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!  ;)

MFW Homeschool Week 13 Review

We have a shortened school week this week because we are going to a wedding out of state this weekend. But, I tried to get as much done as possible. Crafts were nixed due to time constraints, but I promised the kids we would do more in the months to come.

This week we studied Connecticut, Maryland, South Carolina and Massachusetts in history, more weather in science focusing on thunderstorms and the water cycle and one day on earthquakes, kindness/compassion in character training and ballet in Preschool, at the request of Angelica Pickles (both girls start classes soon).

Character training books this week.

I love this series by Gary and Jan Bowers (Tessa's Treasures). I met Gary at a homeschool convention this spring and bought both of his book series you can see here and here. I also have two posters now of some paintings Jan Bowers did. They are adorable. My favorite is called Five Messy Faces and shows 3 girls and 2 boys eating icecream...my children's favorite treat in the whole world. These books are going to be some of my kids' favorite books over the years.

Short, concise books for each state and a few fun stories for history.
Dr. Seuss was born in Massachusetts and we learned about his childhood this week.

For the states, I am mostly trying to get the kids to remember the nicknames for the states, which is a challenge for me, too! They already know the state bird and flower for IL, IN and MI.

Science books, in addition to The Usborne Internet-Linked Children's Encyclopedia.

I am truly amazed at how much my children retain and understand. Before even starting these books, I asked my 5 year-old what makes rain and she explained the water cycle to me completely! I know we did seasons and weather a little last year (when she was 4), but I don't think I understood the water cycle completely until I was much, much older.

Preschool ballet books....
Angelica Pickles and Princess Pea Loooooved these books!

And the girls had their ballet outfits on much of the week, too.

Here is Sid the Science Kid's fun reading books for this week. The Akimbo series stemmed from our read aloud last week in Preschool (Akimbo and the Elephants). Apparently he liked Akimbo's adventures!

I heard one lady talk years ago about how much reading she has to do to pre-read every book her child reads. I thought I would do the same. I love kids books, both my husband and I are teachers, I read fast and I want to know what my kids are reading. Well, it's impossible. For me, at least. I would love reading through all those books and enjoying the stories like my kids, but I just don't have the time. But, that doesn't mean I don't know what my kids are reading. My son reads, literally, faster than my husband and as fast as me. And if you know me, I read fast. He whips through one of these chapter books in just an hour or two. And he will sit down and read a few at a time. He is an avid reader and I would never be able to keep up. Unless I slowed him down, of course. So, instead, I read reviews online, research series, ask other parents and skim multiple chapters of each book. And, because he can narrate every detail back to me, I don't think I'll ever miss a detail! *smile*

I am always looking for more books and series for him to read, too. So, if you have any ideas, send them my way! He reads about a 4th/5th grade, but obviously mentally can't handle a lot of books in that reading level because he is only 7, which makes book choosing difficult. Some of his favorite books are the Magic Tree House series, Boxcar Children series, Magic School Bus chapter books, a Donald Duck comic book (not sure of other appropriate comics out there), E.B. White books, Ralph S. Mouse series, Ramona series, Henry Huggins series, Flat Stanley series and we will be starting the Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing series soon. He reads other books, too, just loves reading series!

Looking forward to the weekend!

My Father's World and More Homeschool

Last year we started Adventures in My Father's World (2nd/3rd grade) for our history, part of science and some of our bible. I added in my own science with Sonlight Science K and my own bible stuff, too. Sid was an advanced 2nd grader last year and Princess Pea in K sat in all the read alouds and did much of the notebooking. I started school just 7 weeks before Myra was born in September, thus only getting through 7 weeks of MFW. Over the next year, with all of Myra's special needs, doctor appointments and lack of schedule and sleep, I only made it through weeks 8-10 in MFW, and I didn't do much extra with them besides the book basket. We focused on bible, character training, math and reading and did minimal spelling, science and language.

So, I am starting in full swing again this year and am tackling all the subject areas, starting this week. We did MFW history week 11 last week, mostly just the reading. I have jumbled up the science in MFW, bulking their weeks together to make open weeks to add in Sonlight Science K because I think MFW science is pretty minimal for my taste. So, the science we do rarely is on the correct corresponding week. So, please know that if you decide to follow my MFW posts.

