Scenes from the first week of school

Ok, ok. So we aren't completely finished with our first full week of school. But we are on day 5. And it's Tuesday. Which is practically Wednesday. Which is halfway to Friday! So it's almost like we've completed a full week. Isn't it?

So far we are LOVING our new curriculum choices!


The girls did an awesome apple mummification experiment in science. Can you guess what will happen? More pictures to follow as the week-long experiment progresses.


In history, they made self portraits as they studied Creation and how man was created in His image. It was a very cool lesson. And giggly. Which is never a bad thing.

Sydney has been enjoying her BJUP reading book. This is our first year using an actual reading program. So far she's learned about determining purpose and foreshadowing. Good stuff. She also likes spreading out all her books on the couch and snuggling in for an afternoon of school work. She doesn't look very happy in this picture, but that's just because I'm taking her picture :)

Both Delaney and Sydney are using Time4Learning.com for language arts and some math. D has been using it since May but Sydney's only been using it for a week. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. To be honest, the math bugs me because I think it moves pretty fast through the explanations and there doesn't seem to be enough practice. Both girls seem to be happy with it though and I have seen some progress. Delaney did the 2nd grade language arts level over the summer and it improved her reading skills immensely. I can't really argue with that! Sydney is using Math U See Epsilon (fractions) for her main math program but is reviewing other concepts on T4L. She tells me that she LOVES T4L language arts. Again, I can't argue when an 11 year old BEGS to do her schoolwork every morning.

Kindergarten!!!

Sadey has really blossomed since starting a formal Kindergarten curriculum. We are using My Father's World and so far it's been going well. The year starts with a review of creation. During the first 7 days, we review what God made each day while learning numbers and letter names. Each day she gets to do some coloring, pasting, cutting, drawing and singing. What could be better than that!

She also gets to spend some time on the computer while Mommy has 'quiet time' with the older two girls. Let's just say that Sadey is one happy camper this year.

New school year - new goal

So today was the first day of school! *ahem* Notice how I'm totally ignoring the fact that I haven't been here since April *ahem* I can't believe I have THREE school kids now!!!! I haven't taken a coolio picture of all our school materials yet - but I will after the rest of the haul arrives.

We decided to switch gears a bit and not do My Father's World with the older two girls this year. Instead, we are using a mix of things - Mystery of History, Apologia Anatomy, Bob Jones reading, Time4Learning, Lutheran Study Bible and the small cathechism to name a few. Sadey is doing MFW's Kindergarten program though. We're only on day 1, but so far so good.

Day 1 wrap up: Bible, Art, Music and PE for the older two and discussed day 1 of Creation with Sadey. She also learned about the letters Aa and Bb and went on a scavenger hunt for the number 1. She loved that. She started her Creation Book today. I could not convince her that God made light without making the sun even though she knows that He made the sun on day 4....so she added it to her picture. I can see how that would torment her little noodle.

Here I am!

*sigh*

So apparently I'm not so good at keeping up with my blog. Or was that obvious?

The good news?

I finally have my own laptop (yay for the 21st century!) and can sit comfortably on my bed and type away on the blog while listening to TV (because I can't watch and type at the same time ya know).

No more excuses, right?

So I'll try much harder to keep the blog updated so, if nothing else, I have a more permanent record of our homeschool life. Not that it's terribly exciting or anything, but the kids do like looking at the pictures :)

First Day of School 2009- 2010

And we're off!

I can't believe it's already time for school to start. It seems like we just finished up the last year. Oh wait, we did :) We had a short break, but now we are ready to get moving again. We are using My Father's World again this year. We focused on American history last year with Adventures. This year we are using MFW's Exploring Countries and Cultures and working on world geography with a special focus on missions and Bible translations. Here are some of the books we'll be using as the year progresses.


We had our first day on August 3, 2009. The girls were uber excited and were dressed and ready to begin long before I rolled out of bed in the morning. Here they are for our traditional first day of school picture. Cute, aren't they?

Sadey is in Pk4 this year. For those of you who are as clueless about these things as I used to be, that just means that she's a 4 year old preschooler. We'll be using a combination of things, but mainly Before Five in a Row and Letter of the Week. I'll come back later and post links to both of those programs - too lazy to do that right this moment :)


Hard to believe it, but Delaney is officially a 2nd grader! She's doing ECC with Sydney, but she's also working hard at math and language arts this year. We are using Math U See, Primary Language Lessons, Children Liberty Press's Nature Readers and we'll be doing something for spelling. Not quite sure what yet, but definitely something.


Sydney is officially a 5th grader. It's her last year as an elementary student *sniff sniff* She's doing ECC, and will also be using Writing Strands, Intermediate Language Lessons, Math U See and...something for spelling. I should probably choose a curriculum before the year gets away from us.

