weekly highlights

OK, so I said that I was gonna do school everyday, well....... Does only math on Tuesday still count as school? I did school school every other day, but that day I went grocery shopping and hit a million stores while Hubs helped them with math.

We are loving our Geography game that comes with ECC. Sassy struggles, but Little man and I try to beat each other, while Sassy tries to read the names for us. Even though next week we start Africa, we still haven't mastered Europe. But we are getting a general knowledge of where the countries are, so that's all that matters.

We were moving kinda slow through our Olympic lapbooks, but to day we plowed through a bunch of it. Little man likes it, and again Sassy is being a stinker. I think the task of reading frustrates her. Oh well. She'll get it when she gets it. She did like the word search though. I have to find more for her. Or I can just use this site and make our own. I think I'm actually gonna do this for our spelling words. Little man will do much better if he gets to practice them like this. Sassy got excited when I showed her the one I made this morning with all the countries we're learning in Europe. I made an extra master copy, for later in the year.



This is the first of three lapbooks that we've done. I'll get a picture of the rest when we're done. I was in the process of taking bread out of the bread maker and sticking it in the oven, so we didn't ge as far as I wanted. :) Such is life.

I started Phonics Pathways with Sassy this week. So far, she's more confused than before. But we're gonna keep at it. It's hard for her to learn the first two letters as opposed to word families.
So far she's done Sa-se-si-so-su, Ma-me-mi-mo-mu, Na-ne-ni-no-nu, Ra-re-ri-ro-ru. I review previous letters and teach another letter each day. I decided to give her a penny for every lesson she does without complaint. So if we get two new letters done in a day she gets two pennies. Then when the jar is full, I'll take her to the penny candy store near our house. Candy is the key word around here. :) I am determined to have her confidently reading by next school year.

Little man is trying my patience with reading also. He can read, but doesn't like to. He says it's boring. I get every book he asks for from the library. I think a trip to the library is due for us today. He will find books that interest him. :)

Usually at this time of the year, I feel like giving up, but not this year. I'm having fun staying home and teaching. They actually want to stay home, which helps. In the past we were always going somewhere and always falling behind. But we're figuring it all out this year. I think it helps that they are older now. Sassy just turned 8 last Friday, so I think she wants to learn. And the promise that she can join American Heritage Girls next year helps a bit also. :)

Hope your week went well.

Thanks!

Thank you, everyone, for all your kind words. I feel 100% better. We even did school this week. We are loving the Olympic lapbook. We are doing do parts everyday. It says if you do one part, it will take a month. So, I'm hoping to be done around the start of the Olympics.

We only did two days of France this week. We're going to Splash Village tomorrow, so we're done with school for the week. Today is MAFA. So, it's a light day. So, we only did lapbooks and math. Sassy did have to write, but not by choice. 25 sentences of "I will obey my mom" She whined and crabbed and talked sassy and she earned sentences. Lucky girl. :) She earned her name today, too. :)

I remember learning the countries of Europe when I was in Jr high, I think. Well, I forgot almost all of them. We're really trying to do the geography game, but we are doing terrible at it. :) We have forgotten almost every country. So we decided that we are gonna work on one at a time, not all three at the same time. Way too confusing. But they know more at their ages than I did, so it's all good. An understanding, not perfection, right?

Hope your week is going well.

First day, kinda

We've been doing school for about a month now. But it's been so sporadic, due to the kitchen, or lack thereof. But, today is the local schools first day. So I figured we best do something today.

We were gonna work on Latitude and Longitude. I've waited long enough though. I had to poke holes in our new kitchen walls. :) Hubs was fake crying while I push the little push pins in the wall. It had to be done. I can't teach geography with out our big maps. I only put up the world, not the U.S. That will be after the counters.



They did pretty good. Sassy will be embarrassed to see her jammies in the picture, but we don't get dressed for school. I'm still in my jammies as I type this. Comfort is key. School at the table, desk, floor or where ever you want. No stress.