After five years in school, will homeschooling be a fit for our family? Walk with us as we try to find out!

Friday, September 30, 2011

Weekly Wrap Up: September 30, 2011

Joining the Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers once again...


We are at the end of our first three full weeks of homeschool and we are all still happy and on speaking terms :)  In fact, this was my Facebook status on Thursday:
"I'm almost afraid to say this out loud. And if I believed in jinxing myself, I wouldn't. But I don't- believe in jinxing, that is. So I will- say it, that is. I like homeschooling!"
I am surprised at how much I am enjoying this journey so far.  Without realizing it, I think I was seeing our experiment as a sacrifice for the test subjects' sake.  I was not expecting to feel so fulfilled myself!  It's exciting to see the threads of what they are learning weave together into understanding.  


For example, we spent the summer learning about the History of the Ancient World.  We began our history study this fall learning about the events that led to the fall of Rome and have moved into study of the Middle Ages and the Byzantine Empire.  I asked TS 1 on Monday, what were the major causes of the fall of Rome and without missing a beat, he rattled them off!  


On Tuesday, we started our piano lessons.  Both TS 1 & 2 loved their lesson.  Tom and I were treated to lots of "music" in the evenings the rest of the week.  When we picked RA up from school in the afternoon, we also picked up one of TS 1's classmates from last year.  They had a great play date.  We are enjoying the ability to have more play dates due to our flexible schedule and zero homework load!


We worked the switched up schedule on Wednesday once more so I could attend my morning Bible study.  It went off without a hitch again and I am encouraged that I might actually be able to continue to attend this study throughout the year. 


Since Thursday was a Jewish holiday, our good friends from church whose children attend public school had the day off.  We decided to switch up the schedule once again so that we could spend time with them.  TS 1 & 2 worked for a few hours in the morning after dropping RA off at school.  Then we had the play date and finished up our work when we got home.  Honestly, Thursday's switch up did not go as smoothly as I had hoped.  Everyone was wiped out from all the fun, and it was almost dinner time when we got home.  I asked the boys to finish up their work as I made dinner.  I was asking too much of us all, though.  We got through it, but next time, I'll make sure our work is complete before we go out to play.


Friday was co-op day and we were blessed with beautiful weather again.  Since I am assisting in the PE classes, and the PE classes are outdoors, that's a big deal to me.  The boys are working on Medieval tapestries in Art.  TS 2 is studying bees in his Science class and they learned that bees hibernate in winter.  


 TS 1 is learning about Sir Issac Newton in his Science class and made a paddle boat this week.  He also got a cool dog tag as a memento.  The teacher is making one for each inventor they study!




On Friday night our super fabulous science teacher, aka Dad, taught the boys about the sun. Then TS 1 & 2 each wrote a short speech about why you should not look at the sun and presented it to me.  






We are looking forward to another week of learning together!

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