It's Friday already? I cannot believe how fast this week has gone. I suppose that's because of the holiday on Monday. It has been a productive week, none the less. This week's biggest lesson: Making it through trials with a positive attitude.
We were really looking forward to spending the evening Monday with family up north, but our van broke down. My kids were SO disappointed. I would even say distraught. Of course it was a holiday, so no shops were open. My brother let Jeremy borrow his car on Tuesday so he could go to work (thank you Mika!), and we brought the van in to the shop in the morning. The children and I had a nice walk home and just talked about things. Claire was a little disappointed to miss her tumbling class, BUT (here's where the lesson came in) we talked about all the things we were grateful for and how lucky we really are. I'm thankful that we had time to do this, because I think it was really good for my kids (and me!) to do this. It felt good to say, "Yes this is hard, but hey! We've got each other and we'll always have each other!" It was a pretty minor thing that needed to be fixed on the van so we got it back Tuesday evening. I am so grateful for the time that homeschooling gives us right now...the time to let my kids fully express their feelings or disappointments and then the time to reflect on all the we do have and on our Heavenly Fathers love for us. These are lasting impression, I hope. I don't think I could have done this if we were rushing here and there and everywhere.
Another lesson for me: Homeschooling is way more fun when you have good tools to work with! I purchased a history program, "Story of Our World", by Susan Wise Bauer last week and was excited to use it in school this week. We are starting with the first year "Ancient Civilizations". I got the audio book as well. It has been so GREAT because I can be with Anna and Claire while Sam and Elise are listening! Plus the activity book has SO many fun activities and ideas to make the history come alive. It is worth it to me to pay a little more and buy really fun things for my kids. It makes learning enjoyable and, hey, that's what this is all about. (I know there are some really awesome moms who can think of all these really fun, creative things on their own...but I'm not one of them :)
Here's the technical break-down of our learning week:
Sam: Math--Saxon 6-10 Assessment test: 19/20
Rock unit---Studied degrees of Hardness. Mohr's scale and tested the rocks in his collection. Conducting experiment on chalk-testing the effects of acid (vinegar) on chalk.
Spelling test--(could be better--will work more on that next week)
Journal writing---Several good long journal entries. Working on paragraphs
Piano--Classic Dance
Reading--"Spider Kane and the Mystery at Jumbo Nightcrawler's" "The Boxcar Children, Mountain Top Mystery", "Pokemon junior Snarlax Takes a Stand", many other non-fiction books.
Cub Scouts---Achievement 9 and 6
Everyone--Story of Our World (SOW) Intro and lesson One: personal history and early nomads. I actually prefaced this with the beginning of the Old Testament stories. We painted our own "cave" drawings. (Brown paper bags crinkled up and taped to the wall) And found the Tigris and Euphrates river on the globe. Learned about early irrigation (shaduf) and experimented with this in the back yard.
Read-A-Loud Book: "Bud, Not Buddy".
Scriptures: Alma 39-42
Art: Reverse glass painting and we decorated our "school"
Memorization: "Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as as look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be." --Karen Ravn
Elise: Math--Saxon 5-7 Facts Test: 18/25
Rock unit---read some more "Rocks and Minerals" preparing for our trip to the cave
Spelling test---100%
Journal writing---(could be better, will work on this more next week)
Reading--phonics 1 books, "Animal Hospital"
Piano--Ode to Joy
Claire and Anna are doing well too. They are teaching us patience and helping us keep a good perspective on things. Claire learned C and 3 this week. Anna was injury free!!
2 comments:
Sonja, you are such a great mom, and a good example to all you come in contact with. I have learned many important life lessons from you.
Thank you!
So fun! I'm so impressed with all you do! You're kids look like they're doing so great.
Oh and I was going to tell you--you might have already heard of this but I was talking to a friend of mine who home schooled her 11 kids and she told me about this great product called Singin' Smart (Google it and you'll find o'ut about it). I haven't gotten it but her daughters sang some songs from it and it sounded really good.
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