Somehow we made it through month one of school.
I am very grateful to be back into the routine of school...although I'm not gonna lie...getting into the routine was rough this year. I'm not sure if it was because we had such a great summer and enjoyed the relaxed schedule of doing whatever we wanted everyday or if it is because this is the first year we are officially registered as a legal home school and I feel more pressure to make sure we fulfill the required 180 days of "school". Or it could be that I am teaching three children and trying to keep the littlest one alive all at the same time for this first time. Zoe was just a wee one this time last fall and wasn't quite so, um...active. Or it could be that I started keeping two extra children one day a week and that means I was trying to keep 6 children happy, learning, and alive all at the same time, ha!
Whatever the reasons, I am just glad to be on this side of things! Despite the somewhat rough start, we did manage to have a great month of learning together.
Continuing with what we started last year, every month we pick a composer, author, and artist to listen to, read about, and try our hands at copying their artistic style. This month was Mozart, Van Gogh, and E.B. White.
We listened to Mozart every school day, read Stuart Little, and each picked our favorite Van Gogh to try and replicate...
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| I admit, the painting part is my favorite part of school...I may or may not have long outlasted my kids in doing this activity, ha! |
Our science unit was plants, with the boys doing a unit on apples at the same time.
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| We learned the parts and functions of a plant. |
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We learned the different ways you can grow a plant...by seed, stem, and root. |
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| We looked up close at the stem "tubes" inside a celery stalk. |
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| Apple print painting with our new cute addition to Monarch Way Academy =) |
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| Of course we had to do lots of crafts for Ezra =) |
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| My new go-to school tool are clothespins. Who knew?! |
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| Apple pattern cards. Reason # 47 why I love homeschooling: Ezra got really bored really fast (you can tell by the look on his face) with the pre-made patterns and asked if he could just make up his own. The ones he came up with were quite complex and I decided that he is good with patterns =) I'm glad I am able to be flexible and customize their learning! |
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| We are keeping track of the days of school this year with big plans for when we reach day 100! |
Eli and Ezra focused on recognizing numbers 1-20 and number order. We also got in a lot of practice with their cutting skills and learning how to write their whole names. Ezra had a "click" moment and began reading during our 3rd week of school. He is just so proud of himself. I am too.
Altogether, I will call it a great start to our year. Now lets bring on October!
Resources mentioned:
Elementary Learn How to Type Website
Unit study Website
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