So, I'll be back to posting each of my MFW weeks and sharing all my ideas with you. I won't be doing as many projects this year as I did those first 7 weeks last year, due to time restraints with a special needs baby, but I always try to spice things up as much as I can in school. I want them to enjoy and remember history, because I never did. But, in case you are just joining me, here are my old MFW posts for weeks 1-7.

MFW weeks 1&2, Ericsson & Columbus
MFW week 3, Columbus
MFW week 4, Native Americans
MFW week 5, Pilgrims
MFW week 6, New Netherlands
MFW week 7, Pioneers

Again, 8-10 wasn't really recorded and we did minimal work and just read through the suggested reading and some book basket books.

So, onto weeks 11 & 12!

Week 11: Last week we studied President Washington. I hadn't yet added in formal character training (but there is daily character training going on around here as kids learn to work together and get along), a Preshcool theme or science until week 12. So, there isn't much to share for this week. Our best book basket book was the Landmark book on George Washington. My kids love those Landmark books! I planned to do the bird studying on the correct weeks for MFW, but I currently can't find my Birds, Nests and Eggs book...

This week (MFW week 12) we are studying the first 4 ratified states (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia), African Elephants in Preschool (her choice), Selfishness for character training and a quick overview of seasons and weather in science (still haven't found my bird book for MFW science).

Here are our book basket books for MFW history week 12. Since we are only covering a state each day, I didn't want to overwhelm the kids with books and facts. Two were short, informative books and the state alphabet series books had some great pictures and fun facts.

Sid the Science Kid had one chapter book to complete this week,
Cornstalks and Cannonballs

Princess Pea working on her state page for Delaware...

I was impressed with how well she did copying the pictures!
Sid did just as well on his, too!

The Liberty bells we made on Pennsylvania day with real bells!

I completely forgot to photograph Grandma K's peach pudding we made on Georgia day....ooops! It wasn't as good as Grandma's, but the kids enjoyed it!

These are our Preschool books for the week on African Elephants. I usually read one nonfiction and one fiction book each day for Preschool and then we have activities most days. This week I'm just easing back into full-time school, so we nixed much of the extra activity stuff for the sake of just making it through the week and getting it all done. She will have more activities as we move along.

Here are our science books for the week. I have the worksheets and books for all of Sonlight Science K, but never purchased the weekly plans. I figured I could wing it without paying the extra $50-$60. So far the kids are learning a ton and enjoying science. Again, we usually have lots of activities with science, but it's a little dry this week for our first full week back.
And some random photos from the week...

Myra assumes her normal position while I work on school at the table with the kids. Princess Pea finds it amusing to hold a baby the same way...silly girl.
If she is not sleeping or doing therapy, Myra is often a happy little girl sitting in her high chair with us at the table. She loves the crinkles on this banana toy, can you tell? Play therapy!

Sid the Science Kid practicing piano. Notice the little mini-me?

Myra zonked in her swing....she never does this!
(Her bear in her arms thanks to Angelica Pickles...)
I can never read a book to just one kid anymore...
Notice the finger in the nose? Lovely....
After nap time, Sid shares a book with Boo Boo one day.
Can we all say Awwwwe!
When Daddy gets home he is always bombarded
with books now that school has started.

But, my favorite project of the week was this...

For Princess Pea's A Reason for Handwriting, she writes out a bible verse on special paper at the end of each week in her best handwriting. This was her first week to make one and I have posted a picture of her practice page and her final page below. I think she is doing well for the first formal handwriting book she's used and only being a few weeks into the program. I let her decide who she wants to gift her verse page to and this week she decided on our new neighbor! He moved in a few weeks ago, but we haven't formally met him yet. We decided to make an extra pan of peach pudding for him on Friday and bring him a welcoming dessert and this verse page. It was an awesome experience for the kids! I forgot to take pictures of them with their peach pudding, verse page and the picture Sid the Science Kid drew of our houses side by side. The two guys seems amused, and one had a daughter, so they didn't think we were completely insane bringing over our 5 kids and giving them a bunch of stuff. I think we will have a better relationship with this neighbor than any others so far. And, we also shared Christ together as a family for the first time. Awesome.

