Homeschool Week 1 & 2 Recap

Well, two weeks into school and I'm feeling grrrrrrreat!

Miracle has a nurse that comes 4-5 hours a day while I school the other kids and it is amazing what I'm able to accomplish with that help!  We have gotten done with school between 1 and 2 every day!  Last year when I was bouncing between Myra's needs and homeschooling, it wasn't uncommon for us to be doing school right before I put dinner on the table.  Between multiple naps in my arms, tube feedings every three hours and her wanting to be cuddled, it was difficult to put Miracle down for a good amount of time to focus on the school kids.  I often read books from the rocking chair and did lessons with Miracle in my arms at the table.  We got through it, but I knew with teaching all four kids this year that I wanted some help.  Though I've had to train four nurses in the past 10 days, it's still obviously been extremely helpful to me.

You can read about my daily schedule HERE, but I'm finding my estimated times were more than I truly need to teach each child individually.  I gave each an hour before lunch, but they really only need 30-45 minutes.  I might be able to get all my teaching done before lunch if I actually started school at 8am like my schedule suggests!  These past two weeks with Mr. Prince still being home on summer break from school, I've been sleeping in until 7:30/8 and not starting school until closer to 9 most days.  Once he's back to school next week, I'll be up and ready by 7am when he walks out the door, so my days will get started earlier.  Oh, to have every afternoon free...how awesome would that be!  So, needless to say, I'm not behind at all after two weeks and I even got most of Friday's lessons done on Thursday this week so we could do a longer Tapestry project!

In Tapestry of Grace Year 1 we studied ancient Egypt, Pharoahs, pyramids and the Nile River these first two weeks.  The girls made Paddle Dolls and had a blast.

 Here they are playing a self-directed time-telling game with their Paddle Dolls.  Homeschooling at it's best (PJs and all)!

Sid the Science Kid made an ancient Egypt Senet game. I still have not had a chance to play with him, but the kids have played together many times.

Princess Pea and Sid started their salt maps at the end of week 2.  We will paint these in a week or so when they are completely dry.  I'm not sure if we did them 'correctly', but they each sculpted 10 to 17 geography terms into their imaginary lands. I was very proud of their work.  I was actually shocked Princess Pea did this on her own.  I figured she would just help Sid, but she did it alone and did a fabulous job!

We are studying the 10 commandments in depth for 10 weeks and for the 1st commandment we used 24 blocks to represent what we do with our time in a 24 hour day.  We placed blocks in piles labeled sleep, God, school, reading, playing and eating.  The idea was to see how we spend our time and see what we need to give up to spend more time with our Lord.  The kids were so excited to make some changes that the next day they did it again and showed how they had changed their activities to spend more time with God!

In science we learned about plant cells and made our own version with dish soap and fruits.  Even the little ones could tell you the parts of the cell and the differences between the animal and plant kingdoms!

Boo Boo is loving All About Reading Level 1 this year!  I love seeing his little face when he sounds out a word...

"Mmmmhh..aaaaahh..p......mmmaaa..p....map!"

I stole this off of Pinterest and I love it!  My kids tattle a lot sometimes and daily occasionally beat hurt each other.  So, this will be an easy way to get their attention without a long lecture on what they should be doing.

So, that's all I have to show for Weeks 1 & 2!  Excited for yet another week!  It says a lot if I even have time to blog at the end of a school week!  ;)