Our start of our school has gone really well this week. We started our week talking about names and what each of their names meant. Our Bible study is going to center around the different names of Jesus, so learning about our names first seemed logical. We also made the beginnings of our timelines. We talked about BC and AD (even though the terms have changed slightly, we still learn the old ones, along with the new ones). The littles are "rowing" How to Bake a Chrry Pie and see the World. Technically it isn't a Five in a Row book, but we have already done the FIAR book equivalent How to Bake an Apple Pie and See the World a couple of years ago and I thought this book could help us kick off our study of American history and geography. I love it when you have lessons that just take off. This week that has happened to us. Tuesday I had the opportunity to spend individual time with Caitlyn and Aiden as Noah had his first high school co-op. It was a blessing to be able to relax and enjoy their activities and without worrying about "finishing" this or that in order to divide my time in thirds. So, I printed out large U.S. maps for both kids (each map spread over nine pages), each had to assemble his/her map. After assembling, Aiden wanted to color each state, so color we did! I had in mind for them to label the states as we studied them, but they were so excited about completing their maps, that that wanted to label them right away. One of the things that has always irritated my perfectionist children (no idea where they get that, by the way) is that when they write, it often doesn't turn out as neat as they want it to creating utter frustration and desire to give up altogether. Enter the label maker, that little "splurge" that seemed so frivolous at the time. "I don't really NEED it, " I told myself in the store while I was considering the purchase. I bought it anyway, and this week, I am glad I did. I let the kids use the label maker to create their state names! Since the label maker can make perfect letters, the product turns out like they envision it. And, they are still working on spelling as well as fine motor skills, so win/win. Such a simple idea, I can't believe I didn't come up with it sooner! The kids have been so excited about this project that they have been asking every day to continue working on it. Asking to do schoolwork outside of school time signals a good lesson, in my opinion. We also read the first two chapters in Burgess' Bird Book and talked about migration and colors of feathers.
Noah started his first co-op this week. He seemed to like it. I think he will do well if he can keep up with the work in all the classes. He is studying the Middle Ages this year in history and is using the text The Middle Ages by Dorothy Mills. I have chosen literature to go along with the time period. This week we started Once and Future King by TH White. We have gotten through the first chapter together. I have taken it slow this week in order to discuss note taking as we read. We also discussed the history of the Arthurian legend. We talked about Joseph of Arimetheia and how his story ties into the Arthur story. One of the many things I love about homeschooling is that I can cover about three "classroom" lessons in one sitting with Noah.
All of the kids resumed piano lessons today. I don't think they missed too much over the summer. The teacher seems to think they will pick it right back up.
So, that is all I have to report this week. Please pray for us, as next week we start co-op #2, in which I am teaching two classes.
