Week Three

A little late for this week and not even one picture to show for it! I noticed my camera in a basket in the dining room tonight--I guess I put it there to remind me to take pictures. heh. Whoops. I think I ended up hiding it from myself!

This was a challenging week. Mostly just with time management. We got a late start almost everyday which really puts a rush on things. I'm still having a hard time switching full-on into "homeschool mindset". I volunteered to find a curriculum for our church's Sunday school and so I spent most of my free time researching that all week. I ended up having a hard time switching gears.

Hannah continued to thrive in her new math. Best money ever spent! She told me she loves that her lessons go so fast--she says she sits down and does a few problems and before she realizes it she's gone through all the problems and she's done! Not at all the story we heard last year!!

Grace's big break through was discovering that reading can be fun. She has been gaining confidence as she reads through her Bob books and I love to see her sitting down to read with enthusiasm. We still have a long way to go but at least she isn't dreading this time.

History was exciting this week! We started studying the Pilgrims, beginning with William Brewster's family. This is particularly fun for our family because we have the paperwork that shows how we descend from William Brewster. After we read our history lesson the first day I showed them the family tree that I had made up. I helped them trace themselves up the tree to William Brewster. They were so excited that the person that they had just read about in history was their ancestor! Talk about living history!

 Our new science curriculum is going well. I'm really glad that we bought this. When we started it the first week I wondered if we would find it to be too much reading but it really has settled into a great balance. And it is a good, interesting curriculum. I love Heart of Dakota but the science in the early guides is just so here and there...one day we are studying blubber, the next oceans, then light, and it goes up and down. They try too hard to connect it to the history story we are studying. I'd prefer it if they were two different subjects. Sometimes the attempt to make everything connect just weakens it. So the Sassafras Zoology has been filling in the gaps without being overly time consuming.

We are now heading into week four...will be a busy one!

Week Two

Week two, as expected, was much better. We're not there yet but we're starting to find our rhythm and figure out what works best for us. What we discover now will probably change throughout the year as the kids get older, but for now I think we're at a sustainable pace!

Monday we took our first "field trip" if you will classify it as such. Downtown there is a fountain designed to be a replica of our lock system. They close it up in the fall and so we took advantage of our lingering summer weather and took a bike ride down to visit the fountain. Good thing, too, since fall quickly arrived. Believe it or not, two days later we were all wearing jeans and sweaters!

 

 Hannah really struggled the first couple days of school this week. She's decided that she hates grammar. This is particularly frustrating for me because I spent a good deal of time researching several different grammar programs trying to find the one that would work the best. I passed up on one because I thought it would be too much busywork and the other one I had the chance to peruse at a book sale and found it confusing. Growing With Grammar, what I ultimately chose, is student-led and the lessons each day are brief. But they are writing intensive which Hannah hates. She was dragging her lessons out until late in the afternoon each day. Finally on Wednesday she decided, on her own, that if she got her Grammar done first thing in the morning and saved her more pleasant subjects (reading and history) until she was done, she'd probably move faster. And it made a huge difference.

 Writing her first book report of the year.

Spelling was also a struggle but for somewhat different reasons. We just started it this week. When I looked at her curriculum and realized that on Day 2 they wanted her to copy her entire list (20 words) twice, I saw that going badly. Here is this girl who hates to do writing and they want her to copy 40 words? Monotony. So I've ordered a spelling software that I hope will help with that...we'll see how that goes.

 Doing her reading worksheet.

Grace is working on her Bob books this week. She really likes them and seems to be making progress. I struggle to know if there is more that I should be doing with her to help reading really "click". She gets it she just labors over it. Every word is a drawn out sound. At least this week she told me when she didn't understand what she was reading. I've wondered about that before (how much she actually retains of what she reads) and that she's starting to realize that the story is supposed to make sense was a step forward. Next week we continue to practice and confidence build...I think we're on the right track.

Math and Thinking Skills are her two other independent (separate from Hannah) subjects and she thrives in both of those. Definitely her favorite for the time being.

Working With Daddy

Elaina got to start some of her own work this week. She's so eager it is hard to tell her no so we've been making a point to set aside time for her. Eric even took a few moments out of his day to sit down with her this week. She soaks it all in. I hope she keeps that attitude!

Science was the highlight of this week, I think. Last week I was a bit uncertain about our supplement Sassafras science. Grace seemed bored by it. Hannah was over the moon but that's typical for her and anything related to animals and Sassafras is studying Zoology. But this week they began projects that go alongside the reading. Hannah chose to work on a food chain chart (she is keeping track of what animals are carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores). Grace chose to make a habitat poster. They each picked a different project and I think that's a good thing. There will be less comparison if they are each absorbed in there own tasks. 

For history we studied Jamestown and followed the story of a little girl's life in Jamestown. The girl was 8 years old and already had to regularly watch her baby brother while making supper, knitting, and helping her mother with the laundry and making soap. Puts into perspective just how easy our girls have it now!!

We also finished up our storytime book. We were reading about Amelia Earhart and even I learned a few things about her. Next week we'll begin a biography on Sacajawea. Should be interesting!

Week One

As expected, this week was a rough one. In my experience the first week always is. There will always be one moment where I'm ready to quit. Usually it is just the chaos of implementing new curriculum, getting everyone adjusted to doing school instead of playing, and just managing time! Usually by the second week things have somewhat smoothed out. But boy does Mommy need a break after the first week!!

I decided to start something new this year and we did an "all about me" sheet. The idea being that we can see how they've changed as each year goes by. Questions were things like favorite food, favorite color, what I want to be when I grow up, etc...not everyone had as detailed of a business plan as Hannah's idea for opening a dog kennel complete with gift shop!

                                               Our "back to school" pictures
                      

 Elaina will be doing some preschool.

 Sean will be doing lots of playing!

 Grace is in 1st.

 Hannah is in 3rd.

This week we studied the settlement of St. Augustine, FL. We also studied the continents, oceans and how currents work. We got to do a fun activity where we drew a giant world in our driveway (complete with mom's terrible artwork as I attempted to draw continents!). We labeled each continent and the oceans and the girls took turns jumping to whichever continent/ocean I called out. They enjoyed it and they really had to stop and think about where to jump.

Hannah's new favorite subject is math. At least for the time being! She loves her new curriculum that she gets to do on the computer. I love that she's finally excited to do math and that I have the reassurance of knowing that she's getting a solid lesson each day. She's also enjoying her extra history readings, this week she is reading the fictitious diary of a little girl who traveled to Jamestown. She's speeding through it and I suspect she'll finish it before her allotted 3 weeks which is fine because then she can start on book #2!

Grace has also been loving her math. It is a lot more review for the time being. We'll see how she feels in a couple weeks! Reading continues to be a struggle for her. Rather than keep dragging her forward I've decided to slow down and review some of the basics hoping that if she grows in confidence she won't find the forward movement so emotionally challenging!

I'm hoping to start working a bit more with Elaina next week. She's certainly eager and ready. I've had her work along some with Grace this week but she's wanting more formal one-on-one time. Which was just impossible this week with trying to sort everyone else out. But hopefully soon...I want to take advantage of her eagerness!!