Wow, I can't believe spring is finally here and school is almost done for the year! I'm loving the easier days and the warm weather, the spruce sap scenting the warm air... We've also enjoyed having a couple of courting sage grouse wandering around our yard...
I've been heavy with worry for most of the week regarding what to do with the kids for school next year. I really want a good Bible curriculum that will walk through all of the Word together with my children, that has a whole Bible emphasis (Hebrew Roots bend?). I like what Robin shares about in her Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach as far as teaching Bible, but when I look at her year one stuff, then I'm not so sure that is what I want. I keep praying. I am leaning toward doing Sonlight Core 4 (1850 - modern history), on a slower track to make it more Charlotte Masonish, and more digestable, but I want Bible to be more of the heart of our studies, with Sonlight on the side, instead of vice-verse.
For Babygirl's kindergarten, I am leaning toward Five in a Row with Sonlight's Language Arts K and Singapore Math. I may also supplement with Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and Shiller Math. I would also like to get a cute Calendar chart with activities that I saw at Christianbook.com, and a letter chart that goes with Explode the Code. Their lessons are so fun! I wish I had known about these when I taught my first two to read! Of course we will probably do Handwriting without Tears again if we need to, or I might just wing it with copy work.
On the Homefront:
The snow is almost completely gone around here, and acts like it isn't coming back! Wahoo! I've been working in the yard today trying to clean up the pinecones and flower gardens, and seeing which of my perennials are coming back. There are some really fun ones out there. On the north side of the house we have a little landscaping to do, holes to be filled and hopefully another garden to put in...herbs and more flowers, and maybe some strawberries... I'm not sure if they will survive the deer, but usually the deer don't come that close to the house - at least not on that side.
Both of the big girls were sick a day each this week, which kind of plays havoc on our schedule.
Tim is continuing to build our chicken coop on our back deck. Here is a more recent pic (but now it also has a divider between the floored and unfloored sections, and chicken wire on the unfloored section. The little ones like to play in it too):
In the School Room:
We are reading aloud Little Britches by Ralph Moody, since that goes along with our Colorado state report that we are doing. We're also reading A Child's History of Colorado for the general history stuff, but it is terrible, frankly. It is very evolution-packed and full of opinions in the history that, frankly, I just don't care for. Oh well. Some days I just kind of skim over it and give the kids a summary of what it said and call it good. The girls are also filling out notebook pages of things like our state seal, our state flag, our state bird and so forth. I have a more modern summary book of the state that we go through each day as well, but I can't remember the title right now. We enjoy it much better.
Mountain Princess got one day in doing her nature journal. I think Snow Crystal would have done more, but she really doesn't get motivated to do it unless I go with her, and I haven't done it this week, so it just didn't get done. We might go do a page tomorrow. It is such a nice relaxing Sabbath day activity.
Bible: Both girls did the final chapter of Boy Have I Got Problems.
Math: Snow Crystal continued in her Singapore 3A. She worked on her multiplication tables of nines, including using it with division. Mountain Princess did her Singapore 5A, mostly working on end of book review exercises. It won't be long now before she finishes for the year.
Reading: Snow Crystal finished Meet Thomas Jefferson. Mountain Princess finished Black Beauty. Together we are reading Daisy, the Story of Juliette Gordon Low about the woman who started the Girl Scout movement.
Spanish: I decided that it would be okay to take a break from this for the end of the year.
Preschool: We had a great week. Bubblies finished her Handwriting Without Tears preschool book. She is on Book 4 of Developing the Early Learner. She only has about 10 lessons or so in her Earlybird Singapore Math book. She is definitely ready for kindergarten! We probably have about 4 weeks left of reading to do with her Sonlight Core P4/5, but that will be nice to draw from during the summer if we don't get it all finished before then.
On the Mission Field:
Continue to pray for the teams in Pak*stan and Ch*na. This gets to be a hard time of their trip when they've been out for a couple of months already and still have a month or so to go. Things seem to be going well with the P team, but the C team seems to be struggling more.
In the Clinic:
I continue to praise God for this job. Thanks for all those who helped pray for me when I didn't get a job for a year and a half when I first moved here. I believe God was preparing this job for me. I worked in the Urgent Care on Saturday, which I don't like to do because it is on my Sabbath day, but I felt the Lord provided it for us to pay for our internet service we got. The day went quickly, and I enjoyed it, but I also really felt the lack of rest of my normal Sabbath throughout this week!