See ya next week!

A Day in the Life

Well, I am joining the Not-Back-to-School Blog Hop this year for the first time! I didn't quite make the first three weeks, but my last post on homeschool covered my curriculum choices and my school room anyway!


I recorded every hour of a simple Tuesday, just 4 weeks into homeschooling. And, this was the first day we incorporated history, science, spelling and character training so far this year. A gutsy move for 'a-day-in-the-life', huh? Well, you will see how it really goes in our house then, right? With five kids, a high-maintenance infant and lots of to-dos around the house, just getting through a full day of school is amazing right now. If you must compare, my ideal block schedule is written out HERE.

Warning! If you don't want to hear about the rambling musings of a homeschool mom with precise detail, click away right now!

Background: Baby Myra (11 months) is weaning from a steroid for Infantile Spasms and is changing dosages every 10 days; therefore, she is one unhappy baby much of the day and isn't sleeping much. This is day 7 of the rotation. Also, my homeschool day begins the night before. My plans need to be written out, the house together and books out and ready to go or my day never goes well. On this day prep work is all done and, since Myra was up so late, the dishes and kitchen are all clean, too! Unfortunately, I start my day with less than 4 hours of sleep, and less than 2 hours the previous night...sigh.

6:45 Mr. Prince wakes me for my shower but I forfeit it for another hour of sleep. This also means I forfeit my quiet bible time. But, it often times ends up being an evening activity anyway. I'm much more of a night person.

8:13 I awake with no alarm, and surprisingly, not from children either. Myra is still sleeping, but I know the girls(4&5) are downstairs (they are allowed to go down after their room is clean and after 8am with or without me). Sid the Science Kid(7) is up also, though often times he sleeps in with Boo Boo(2). I rush downstairs, make some bagels and cream cheese and head back up for a shower.

8:17 Upstairs I hear Boo Boo... stink! Will I still get a shower? I take him downstairs, change his diaper, make his breakfast and I secretly tell Sid he can turn on a video after breakfast if I'm still upstairs (mostly to keep Boo Boo quiet and occupied so he doesn't wake Myra or come find me in the shower).

8:20 Upstairs again and I'm suddenly irritated by the suitcase left unpacked by my husband from our vacation 3 weeks ago and the two baskets of clean clothes that were never put away. Unfortunately, they will all have to be folded again because of the digging through them the last 3 weeks looking for clothes. Wasted work, ugh! I get in the shower and I think about, what else? A blog post I read the night before about how to save on costs in the shower. Only wash your 'under' areas with soap (under feet, under arms and under pants) Really? Gross!

8:30 Out of the shower and dressing interrupted by Sid the Science Kid telling me the t.v. is not working. I tell him to give me 2 minutes and I'd be down to help. I get dressed in comfy clothes (not going anywhere today) and head downstairs and save the day fix the t.v. They watch, non other than.. Sid the Science Kid!

8:36 Brush my teeth. I realize I left Myra's monitor in the shower and in the bathroom upstairs I see... Myra's bumbo seat? Who put that in there? Back down to the kitchen it goes, and on my way I fume about the suitcase and clothes again.

8:37 Down to the laundry room to dry some clothes I washed last night and....they are dry! Thank you, husband! Unfortunately, I will not be able to fold them before they wrinkle. Grr! Washer loaded, but I still need to collect clothes from upstairs before I start it. On my way out I step over an overfilled basket of towels, boxes and boxes of jarred baby food from WIC, and who knows what else. My mudroom is so full of Salvation Army stuff and resale items, it's hard to maneuver. Ugh, more things on my to-do list that seem will never get done.

8:40 Throw hair up. Myra's monitor dies and I have to plug it in. Darn monitor! I get the kids' yogurt in bowls to finish off their breakfast. Oh no! Promised yogurt and an expired container! This has never happened in our house. Yogurt is equal to icecream or a candy bar 'round here. Thankfully, I find another container and I am saved from many tears. Clean yogurt tubs for recycling. Collect clothes for the laundry.

