In my life this week…
After a week of Fall Break, traveling, a fun trip to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch, and the annual chili cook-off, we were worn out before this week even began! We persevered, but I felt like we were playing catch-up all week long. I didn't post about the fun stuff mentioned above, so hopefully I will do a "Fall Fun" post soon! Tuesday, we put everything on hold to take advantage of a free part of the day for my husband and we took our boat out for one last spin on the water. Then, we pulled it out of the lake for the winter and brought it to the storage area. Aaah, I already miss our summer days out on the water and look forward to next year.
In our homeschool this week…
We have completed the first quarter of our curriculum and we actually began school about a month before that. We have already learned tons of amazing facts about our world and how God designed it! On Monday I taught the children all of the new memory work for this week and then had a tutor meeting that afternoon to work on preparations for the coming six weeks. I ended up teaching most of the tutors about basic music theory, while we are preparing to teach the music theory and tin whistle lessons for this six week period. It was fun to be able to share what I have learned from teaching students how to play the recorder in my "past life" as a music educator!
Tuesday we couldn't do school work because getting the boat out took the whole day, but I did bring the Drive Thru History dvd's and the children finished watching those episodes while we were on the road, so some learning did happen!
B is enjoying her American Girl Mystery book so much that she has been asking me for more reading time! J read the weekend comics all by himself and without me pointing them out to him yesterday. I celebrate the reading that is happening around our home!
Wednesday through Friday did not feel like enough time to complete our language arts lessons, but the children did learn about conjunctions and compound sentences. Thank you to Schoolhouse Rock and the C3 website where I was able to download a fun song about the FANBOYS connecting conjunctions!
My favorite thing this week was…
My right arm also feels a tiny bit sore after helping to scoop out and carve the pumpkins today, but it was worth it! We have only enjoyed the fun parts of Halloween with carving pumpkins, candy, trick-or-treating and dressing up. This year we will hand out little cards that say, "Jesus Loves You!" with the candy from our front door for the second year. We can plant the seed... and let God grow it!
During our Fall Break I spent several hours organizing and going through their closets and other "stuff". Their rooms look SO much more spacious and enjoyable! I am no longer embarrassed for their friends to come over and see their rooms and I wanted to reward them for all of the hard work, so we had a sleepover for each of them on Friday night! They had a BLAST!
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
We have been learning loads of English grammar and terminology through our language arts class, Essentials of the English Language. I have found that although doing copy work is one popular way of learning and memorizing this information; it is not the only way to learn it! Don't forget to use other methods of learning if your student is struggling with a task. Sometimes presenting the information in a different format can make all the difference! We have found songs that go with the English grammar charts that we are memorizing and both of my children learn the information and remember it when we use these songs! Adding music to your learning is fun and can help the mind to learn it in a different way. While using visual aides, songs, chants, and copy work we are truly using a multi-sensory approach and it seems the way to go for us.
Homeschool Questions/thoughts I have…
How do you help a child with a negative attitude about a certain class or subject? What have you done to help your student become more positive about things they that are hard or they just don't like to do?
I’m cooking…
Well, I'm going to try and cook more suppers this week. I haven't been cooking many healthy meals ever since we returned from our trip to the Greenbrier. Maybe it's because my food doesn't compare? :-) I did get to the grocery store yesterday so I have fresh fruit and veggies! My goal is to only splurge on candy for a night, but eat healthy meals the rest of the week!
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
Sleepover fun!
Sounds like you had a fun week. Thanks for stopping by my blog!
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