We were off to a slow start today. It seems it's more difficult to get going again after a break like the 3 day weekend we just enjoyed. (Happy Birthday to the wonderful Dr. Marting Luther King!) But even though we started late, we had a pretty full day. After some initial help from me, the kids worked on their Math while I cleaned up the kitchen and took care of the little ones. Then they had some quiet reading time while I got lunch ready. After lunch, we worked on Language Arts and had fun making collages using prepositional phrases and statements we found in the newspaper. We moved on to Science after that and began our new unit on the Solar System. E, my science kid, is very excited about that and can't wait to teach us everything he already knows and maybe even learn a few new things himself. After all our studying, the kids bundled up and went outside for some fun in the snow. It didn't take too long for them to get cold though, and so they came back in to make some more collages - just for fun this time.

Middle Ages- here we come!

I had a hard time wrapping up our study of Ancient Rome- so many things to learn about, so many tie-ins to our Latin Study as well as the book we're reading aloud, Detectives in Togas. But since today was our first day back after Winter Break, I guess it's a good time to start something new. So we learned about the Barbarians, the Huns, the Vandals, and finally, the fall of Rome. We've said our goodbyes and are now ready to move on to the Middle Ages.
E and M are both starting new books today. E has chosen The Red Badge of Courage and M is going to read The Last Little Cat. We'll begin memorizing a new poem this week, continue enjoying Aesop's Fables and finish up our read-aloud book.
Math, Grammar, and Latin will continue as usual, but we'll be making some changes to the rest of our subjects. I hope to add in more time for Music and Art. And Science is going to be taking a new turn this semester as well.
Being at the mid-point of the year, I find myself evaluating this homeschooling adventure so far. I have to say I've even happier with it than I thought I would be. I know the kids are getting a better and more personalized education than they were before. They are happy, eager learners. They are even excited about homeschooling next year. Today M said sadly, "August is a long time to wait." Luckily she'll have plenty of studying yet to do before this school year is up.

Today was our last day of school before Winter Break. The kids are happy not to have school again until January, but I think we will all miss it a little bit too. Then again with M's birthday this weekend and all the holiday celebrations, we will probably be too busy to think much about school. We finished up the semester today by summarizing all of the history we've learned about so far and pasting the historical figures on the Timeline. It was a fun activity and a great way to wrap things up for the first half of the school year.

Feels more like Fall these days than Winter. Technically I guess it is still Fall since the Winter Solstice isn't until Thursday! We've been enjoying the warmer than usual weather (I think today was 50 degrees) with lots of hikes through the woods. One on Friday and another this afternoon. The woods are so beautiful this time of year. Okay, they're beautiful during every season, but I'm enjoying getting a glimpse inside the more heavily wooded areas since the leaves are no longer on the trees to obstruct the view. The kids are making some fun discoveries seeing how the season has changed "their" woods. We really are blessed to have these woods in walking distance of the house. I admit I'm often heard complaining about the sad lack of trees in the rest of our newly built neighborhood, but with this beautiful gift from Mother Earth just at the end our our road, I should just shut up.

Latin Memory was the name of the game today. After finishing up our morning subjects, we moved on to Latin. M asked if we could play a game today so we came up with Latin Memory. The kids made the cards, labeling them with their Latin vocabulary words, then matched them up with their English meanings. I was surprised by how much fun they had with this. They kept wanting to play more and make more cards to add to the challenge.

G (3 yrs old) wanted to play too but instead of Latin she made her own game. She cut out some cards for herself and wrote letters on each of them and drew a picture that started with the letter on the back. I thought that was a pretty good idea for a three year old to come up with. We played a few rounds of her game too of course. Funny how she kept winning!

O wind, a blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!

Despite having an extra kid today (I am babysitting a neighbor's 3 yr old daughter) we were able to get a lot of schoolwork done in a short time. While the little ones kept each other busy playing, the big kids got started with their Spelling homework and Math lessons. E is really enjoying working with decimals and was excited that his lesson today consisted of word problems. I never used to like word problems much, but he said they're his favorite!

M is doing great with Math and I'm very proud of her for working so hard at it. Even though she excels in all of her other subjects, she had been having some trouble with Math until recently. I had decided at the beginning of the year to have her re-do 1st grade Math so that I could be sure she had mastered it before moving on. After a slow start, she is "getting it" now and has moved on to 2nd grade Math. I can tell that she is really proud of herself too! In History today, we read about Julius Ceasar and explored more of Ancient Rome. We visited Kazakhstan in Geography and the kids recited from memory all the countries of the former U.S.S.R. After that, we finished the day with Language Arts, Handwriting and Poetry (see above.)

Bad Hair Day
This is what we did today between Spelling and Math. I was just trying to fix the baby's hair when we got a little carried away with ponytails.

School's Out!

For me, not for the kids! They have a couple more weeks to go before Winter Break, but I'm done with my classes for now and it is such a relief! It is so nice to know that I don't have any homework to do tonight. I can actually read (for fun!) or do lesson plans or maybe watch a movie. My grades weren't too bad either, two A's and one B. My World Religions teacher had some awfully nice things to say about my work which was really nice to hear. I guess it showed that Religion/Spirituality is one of my favorites things to study. I wish I could say the same thing about Biology. Unfortunately, another semester starts in about 4 weeks, but until then I can relax!

