Last week was our first full week of school. The week before we had a slow, rolling start -- it was busy with Labor Day, my birthday, Scott's birthday and the start of Options. So we mainly worked on getting everyone back on a good wake-up schedule and I introduced the new curriculum and morning board. I had seen the idea on several blogs, and loved the idea for my preschool boys. I will try to post a pic of ours later.
I have decided to use Five in a Row for Zane and Declan and I'm also adding in some of the lessons from a site called ABCJesuslovesme. This week the book we "rowed" was The Story About Ping. The idea is to read the same story for five days in a row and take elements out of the story that are related to history, geography, math, science, art, music, etc. and teach them to your child.
We put up a big world map and marked China, where Ping lives. We talked about buoyancy and put various items into the filled bathtub to see which would float and which would sink. We counted all of Ping's many family members, and then we wrapped up the week by feeding ducks at a park.
Liam enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine.
Zane is doing a lot of work on his letters and numbers and is moving right along. He loves learning and is always asking me what's next or reminding me if I forget a step in our daily routine. :) He just started AWANA this year and is enjoying being a Cubbie.
Declan loves to listen to the books, but I usually lose him after that. :) He prefers being active to sitting and drawing or coloring. So I'm just meeting him where's he at right now, knowing he will learn more when he's ready. He also goes to a music class once a week with Zane.
Aiden is taking several classes at Options -- P.E, Hands-on History, Math Games, Art, cCreative Drama and Kitchen Classroom. He also does karate and a boys club one day a week at another homeschool program. So at home, we are expanding on the math and history from Options and doing lots of reading and writing. He does science and geography along with the younger boys.
For extracurricular activites, he is in Cub Scouts and AWANA and will be taking swim lessons again next month.
Brenna is in 7th grade this year. At Options, she is taking P.E., advanced art, drama, nutrition, international towne(world geography) and a mountain lab science class. She is doing mostly fun, creative classes there, but also science and geography. So at home, we are focusing on math, writing and literature. She just got a babysitting job for a homeschool co-op at a nearby church, so she does that once a week. It's really good for her, since she loves babies and she is able to earn her own spending money. She also attends our church's jr. high youth group once a week and loves it.
Chase is beginning high school this year. At Options, he has Biology, P.E., Advanced Art, Spanish, and another art class. He has one off period where he's a teacher's aide. At home, he is doing math, American Government, writing and a literature study. He goes to our church's high school youth group and also does archery every other week.
Conner is in his final year of high school. Just typing that makes me proud, sad, excited and anxious all at once. He is still taking a heavy load at Options -- 2 periods of physics, 2 periods of pre-calculus and a literature class. He is working, still doing competitive bowling and is a leader for the jr. high youth group at church, so he is pretty busy this year. At least he can drive himself to things now!
That's how the year looks so far. Subject to change at any time. :)