8:56 Sid the Science Kid episode over. Diffuse 2yr old tantrum with yogurt...success! Start washer. Preschool bible read over yogurt devouring. We talk about John the Baptist and the older two say they want to get baptized "to please God" like the book said. I said we would look into studying baptism and we would talk to Daddy. Pledge of Allegiance. Go over family rules and bible verses.

9:10 Helping Habits (chores) after breakfast. Classic storybook (Gingerbread Man) with Boo Boo.

9:17 Preschool with Angelica Pickles about African Elephants (her choice of theme this week). Princess Pea listens in while Sid the Science Kid does dishes. Sid seems quietly irritated he can't listen in also, but I'm trying to help the older two do their own thing so I can work with the littles during this time. Princess Pea reads the quotation boxes for the story, her idea. I only read one of the two books cause the baby wakes. Kids break up to play.

9:28 Get Myra up. Nurse.

9:33 Myra's medications and injection. Princess Pea helps change her diaper and Angelica Pickles helps calm Myra after her injection and collects all the trash from it and throws it away for me. Girls singing to Myra.

9:44 Nurse again and put Myra in the swing.

9:49 Two character building books/stories about being selfish (Help Me Be Good Books). Discussion.

10:10 Change Boo Boo's diaper. Character Builders DVD on Sharing (12min) while I fold the laundry basket from this morning.

10:28 Myra's fussing in the swing so I start to rock her to sleep. Boo Boo insists that I read him some books, even though my hands are quite occupied. After two books, Princess Pea offers to read to him and they read 3-4 more books together. After Boo Boo finds something else to do, Princess Pea gets out her Language Smarts book and she works on the coffee table as I help her and still rock Myra.

10:50 Myra put down to nap upstairs. Language Smarts with Sid. Angelica Pickles is taking Boo Boo's toys and I get up to redirect her to the puzzles.

11:09 Myra's up after 19 minutes! It takes me almost 10 minutes to calm her. Kids are all playing house together in living room. I put Myra in her swing after she's calm and quickly check my email and Facebook.

11:18 Quick clean up with kids.

11:23 Make lunch while kids do Helping Habits. Myra's fussing in swing. Kids eating. Lunch often times is me redirecting their discussion, which often times is upsetting someone. The 7 yr old wants to lead everything, while the 4 yr old is craving the attention from her siblings. The 2 yr old shouts out little blurps and always gets a belly laugh out of everyone.

*First School Block ended, All About Spelling and History not completed thus far.*

11:40 Get Myra out of the swing. Try to feed her solid food but she was too fussy. Discipline Boo Boo for getting out of his seat. Finish lunch. Helping Habits.

12:00 Read aloud 2 chapters of novel. Myra fussing and falls asleep on my shoulder eventually.

12:12 Sonlight Science read aloud, 2 books.

12:23 Interruption...friend calls. Myra down for nap upstairs. Clean up lunch...ooops! Forgot after-lunch Helping Habits! Do chores for the kids. Each lunch myself. Two kids upstairs and two downstairs playing.

12:46 Myra up after 23 minutes...sigh. Poor girl can't sleep! Discipline Sid and Angelica Pickles for arguing and Princess Pea for not being nice. Rocking Myra. Still on phone.

12:58 Lay Myra back down for nap. Clean up kitchen while on phone. Switch laundry. Sid doing lunch dishes.

1:05 Myra up again! Off the phone. Rocking, calming...

1:12 Myra down again....getting frustrated. She usually isn't like this. Kids playing better together.

1:14 Friend calls back. Checking on homeschool stuff for her on the computer. Kids coloring. Discuss curriculum and homeschool schedules.

1:34 Off phone. Finish science reading with three oldest kids.

1:40 Boo Boo is very distracting while I'm trying to read, so I take him up for a nap. Read second preschool book with Angelica Pickles.

1:52 Angelica Pickles to bed. Adventures in My Father's World history with two oldest.

2:00 Myra up. Hey, that was a 48 minute nap! Hold her while finishing history lesson.

2:22 I help Sid the Science Kid with All About Spelling while Princess Pea does Horizons Math 1. Myra sits in her high chair and does play therapy.

