In my life this week...
Snow returned on Thursday, and influenza hit my 14 year old on Wednesday morning. Then influenza hit me Thursday night. I wonder who it will hit next. I'm trying not to let myself be discouraged by both of these situations.
Snow returned on Thursday, and influenza hit my 14 year old on Wednesday morning. Then influenza hit me Thursday night. I wonder who it will hit next. I'm trying not to let myself be discouraged by both of these situations.
This week, I have enjoyed an online conversation with a friend from our old home who is beginning to homeschool. It's been fun to see her (and her husband's) excitement over this new venture their family is taking. And of course, I love talking about curriculum with anyone!
In our homeschool this week...
4th grade J and 6th grade C both wrote humorous stories as part of their WriteShop Junior lessons. They enjoyed taking stories they were familiar with and re-writing them. I appreciated the way WriteShop broke down the process for us and helped me teach this to the children. Now I just need to figure out how to teach them to self-edit their writing without my help.
We're studying ancient Persia and ancient Greece with Mystery of History, pulling in some of the Tapestry of Grace book suggestions on Queen Esther, as well.
Places we're going & people we're seeing...
Monday, we visited the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Museum, and were able to tour the museum, view an IMAX movie, attend the Dr. Goddard's Lab show, and watch the planetarium show. It was all new to my children, and though Steve has been to the museum (and IMAX movies) before, he'd never seen a planetarium show. We had a lot of fun, especially watching the scientist explain combustion and blow things up in Dr. Goddard's Lab.
Wednesday night we had evening services at church, though some of the kids missed out due to illness. Tomorrow we have Sunday School and morning worship at church, and Steve plans to take a couple children to Winter Jam concert, while others will be attending with the youth group. We'll have to see who has the flu by then, though.
My favorite thing this week was...
Definitely the family field trip to the Cosmosphere. It was wonderful to see some of my children (who were initially "ho hum" about the trip) enjoy themselves. It was fun to watch my 4 yo and 2 yo when the scientist blew up a giant cotton ball soaked in liquid oxygen, or shoot a water-bottle rocket across his desk. And when we arrived home, after dark, I could hear the children finding Orion's Belt, Betelgeuse, Taurus, and the Seven Sisters. Again Wednesday night, they were talking about Betelgeuse being red, and noticing other bright stars around us. All because of our field trip.
What's working/not working for us...
Mystery of History,volume 1 is working for us right now. We've not used it before. We have tested volume 3 with the Homeschool Crew, and I purchased volume 1 and 2 after that test. But since the review period ended, I was trying to use it as a spine to go along with our Tapestry of Grace studies. I hadn't used it exclusively as a group since the review period. The only thing is I wish it had more book suggestions included for supplemental study. I think the later volumes probably do, but volume 1 doesn't have as many suggestions.
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...
I am trying to figure out how to balance structure and pushing my children to do their best, with my desire to have a flexible, relaxed, delight-directed school. I want to still be able to take time off when the children are sick, but I don't want to then feel pressured to catch up and not have school extend too far into the summer. Sometimes I think that a year-round school schedule would help us balance this better, but I haven't convinced Steve or the children of this.
A photo to share...
From our Cosmosphere field trip
Enjoying our homeschool life,
April E.