We have our books and took some pictures - guess we're ready to get this school year started! Stay tuned. I hope to actually post more updates this year.

Clearly....

Clearly I stink at this whole "keeping an updated blog" thing.

Sorry.

I had good intentions. I was going to post at least once a week with summaries of what we had done and pictures of our field trips and cool science experiments. It all worked great in my head! Unfortunately I forgot to take into account the fact that I am time-challenged and, basically, lazy when it comes to these things.

To sum up last year though - it was great :) We finished our work on June 26th and the girls excelled in every subject. They are awesome. I'll post some pics over the next couple of weeks. In theory, anyway. I know you don't believe me, but I might just surprise you.

So anyway, beginning June 26th we took a 6 week summer vacation. We started it off with a bang by coming down with some weird virus. We are a polite bunch though - we took turns and spent about 4 weeks passing it around the family. I bet you're sorry that you don't live at our house! I was totally run down for about 10 days and then just super weak for another 7. The girls didn't seem to be as tired, but they had the whole fever, tummy ache, whiney, sickey thing that's required of any long-lived illness.

We made it through, but that didn't leave a whole lot of time to mark things off my FIVE PAGE 'to do' list before I needed to start planning for this years' co op classes and prep for our own studies. Let's just say that the last couple of weeks have basically involved me being tied to a chair - working, working, working.

Sadly the house is still a mess, but I am prepared to start teaching co op and my own children. Basically. Kinda' sorta. We'll work out the kinks as we go along.

I haven't downloaded our official first day of school pics yet, but we did get back to work on August 3rd and co op starts on August 21st....Here we go!

Happy 2009-2010 school year!!!!!

MFW 1st Grade - Bible Lands drawing

Delaney learned a great story to help her draw a map of the Bible lands.

The great germ experiment

With all the talk of Swine Flu swirling about, I thought it was a good day for a lesson about germs.

Materials needed: lotion, glitter, paper towels, soap, sink

Have child rub a drop of lotion onto both hands

Put a pinch of glitter (germs) on child's hand and have her make a fist and then press both hands together. Explain how easy it is to spread our germs (after sneezing, for instance).

Have children shake hands - again to illustrate how easy it is to pass germs. If your child accidentally wipes her eyes, nose or mouth DON'T stop her. This is a good way to illustrate how easily the germs can get into our bodies.

After a few shakes, have the child look at all the new germs on her hands!

Let her try wiping the germs off with a paper towel. Notice how difficult it is to get the germs off and how the germs don't "disappear" once they are wiped onto the towel.

Now have the child wash her hands with soap and water. Discuss how EASILY the germs are cleaned off the hands.

Piano Lessons

Sydney, Delaney and I started taking piano lessons in mid-February and have been LOVING it. Mr. Luke, a man from our church who is not a "piano teacher" but has been playing the piano since he was 4, is our instructor. He comes to our house on Tuesday afternoons and usually brings his two daughters (ages 4 and 5) along to play with Sadey. It's good for use all.

Sydney and I are working on the 2nd book of the Bastien series. I am not ashamed to say that she is whipping me, but it's been a healthy competition for us both.

Delaney is still working on the first book in that series. Truth be told, she plays just as well and just as many songs as Sydney and I. The thing that's keeping her in that first book is that she can't read the music and has been playing completely by ear. She does a fabulous job, but of course she should probably learn how to read the music before she gets too far into her lessons. She's doing great though and I'm extremely proud of her for sticking with it even when she gets frustrated.

Big head?

Wow! Who knew this was all you had to do?

2009 Flower Garden - part 1

Sydney has been begging to have a flower garden since we first moved into this house in March 2007. We finally got started on it this week.

We are actually planting a little late by Florida standards, but even after being here for 3 years, we are still running on Indiana time. We decided to start from seeds because (1) we're homeschoolers who can't pass up a good learning opportunity and (2) seeds are 20 cents a package whereas a flat of flowers is more like $10. We can do the math.

We did have to splurge on the little Jiffy greenhouse for $6 at WalMart, but it is reusable so it was money well spent.

It was pretty easy. We just had to add water, aerate, plant the seeds, put the lid on and now we are waiting for some growth.

I should be....

updating my blog with everything we've been doing over the last two-ish months

-- or --

exercising

-- or --

folding laundry

--or --

helping my hubby get the kids ready for bed

-- or --

seeing what my quiet (and hopefully sleeping) 4 yo is doing in the other room

-- or --

writing a thank you note to someone for something (I'm sure there's someone I've neglected)

-- or --

planning my dinner menu for next week

-- or --

planning the next week of school

-- or --

prepping for our last co op class

-- or --

practicing the piano...

-- but --

I'd rather put on my jammies and climb into bed with a cold can of Pepsi, my new magazine and a crossword puzzle.

Ahhhhhhhhhh. Heaven.