We made it through our first week of school and it went pretty good. The kids are all using the same curriculum this year. It was so nice to all be together learning the same thing. I think it is really going to work well.
We still need to get our schedule down good. There are times when Kenyon finishes up faster than the girls and sits and waits for them to finish. I believe he will be able to use that time to work on his Personal Help for Boys instead of sitting idle. Since the girls do not yet have a corrisponding subject, that will help him finish his day about the same time they finish theirs and will make everyone happy.
We are learning about Rome to the Reformation. We got our notebooks put together with a cover sheet on the front and the books of the Bible on the back.
The kids learned to count to 10 in Latin. They then learned about the Roman Numerals. Kenyon has gone over this before but it was a good review for him. It was also nice to see him helping the girls understand and figure out the age of their father and their grandfather.
They had to fill out a blank map of the Roman lands. This was the first time the girls have done much with maps. Of course they participated some with Kenyon and Jacinta in Exploring Countries and Cultures a few years ago and they really picked up a lot about geography. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they did finding everything on the atlas and then finding it on their blank map. They completed it with very little help from me. Of course when it was time to color, Keslee choose not to use only green because "land is not only green!" She added some brown and some flowers(naturally!) Wednesday night, at church, Kalysa was looking at the maps in the back of daddy's Bible. She whispered to me, "I can't find Turkey on this map." I said "maybe Turkey is not on that map." She then informed me "the Mediterranean Sea is right here and Turkey is supposed to be right beside it!" Guess that means she really did learn something!
We learned a little about the life of Ancient Romans. We learned that most kids were homeschooled unless they were rich and had tutors. This next week we will be making a writing tablet to show the kids one way people wrote with no paper.
We also learned about the legend of how Rome began. After reading the story about Romulus and Remus we printed out this picture of the twins with the wolf that legend says they were raised by. Each of the kids re-wrote some of the highlights of the story in their own words. Keslee and Kalysa both wrote about 2 sentences and Kenyon had to write a little more adding more details. This is still one area that Kenyon hates and has to be prodded to complete. This year I am going to start him on writing stands to hopefully help him.
Kenyon is also doing Truth in Science in addition to the sciece we will be doing with My Father's World. I am SO excited about this science. The first section is about worldview; what it is and why it is so important. It also explains what true science really is. Unlike what the main stream science lessons presented in public schools say, evolution is NOT science. In turn, Creation is NOT science. BOTH are beliefs. This year of science will show Kenyon what true science really is and show him how to determine scientific facts from beliefs. It will also show how true science supports a belief in creation. Although the Bible's account of creation can not be proven by science, every other mention of things in the Bible that can be proven through science have been proven true 100% of the time. I am very thankful that my children's minds will not be filled with man's beliefs presented as fact. I am also excited to go through this science curriculum with my son for what I will get to learn. I am looking forward for God to use it to rid my own mind of some of the untruths that have been placed there that I may unwittingly still hold as truths!
The girls are also going to be doing SRAs. SRA is a reading comprehension program that I used in public school way back in 1980-3rd grade. I have always remembered them. They were my favorite thing to do and I really believe they really helped me. Each card has a short story. After reading it, you have to answer about 30 questions about it. The questions show you how to remember what you read, find a new words meaning based on the context it is used in, identify words that mean the same thing and overall comprehension. Last year my mom found this set (copy righted in 1958) at a garage sale for $2. Kenyon and Jacinta went through several of them but I really think the girls will get the most out of them since they are starting them from the beginning.
All three kids have started Math-U-See. So far, they all love it. Math time has felt a little more like play time to them which really helps relieve some of the stress that has previously been present. All three kids have already worked a little ahead of schedule because they don't want to stop after just one lesson. The biggest testimony for this math is the words "I'm bored, there is nothing to do so can we just do some math?" ♥it!
We even fit in a library day. Lucky for us, it is food for fines month. We have not been to the library this summer and we still had $19 worth of fines to pay from before. (you see we normally rent books instead of borrow! at least that is what it feels like with all the fines we accumulate through the year!) I was able to take one can of food for each $ of fines. We have recently been given about 40 cans of tuna. Since Monty is the only one in the house that will eat tuna, I was able to use some to clear our fines and he still has about a years worth of tuna for himself! CAN'T BEAT THAT!
Well, that is our first week in a nutshell! I am so excited about this new year and can't wait to learn. I believe my mom's car problems have been solved for now so that will hopefully mean a little easier week for me. I still have some scheduling to solidify and some organizing to do but I'm am not sure that is something that ever changes. ☺ If you know otherwise-please share your secret!!
