Our first week of school is over.  What a relief to get that under our belt.  To be honest I would have loved to have waited til after Labor Day to start but co-op demanded we start now and so we did.

It wasn't a full week mind you.  I didn't get our math and language ordered until Monday but it still seemed like full days with all of our Inductive Bible Study, Spelling, History, Writing, and Reading.  Bonnie has also started her Apologia Science on her own.  I sometimes think that when we plug in math, language, and elementary science we will be doing school til the wee hours of the day. 

The kids handled the days well and slowly got into the groove of things.  We added daily house chores to the mix which wasn't well received by everyone but eventually they realized that their chores weren't going to kill them and they got them done. 

I was really excited to see how well Bonnie and Bryce responded to their new spelling program.  This year we are using Sequential Spelling for them.  They share similiar spelling issues and they have no problem being on the same track.  Spelling has become the number one subject to study, no more will it get pushed to the end of the day, but is first thing after our Bible study.  Brian is using Abeka Spelling and received an 100 percent on his first test.  He is so proud of the words he can spell. 

History is still my favorite.  This week was all events and people from 1900 to 1902 - Teddy Roosevelt, Wright Brothers, Ford, Einstein, and child labor.  Next week we look at President Taft, more of Ford, etc.  On Monday, we will go to the local library and view an exhibit of photographs taken by Lewis Hines.  He was the reporter that exposed the child labor practices of the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Our area was taken over by cotton mills after the Civil War and several of Lewis Hines pictures were taken of local mills.  Some of these mills still operate today but most are closed.  I tell you more of our visit later.

All in all, we are back into action.  I am looking forward to a great school year.