Why I love Homeschooling (aka Week 4)
Yes, I am aware that it has been three weeks since the last post and only one week in our homeschool curriculum. Isn't homeschooling wonderful? :-)
Two weeks ago the Houston area was below freezing more days than not, and in the middle of our homeschooling week, the energy company decided it would be a great time to do rolling black outs in freezing temperatures. After the 3rd time the power went off in the same hour, we packed some goodies and hiked across the yard to my parent's house with the lovely generator. Now, freezing temperatures, power outages and hanging out at MamaRosie and Crawdaddy's house is just way too exciting to get school work done, so we took the day off. The next day was just as cold and we all started feeling a little icky so we took the next day off.
Last week I (aka the teacher) was sick as a dog. I literally stayed in bed almost all day for most of the week with two wonderful little nurses. Of course, education is a lifestyle for us, so learning moments were constantly being worked in, but we took the week off the curriculum all last week, too.
This week was a half week since our curriculum is set up in 4 day blocks, starting Monday on Day 3 would just confuse everything. So the girls did a lot of reading (and playing Nintendo DS) while I got some writing done, and then we picked things back up on Wednesday.
All that to say, we had another wonderful week in our homeschool, even though there was some lag time in between. :-) And we are all excited to have a belated Valentine's Day Fancy Friday with our homeschool friends tomorrow where we will be doing crafts and having goodies!
Breakfast Time Table Talk:
- Bible time had us beginning memorizing our first Memory Verse for the year. John 8:12- "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
- We read Exodus 13:21-22 and Nehemiah 9:7-12 where God led His people through the wilderness with a pillar of fire at night, and we discussed how Darkness can never overcome light. Today, we made switch plate covers that say "Jesus is the light of the world."
- Our Character Training with the book EVERYDAY GRACES is centering on sibling relationships and the importance of getting along with each other . . . which I am all about! It could be a coincidence but I have seen a marked improvement in their play time in enjoying each other's company more, so thank you Everyday Graces!
- Our Manners Devotional is still going well. We've talked more about greeting and what to do when others are handicapped (and I was glad to have this opportunity to talk about sensitivity with this subject) or have a cold and can't shake your hand (very important right about now!).
History:
- North American Indians has been the theme of the week and we have learned about the various tribes, home styles and hunting habits, along with Native American sign language. We are continuing with our Squanto read aloud and the girls are really engaged in his story. Very, very pleased with My Father's World so far!
- We also got some library books on this topic and by far, their favorite was THE ROUGH-FACE GIRL by Rafe Martin, which is a retelling of the Cinderella story. Out of all the retellings we've read, this may be my favorite!
- We have finished the alphabet a letter at a time and I am right now debating on whether to start it back up again for reinforcements, look for handwriting books that break it down more, or continue back with tracing copywork. But they are both doing very well.
- Cali's assignment this week was on Field Trips. She wanted to write about her field trip to Mississippi where she got to visit her Nanny Donna, Paran David and Taylor and Hayley. Highlights of her paragraph include riding the four wheeler with Nanny Donna and spotting a rabbit, riding with Paran David and going through the sprinkler, pretending to be on a campout with Hayley in Nanny's room, and being able to hug her family. (cute, right?) I am continuing to notice a big jump in Cali's ability to tell complete sentences and thoughts and her creativity, and my goodness does she have a memory on her!
- Jordan's writing took another step this week. First we talked about strong vocabulary and using better verbs--a HUGE topic for me with my writing. We talked about how it is "okay" to say you walked to the mailbox to get a package but what else could you say that would be more interesting, and other scenarios. She did excellent with this and came up with "flying to the mailbox," "sleepwalking home" after a boring event, and "racing to a friend's house." Then with paragraph work, we took last week's assignments and first made them into complete sentences. This could have been really easy if I followed directions or even just said "Oh, she's six, let me just write what she says," but I know what she can do so I wanted to challenge her. I taught her how you should mix up your sentences to add variety, not simply have every one be, " I like this because . . ." At first, she gave a little push back but after explaining it a bit more, she started smiling and came up with very exciting, interesting sentences. I was very proud. The next step was putting those sentences into a paragraph. I am enjoying this style of breaking down the paragraphs as I think it makes each step very clear. Very pleased with Sonlight for both girls.
- (Hiding head in sand) I have found my weak link. The hard part is that one of them works best on the computer but doing that during school time slows things down with both of them wanting to be online at the same time, and after school I need to be online for my writing. No excuses, this is my failure . . . for the second week in a row. Obviously I have some work to do here!
- Jordan is a week ahead of schedule, so I let her read on her own this week. She is a very good reader and read Highlights, Animorphs and some Science books on stars this week.
- Cali is still loving reading the Bible and one day ended up reading the story about the God leading his people with a pillar of fire at night, so it tied in beautifully!
- Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims is our main read aloud right now during the day and our bedtime book is still Fairies and the Quest for Neverland.
- Another easy, almost review week for the girls where we learned the "zero" addition facts. Now a year and a half or two years ago when I started this curriculum with Jordan, we went about one more week and then hit a wall at the "2 facts." So we shall see what the future brings, but for now, it is going great.
- We got a ton of library books on stars, constellations and the sun and read them this week. The girls have always loved astronomy so this was perfect. Our plan is to go outside on a clear night either tonight or this weekend and star gaze.
So that is how our school week went. How about yours?
Have a Great Weekend!
