond and CTC, possibly adding in LHTH later for my 2 1/2 yo. I think this year we are going to do a 5 day schedule, so we will finish CTC more quickly than 35 weeks (and we're already on Unit 19 in Beyond, since we did half of it last year). Doing a 5 day schedule with a 4 day plan makes it easy to start later and finish earlier. My busy season for part-time work is spring/summer, and this is a very busy time for my dh's job too - so, I think doing school 5 days a week will help us out with our family's schedule. We also have very long winters here, and my dh is a pheasant hunting guide in the fall (while still doing his other job as well), so I barely see him. It fills the time in a very fun way to homeschool during these long seasons anyway, so this schedule will put the bulk of our homeschooling time during the time we are home and often indoors. It will be neat to share CTC memories with each other here!

In Christ,
Julie

[rainbowacreshs]

I still have to make our order which I'm chomping at the bit and fussing with the budget. It will be at least two weeks before I can order CTC. Normally we don't start back school until Sept. However, this year we got really behind in our math and language arts. This summer we have been doing 2 - 3 days of school just to try and catch it all up. After reading other threads and receiving some solid advice from the other ladies here, I'll probably start my dd mid - august focusing on her math and the language arts that we have here, and then plunging in full throttle once I get the CTC manual. I'm planning to do mostly a 4 day school year, using the 5th day for any assignments that were not completed or for field trips/extra-curricular/co-ops. I like the idea of a slower pace and since we've been working through the summer, it won't feel like we are missing anything if the year is stretched out to be longer than 36 weeks.
I'm getting geared up and can't wait till I can place my order and become an official HODDIE! LOL

[Daisy]

I'm still thinking of waiting until Friday, August 14th.

Uugh, I want to start earlier, but I'm going to be in hubby's classroom getting all his stuff ready the week of the 10th.

If you really want to start b4 you get the CTC TM, why not get a jump on that TT math??

You could go ahead and start the littles on a schedule and still have Big A to help you with the kids. Then he'll start his own stuff AFTER the littles are already into a groove. Hey, I'm liking that idea.

[kayrenee]

We started school with MFW ECC on July 6th, but we'd already decided to finish the North American unit and then set it aside to do American history (for oldest dd especially). The way I have it scheduled, we'll finish that North American ECC unit at the end of August, and then begin our history studies in early September. Which works out fine since the CTC manual isn't here yet, anyway.

[8arrows]

I have company this week, so I think I may start English and Math the first week of August, and then CTC Aug. 17th. However, I might start Bigger the first of August.

[Momtoamayalilal2]

I'm still thinking of waiting until Friday, August 14th.

Uugh, I want to start earlier, but I'm going to be in hubby's classroom getting all his stuff ready the week of the 10th.

If you really want to start b4 you get the CTC TM, why not get a jump on that TT math??

You could go ahead and start the littles on a schedule and still have Big A to help you with the kids. Then he'll start his own stuff AFTER the littles are already into a groove. Hey, I'm liking that idea.

Hmm thanks for giving me something to think about!! I think its a great idea to start the little ones with LHTH first and get them into the groove of things while having that help from Big A Big A can do his GWG in addition to his TT and since there are more lessons in there than is schedule in the CTC manny, we'll have a good jumpstart on them. Hmmmm

OK AND it would get them used to using the workboxes ...

OK so that means I would only have THIS week to finish planning and gathering things for the littles....I have 3 dr's appts BUT they are only on Tues and Fri..so the other days I could spend planning. I DO have their workboxes ready to go and everything I need (I'm pretty sure) to start.

So lets see (because this is how my brain works)

**Start LHTH with Littles on Aug 4th (get CTC manny sometime this week? Hopefully!) and Big A on TT and GWG (maybe some other easy fun things to fill his workboxes like some review things)
**Have the following week to read the CTC manny over and finish gathering things for him...still schooling the littles and Big A doing school , just not CTC

**Start CTC the week of Aug 17th but show him the manual the Friday before (how it all works etc) and go out for ice cream to celebrate

IN the midst of this all, I am coordinating a Preschool Activity Swap that will be done during these weeks also..hasnt been too much work as of yet..but will take some of my time later that week we start CTC. Oh well..we'll just do school and everything else comes AFTER!

Ok thanks for letting me get my brain out on paper

[SouthernMrs]

Hi,
We'll be using CTC and Bigger this year. I'm thinking I'm going to start Bigger at half-speed and I will probably begin my 6th grader at half-speed as well once the new manual arrives. I like to ease into the school year! Also, we have VBS the week of August 10 (a bit later than normal), so I hate to start, then stop, then start up again. So our official start date will be Tuesday, Aug 18.

[Carrie]

We'll start in September after our busy season begins to ebb a bit! We're getting very excited to begin CTC with our 5th grader. However, we are deep into planning the next guide in the cycle in rough form, so my oldest can do parts of it this upcoming year!

Blessings,
Carrie