First Six Weeks Wrap Up

Hey Y'all! Long time, no blog. I've been quite consumed with learning the ropes of YouTube and miss the simplicity of sharing on this here blog, so I figured I'd start with a once an every six weeks homeschool wrap up, our school scrapbook of sorts. Between now and next semseter's wrap up, I'll likely post some more memories of our last few major events: birthdays, vacations, etc.

So without further adieu, I present: our first six weeks of school!

Our first day photos:

I am loving our peaceful morning boards, which are for handwriting, hymn study, map drills, and bible memory. The kids have also enjoyed a little morning free time, where they choose to play school games together more often than alone. 

Math is always a fan favorite...NOT :) We have been starting our academic day with math to get it out of the way, and so far, it's been a good choice. 

Science this year has been a struggle for me. I'm not loving the way 

our curriculum is laid out, and so we've been a little slow going. I expected to get through three chapters in six weeks, but we made it through two, due to a combination of morning sickness and LONG chapters. Thank goodness Grandpa is taking over the projects again this year!

History quickly became our favorite subject last year, and this year is no different. A fun bonus is that we are doing it with friends this year and meeting a couple times a month for the projects. This last six week session included the first Olympics, complete with a fun kids pentathlon, and a traditional Greek feast, studying the differences between Sparta and Athens, and learning all about Alexander the Great. We LOVE Story of the World.

Geography is a new concept this year, as we switched from a workbook study to a Simply Charlotte Mason study of Europe. Each morning the kids do their map drills silently and I check their work. Then twice a week we read from either Hungry Planet or Material World, and then complete one of the suggested recipes or read alouds associated. It's amazing what kids are capable of picking up through living books, and I'm also blown away by what I DIDN'T learn in school myself, that I get to explore now as an adult. 

We just wrapped up reading The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh, and I can't believe it wasn't already a part of our home library. I loved it, and so did my kids. Isabella has no formal reading or writing curriculum for the next two years, so she has spent her time reading Katie Woo, Magic Treehouse, and Flat Stanley books. Jesse and I re-started All About Reading level one this year, and the difference between his readiness last year and this year is astounding. He was capable last year, but this year he is excelling. I'm so glad we took a break.

We have finished the Picture Smart Bible studies on "The Bible" and "Genesis" and are going to be continuing in order. I, myself, and studying Women Living Well's study on Joshua, so I'm looking forward to when our curriculum takes us there. We have been drilling the books of the bible memory work in our free time, but not consistenly, and another area that I need to crack down on is our scripture memory. I currently have us using Simply Charlotte Mason's cycle one scripture memory, and we are only three verses in after six weeks, but my kiddos have also memorized two of the three verses to "What a Friend we have in Jesus" so I'm trying to to overwhelm their brains and allow it to all soak in.

All of the extra "fun" subjects include our artist study, nature study, our art lessons, violin lessons, dance classes, recreation league football, and  4H. We are just getting started with a new year in each of these, as most didn't really begin until early September. Like our scripture study, I can see myself needing to put more effort into our art lessons, as we only got through three lessons in six weeks, but hopefully morning sickness will curb here soon and the smell of paint or glue wont be so overwhelming. As for everything else, Because of homeschooling, I do see all areas of growth in each of these areas, since I have been at every lesson, every game, and every class for years. This year marks the largest jump in maturity for my son, who has developed more of the "leader" mentality on his football team, and also a huge leap in musical readiness. My daughter was moved up a level in both dance classes and again, while she struggled at first, I have seen her grow SO MUCH because of the new challenges.

And then, of course, we have some fun preschool spinkled in here and there :)

Areas I hope to grow by the end of our next six weeks:

• Regular library visits
• More silent reading time
• More outdoor time (we cut back on our horse/pony leases until I am feeling better, so our outdoor time has taken a hit, also we live in FL so unless water is involved, my kids melt outside, and our pool guy just had a baby with heart issues, pray for them please, so our pool is a little off limits, he's our friend so we told him to take care of his family and get back to us when he can)
• I need to develop a plan as far as this science curriculum goes, changing our schedule may be necessary
• Scripture study needs to take a front seat, bottom line.

And here's some of the fun stuff, you know, the REAL peek at what homeschooling looks like? Sometimes it looks like this...

"We NEED to get out of the house" days, even without swimsuits or a plan...

"Educational show = school" days...

"Everyone's going to Gramma's house" days...

"

"Please just go play like normal kids" days...

"You're too cute to force to do school today" days...

"We survived and deserve ice cream" days...

"I'm not going to win the energy war today" days...

"My second grader needs more handwriting help than my Kindergartener" days...

And then some! See ya in six weeks with our next wrap up. Hopefully we have more productive days this go round :)