2:40 Princess Pea begins A Reason for Handwriting Manuscript. Sid still doing AAS.

2:55 Princess Pea does AAS and Sid does A Reason for Handwriting Transition and Horizons Math 3.

3:12 AAS done. Princess Pea does Explode the Code and finishes the first book! Sid still working on math. Myra fussing. Nurse and do physical therapy with her.

3:22 Sid moving too slowly and too distracted, so he moves into the office to finish his math. I work on Junior Bible Quiz questions orally with Princess Pea while I do Myra's therapy.

3:50 JBQ and therapy finished. Bob Books with Princess Pea. She is doing some amazing expression while reading! But, she has a mini-tantrum about not getting a sticker for reading the book perfectly (a reward system we've used for all the Bob Books). I encourage her in how well she is doing and she recovers, just short of tears. Sid finally finishes math after 45 minutes or so.

4:00 JBQ with Sid.

*Second School Block ended 40 minutes late.*

4:10 Sid does JBQ studying alone with some defiance. I told him to memorize at least one new question in the next 10 minutes and he gains some motivation. Rocking Myra. Princess Pea gets Boo Boo up from his nap.

4:20 Myra down upstairs for a nap. Angelica Pickles up from nap. Change Boo Boo's diaper. Library Signing Time video on (learning American Sign Language).

4:22 Start dinner (lasagna). Change laundry, but can't fold the load yet.

4:45 Sid down and chat with Mr. Prince when he arrives home from his second day back at school while meat thaws in the microwave because, of course, I didn't thaw it the night before...

4:55 Blog, Email while noodles cook and Mr. Prince cooks meat. Alter size of pan and recipe when I realize I don't have enough noodles for the large pan. Better than some days when Mr. Prince has to make a quick grocery run because I've started cooking something and realize halfway through I don't have something... Happens to me all the time.

5:10 Lasagna in oven.

5:14 Myra up from nap. Yeah, almost an hour nap! Blog. Mr. Prince takes Myra and does lots of training and discipline for the kids as they wait for dinner. They are having a hard time getting along to play a game together. Myra falls asleep on Daddy. Helping Habits before dinner.

6:00 Dinner. Daddy holds sleeping baby and eats when everyone else is done, a common occurrence 'round here.

6:30 Dinner done. Helping Habits. Nurse Myra, feed solids. Dishes and talking to Mr. Prince.

6:55 Clean up house with kids. PJs, brush teeth. Kids run pretty wild this time of day. Should go outside, but we don't. Fold laundry instead.

7:35 Mr. Prince put kids to bed (every night). I hold Myra and do therapy stuff.

8:00 Adult evening begins, ensuing baby passing back and forth, blogging, t.v., chatting on the phone with some friends, nursing, bible study, minimum prep for tomorrow's homeschool, etc. Laundry not put away, will have to do that tomorrow when the kids are up.

Bedtime: 2:30a.m. with a total of 2 hours of sleep for the night...sigh.

And it all starts again! I think we had a pretty successful day, really. Looking forward to reading about other homeschool moms' days at Heart of the Matter!

Homeschool Begins!

So, I have been trying to get my life house back in order the last few months and it's been a super slow process. You don't get much done in a day between laundry, dishes, preparing 5 meals, homeschooling, etc. etc. etc. It's always catch-up and it's hard to get anything extra done. But, I'm trying. Remember my beautiful office photos last summer? Well, I never quite got to those two other bookshelves and now I'm trying to downsize to just two shelves altogether! I'm not sure I can do it. We are trying to slowly get our house ready to sell over the next year or so, and having an office that looks like it threw up childrens books probably won't help sell it. We are trying to store books we aren't using now for the kids, but I am a little worried we will never get them back out of storage. Anyhoo, the office has been my project the last month. And will probably continue to be my project for at least another month...sigh. I'll spare you the scary pictures this year!

Well, we started school as soon as we got back from Illinois at the end of July. So, we are technically into week 3, but I still haven't added history, science, spelling or bible. Right now they are just working on their workbook subjects while I continue to prepare everything else for the year. We still need to finish the second half of Adventures in My Father's World and Sonlight Science K before we move onto Galloping the Globe next year.

