First week of school

We just finished our first week of school after taking off for an incredibly long amount of time, one week!   We worked all through the summer.  Even with all of the extras the kids did, we managed to stay on track and get things done.  Summers here are so hot that it's really a great time to be inside where it's nice and comfy.



This year I have a third grader, second grader and a K'er.  Not to leave out my little preschooler and of course the resident drooler, baby Gill.  But they aren't my “formal” students.



My K'er, R, was so excited to finally be starting school!  We actually started her reading lessons earlier in the summer because she wouldn't stop bringing me the book!  When Monday came and I pulled out her new Math book you would have thought I just handed her a chocolate fudge sundae.  She was in absolute heaven as she pored over the pages of her mathbook, not her sisters left-over grocery store math workbook.  No, this is her very own Math book.  She has been going like gang-busters all week.



I have to have an aside here and ask, does anyone know what is a  gang-buster?  Is this something I really want my  5 year old dd to be emulating?



This is what our week looked like:

E.

Started year 3 of AO.  Wow!  The readings have stepped up a notch from last year.  And from what I understand next year it's an even bigger jump.  I had placed all their books for the week on the table in three respective piles for them to wake up to in the morning.  My plan was to take a picture of it all but my camera was acting up.  (Turns out the camera really wasn't acting up.  No, someone put the batteries in upside down.  Now who could've done something like that!) Dh instead video taped it.  It's the old fashioned vhs, so no digital upload/download whatever the load may be for us.   Anyway, E's, pile for the week reminded me of my college days!   The readings really weren't as bad as it seems, half a chapter here, a couple of pages there.  The daily reading really didn't take much time at all.  It just looked rather impressive (intimidating) all sitting there for the first day.



Here's what she read last week:

An Island Story ch 62 Henry the VIII  The Story of the Field of the Cloth of Gold

Child's History of the World Ch 63  Fortune Hunters

Trial and Triumph ch 19 Martin Luther Father of the Reformation

Michelangelo by Diane Stanley (reading is spread throughout the next 12 weeks)

Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling ch 1

Story of Inventions ch 1 James Watt & the Invention of the Steam Engine (pgs 1-10)

Science Lab in a Supermarket Is What You See What You Get? (pg 15)

American Tall Tales  Sky-Bright Axe:  Paul Bunyan

Heroe's by Kingsley Perseus Part 1 – How Perseus and his Mother came to Seriphos

The Princess and the Goblin ch. 1-3

Poetry by William Blake a couple of poems a day

Devotions in the morning

MUS Beta

Italics handwriting



The books she really is itching to get back to next week are The Princess and the Goblin and Minn of the Mississippi.



A, my 2nd grader is in year 2 of AO.  This is my second time reading through these books.  I tell you I'm getting more out of it this time around, especially in the history department.  The British history is so convoluted and confusing that the first time around I couldn't keep straight who were the Saxons and the Normans.  Now wait, who has control of Britain now?  The Romans? Saxons?  French?  Is Scotland under British rule now?  Oh wait, now they're not again.   ARGH!  Especially since I'm reading from two different time periods w/ my two oldest.  I get confused where I am in history!  I think I need to keep a flow sheet handy to keep track of all the cousins, brothers, nephews, etc.  who all vie for the throne!  But, this time around it's sticking, a little more, than it did the first time.  If I keep at AO by the time my #5 is ready for AO, I'll be able to tell him from memory.



Here's what A. read last week:

An Island Story ch 22 Harold

Trial and Triumph ch 10 Charlemagne Protector of the Church

The Little Duke first half of chapter 1

Marco Polo spread throughout the year

Burgess Animal Book chapter 1-2

Peterson color in guide go along for the animal book

Lamb's Shakespeare The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Poetry of Walter de la Mare read a couple of poems every day

daily devotions

MUS Alpha

Italics handwriting

Pathway readers grade 2 (readers only as read alouds to me)



R is AO year 0.  Which means I do a lot of reading w/ her.  We still use our beloved Five in a Row.  Even though R had been involved in our FIAR studies in the past, this year she is really part of it.  I'm really focusing on her for our stories.  The others are listening in and participating but this is something that I wanted to focus mainly on R with.  She needs a little something that is hers (or at least she feels is hers even though everyone else is right there with her).  Being the middle child and the 3rd girl, she gets a bit squeezed and left out of things often.  She loved doing our FIAR study this week.



Here's what was on the table for R last week:

MUS Primer

RME

Italics Handwriting

Daily Devotion

FIAR Truman's Aunt Farm  We learned about Texas (where one of R's aunts lives), homonyms, mailing letters and how much stamps cost, stylized art and of course ANTS!   We didnt' do an ant farm as was suggested in the FIAR manual.  We didn't do an ant farm not because I'm a big ol' mean mommy (even though I am  ), no we didn't do an ant farm because we did an ant farm over the summer and it was an utter failure.  We tried a couple of times and each time met with utter disappointment and failure.  The first two times we gathered our ants from our backyard into our cool space aged gel ant farm.  The ants immediately got to work, doing nothing!  They congregated in one big heap and promptly died w/i the week.  There were no tunnels, just a big black mass of dead ants.  Not to let that failure deter us we gathered some more ants.  This time we didn't put in quite as many.  They too died w/i a few days.  Again, not to be discouraged, we went outside and gathered up a different type of ant (we have all sorts of ants around our house, gee how fortunate  )  These ants were big and black and looked like they'd do some great tunneling.  The ants were gathered and put into their new home.  When we awoke the next morning, not one ant was to be found.  They apparently made a break in the middle of the night and hightailed it on out of here.  We have yet to find one of those ants.   Poof, gone w/o nary a tunnel to be seen.  I decided enough of this crazy contraption.  I'm done willingly bringing these little creatures into my home.  I mean I spend a good portion of my time trying to keep them out of my kitchen, why on earth am I willingly bringing them in?  If my kids want to study ants they can go outside and watch them.



For our reading time I'm alternating between AO's year 2 and 3 free reading selections.  We just finished Brighty of the Grand Canyon and now we're reading Unknown to History a Story of the Captivity of Mary of Scotland by Charlotte M. Yonge.



That was our busy week of school.  It's going to take me some time to figure out how best to budget our time now that I have a new student in the mix.   But, R is so excited about learning and having school time that the challenge is a worthy one.