Great Adventures

Aug. 31, 2009 - I love homeschooling!

Life is good!  Things have been going great!  I love what I am doing.  The kids and I are settling into a routine and finally getting our schedule to how we like it.  I am learning to be a little looser and making sure the kids have fun so I am definitely not cutting out the fun stuff.  If I don't get done with Math by 2:00 then we will do it in the evening.  The kids seem to be so happy.  I have been praying that God will give me joy and enable me to do this because I certainly cannot do it without him.  My prayers are being answered.  I don't expect to have a life without trials, but I feel like he is giving me joy.  The kids seem easier to manage (except walking back from the park yesterday when they decided to run like yahoos down the middle of the road).  This week we are studying about indians,  We are talking about the different tribes and each tribe had their own way of making a home.  Some lived in wigwams, some built big long houses which multiple families lived in.  Others lived in teepees.  So we made wigwams today and we are making teepees tomorrow.  I will try to post some pictures tomorrow.

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Aug. 19, 2009 - Challenging day

Today has been a somewhat challenging day.  I am trying to keep a schedule.  We start school at 9:00 and I am having to really push it to be done by 2:00.  I really think I am going to have to cut some of the Abeka Phonics and Abeka Math.  It is very repetitive and I think especially for Megan, who is an advanced reader and advanced in Math, it is not necessary to go over something 20 times.  If she knows it I will go over it here and there, but not as much as they say in the curriculum.  We have been talking about Christopher Columbus this week.  We are currently reading a book called Pedro's Journal which is a fictional book that is fact-based.  It is a journal written by a young boy who travels with Christopher Columbus on his journey to the New World.  It is very interesting and the kids are enjoying it.  We also made ships, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, of course, out of alluminum foil and sailed them in our bathtub.  The kids loved this and actually wanted to play with their ships during recess.  It's amazing how something so simple can excite a child.  The Pinta The Nina The Santa Maria

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Aug. 12, 2009 - Name cookies

We had another good day today.  In one of the lessons we discussed our names and what each of our names meant.  We found that the meaning of Matthew is "God's Gift".  Megan's name means "soft and gentle".  The name Marie means "bitter", but we decided that she is far from bitter, so we decided that her name was "joyful, loving and giving".  They then decorated cookies with their names on it, but Matthew and Marie had a hard time because the icing was kind of soft since it has been so warm in the house.    Megan making her name cookie

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Aug. 10, 2009 - First day of school

We had a fantastic first day of school.  Everything went very smooth. I just love the excitement at the beginning of the year.  I wish it could last all year long.  Usually about December I start having the doubts, "Why can't I just put them in public school and I would have all this free time".  I admit it.  I'm guilty of it, but it doesn't  usually last long. We are using My Father's World this year and I think it is going to be great.  I am also using Abeka for Phonics and Math, and Handwriting Without Tears.  We have tried MANY different curriculum.  Some didn't work at all for us and some did fine.  Being that Matthew has had all of my attention for several years, he wasn't very excited about me homeschooling the girls.  He has a hard time concentrating when there are very many distractions at all and he was afraid that would be a problem.  But today he said, "mom, I think this is going to be a good year".  I'm sure we will have challenges, but I'm very happy with our choices in curriculum and I think it WILL be a good year.  Hope everyone's year is great, as well!!   First Day of School

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Aug. 5, 2009 - Counting down the days.

We are now down to five days left until school starts.  We have bible school this week.  I will try to post pictures from bible school tomorrow.  We have been trying to do some fun activities since we are down to less than a week left.  We went to Caribbean Cove and the kids LOVED it.  It was a lot of fun.  Then the next day we went to Raccoon Lake.  They had a little beach where the kids could play and it was also lots of fun.  After the long weekend we were worn out and ready for a break, but it was a fun time for all.

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