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Aug. 1, 2009
School has begun!
John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
I forgot to mention last time....we got a free kid computer!!! A lady at our church, who also homeschools her 5 kids, gave it to us! Her children have used it since they were little, and their youngest is now 11 and doesn't use this one anymore. The kids are so excited! It came with a joystick, a keyboard, mouse and a bunch of games. I also went to Goodwill and picked up a few more older games!
They each get 20 minutes of computer time a week. If they did not complete their morning chores, then they don't get to use the computer that day! Same with fighting. If big fights break out, the computer is turned off. So far, that has only happened once, and they quickly learned they didn't like that! lol
We started school on July 31st. I don't quite have all the curriculum yet, but the boys were just too excited! lol I had wanted to start early anyway, because of the new baby coming in January. I know that we always take a nice long holiday break as well, so we probably won't do much in December or January. Who knows.....we'll play it by ear! So I thought it would be nice to get a jump start and do as much as we can right now. So far, it's awesome!
We chose Math-U-See as their math program. The boys LOVE it. In fact, Jack absolutely whips through the worksheets like nobody's business! He is always a page ahead of Ben. He is VERY gifted in math, it seems! Right now we are working on place value in numbers. The first thing we learned, is that you should never count from 1 to 10. You should count from 0 to9 instead! 0 is a number, after all, and 10 technically starts a new 'set' of numbers, the next place value. Meg has been joining us in this math program too, just not doing the actual worksheets. But if you do it with her out loud, she gets it right every time! She is much better with numbers than letters. I think they are Daddy's kids! lol
We started our Alpha-Phonics book today, and the boys learned how many vowels there are in the alphabet (5), and they learned what they are. (A, E, I, O, and U) We did lesson 1 in that book and practiced reading simple words. Right now, this book is too easy for the both of them. But regardless, we are working on every single lesson, to make sure that they have a good foundation, before moving forward. I don't care if we fly through 3 lessons a day, as long as they KNOW it.
Tonight Meg joined us in playing Go Fish a couple of times, and we worked on our numbers and matching skills!
I turned in Ben's kindergarten test on Tuesday, via mail, so we should hear back about that within the next 2 weeks. The company itself will score it electronically and send me the results. I have his kindergarten certificate all ready in a frame to present to him!
I will be getting our history program (Story of the World I) next week Wednesday, at our homeschool park day. I'm really excited for that, and it'll go over Ancient History. For science, I will be ordering their butterfly garden and ant farm next week. All summer we've been collecting bugs (mostly ladybugs) in the butterfly kit and watching them! That has been so much fun. I found something awesome at Target too. I think it's made by National Geographic for kids....it's a microscope set, where you hook it up to your TV! That way, we can look at leaves or bugs or whatever, and they can all see it on the TV screen!!! I thought that was perfect for homeschooling.
One thing I've been thinking a lot about lately, is our homeschooling group. I really need to get back into it and keep staying involved. In the middle of August, they will sign-ups again for co-op groups. I missed the deadline this summer, because I had just joined this group (the other one we were a part of fizzled out). I think the kids will love it, having fun school things to do all the time, with other homeschooled kids. We go to park days on Wednesdays, but we don't go every week. In the beginning I did, but lately we've been enjoying the summer, going to the beach, hiking, etc. And really, I don't think that's a bad thing. I am grateful and super blessed to be able to spend all this time with our kids!! It's something I will never ever regret doing. But I want to make sure to make our homeschooling group a priority come August/September when they start school too. It's a good feeling to be in like-minded company, and the kids always love making new friends!
Our chuch's homeschooling group will probably start back up in September as well, so that will be nice to be a part of again. We did it last year, but it could use a few more people! lol I know some days, it was literally just my sister's kids and our kids, and that wasn't as much fun. We also took turns being sick at the end of the year, and missed a lot of the get-togethers.
Anyway, that is what's going on in our little world. Starting school, and loving it! We didn't make the 'first day of school' a big priority this year. We just eased right back into it like we never left off! lol
I hope to get in and get some headshots/school pictures taken at Olan Mills or something very soon too. |
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Posted by 
Aug. 2, 2009 - Untitled Comment
I forgot (eek) to take emma to get her 1st grade pictures taken. I mean, I have plenty that *I* have taken...but I didn't get any taken...
I took her to Walmart for her K year cause...you know....school pictures alwyas stink LOL...and I've never had good luck with WM pics turning out AWESOME lol...so yeah....it looks like a typical school picture ;) LOL....I will take Elzie and Emma in to get their pics for school I guess this year....or at least just Elzie for his "k" pics...and then I can personally take their school pics after htat piont...so that they all match on the wall...
ANyway...Sounds great...we are waiting on our curriculum to be ORDERED ;) LOL