Friday, January 11, 2013

Week #19

Well, we are officially back in the swing of things!  We took 3 weeks off for Christmas, New Years and squeezed in Soccer Boy's 6th birthday too...whew!!  I  must honestly say that I did miss the "schedule" and I use that word loosely of our homeschooling.  We don't so much as have a set schedule as we have a routine each day.  I seem to function better with a little routine each day.  So here's what all we accomplished this week in a nutshell.

Soccer Boy began his study of the letter "H" this week learning all about horses.  Can I just say one  more time how much we are enjoying My Father's World Kindy Curriculum.  It moves at a really nice pace for us.  We began this week with an ABC review and jumped right in to all things "H".  We read several books this week and this seems to be one of his favorite things about our day...who knew?  After our lesson each day, I let him pick out any book from our "library" and I read to him.  He said, "Mommy, I love sitting by you every day!"  How sweet is that!!  It's these little reminders that show me exactly why we chose to homeschool in the first place.
Very serious about gluing!

Making a horse out of different shapes.

Artsy Girl jumped right back into our study of American History.  We finished up the 13 colonies this week, including Rhode Island and North Carolina.  Then we moved to Vermont.  She took special interest in learning about the Wright Brothers and we will study them more in depth when we learn about American inventions later this year.  She started working with fractions, contractions and aced her Spelling test.

A look ahead into our year...
We are hooked on My Father's World and will be ordering again for the next school year.  Since we do year-round (does schooling ever stop?), our new year will begin in July.  Artsy Girl will be in 4th and studying Exploring Countries and Cultures.  Soccer Boy will be doing MFW First Grade.  We like the year-round approach, since it allows our breaks to be spread out throughout the year.  We really get to enjoy all four beautiful seasons by having some time off during each of them.  I am a firm believer that "school" can happen anywhere and everywhere, not just sitting at our school table.  We like to get out and have fun while learning at the same time.  We visit  museums, our zoo, festivals and anything else where we can get some hands on learning.

On Friday, God blessed us with a little piece of Spring right here in the middle of Winter.  We had a beautiful, sunny 70 degree day.  We spent most all day outside riding bikes and going for a much needed walk around our neighborhood.  Since we homeschool on a four day week, our Friday was wide open.  I snapped a couple pics of my little man, but my little lady was speeding so fast that I couldn't get any pics!  It's these special days that I believe God blesses us with to remind us that He is always there.  A blessed week for sure!