Back to School!!!

In the midst of adoption paper work, fundraising and simply maintaining our family, summer slipped away before I could even say goodbye. So long summer! The end of summer break, means the inevitable back to school!! We have been going strong for three weeks now. My plan this year was to get a jump on school before it got a jump on me. So far, so good. We have stayed on task for the most part and have been finishing up right after lunch on most days. This year I get the entire week all to my homeschool. In the past years we have been members of Faith Tutorial, a homeschool program that meets two half-days per week. I have sent each child to the Kindergarten and First Grade programs. They were a super help at emphasizing what I was teaching in phonics and reading, both of which I feel are key to successful schooling. Eventually it became more of a burden than a help, so I knew it was time to bring us all under one roof...at home. It has been freeing! I am loving it!

Our current curriculum consists of:

Eli

Math - Math U See - Delta/Division

Language - First Language Lessons Level 3

Handwriting - Rod and Staff 3rd Grade

Spelling - SpellWell - Book B/BB

Vocabulary - Wordly Wise 3000 - Grade 3

Logic - Mind Benders

Foreign Language - Rosetta Stone - Spanish

Mia

Math - Math U See -Gamma/Multiplication

Language - First Language Lessons Level2

Handwriting - Rod and Staff 2nd Grade

Spelling - SpellWell - Book A/AA

Vocabulary - Wordly Wise 3000 - Grade 2

Logic - Mind Benders

Foreign Language - Rosetta Stone - Spanish

Eva

Phonics - Explode the Code Books A,B,C

(Together)

History - Story of the World 3: Early Modern Times

Science - Apologia Swimming Creatures of Fifth Day

Old Testament - Beautiful Bible Stories

Bible Application - Secrets of the Vine for Kids

Art - Artistic Pursuits Book 1

One of the many perks to homeschooling is that I, the teacher, get to make our own schedule. I have scheduled us with full days Monday through Wednesday. Thursdays are lighter days, usually done by lunch and Fridays have bee designed to have fun activities or accommodate field trips. I try very hard to be finished with all of our curriculum by sometime in May. Although, I cannot wrap my Type-A mind around leaving my curriculum unfinished if we meet our 180 day requirement before being done. So far this year, We have started each day with a new bible story or devotional lesson. We have memorized The Goops, which I have loved using to encourage good table manners, and Land of Nod by Robert Louise Stevenson.



We have gotten off to a great start in Math, beginning division and multiplication. My last year's student who absolutely hated math, is loving it this year.
 

We have created an ocean box that we look forward to filling with new creatures with each new chapter. We have already molded our Orcas, representing our chapter on Cetaceans. 

We have made gold dabloons, representing the Spanish quests to South America in search of treasures. We have drawn the Inuit tribes of northern Canada that the English befriended in their quest for the Northwest Passage. 

And, we have flooded the Netherlands! 

All while keeping my sanity! Can we keep it up?   

School's out for SUMMER!!!

Can you hear Alice Cooper singing the lyrics to one of his most favorite songs? I did for what seemed like 3.7 seconds. School has officially been out for a few weeks at our house. The kids have worked very hard completing our curriculum and compiling our notebooks. We enjoy reviewing as we glace back at our accomplishments this year. We will lay Flying Creatures of the Fifth day to rest, or realistically NOT! they have already taken note of the family of mocking birds that are constantly dive-bombing Lila and Blackberry, our cat and neighbor's cat respectively. They have a cup nest built in the eaves of an empty house across the street with newly hatched babies. Abe has already been stung by a flying insect, either wasp or bee. I could not tell since there was no stinger remaining, so it was likely a wasp. They will not likely forget much about the flying creatures that are sure to surround us this season. History was our bulkiest notebook. The kids treasure their crafts and projects, so we stuff what we can in a 3 inch 3-ring binder. It is filled with maps, crafts and photos of the many activities that they enjoyed this year. We are leaving behind the knights, samurai warriors, the renaissance and the many battles for control of the world, in the Middle Ages. We will pick up with Early Modern Times in the Fall. Eli finished Gamma, which included his times tables, factoring and the ever frustrating multi-digit multiplication. And Mia finished Beta, her multiple digit addition and subtraction, measurements and gauges. We plan to read a lot over the summer, since both kids are enthralled with the Boxcar Children series. I am super proud of their accomplishments!!!

 

I certainly had high (and obviously unrealistic) hopes of catching up on my blog posts. Although,we have certainly been too busy having fun to blog about it. These past weeks have been filled with enough activity, popsicles and milestones to last an entire summer. We have swam (only sort of), rode bikes, played in the mud, danced, sang, picnicked, went to boy scout day camp and ball games, had a ballet recital, started cruising, built tents, and tried our best to stay up all night (well some of us are desperately trying to get a full night's sleep). Summer does not officially start for a few more days, but it is in full swing in our neighborhood.  But when the street light come on, another days is charted in the books. We wash off the remnants of the day and retire, until tomorrow!

 

 

Currently, I am pausing from my own final exam from Hades. I am at the final stage of my Bradley Childbirth Instructor certification. I have fulfilled all of my training, teaching and reporting requirements. I have seven sections, 75 discussion questions and 88 definitions to complete my final exam and become affiliated! I am close to the half way point with five days to go.

As I sit in my yard enjoying a Hershey dark chocolate bar, and reflect on another school year complete and the brink of summer before me, I am thankful. God has blessed me so!

Black Death

As a homeschool family we get the luxury of choosing our curricula. What a daunting task for a mother in her rookie years. Luckily we are in our third year of homeschooling and I feel like I have a better grasp of what we are doing. We have found our groove, one might say. Not to imply that things are smooth sailing everyday. We also have an infant and a toddler in the house! Homeschooling takes a lot of preparation on the front end, starting with goal setting. Once goals were in place, we scoured the masses of curriculum and found what met our needs. Today, I LOVE the curriculum that we have chosen for the most part. The kids are doing exceptionally well and make me unbelievably proud. 

 

One of our favorite subjects is History. We chose a curriculum by Susan Wise Bauer called Story of the World. It has four volumes. We are currently in the second volume: The Middle Ages. I love the fact that it encompasses reading, geography, map reading, chronological historical accounts, a biblical worldview, crafts, activities, and even recipes all in one curriculum. The second volume picks up at the fall of the Roman Empire. We have studied the Byzantine Empire, The Ottoman Turk invasion, the Normans from the north, the settling of European countries such as France, England and Spain, and even touched on India, African Kingdoms.

 Recently we studied the spread of the bubonic plague throughout Europe, Africa and China in 1347, wiping out a third of the worlds population. At the time, it was unknown how the disease was being spread, but many blamed the Italians. Scientists later discovered that the fleas living on rats that roamed through cities, spread the infection. It was given the popular moniker, the Black Death. The European citizens made plague masks which they believed would stave off the infection. This lesson coincidentally came as we were recovering from our own black death. A week of sporadic vomiting by all, except Shy. In the truck, in a carseat, in beds, in toilets, in garbage cans! Lots of laundry!!! Then, on the heels of that virus, another intestinal virus. To top it all off, many of us had the sinus crud. We felt like we had been repeatedly run over by Mack truck. Thankfully we all survived our black death. We praise God for restored health. To commemorate the weeks of illness and our subsequent lesson on the plague, we made our own plague masks. The kids loved it and hopefully they will never forget get! I know I certainly will not!