3 Week Reprieve

Wow. We made it through the first 3 weeks. Okay, you know those first day jitters I was talking about? Well, I definitely got over that idea real fast. Our first day I described as "apocalyptic." It was rough, people. Everyone cried. It sounded like wailing and gnashing of teeth in this house before lunch! I tell you though, it sure did set us up because we could only go up from there, and I would say we finished the 3 week session with success.

I think the hard first day made us realize we are going to have to decide that we are going to be serious. My girls worked hard to play a little (or a lot of) review and catch-up. Breana got the brunt of it as I realized she did not know her multiplication tables well enough to move on. She is still working on it, but atleast she is ready to do the next lesson, now. She did finish her 3rd grade Language and has started "Language A." She is enjoying Language so that's encouraging. Caitlyn has stepped up to the plate and done atleast triple the work that I would normally expect of them. It's making for a lot of seatwork, but she has worked at it well. How pleasantly surprised she is going to be when she gets to her new books and has so much less busy work. I truly hope to replace it with reading, but ssshhhhh! Don't tell anyone!

We started some projects with our History and Science, and we are working on finishing them during this, our week off. We made a Light Hut for Science and a Salt Dough Map to illustrate our geography vocabulary words. We've also made scimitars in History.

In Bible we learned about Deference and Cheerfulness, which was needed for all of us, and the kids are memorizing their verses well. It's also nice to have something that we all know we are responsible to know when we start acting like humans. LOL.

Jadon and Graycen have been hanging out for all of this, and they are too funny. Jadon has done great with his schoolwork. He is sounding out words even though he tells me all the time that he can't read! He is also picking up a lot from the girls. One day as Bree was reviewing her times tables on Timez Attack (which by the way is an excellent resource online. It is a game that all the kids love watching or playing and it is free!). She was working on the 6's and she has to quickly recall and type in the answer to the problems as they flash onto the ogre's belly. 6x6 flashed up and Breana had to ponder for a moment. Jadon is standing beside her jumping up and down at the prospect of knocking that ogre down, knowing she has a limited amount of time. Finally, in desparation, he yells "36!!" I got so tickled. I also love to use him as my circus monkey when Daddy gets home. "Jadon, what's a vascular plant?" "A plant with tubes in it," he promptly spits out. "And what's a nonvascular plant?" "One that sucks up water like a paper towel." He's my little genius! ;)

Graycen mostly cares about the color of the cover of her workbook. I am using Rod & Staff's pre K books for her. She is flying through them just to get to the pink book. I hope that she'll find a new goal after she has gotten through it. In 3 weeks she has done 2 books, and she is writing 1's and 2's pretty well. It is mostly writing readiness. She has to match things that are alike, and circle the different object in the row, but I have been surprised too. In a few exercises, she has had to match the objects that go with the object in the center of the page. I've been surprised that she could identify objects that were used in the garage, kitchen, and with the sewing machine. Rod & Staff is a Mennonite company and the pictures are not of the most modern tools, yet she still can identify where they are used even though she has never really seen a beater with the crank handle on the top. 1 more book to finish before she is in the pink book! I hope it is worth all the work!

Woah! I really didn't anticipate writing this long. If you actually read this brain of mine, thanks and sorry! We also have already been on field trips, so I'll have to do a post on them too. For now, I've got to get up. My bottom is sore from sitting here!

First Day of School Jitters

Okay, so I'm not so jittery, but it dawned on me that my kids won't know that "first day of school" anticipation thing. I realized that I've been trained to have that little flutter of excitement about the first day of school, but they don't get it. Maybe I can make some traditions to help them look forward to it.

Today is that day. I'm going to be waking them up in just a few minutes, and my time will be over. I came to the realization this year that I am a full time teacher when we are in school. That was a shift for me. This year, instead of overseeing their education, I feel like I need to be in charge of it. This is a little backwards from what I thought it should be, but I realized we don't run like the smooth oiled machine I think we are (note a little sarcasm). I thought as they get older I would be more the overseer, but you can only do that if they've been trained to be responsible for it. That is definitely a goal this year. The older girls will have to learn to learn. I am the manager of this home, and I don't think I've been very active in that role.

I think I'm going to have to get up earlier too. Not surprising to me. I used to do that well, but have become lazy. Self discipline is hard for me too. Hmmm. Maybe a little mercy in that training is in order. It's hard to learn without a model.

I want to find order and organization and routine this year. Can that be mixed with fun and play and love? That will be my quest for balance this year. I see those homes that do that well, but I'm not sure how to do that.

Hopefully, this year (school year), I'll be able to keep up with this blog to help me document our progress and activity. It would be nice to be able to look back and it all be in one place. So here's to hopin' and first day jitters!

School Days, School Daze

School started for the Daniel Homeschool this week. Actually things have gone really well. We have read 3 chapters each day in our Children's Story Bible, and done each day's lesson in our Character Building curriculum. In science, we have talked about solar eclipses (too bad we aren't in China!) and done an activity to notebook. We have some timeline activity to catch up on in history, but we have done our reading lessons to date. All of the kids have been eager and willing to get their Math and Language done too. Jadon has done week 1's Math lessons on Monday and week 2's on Tuesday. I guess we will start week 3 today! The girls have kept up with their handwriting in A Reason for Handwriting, and I just realized that I may need a teachers manual to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Once we add in some spelling, reading, and fine arts, we'll be good to go!

We started some chore charts that have helped with them knowing what is expected. They are earning some prizes that we got while grocery shopping last week. Next week we start earning spending money for our Disney trip in November!

So far so good. I hope it will stay this pleasant when we add in those school year activities. We'll have field trips, ballet class, maybe a music class, and Explorers to add. Busy! My desire is to just find a good rhythm or make habits that help this thing we call life run smoothly! No chaos, please!

Talk soon!

School Days, School Days...

...Dear old golden rule days. The plan is to start some sort of school routine in the morning. That may be just a joke. It will depend on how much I can prepare before the kids wake up in the morning. I'll study a little tonight after they go to bed (which I hope will be soon). I'm not going to start Math and Language yet. We are going to take a little more break from them. I'm thinking a couple more weeks. I want to continue our History, begin Science, begin a new Bible routine (Bible Reading in the morning and character study in the evening), begin handwriting. Is there anything I am missing? I'll find out soon enough.

This is what is lined up:

Bible- the Vos Children's Story Bible (a.m.)
Character Building for Families (p.m.)

History - Mystery of History

Science - Apologia Astronomy

Handwriting - A Reason for Handwriting

Jadon may start his Letters & Sounds so I can have some time to get the hang of his routine before I add the girls. Then we can start his handwriting too. They go hand in hand.

That's probably it right now. I got the girls testing scores back. I am thrilled with their listening and reading comprehension scores. Their math and spelling scores were the lowest. They are still in their grade level, but I could tell where I was slacking off. I'm going to do some homework for the other two subjects and make sure that they don't need some extra exercise in math and then we'll get back into those subjects.

I have high hopes for tomorrow. Stay tuned... ;)