The First Week

Well the first week of school was a success!  I will say I did make a few changes for this new week however.  Tweaking was a must! 

We started our first week filled with stories in history, both Biblical and secular.  We also filled our days with Science projects, Geography lessons, Math class, English, Art, Bible, Reading, Narration, Dictation, Copywork, Nature Study, etc.  It was a busy week but we had so much fun!

 

Below you will find one of our Science experiments.  We were learning about Dolphins and Whales and how they are mammals just like us!



First we pulled out the Shortening

We coated one hand on each child with the shortening.  This was suppose to represent "blubber".  We learned that God gave Dolphins and Whales blubber (fat) to protect them in cold water.

We filled a sink with ice cold water

Each child was to then place both of their hands in the ice cold water for one minute... This did not last that long!  They were freezing within 15-20 seconds!  After they pulled both hands out they were suppose to notice that the hand with the fake "blubber" was warmer than the one with no blubber.  We then talked about how the fat keeps the mammals warm.
Over all it was a pretty "cool" experiment!

On Friday we did a Nature Study.  We will be getting together with another homeschooling family every Friday to have our Nature Group.  This was a fun time for the kids to learn not only about Science and Nature, but also for them to learn to appreciate God's Creation as well as work on their artistic abilities by drawing things they found in their nature journals. 
I must say all of the kids weren't as excited about it as the moms were, but in time I'm sure they will learn to love it too!
I will post pictures of our nature group in a later post.

It's Official!  Today was our very first day of homeschooling! 

 

School surprisingly went smooth!  I wasn't sure since I would be teaching four different children how the day would go.  We ended up getting 4-4 1/2 hours of school in and completed a full day of work!  We covered Bible, Music, History, Research, Poetry, Science, Geography, Math, English, Phonics, Story time, Reading, Crafts, Copy work, and Spelling!  Yes, it was a full day!! 

When I went to bed last night I was nervous about how I was going to teach all of them different things and how I was going to help all four with their math at the same time.  Today when I woke up I decided at the last minute we were going to be doing a lot of the work together!  I combined as much as I could and it all seemed to work out!  The kids had fun and day one was a success!

Tomorrow is a new day!  I wonder if today was smooth just because of first day excitement or if tomorrow will continue in the right direction?  I do pray it ends up being a breeze... Although I know every day will not be perfect. 

I can't believe I have a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grader!  I'm so proud of my Littles! 

 

The beginning of a new chapter

As many of you know, I am new to the homeschool world... Well not exactly.  I actually was a homeschooler myself growing up, but this is different.  This time I will be the teacher!  When I sit and think about really doing it I get super nervous!  I mean, can I really teach my 4 children and them not grow up to be dumb?  As a kid I never liked school, and yet I find myself now as a so called teacher.  This could be interesting!
     Even though I think I am crazy for homeschooling, I am also very excited about this new chapter in life!  I know days will be hard and there will be tears shed, but I know that in the end it will all be worth it.  My kids won't grow up to be dummies and I will survive the chaos!  So here is to a fresh start in life, something new, something exciting and something worth doing!

Today I have been working hard on getting the "schoolroom" together.  I've hung lights over desks, put a giant world atlas on the wall, created little areas for supplies and so much more.  I plan to share pictures of "The J Crew Academy" soon!  For now, just one will have to do.