Homeschool Weekly Wrap-up // August 1-5

Our first week of school is under our belt! I'm hoping to write these weekly wrap-up posts for myself and am wishing I had done these in years past (especially N1's kindergarten year which was so fun for us). However, better late than never!



B is playing with a toy we got her for her birthday with school in mind - a Melissa and Doug magnetic alphabet/chalkboard on one side and a dry erase board on the other side.

Bible: We went back to the beginning with the Catherine Vos Children's Story Bible that I started when N1 began Kindergarten. This is giving us an easy start for the year, but our studies will increase in just a few weeks. After Labor Day, we are going to take part in a Community Bible Study and the girls (N1 mostly) and I will be going through the book of Acts. Awana will also start then, thus weekly memory work for all three girls, and I'm including myself in this as well.

Language Arts: N1 is starting the year reviewing a bit of her work from last year's Explode the Code (book 4 1/2), dividing words into syllables is where it's at right now. She's also started level 2 in Writing with Ease, level 2 in 1st Language Lessons (reviewing the parts of speech she worked on last year), Wordly Wise 3000 (vocabulary), A Reason for Spelling Level D, and continuing in her handwriting transition book (she'll be starting cursive soon). When I look at the different language arts elements laid out like this it overwhelms me a bit, but as I planned out last week (and some of next), we don't do everything every day. 1st Lang Lessons (1LL) and Wordly Wise (WW) are 3 times a week, Writing with Ease (WWE) and Handwriting (HW) are four days. Spelling and Explode the Code are the only things that we do everyday.



As for N2, she and I started her Explode the Code book 1, her new handwriting book (A Reason for Handwriting A), and did three lessons in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. She is my first that I'm working through this book with since N1 picked up reading almost entirely on her own. I admit, I'm struggling with the 100 Easy Lessons book. Neither N2 or I are enjoying it terribly, however this is the first that she and I have really applied ourselves. The friends that recommended it to me several years ago all raved about it, so we'll continue along. We also attempted a little Five in a Row work with Blueberries for Sal, but I admit that I didn't do much on this with her, either. A little blueberry counting, a little consonant work with the letter "K" - "kaplink, kaplank, kaplunk" - and that was about it. Hoping for a bit more FIAR fun with Make Way for Ducklings next week. Note: I decided to start our school year with a "month of McCloskey" as those are some of my/our favorites.



B coloring "her school work". I never get tired of taking pictures of our little lefty. : )

Math: The girls both started their respective Saxon Math books (Saxon 2 for N1, Saxon K for N2). This week was spent reviewing with the oldest and introducing the manipulatives to the youngest as well as making a pictograph of our family. Not a bad start to math for anyone.





Social Studies: We began our reading in Story of the World, Volume 1 as part of our group read-aloud time and read the introduction, learning how historians go about studying history and the difference between historians and archaeologists. I admit that this chapter got me excited to go watch some Indiana Jones movies after reading it ... sadly the girls are a little too young to roll that into our Friday Family Movie Night and tie that into school just yet. : )

Science: This was a BIG hit this week with N1! We started our work in Flying Creatures of the 5th Day by Apologia (also part of our group read aloud time) and ended our week with a little experiment in the front yard on flight with some gliders we built. Just as an FYI, we are alternating social studies and science throughout the week - Monday and Wednesday are social studies, Tuesday/Thursday are science. I am intrigued by Amy's plan to do socials studies this fall and science in the spring so I'll be eager to hear how that works for her!





Extras: We spent Friday afternoon swimming with friends and a rainy Saturday afternoon at the county fair. Two very fun activities to round out our first scholastic week!





I feel like I'm leaving out a few things, but I'm going to end here. I wanted to write a bit about our schedule and how B and the boy are fitting into the day, but it's almost 9pm on Saturday night and I have bulletins to fold for church tomorrow and a husband to visit with if I can stay awake. : ) If you have made it this long, thanks for reading this!

Gratuitously cute shot of the boy as your prize for making it to the end. You are welcome. : )