In the Literary Scene:
I've been working on This Beloved Land, the 5th in the Arcadia series by Janette Oke. I really enjoyed all of this series. I read some from Robin Sampson's Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach also, as I search for a good Bible curriculum for this coming year.
Feeding on His Faithfulness,
Carol
If you would like to join me in this theme, just write up your own weekly summary, using mine or your own categories. Then click onto the Mr. Linky below and leave your name and the link to your summary. I'd love to read your weekly summaries too! I hope to post mine on each Friday or Saturday. At the latest it will be on Sunday. If you get yours done before I do, just leave your link in my cbox and I will put it up for you when I get mine done.
It sounds like a good week. With all that warm weather, you'll have to update your weekly wrapup image. :)
I'm glad your kids were only sick a day each. I know it still plays havoc, but that doesn't seem too bad. I like your thoughts on your curriculum. To me it seems all these literature rich programs offer the same kind of thing that a little creativity plus Ambelside offer - but they just plan it out for you. A mom told me to get the Sonlight catalog and buy their materials at 2nd hand stores. I think I'll figure it out more as I work on planning it. I'm also enjoying teaching more lately now that Rachel is getting interested and as such isn't such a distraction to her older sister. That will be good moving forward.
So glad you're starting to thaw out over there! Sounds like you've had a good week. God will show you the perfect thing for your girls for next year. Just wait on Him. Have a blessed weekend and week!!
Hugs,
Letitia
Isn't it nice to be slowly wrapping up the formal year of school!? We do so much unschool in the spring and summer and I will be glad to have the book work done!
I am searching for a bible curriculum too. My gals are older...I need something for the teen years. Something that motivates them not bores them.
I find that one of my gals is not motivated to journal as much as the other but that she goes in spurts. Sometimes doing so much other times just daydreaming. I try to go with the ebb and flow.Because when she does journal it is very very good.
I hope you week is very blessed!
You are a very dedicated teacher/mom. That is so good that you pay such careful attention to the details in their school work. And so awesome that you are concerned with the Bible being the priority in their education! I could hear your heart laboring over next years decision and wanting to be so focused on having Bible first. That is so good that you are thinking about all of this now and are praying about it. He will definitley lead you into what is just right for your children.
Antoinette
I am really enjoying keeping up with you this way. I need now to sit down and do mine. Have you used Teaching To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I didn't like it very much.
I hope you take pics of your gardening. [0= I do hope you find the right curriculum for you all. What ever you do use just make sure you point out how God was in control of things and leading it for His purpose.
Sending you a HUGE ((HUGS)) my SSiC
In Him<><
-Mary
I'm sure will not be able to believe that I have posted on my blog. I love your weekly wrap up and have been wanting to start that. We are planing a few strawberries and we have some in a hanging basket too. Cannot wait to see your chicken coop! I have not been on the computer much the lately. It has been so pretty out. I'll have to catch you on soon. I miss our chats.
Great week!! Thanks for visiting :) Our new science that we added into our MFW schedule is called Noeo. I love the layout. It has the weekly grid similar to MFW and is really neat with the notebooking lab reports.
I enjoyed doing this and hope to keep up with it in the weeks to come. My girls are 13, almost 10, and 6 and my son will be 2 in July. We will be doing Sonlight core 5 next year and then after that I don't know since my oldest will be in high school. Lord bless and I look forward to getting to know you through your blog =0)
Have you heard of "My Father's World" curriculum? We're going to use it next school year. I was real happy to see that God seemed to be all over it and in it. If you haven't, their website is, www.mfwbooks.com
I have used Sonlight for years and love it but we were ready for a change and I liked that this new curriculum is similar in a lot of ways.
Oh, glad to hear you tried that! I didn't realize that you were using that. I missed that somehow.
I ordered the girls book through CBD.com and boys book through rainbowresource.com
They have beautiful stories in them and you can't help but discuss them.
One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty, the beauty of the Lord. To inquire in His temple, the temple of the Lord.
This is my everyday thoughts about being a mother to three little ladies (12, 10 and 5) and a two year old son. We serve God full-time, and I am a physician assistant. I have the most awesome husband in the world. I am trying to seek and serve God with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind and all my strength.
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