All homeschoolers join 4-H

I heard that stereotype somewhere along the way. Of course it isn't true. All homeschoolers do not necessarily join 4-H. And of course most 4-H clubs are full of kids that don't homeschool. But I guess we aren't doing much to dispel the myth because we attended our first 4-H meeting today, a meeting just for homeschoolers at that. It was great to see so many homeschooling families in one room! And all from our local area! From what they told me, the group is growing by leaps and bounds, adding new homeschoolers every week. It seems like a great group and I think the kids are going to have fun with it. They have been checking out the catalog to see which projects they want to enter in the county fair. Unfortunately I have to say no to raising any sort of farm animal. We may have moved out to a small rural town, but I'm pretty sure our homeowner's association would have something to say about having pigs in the backyard. That's okay. I'm sure we will be able to find something acceptable and almost as much fun as raising pigs.

Snow Day!


Five days ago it was warm and sunny enough to have school on the hill. Look at the same hill today! We didn't really take the day off from school but as soon as we were finished, the kids piled on snowpants, hats, and gloves and headed out the back door. It's only just after lunchtime and all the other kids are still in school. So E and M have first crack at the freshly snow-covered hill.

Homeschool On the Hill

You just can't beat this weather we've been having! Today was our first day back to school after the Thanksgiving Break and no one wanted to be cooped up in the schoolroom on such a beautiful day. So we gathered up books, papers, and supplies and headed out to the hill behind the house. We climbed to the very top and set up camp, er...I mean school. With a blanket spread out and surrounded by schoolwork, we set out to take advantage of the last of the warm days before winter sets in. We'll be putting on snowsuits and dragging our sleds up this hill before long so we thought we'd enjoy the view from up here while the grass is still (sort of) green.

Co-op Day!

Today was our first visit to the local homeschooling co-op. The kids seemed to have alot of fun. M(7) took 3 classes and E(10) took 4. They made some new friends, got to run around the gym for a P.E. class, eat lunch in a 'cafeteria', and learn some new things. The group meets once a week and the kids have already asked to go back next week. We will probably go since it was nice to get out of the schoolroom to hang out with other homeschoolers and to have the kids take some classes that are just more fun in a group (like P.E.!)

Book Recommendations:

Written by M, Age 7

My favorite book is called Prairie School. Even though it is fiction, it still taught me about real history. It was about a little boy named Noah Bidson. He lived on a prairie in Colorado. Noah didn't know how to read until his Aunt Dora came over. She taught Noah how to read. When he knew how to read Noah could read better than his parents! Prairie School was a good book! You should read it!


Written by E, age 10

My favorite book of the year was Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray. It is about a boy named Adam whose dog gets stolen. While searching for his dog, his father disappears. So Adam has to search 1294 England for his father and his dog.
I liked Adam of the Road because it takes place in days with knights and minstrels. It is definitely a book for kids who are interested in those things. It is an awesome book!

Some people might be curious about how we spend our days as homeschoolers. First, I can tell you that we have busy, fun-filled days of learning and growing. We share, discuss, create, play, write, read, think, learn, and live life. We are using a Literature-based Classical curriculum with a dash of child-led learning. This style of homeschooling leads to all sorts of adventures and discoveries. The best part is we are learning together as a family!

What we are studying this week:

History~ Ancient Greece, both grades

Geography~ Countries of Southern Europe, both grades
Science~ M- Materials, Nature Study
E- Renewable and Non-renewable Energy,Nature Study

Literature~ Poetry: Both Grades- Poetry Reading and Memorization; Biography of Robert Louis Stevenson
Reading:
M- The Secret Valley and The Third Grade Detectives
E - Adam of the Road
Reading Aloud: Aesop's Fables, The Toothpaste Millionaire
Mathematics~ E- Division, Pre-Algebra Equations
M- Addition, Money, Place Value
Language Arts~ E- Expository Writing, Spelling, Vocabulary, Handwriting
M- Verbs, past and present tense, Spelling, Dictation, Handwriting
Foreign Language (Latin) ~ (both grades) Verbs and word-endings
Technology~ Both grades: Typing Instruction, E- Intro to Robotics
Music~ Both grades: Recorder, E: Guitar

Art~ Leonardo DaVinci

Preschool: Numbers, letters and letter sounds,writing and drawing, listening, sharing, and lots of play!

Artwork inspired by "Where go the Boats?" by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Field Trip!

We've been studying Ancient Egypt in History, so we decided to take a fieldtrip downtown on Friday to visit the King Tut Exhibit at the Field Museum. It was an interesting exhibit, but I'm not sure it was worth the high ticket price. The Ancient Egypt exhibit, which is a free, on-going exhibit, was wonderful! The kids were excited to see so many of the things we've been learning about in school. We got to climb inside a pyramid, see a replica of the Rosetta Stone, decipher heirogylpics, and of course, check out all mummies!
We also went through the dinosaur/evolution exhibit which was fantastic. That was relevant as well since we recently finished up our Prehistory studies. It was amazing to see the size of some of those animals! We went through most of the other exhibits too and spent almost 5 hours in the museum. Our legs were tired but we learned alot!

The kids used sidewalk chalk to make a map of the Middle East on the driveway:

One of the things we are enjoying most about homeschooling is the freedom to take our studying outside and enjoy the weather. Fresh air is so good for the brain! We especially like traveling to the Children's Garden.

Little birds must learn how to fly. We push them out of the nest and let them have a go at it. We cross our fingers and hope they don't hit the ground too hard. But what's the rush? The nest is warm and cozy. Let them stay awhile. Sometimes learning is best inside the nest.

After much thought, research, and family discussions, we made the decision to bring our two eldest "birds" back to the nest so they could learn at home. We are giving it a year to see how it goes and will re-evalute at the year's end. We have created this blog to share our family's adventure in homeschooling.