My School Room

We gather around that chair by the window for our lessons.




My workspace:


The boys workspace:


Kelsea's Workspace:

First Day of School

We usually have a special breakfast and it always includes chocolate milk. Today we also had donuts.



For story time today we listened to Story of the World and Whinnie the Pooh.



Jeremiah needed extra help with his spelling words.



Ishmael is a really good listener. He especially likes story time.



A smile...always a rare teenage moment. At least on camera. She smiles all the time. Just never when I have my camera out. I usually have to threaten her. Or hold her ipod ransom.



Who does he think he is?

Cozy Winter Morning

We stayed up late last night, packing up all the Christmas decorations. I always feel a little melancholy when it's officially over.

We also had our first official day of school for 2008. We had such a nice morning. I read from our Little House book, By the Shores of Silver Lake. I love reading to the kids. It's my favorite past time. I took this picture last month. You see the cozy fire and my coffee cup behind Ishmael on the hearth. I'm so glad my kids love story time as much as I do!

Friday

We've had a pretty nice week as far as school goes. My kids are all paired up for research projects. Kelsea-Joshua (working on crystals and other gems) and Zerrick-Ishmael (learning about black widows). I work with my 4yo who always chooses dinosaurs. This time I made him choose a type of Dinosaur (one we've never learned much about before) he chose stegosaurus.I figure we'll have gone through several different species before he's done with this stage. It's been a good way to get them more familiar with the non-fiction section in the library. Jeremiah knows right where to go get his dinosaur books anyway.

I have some materials to pick up this weekend for science experiments. Some are related to their research projects and some are not. I love doing the experiments together. It's better than baking cookies ;-).

We are doing great in our other subjects as well.

Tax Time

Means time to plan next year's curriculum. This is as far as I've gotten:

2nd Grade:
Math: Saxon 2
Reading/Phonics: Library
Bible: Rod and Staff

3rd Grade:
Math: Saxon 3
Reading: Library/ Rod and Staff 5th grade reader
Bible: Rod and Staff
Grammar: Easy Grammar 3/4

7th Grade:
Math: Saxon 6/7
Reading: Library
Science: Apologia's General Science
Grammar: Easy Grammar (red book)
Writing: Write Shop

8th Grade:
Math: Saxon 7/8
Reading: Rod and Staff 8th grade Reader (child does not like to read so hopefully this will keep us going)
Science: ??
Grammar: Easy Grammar (red book)
Writing: Write Shop

I'm still deciding on history for all of us. So far we've just been following a timeline. I think I'd like something more structured and disciplined. Maybe Mystery of History?

For the most part I like to keep it simple. We do alot of other subjects together as a family. We love going to the library. We all read a ton of books except my oldest who would rather "do" than read. Even he reads a fair amount. I may add more or realize I'm forgetting something as I go. This is always a work in progress.