Sid the Science Kid is in 3rd grade this year, Princess Pea is in 1st and Angelica Pickles is doing PreK this year. The only thing formal Angelica Pickles will be doing is starting Horizons K. Besides that, we will be exploring books/themes and starting reading instruction. Sid the Science Kid and Princess Pea each have about 1.5hrs of one-one-one work to complete with me each day and another 30-60min of independent work. I do bible, character training, read alouds and science with the oldest four kids together (2-7yrs old). Here are their separate subjects for the year:

Sid the Science Kid, 3rd grade
Horizons 2b and 3 (currently finishing the rest of the 2nd grade book)
Language Smarts C
All About Spelling
A Reason for Handwriting Transition
MFW Adventures/Galloping the Globe
Junior Bible Quiz
Piano
Daily Personal Devotions

Princess Pea, 1st grade
Horizons 1
Language Smarts B
First Language Lessons
All About Spelling
A Reason for Handwriting Manuscript A
Explode the Code 1, 2 &3
MFW Adventures (grade level appropriate)/Galloping the Globe
Junior Bible Quiz
Sonlight Science K (finishing second half)

Angelica Pickles, PreK
Horizon K
Bob books

I'm still playing with our schedule this year, but I found out last year that a block schedule works much better in our house than a minute by minute play. That way, when baby needs rocked to sleep I don't screw up the rest of the day! Here is what it looks like so far:

Morning Routine, 7-9am
Shower and Devotion for Mom
Breakfast and Vitamins
Preschool Bible Story, Rules, ABC Bible Verses, Pledge with everyone
Clean up/Helping Habits (chores), Brush teeth
Preschool with Angelica Pickles

Block 1, 9-11:30am
Bible and Character Training with everyone
Princess Pea- Language Smarts and All About Spelling
Sid- All About Spelling and Language Smarts
First Language Lessons with Princess Pea and Sid
My Father's World History with Princess Pea and Sid

Lunch Routine, 11:30-1pm
Helping Habits
Read Aloud with everyone
My Father's World/Sonlight Science with everyone

Block 2, 1:30-3:30pm (littles napping)
Princess Pea- Math, Handwriting, Explode the Code independently
Sid- Math, Handwriting, Devotions, Piano independently
Review Independent work
My Father's World Book Basket with Princess Pea and Sid
Princess Pes- Reading Instruction
Sid- Narration and Writing
Junior Bible Quiz

So, we will work with this schedule next week and see how it goes! I'm excited about getting back into full-time school. My house just moves more smoothly and happily when school is in session! Must be because we are both teachers. =)

MFW Homeschool Week 6 Review

Well, we had a very shortened week this week because of Labor Day. Silly me forgot the library was closed most of the weekend and wasn't able to pick up my school books until Tuesday evening. I did do bible, character training and Preschool on Tuesday, just not history and science.

Right now my focus is to stay on track with My Father's World history, science and bible because those are the subjects I will be taking a 4-5 week break from in a few weeks. My children will not let me get away with doing no school, so we will continue Sonlight Science K, Horizons math, All About Spelling, First Language Lessons, character training and bible. All of these I can pick up on a whim and do with little to no planning. That is about all we will be able to accomplish in the first few weeks after baby, if that. Angelica Pickles will be disappointed we won't be doing her Preschool activities, but I plan to add some extras to science and maybe do mini unit studies on topics for those weeks, and have my library put together unit collections for me. We'll see.

So, this week we learned more about Colonial Days and Pilgrim children, we studied the seasons and Fall in Preschool/Science combined with the older two kids, we learned about responsibility and work in character training, and we finished our study on Jesus being the bread of life.

I have some Preschool kits I got through the mail a few years ago that I decided to pull out for Angelica Pickles this week. They are by Brighter Vision Learning Adventures and are little unit studies that include a living book, a 20+ page workbook with hands-on activities, a CD of music and usually some other toy or physical activity that goes along with it. I had one on the seasons and since I wanted to cover fall this week, I thought it would be perfect. It had some pretty simple stuff in it even though it was geared at 3-year-olds, but she really did learn the seasons well and I think has a better grasp on them.


