Lake Powell 2014

Every year we travel to Lake Powell with my family.  I always ask myself at the conclusion of our trip..."why do we do this? It is SO MUCH WORK?" Then I get home and watch videos of my children waterskiing for the first time, playing with their cousins and building sandcastles and realize that all the effort is worth it.  We are making memories that will last a lifetime.

I love the freedom that teaching my kids at home gives to us.  If we need to go away for a week, then we work around it. We started school a few weeks before our trip and I was grateful that when we returned it was easy getting back into our routine.  My girls knew what to expect which makes it easier to take a trip and not miss a beat when we get back.      

Here are a few memorable moments from our trip.

Until next year....

Business 101

This morning I was busy doing laundry, preparing for our annual trip to Lake Powell, when I noticed my daughter unusually coming in and out of the front door multiple times.  When I asked her what she was doing I saw a big brown bag full of produce in her arms. "Oh...nothing mom, we are just playing." The girls have a playroom full of toys and plastic produce so I knew something was up.  I didn't fall for it.  

That's when I saw this sign ...

  

My daughter decided to set up a produce stand and sell our fruits and veggies to our neighbors.  I told the girls at breakfast that we needed to "eat" up our food in the refrigerator before we leave for our vacation.  This wasn't necessarily what I had in mind.  I'm pretty sure I paid more than .10 cents each... so my neighbors that bought the produce got a great deal!  I think it is time to include Business 101 into our curriculum.  That said, I have to admire my daughters ambition.  She did make a dollar and is now motivated to sell more.  We either need to raise our prices or grow a garden!

Second day slump

We had a great first day of school! My girls were exhausted and by the time their heads hit their pillows...they were out! When my kids are exhausted, it's best for all of us if I just let them sleep.  I worried about a second day slump and since we had such a great first day, I wanted to keep the momentum going.

We like to start our school time together around 9:00 am, but today we began at 10:30.  This is one of the reasons I have fallen in love homeschool.  We adapt our learning to what we need and those needs change from day to day.  Adapting helps us avoid melt downs both from the kids and from me.  Now I admit that my kids weren't as gung-ho as they were the first day of school.  It's easy to be excited when you have a new school outfit, pictures, and anticipation for a new school year.  How can the second day even measure up?  I admit, it starts with me.  If I want a happy home that is a place of learning...I have to be happy and create that environment.  I set the tone.  It isn't easy and I am continually working at this.  We have done homeschooling for a year now, so I am still a newbie at this.  But something I have found rewarding is that a love of learning has developed for each of my children; they have a desire to know and understand so many things.

I believe reading is key.  If I want my children to blossom in learning, they must be able to read.  My oldest daughter reads with ease.  Phonics are easy for her to recall and she has become a fluent reader.  My second daughter has struggled a bit with her reading.  It doesn't come as easy for her and it requires more time and effort on her part.  I have to be consistent with her each day or her progress is hindered.  Over the summer our library had a fun reading program where if you read so many minutes a day, you could earn a free book.  I thought this was great, but I decided to up the ante.  I told my girls that if they read at least 15 books then they could select a toy of their choice.  They were excited and motivated... and I was thrilled.  Avery wanted a telescope and Taylor wanted a science kit.  They both reached their goals, but I admit that it wasn't easy.  Some days were very difficult and it felt like we were getting nowhere, and other days I found them curled up immersed in a story.  Either way, if  I encouraged them each day and continued to work with them they eventually completed their goal.   My challenge was to find what motivated them.  The last book that Avery finished reading is one of my favorite stories, adapted for young readers.  

Pride & Prejudice💕

 

(I saw her love for Mr. Darcy blossom...so magical!)

This school year I have selected books from a reading list used by Hillsdale Academy.  They are a charter school which publishes all of their curriculum by grade (and a week by week schedule) online.  We don't use everything that this charter school lists, but it has been a very valuable resource for our school. I was so surprised to find my girls  in different parts of the house today, reading their first assigned book.  What was supposed to take two weeks to read...they both finished their book in two days. They will fill their time for now with books of their choosing until it is time to begin the next book.

I think we successfully avoided the second day slump and hopefully we can keep it going.  I'm up for the challenge.  

Below I have listed the reading list  we will follow for 2nd and 3rd grade:

 

 

Second Grade Reading List

 

  Mop Top

Miss Nelson is Missing

Wagon Wheels

Johnny Appleseed

The Hole in the Dike

The Long Way Westward

The White Stallion

The Pilgrim's First Thanksgiving

Apple Tree Christmas

Make Way for Ducklings

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

How is a Crayon Made

The drinking Gourd

The One Bad Thing About Father

A Weed is a Flower

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Annie and the Old One

The Courage of Sarah Noble

The Boy of the 3 Year Nap

Farmer Palmer's Wagon Ride

 

 

 

Third Grade Reading List

 

Marie Curie

Pocahontas

I'll Meet you at the Cucumbers

Sarah, Plain and Tall

Molly's Pilgrim

A Certain Small Shepherd

Snow Treasure

Sasha and the Wolfcub

Louis Braille

Aesop's Fables

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

 

First Day of School

Yesterday was our first day back after a two month summer break.  I have been anxiously awaiting the first day of school.  It is a love hate relationship for me.  I love getting back into a routine, where our day flows easily and we all know what to expect.  I don't especially love trying to adapt to the routine.  It always takes time to adjust and I have to remind myself to be patient.  Yesterday was a great first day!  I am so proud of my girls.  After breakfast we took pictures in our first day outfits.  We let the girls pick a new outfit for their first school day.  They were so excited to put on their new clothes and get going.

We started our class with a prayer and the pledge of allegiance.  After going over the calendar, I read outloud to the girls from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum.

 Then we did some creative work in a first day of school packet that I put together for them.  I love having the girls write down things about themselves, their hobbies, talents, interests, draw a picture of themselves, and then save it to look at the end of the year.  It is a fun marker to look at their progress. They also love it!

We will work on this throughout the week and I will post their pictures.  After they worked on their artwork, we started with our core subjects:

The older girls 2nd & 3rd grade:

Spelling

Phonics

Reading

Language

Handwriting/writing

Latin

Math

History/Science (alternating days)

Prek:

Letters/sounds

Math

Creative play

I will post in more detail about what we use for our curriculum but this is an outline of our day.  

I have to remind myself that not every day will be as easy however as long as we are consistent, persistent and prayerful, we will be successful.  We are looking forward to day 2!