First Full Week of School

 School is in for autumn!  It may not officially be the fall season, but now that Labor Day is over, to me, summer has ended.  We'll still savor some warm days, but I have to be honest- it's easier to get a school day rolling when the skies aren't so sunny and the beach isn't luring you out the door.  We made it through our first week of a new curriculum, not that I was afraid we wouldn't.  But we're definitely on a learning curve. Brown-Eyed-Girl is getting used to copywork.  I can't wait to see how her handwriting improves over the next months.

 Mister is fairly seasoned at penmanship (although we have yet to tackle cursive).  There is a lot of copywork this year as they each keep a memory verse notebook (shown here, will illustrations for John 3:16), a geography vocabulary list, and character trait list based on Hero Tales.  (Many thanks to MamaJenn for her free printables we're using for the latter two).

 Petite got some great educational toys to keep her busy while her older brother and sister are doing school work.  She loves this one and can do it completely independently.  I love Melissa and Doug toys!  I will say Little Miss was a bit of a handful last week.  I'm trying hard to take time out of our day to spend with her and  read and play.

In my quest to make school "fun" I stole my S-I-L's  idea to get everyone spelling with Scrabble Cheez-Its during snack time.

 Since graduating to a big girl bed ( against MY will) Petite has not been napping much, which can make for a very very long... long  afternoon when she is cranky.  But she seems to like sleeping in mama's bed a little better and I was able to get her to nap in what we call the "Nest".  She's so adorable.

 We're using the Answers in Genesis book Properties of Ecosystems this year for science.  I've used  two other books in this series and was happy with them.. This particular one doesn't have a beginners level so I'll be modifying some of the material.  One of the projects was to make an earthworm niche.  Thankfully Josh was home to do this with them because, yes, I am all girl, and I do not touch worms.  A jar was layered with dark dirt, sand, and oatmeal, and the worms added. We're already seeing the tunnels the worms are making.

 Petite just enjoys covering herself with dirt.

Ew... gross.  But the kids think this is pretty cool.

So my thoughts after our first week of My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures?

Um, wow.  This is a rigorous course.  I'm not used to doing Social Studies and Science on the same days.  I know I don't have to follow the schedule and that I can block it out and I may do that.  When I was doing my own planning, I only planned one of these subjects per day and sometime each unit we did was solely social studies or solely science.  I don't think it's too much work, but it is definitely a step up.  I appreciate the notebooking and the hands on projects and that I have everything I need at my fingertips.  Because our days are longer, I've decided to tackle the three Rs first thing in the day, and then get into our core studies afterward. The kids need to be as fresh as possible for math and all the other necessities.

This is going to be a very important year for us, I feel.  I think it is going to set the stage for more independence in learning as reading, writing, and study skills mature.  I'm expecting now that it's going to be tough at times.  The house will not be Better Homes and Gardens quality for a long long time.  I'm not going to be able to give them something to do and walk away all that often.  I may not have a lot of time for other pursuits.  I say all this, thinking I didn't anyway, but realizing afresh that these kiddos really, really need me.

And I would rather do one thing that amounts to something than do everything that amounts to nothing.

These kids are really something :)