Amazing!

Things have been doing amazingly well with the new schedule. I'm actually very surprised at the way the kids have stepped up to the plate.
We've literally gone from complete un-schooling to having them do homework everyday, and getting lessons, and having to follow a schedule and they have been incredibly good about the whole thing.
Going into this month I was expecting to hear complaint after complaint, and to have to fight my way through every single one of the lessons. Not so! The kids just took up everything and have been going to work like crazy.

All the experts who say that kids thrive on having a schedule and knowing what is expected of them have so far, in our family been proven true. And this doesn't mean that the kids are becoming drones or anything like that, quite the contrary actually. They are going up and above everything that we give them, really striving to learn and do the best they can do. I am simply overjoyed and amazed at their dedication.

This really got through to me this past week-end, when we let the schedule go a little bit (The kids don't really get a week-end, they get a few days off here and there instead as needed). Well on Saturday we told them not to worry about getting up early and getting to work, that they could have the morning to themselves and that we would get to work in the afternoon.
Around 2pm I told them to come to the study room so I could go through grammar with them real quick and then they would have been done with the week. It seemed as though all hell broke loose right then and there. There was complaining, completely negative attitude, and unwillingness to work at all. We did get through it later on, but it took about an hour before they would even start working.
On the other side, on days were we start school right at 9am like we had planned, and go through the day with the schedule we had set, sometimes going over time and just keeping on working much longer than we had planned on, the kids are happy, eager, and have no issues whatsoever with doing the work. Again... I'm amazed!

So this is really good news for us. We now know that we can push the kids as much as we wanted to, and that they will be perfectly fine following our lead, just as long as we keep up with a set schedule.

We only have two more lessons left, which we will go over this week-end. Ecosystems and Classification. Those should be fairly easy. We are also going to the Conservatory this week-end and they will be able to learn more there. I love this month's Conservatory tours, as they are showing us all the sweet plants that are at the Conservatory, and what kind of tasty treats they give us all in honor of Valentine's day. I'm sure the kids will enjoy being able to taste all of the different fruits and concoctions.

Then on Sunday we have that playdate with new kids, so hopefully that will go over well. I'm sure it will, but it is a bit nerve wracking to think of a whole bunch of kids coming over that we do not know. Luckily the parents will be there too, so we should be fine.