Our first 2 weeks of school have gone really well! The only struggle has been having enough “school” work for Theodore. He wants to stay at the table and do his work while Katie and Foster do their seat work. Friday I was able to spend 4 or 5 hours getting all of my hands-on learning materials together and organized. I had planned on doing that while my mom was here to help with the kids during summer break but I got strep-throat instead and ended up spending my organizing time trying to recover. We did get out to a back-to-school swim party at Springbrook pool with American Heritage Girls!
Katie is happy that she gets to join American Heritage Girls this year. One of her closest friends got to join last year and she can’t wait to be a part of the action!
Foster has started a spelling curriculum this year. We are using Building Spelling Skills by
Christian Liberty Press. He is doing really well. He does lessons 4 days and then on the 5th day takes a test over 20 words. The first unit had a practice test and here’s how he did after only being on lesson 3.
I only gave him 10 words for the practice test and he wanted to check it himself. He said “I’ll circle the ones I got right and put an x over the ones I missed.” He only missed the word “taffy” which he spelled “tafee” which pleased me because it was at least phonetically accurate. By Friday when he took his real test, he got them all correct. I wrote 100% and put a sticker on his paper. He was pleased but then he said, “You should have put an A.” I think it’s pretty funny that he wants an “A” even though he’s never been in any setting where you get grades. He received an “A” on his unit 2 test.
We have started a formal science curriculum this year and we are using Apologia’s Young Explorers series Exploring Creation with Astronomy and the kids are loving it so far. We attempted our first project to make a solar system out of balloons and hang but there are no pictures because it failed pretty miserably! We didn’t have the correct size balloons and then they started to shrink after being up by the hot ceiling. Thankfully, Daddy came to the rescue and recommended making one out of Styrofoam balls and we found a solar system kit at Hobby Lobby for only $10! Chris has shorter days the next two weeks so he will be helping them put it together and paint it one evening this week. My children are so blessed to have a hands-on, involved daddy. We also found a puzzle and flash cards in the dollar bins at Target! The whole idea behind Apologia’s science series is immersion in one topic so that your children get the most out of one topic. This is different from what most textbooks do in that they usually skip around and cover small sections of several topics. We also went to the library this week and found several books on Astronomy.
Our Bible and Character Traits from the past two weeks have been Appreciative and Attentive. They have the option of memorizing the scripture and definition each week or they can get together and put on a “show” that demonstrates the meaning of their Character Trait for the week.
Week One: Katie was driving a car and said “POP! Oh no my tire is flat!” and Foster drove up beside her and said “Ma’am can I fix your tire for you?” After he fixed her tire she said “Thank you, sir, I appreciate you fixing my tire.”
Week Two: Katie was in a hospital bed and Foster was giving her directions on how to take care of herself when she went home. “OK ma’am please take 2 Benadryl – 3 times a day. And remember not to get down on your leg or you’ll have to come back to the hospital.” Katie replied “Ok, doctor, thank you.”
They get an “A” on their performances, too!
All the Little Grubbs 