End is in sight

The end of first grade for Ian and third grade for Nadia is definitely in sight. They both have three lessons left in math. For Nadia it means completing the third grade book, and for Ian it will mean he did 2/3 of the second grade book. We'll take a break from math while we're in OH/IL/IN, and then when we get back we'll be doing math flashcards every day (all four operations) for two months. Nadia in particular is very excited about having a four month break from doing math pages, as it's her least favorite subject (to Paul's dismay).

Nadia wrapping her friend's gift for her sleepover birthday party tonight.

We already finished spelling and handwriting several weeks ago. We've been doing more work with writing and vocabulary, and I plan to keep doing that curriculum for another two months with them. We'll have a complete break from school work for two months, but until the middle of June I'll still expect the kids to read from a chapter book, practice the piano, do math flashcards, and do some work on writing/vocabulary each day. We wrapped up our social studies curriculum this week also. We've been learning about Ancient Greece the last several weeks.

After we get back from our trip we'll have one more chapter left in the astronomy curriculum, and then we'll take a four month break from science. I overheard Oliver say today that he was "Asteroid man" so you can tell that he overhears some of what we're talking about in science. Today Nadia and Ian each wrote down five points in the debate regarding whether or not Pluto is a planet. They both want it to be considered to be a planet, but I had Nadia write a defense of the view that it's not a planet since Ian took the other side.

I'll also give Nadia a break from keyboarding and Spanish starting the first week of May. We won't take a break from field trips or me reading them chapter books though! We are currently reading The Battle for the Castle and next up will be The Golden Fleece. Although our official last day of school will be April 28, I already have field trips scheduled for May and in the summer. I am not sure how long it will take us to finish reading the Old Testament. When we get back from Chicago we'll still need to read Micah through Malachi and Isaiah through Ezekiel. Then I will have read the whole OT to the kids although we did skip some chapters that just listed lots and lots of names and I also skipped Song of Solomon. It might take us until the middle of June to finish the major prophets. We shall see! We'll start the New Testament when they start 2nd and 4th grade sometime near the end of August. We also need to do several art projects in May and June.

The kids are very excited about our spring break. We've never taken one this long before. On April 6 we're doing a four hour Wonders of the Wild program put on by Penn State at Bald Eagle State Park, and then on April 7 we'll visit the Great

Lakes Science Center in Cleveland and spend the night with one of my cousins in Ohio.

The highlight for the kids is that they'll be spending time with their cousins in Chicago. They've never been in Indiana or Illinois before. Our trip will end with seeing some of my cousins in Indiana. I have several field trips planned for April once we get home including Reptiland, the Ephrata cloister, Everhart museum, Owens sheep farm, etc. The soccer games were supposed to start on April 1, but the start date was pushed back to April 22 because of the snow storm last month. This means the boys will miss two practices but not any games. Nadia won't miss any practices, but she'll miss one softball game while we're away.