End of summer

We had a short but awesome summer and I couldn't help but post a few pics of our adventures.  Our chickens finally started laying eggs and one day Carson found a snake in the nesting box eating one of our precious eggs! Of course Jared was gone so we tried to capture it ourselves before finally getting out the BB gun. Kayli and I both hit it but that only made it mad and climb up the tree.

 We also took a road trip to Brian Head, UT for a family reunion and then continued on to Overgaard, AZ to see Jared's family. We always stop at this little restaurant in Albuquerque called the Church St. Cafe.

 This was a 2 mile hike we did to Cedar Break National Monument. The girls and I were last in our group to arrive but we all walked the whole way without me having to carry anyone!

 This is at Goblin Valley State Park on our way to the family reunion. I took a trip here during college and was so excited that my family could finally see it! It has the most amazing rock formations and the kids just loved climbing all over them!

First Week of School

Our first week started Wednesday, August 20 in order to keep my little ones on schedule with my older kids online school. They were ready and excited to start school and so was I. We love summer but there is something about routine that helps us all be a little happier. The first few days were fun and science seemed to be the favorite subject. Of course we had to take back-to-school pics in their new outfits and we had a yummy breakfast of muffins, fruit, and juice. This was a treat since I've been less than motivated to get up early and cook since I've been pregnant. Already I'm seeing things I need to tweak a little but am really happy with the curriculum choices this year.

Planning for next year

Summer is flying by and I'm already planning for the next school year! To be completely honest, I love this part of homeschool. I have vowed that this year I am going to keep up with this blog to document what my kids are learning and be able to remember our successes and struggles. Check back often to see what I've added in our curriculum section as I finalize what we will study next year.

Week 2 (10 days)

I can't believe another week has flown by and I am still loving it! This week we got into more of the fun part of homeschooling with a few projects. In SOTW we studied about the Sepoy Mutiny and learned how to load an enfield rifle. It was amazing how much faster it was then the old method of pouring in gunpowder, stuffing some cloth in with a rod, and adding the ball. Watch the videos below to see how we compared the two.

We had to postpone our edible cell until next week so the kids are really looking forward to that. They did some notebooking about the history of anatomy and chose someone to write about that has influenced the field of medicine. Kayli chose Aristotle and Carson chose Galen. They both drew pictures and wrote about the important discoveries these men made.

Like I mentioned last week, I was not happy with our Spanish choice so I have decided to add Rosetta Stone spanish to our lessons. As soon as it arrives and we start I will let you know what I think about it.
I continue to love our classical English curriculum. The kids are improving so much in their writing and grammar as well as their memorization and dictation. I'm wondering if I skipped these subjects in school because I think I'm learning as much as them! Carson memorized a poem called "The Goops" and is constantly asking if he can recite it to me. Being a lover of poetry myself, I am thrilled that he is enjoying this part of school. He is also going through books faster than I can find them at the Library. He absolutely loves reading! Hooray!

Another pleasant surprise is how much we have learned in art so far. We are using Artistic Pursuits and I really like how it has an art history lesson and then teaches an art technique. This week we painted color wheels and studied about the impressionists in Paris in the 1800's. We did have to look up how to pronounce one of the French painter's names.

My preschoolers learned about the letter B this week and the beach. If you ask them what they learned they will say b b b beach ball. Really that's all they remembered! Haha! I let them press seashells into play and look at the patterns they made, play a matching game with sea animals, read books about the beach and ocean, and of course we blew up a beach ball and played catch in the house! It feels good to plan time with my little boys instead of just pushing them away while the older ones do school. This way everyone gets a little of my time and I feel like a better mom in the process.

Week 1 (5 days)

School's in session and I absolutely love having more order to my day! This year I have a fourth grader, a second grader, and two toddlers that are loving pre-school. Our little 7 month old is usually on the floor playing with something left over from our activities (or legos :( So here is the run down of week 1.

I decided to go with a theme each week based on the alphabet so this week we did A for Astronaut with the little boys. I was amazed at how much I found online and had a hard time narrowing it down to 5 activities. We checked out a few books at the library and usually had a song or rhyme to go along with the theme. The highlight was our rockets that blasted off when we blew through straws! That lasted a good 30 minutes and you know that's saying something with a 3 and 2 year old! We also covered the number 1 and our shape was a star. (In case you try launching rockets like this, I suggest using a shorter straw and a skewer cut in half or one of those sticks you stir drinks with).

 On Friday we went to the State Museum and explored the Animal Grossology exhibit.

 This exhibit went perfectly with their Astronaut themed week!

Here are a few "first day of school" pics. Cameron ran and got the camera and was so excited for me to take his picture and then just decided it was taking too long and wouldn't cooperate. oh well. Can't wait for next week!

Kayli and Carson are really enjoying all of the classical curriculum this year. Math is going to be a struggle but that is not unusual around here, and spanish is going to need to change, but other than that things are going great! I really love teaching First Language Lessons and Writing with Ease. ( I will probably learn as much as the kids this year).  I am considering buying the Rosetta Stone Homeschool package for spanish. I currently have Teaching children spanish primer A and think it is way to hard and boring for kids.

The count down begins!

It's almost time to start school again and I am so excited for our new curriculum! I think I finally have everything planned and am ready to go. This will be the first year that I don't teach my older kids together but have them in their own grade level. In the past they were so close in ability that it was easy to do everything together but Kayli is now starting 4th grade and needs a little more of a challenge. I also don't want to push Carson to hard while he is young so this seems like a good time to make the split. School officially starts on Aug. 1, 2011. Swim team will be over and violin will start soon after that. I am rededicating myself to blog at least once a week about what we have done so check back often for some great posts on classical education.

The hard decisions

It is time once again to buy curriculum and I've been stressing about it for weeks! While there were many great things that happened this year in our homeschool, there were also a lot of things I knew I wanted to change. Those of you who have little ones know that it is difficult to spend time teaching the older ones while trying to give the younger ones enough attention. I kept searching for a curriculum that would free up some of my time for my little ones while letting my older kids work more independently. After weeks of praying and going back and forth between different subjects I finally had an epiphony. I asked myself what it was that I liked about homeschooling my kids and came to the realization that it was the time spent teaching and learning. Our best moments were not the moments my kids worked independently but the moments we all learned together. This lead me to make a really hard decision to buy the curriculum that required more of my time. I know this will mean that my house is a mess more often and that I have less "me" time but looking back I know that it will also mean there will be more quality time with my kids. I've also started planning more hands on learning tools for my toddlers so that they can be engaged while I work on the harder subjects with my older two. It is such a great feeling when things come together and you feel peace about your decisions. This is one of those times. I feel peace. If you want to know what curriculum I've chosen, check back soon as I will be updating that page.