As life happens, often things have to be put "on the back burner" as we focus on more important things that need our attention. We must set priorities.
"In everything you do, put God first, He will direct you and crown your efforts with success." ~Proverbs 3:6
In that, we must pray for God to lead us - to help us sort through our "tasks" and responsibilities and He will show us where our focus needs to be and what needs to be set aside for the time being.
In doing this - I needed to let the blogs "rest" for a bit of time. As things are coming back to "normal" - if there is such a thing for homeschooling, busy families-- I am so excited to be back to my blogs and writing again. Connecting with all of you on nature study, homeschooling, Charlotte Mason, our curriculum, Bible Study, and any and everything else that races through this mind of mine!
A brief overview of our week looks like this:Bible Study - Finish Exodus, Review Passover, Faith
Mon- Old Testament Activity Guide - Read - pp. 57-59 - Passover-
Activity- Making Unleavened Bread
Tues- Leading Little Ones to God - Read & Discuss pp. 23-24 - "God is Faithful"
Wed. - Leading Little Ones to God - Read & Discuss pp. 30-31
Thurs - we have Chapel at our Homeschool COOP
Fri - Each Friday we read a Missionary Story , map out the mission, and discuss. We are currently working on "Missionary Stories with the Millers" I choose one chapter a week.
(We take any rabbit trails with these we find interesting. We did a unit on Gladys Alyward earlier in the year. )
Literature- Blue Fairy Book, wrap up remaining classic picture books
Mon- Read "Mike Mulligan & His Steam Shovel" - Narrate
Tues- Read "Blue Fairy Book - Why the Sea is Salt" - Narrate
Wed. - Read "Blue Fairy Book - Little Red Riding Hood" - Narrate
Thurs- Read "The Story of Ferdinand" - Narrate
Fri - Read "Chanticleer & The Fox" - Narrate
Aesop's Fables - 1 story/ 3 days/ week - Discuss Moral of the Story - You can download these free to audio and then burn them to a CD. I often do this and we play them in the car on the way to our sports classes and practices. You can also downoad "The Blue Fairy Book" in the same way.
Math- 2nd grader- division (we use Abeka Arithmetic 2 for him. This is the only packaged curriculum we use. He is working on LEssons 111, 114-117 this week.
Kindergarteners- subtraction and addition with word problems. They are using "First Lessons in Numbers" which can be found here for free. We are going back and reviewing Lessons 10-15.
Reading - Fluency & Phonics for all 3
Mon, Wed, & Fri -- 2nd grader - McGuffey Eclectic Second Reader. He reads to me Lessons 40-42. Then I ask him the questions at the end of each lesson while we are still snuggled up on the couch. We discuss the lesson and then I have him read me the words listed at the end of the lesson.
Mon, Wed, & Fri - Kindergarteners - McGuffey's Eclectic Primary Reader - Lessons 13-15. I sit again on the couch with each of my daughters indiviually and they read the letters and words at the top of the lesson and then they read the sentences in the lesson to me. We review any phonics rules or sight words they struggle with.
With all 3 of my children - if they have difficulties with any particular word or phonics rules I jot them down. For my K's I add them to their weekly Word Mastery lists and for my 2nd grader I add it to his weekly Word Mastery list AND jot it down to add to his spelling list as well.
Tues & Thurs - Word Mastery for all 3 children - - I may or may not do this in the way that others do. I have to do what works for us. So, we use the word mastery lists in two ways. First - if we have time - I write them each a list of words from their word mastery lesson on our white board and they take turns reading through their lists for each other and myself. If (since Tues & Thurs are sports' class days for us) it is a day that we don't have time to do it on the whiteboard then I make flashcards by simply writing the words from each of their weekly lessons on index cards and flash them up to them as we drive or sit at lights on the way to their sports classes. They can also practice them with me while their siblings are in their classes. It works great :)! And takes some of
Spelling - Final week of Lesson 15 - Various O sounds
Nature Study - Mammals continued - taking a SHORT 5 day break from lagomorphs to do a Nature Study on dogs this week. We will continue talking about lagomorphs in easy conversation this week but focus our nature study on dogs.
Life Skills - We have several things going on with nature study. We are planting seeds and cleaning the gardens because it is required of us this time of year. I have listed this under Life Skills but the children certainly continue to learn nature study as well.
History- Continue our study on Ancient Egypt Pharoahs & Mummies. Complete our Mummy Projects.
Music - Wrapping up our Composer Study on Johann Sebastian Bach.
Art Study- Finishing our Artist Study on Pierre Auguste Renoir.
PE/ Sports/ Excercise - 2nd grade son - Strength Training classes, Taekwondo classes, Forms Team Practice, Sparring Team Practice, Riding Bicycle, skateboarding, and playing outside.
Kindergarten daugters- Dance class, gymnastics class, yoga, and playing outside.
