In the meantime, I thought I'd start with a post about our first week back to school! While talking with some mom friends the other day, we all came to the consensus that summer went by in the blink of an eye. Our family spent the summer moving (still in Cleveland) which wasn't exactly in the plans. But now we're in a house that fits our needs a little better than the last one, so it all worked out.
Anyway. After spending June traveling then finding a new place to live, July moving, and August unpacking, recovering, and traveling a bit more, we got started with a new school year this week. It was both a challenge and a relief to get back into things - maybe you can relate?
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| Yes, he's always that excited to do his math work. Not. |
We started with reading many good books - Courage of Sarah Noble, Ambush in the Wilderness, Abigail Adams and Sign of the Beaver, to name a few. The boys LOVE reading, so keeping a constant stream of quality literature in front of them is key. They also don't grumble (as much) about things like copy work and spelling when it comes from good books that they are reading.
Yes, we did most of our school work on the living room floor. Those desks can be purchased at Michael's for $5 on sale and I started using them last year when the baby became a toddler. Bringing things down to his level keeps him from feeling left out and thus keeps the screaming and tantrum throwing (not MY sweet angel) to a minimum. We also do some of the more involved projects like art and science after lunch when he's napping (or pretending to).
I really like how this curriculum includes a variety of the "fun" things - art, science experiments, games and other hands-on projects are integrated really well into the daily and weekly plan so they have less chance of going by the wayside like in previous years.
This week we looked at some of John Audubon's paintings and talked about landscapes in general. Then I turned the boys lose with their watercolor sets so they could experiment for a bit. On a recent trip to the Cleveland Art Museum (awesome and free, by the way) the boys were each especially drawn to the American landscape paintings. So I'm hoping that means they'll enjoy learning more. Of course they also really liked the room full of armor and weapons.
In science they built a rain gauge while reading about weather and charting daily observations. Another good thing about our curriculum is that it has a built in "catch-up" day, which can be used to either complete unfinished assignments and projects or for review and enrichment activities. This week we spent our "free day" taking care of sick dogs. After spending more time and money than I cared to, they are now medicated (random infection) and on the road to recovery.
Thank God for the flexibility of homeschooling.
One of the highlights of the week was cooking! Part of our focus on the United States this year will be touring each of them. Since we are learning about the founding of our country we are starting in New England. This week we started with Massachusetts and used atlases to gather information and make fact cards. We'll also be choosing recipes to cook from each state - the boys made clam chowder and corn bread one night this week and it was delicious.
I honestly don't know who's enjoying this new aspect of our school year more - my husband or the boys. Or me, since I get a night off cooking.
I put my husband in charge of the cooking project while I tried to sit and relax and not think about my babies in the kitchen using large knives.
Monkey see, monkey do. He's pretending to cut things like big brother only with a plastic spoon and pieces of peanut butter toast.
I think everyone is looking forward to the next cooking session!
I can also vouch for the fact that kids are definitely more likely to try things that they had a hand in making. Or maybe they were just starving.
After a pretty full week, we had an opportunity to meet our friends and blow off some steam.
It was a beautiful day to be out and about and since it was a weekday afternoon we (group of homeschoolers) had the place to ourselves.
That pretty much sums up the week. I think all in all it went well. My oldest even spontaneously mentioned to me that he had some fun this week with the new school work - always a good sign.
Since I've already written this post once, only to have it vanish into thin air (you didn't think this blogging thing was easy did you?) I think I'll end it here before something happens again. I already consumed many cookies after the first frustration, I probably don't need a reason to eat more.
I hope you are all having a great start to your school year!
~ Dori
