Week Two

Today we are beginning our second week of the school year. Last week was a short week for the kids since four of their cousins arrived at our house on Wednesday night. Their cousins' first day of school will be tomorrow in Chicago. Paul homeschooled them on Monday morning, and I took over around 12:45 after I got home from work. He was the teacher on Tuesday, and I was the teacher on Wednesday. I did a little bit of schoolwork with them on Saturday to make up for having missed two days. Three goals I have for this year which represent changes from last year are to #1 do more experiments in science, #2 have the kids write more and spend more time focused on grammar and writing, and #3 have Nadia and Ian learn to play the recorder. We did our first experiment on Sunday evening (would have been done earlier in the week if not for taking Thursday and Friday off). The kids enjoyed it because they got to eat some M and M candies which were part of our simulation about camouflage and natural selection. As for the writing, all I had them do last week was

write in their journal each day. We will do more this week, but that was a start in the right direction. I only plan to do the recorder once a week and have them practice the piano the other four days so we didn't do the recorder last week. Hopefully we will get around to that this week. We took off for cousins, but we didn't take off for Labor Day. The last two years our Bible curriculum has primarily focused on me reading the Old Testament aloud (2016-17) and then New Testament aloud (2017-18). This year we started with an inductive Bible study workbook on James for Nadia and Ian. Nadia loved marking up the first chapter of James with colored pencils. Then we discovered that Phil Vischer had released another devotional series on Right Now Media; the newest one is on Philippians. That is what the kids started yesterday and will keep working through this week. We will get back to the James study at some point. Some weeks they will be doing their homework for our Monday night BSF study, and this week I also want to start a daily devotional that incorporates a different hymn

each day.

Oliver's schoolwork takes the least amount of time, Nadia is the second one done, and Ian consistently takes the longest. He has a harder time focusing and does things like starts drawing instead of accomplishing what he's supposed to be doing. Up until this year social studies has focused on me reading a variety of picture and chapter books to the kids and watching some DVDs (such as they watched one on Columbus last week). This year I am adding in written work for the first time a "test" they are to complete for each chapter of volume 3 of Story of the World. In the past I let Nadia and Ian select what chapter books they would read each day. Sometimes I will let them choose, but sometimes this year I am giving them just a couple of choices that are related either to what we are studying in science or social studies. For example, right now Ian is reading Sign of the Beaver and Nadia is reading I walk in dread : The diary of Deliverance Trembley which is about the Salem witch trials. As

usual, I am reading chapter books to the kids during each of our meals. We are almost done with A journey to the New World : the diary of Remember Patience Whipple, which is about being on the Mayflower and the Plymouth settlement. Lately the kids have been choosing to use Duolingo instead of Rosetta Stone for their Spanish lessons. Nadia really likes the math textbook since it's on the computer. She is already more than one week ahead of schedule. 

Many of the field trips this year happen to fall on a Tuesday or a Thursday, which means Paul will be taking them on more field trips than I will. The first one is this Thursday - Safety Day at Camp Susque. I'm planning to take them to a homeschool "Not Back to School" party at a bed and breakfast on Friday night which includes swimming in a pond, a potluck dinner, etc. In just ten days we'll be headed to Williamsburg for a week!

Gymnastics and art class resumed last week. This week the kids will return to AWANA on Wednesday night, and Soul Patrol kids' choir gets back into gear next Sunday.