Well, today was our second day of school.  We started yesterday with our first day of Classical Conversations.  Things went pretty well, and there are some nice kids in the group. 

Today, we had a wonderful day.  We are studying creation this week using Tapestry of grace.  The kids started creation books using a template we found online at: http://www.dltk-bible.com/genesis/creation/book.htm.  We also read about Animals, and both kids did reading, math, grammar, and copywork. 

I am really enjoying getting back into routine for the school year:)

It is that time of year again!  I am gearing up for our new school year with my 1st and 3rd grade children.  We are changing things up a bit from last year, as we will be joining a local Classical Conversations group.  I am very excited to begin in this, as it looks like a great program.  We also will be using Tapestry of Grace year 1 in conjunction with CC.  I think the kids will have fun, and learn a lot also.  I am planning to use more hands-on projects than we did last year, and I think both of my children will really enjoy that. 

I have been compiling our booklist to use this year, and am finding that a lot of the books that Tapestry suggests are not available at the library.  I plan to substitute books.  Has anyone had any experience with this?  Any ideas would be appreciated:) 

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We have been taking a bit of a homeschool hiatus for the month of December.  Instead opting to do some fun Christmas studies and science experiments. 

We made borax snowflakes by adding about 5 tablespoons of borax to a quart of boiling water, and shaping pipe cleaners into snowflakes.  The kids added some food coloring to the water, then we tied our pipe cleaners to a string and suspended the pipe cleaners in the jar after tying the string to a pencil placed over the top of the jar.  We left them to sit overnight, and in the morning tons of beautiful crystals had formed!  It was a quick and easy project, and the snowflakes look beautiful on our Christmas tree!

I am glad that we have taken this time to just have fun together, and I am looking forward to getting back to our regular routine after Christmas:)

Today I took my children to a field trip at an old grist mill with our homeschool group.  It was such a wonderful tour!  I think all of the children really enjoyed learning about the mill.  It was built in 1874, and still uses much of the antique machinery to run it.  The children learned a brief history of the mill and the area itself, got to see how the mill works, and then how the grain is processed.  They were even brave enough to taste the raw cornmeal, and discovered that it tasted a bit different than cornbread:)  

We also squeezed in a little time to work on some math, and reading, as well as a Johnny Appleseed lapbook in honor of Johnny Appleseed's birthday:) 

What a blessing to be able to experience these memories and learning times along with my children.  I am so very thankful for that! 

Well, I am taking the challenge from callapidder days for the fall reading challenge!

Here is my list:

1. The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace

2. A mom after God's own Heart by Elizabeth George

3. A tendering in the storm by Jane Kirkpatrick

4. Emilie's Creative Home Organizer by Emilie Barnes

                                                               5. At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks

                                                               6. Raising Respectful Children by Jill Rigby

I think if I get through that list by December, I'll be doing pretty good:)  It is amazing how quickly days go by when you are homeschooling!  I am so very thankful for the opportunity to homeschool, and the memories that are made simply because we have more time as a family! 

We are officially in our third week of school.  So far things are going well.  My kids are getting into the routine a bit more now.  DD has been working well with Adventures in MFW curriculum, and I like it pretty well too.  I may decide to spend a little bit more time on each of the historical figures so that my kids retain more, but I also know that a lot of these things will also be covered in later years if we continue on the same history rotation. 

DS has been doing good with kindergarten.   He has been  enjoying his FIAR lessons, and this week I will be implementing a study on dinosaurs.  I am pretty sure  that he will really like this study. :)

My nephew came over a few days ago, and brought Diet coke and mentos to show the kids the reaction of the coke when you drop the mentos in.  It fizzed a little, but wasn't as impressive as we had hoped.  So, I grabbed a science experiment  book, and we did a simple baking soda and vinegar experiment by puting 1/4 c. of vinegar into a small bottle, and about a tablespoon of baking soda in the bottle.  We then used a wine cork that fit the bottle snugly, shook the bottle, and watched as the cork shot across the yard with pretty good force!  The kids LOVED it!  My sister in law, myself, and my nephew had a great time too.  It would be fun to host a science experiment day for our family, where each family brings a science experiment to conduct together.  Things like this make me love homeschooling even more!

Well, this is my first attempt at blogging.  I have been busy trying to plan for the upcoming school year.  This year I will have a kindergartener and a second grader.  I am so excited!  This will be my 2nd year homeschooling.  Last year with my daughter, I used Abeka, and although it is very thorough, neither of us were too excited about the traditional workbook approach.  Mid-way through the year I began to implement my own unit studies, and she enjoyed that much better!  So for this year, I am going to try out Adventures in my fathers world for her, and use mainly Five in a row for my son in kindergarten.  Does anyone have any experience using My fathers world?  I am also a bit nervous as to how to structure our day for both kids.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!