Sid the Science Kid and Princess Pea almost always include themselves in Angelica Pickle's Preschool, so I decided to combine science and our Preschool topic for this week (and last week with Johnny Appleseed). I won't be able to do that as much when I'm following Sonlight Science K, but for now it works and it's less work for me. We did some beautiful leaf rubbings this week, made some fall pictures gluing real leaves to the picture, and also made some colorful leaves out of coffee filters and colored water (which didn't turn out as well as I would have liked). The kids really enjoyed the activities and are so proud of their work on the walls of our home. Here are some of the books I used:

I decided to frame their leaf rubbings for some fall decor in our living room. I'm not a decorator, so this really spruced up our walls!

Here the kids are coloring fall pictures and then gluing some torn leaves onto their picture. They turned out so cute! Princess Pea drew the whole family plus the cat...

Angelica Pickles actually drew two people and a tree...

Sid the Science Kid.... I love the deer and jumping rabbit!


I planned the children's character training these first weeks of school very purposefully. We did manners, obedience, patience and now responsibility and work; topics I thought should be covered before baby comes. I will need their cooperation greatly in obedience, patience and work in these next few weeks, so I think being able to refer back to stories we've read and examples we've talked about will be helpful when someone doesn't want to cooperate. Here are a few book selections I used this week, besides my volumes of Aesop's Fables and collections of stories about virtues:
The kids really enjoyed the stories and generally do a good job helping around the house. I started "Helping Habits" a number of month ago and the older two enjoy doing their part most of the time. I've included room clean ups twice a day in their Helping Habits, so that is the only part they grumble about some days if the house is pretty messy. Boo Boo is making more and more messes each day and they are learning that they have to help clean up his messes sometimes, too. Sid the Science Kid enjoyed reciting his "Work" poem all week for the girls that he had memorized for his First Language Lessons. I believe Princess Pea can recite it now, too! Hopefully they will have good attitudes when they have to instill these character traits full-time in a few weeks.

I was disappointed with My Father's World this week. Their reading selection in American Pioneers and Patriots was quite dull and there wasn't much to science or bible this week, either. We skipped the reading they suggested and I just read some books on Pioneer children and we did a few projects. We made some corn bread and used our homemade butter from last week, we made homemade applesause (a project we hadn't completed from last week), I made each of them a "hornbook" which was the school books used in Colonial days, we played games like Hide the Thimble like the Pilgrim children would have played, we died macaroni noodles and made some wampum that the Pilgrims and Indians traded for food and furs, and their absolute favorite project were the "poppets" that they made, or dolls made out of socks that represented the type of dolls the Pilgrim children might have had. We spend all this money on toys and these kids have not put these poppets down for two days!! They were made out of our unmatched kid socks! Oh, children are so funny sometimes.

Here the kids are pretending to sit on a bench and listen in Dame school with their hornbooks...

I made each hornbook appropriate to what each of the children are currently learning; the alphabet, new reading words and a recited poem.


Wampum "beads" still need to be strung into necklaces. Today we had to wait for them to dry...


Here the kids are stuffing their socks to make the "poppets." Yeah, they are funny colors, but that is what made them fun!


I hated that they had "Old Navy" across their tummies, but I didn't choose which socks we would loose!
I think this is the most I've seen Princess Pea play with a "baby doll" for a long time...

Today I got out baby wash clothes for them to "swaddle" their poppets in. Oh, another full day of fun with them! Boo Boo loves his "baby" too....


Princess Pea is really enjoying her Explode the Code books and I think Level 1 is perfect for right where she is at. She does a number of pages each time we pull it out, and often by herself! Her handwriting is improving daily, too.


Sid the Science Kid is really having a hard time doing any work without me being next to him full-time, which is why we haven't done math or grammar most of the week. By the time I'm done with my afternoon "block" of history, All About Spelling, Explode the Code, Bob books and math with Princess Pea, I am exhausted and don't want to do grammar and math with Sid. I'll get more done these next few weeks with these subjects since history and science won't be taking up most of our time.


So, school week 6 is done! I really only planned to do one more week of My Father's World, but if I'm late again, I might continue until I have the baby. We'll see if I get to the library next week to plan...