Week 1 of school - complete!

Well, we've officially finished our first week of school. We began last Monday and made it through Week 1 with great success.

Miss Baby is napping fairly regularly now twice a day so I have a pretty good idea of when I'll have about an hour or so in the morning and in the afternoon to get some things done that require a little more quiet than we usually have while she's awake.

Sorry to say there aren't any pictures from week 1 - just too much to do and I believe I was carrying Miss Baby around with me most of each morning as I was going from one child to the next helping them get started with everything and work through their first few lessons.

We're trying a few new things this year from Rod & Staff and so far I like them and I believe the children do as well - that works out nicely, eh?

Here's the Fall lineup:

Miss E - our 3rd grader (yikes, when did she get so big?)

Math U See Delta
Handwriting without Tears Cursive
Rod & Staff Level 3 Reader/workbook
Rod & Staff Level 3 English (grammar)
Rod & Staff Level 3 Spelling
Tapestry of Grace Year 2 (history, literature, geography, arts/crafts and more!)
Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day

Miss A - our 2nd grader (we have a 2nd grader, too???)

Math U See Beta
Handwriting without Tears Cursive
Rod & Staff Level 2 Reader/workbook
Rod & Staff Level 2 English (grammar)
Rod & Staff Level 2 Spelling
Tapestry of Grace Year 2 (history, literature, geography, arts/crafts and more!)
Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day

Mr. E - our kindergarten kiddo (is he really only in K?)

Math U See Alpha
Handwriting without Tears Printing
Rod & Staff Level 1 Reader/workbook
Tapestry of Grace Year 2 (history, literature, geography, arts/crafts and more!)
Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day

Mr. A - pre-K (he MUST do schoolwork along with everyone else!)

Learning to Read
Learning addition
All sorts of other things!

Miss Baby - (7 mos.)

Napping 101
Culinary Delights 101 (exposing her palette to many new flavors and textures)
P.E. - learning to crawl, sit unassisted, stand, walk, etc.
Communications - general babbling, sound formations, word formations and much more!
Reading - looking at a multitude of books and having many books read aloud

Time permitting we'll add in Rosetta Stone Spanish along the way.
We're also running through the Rod & Staff Music Workbook 1 (all children except Miss Baby, of course :) ).

Week 1 went well, as I said. We began last Monday with everyone coming to start their schoolwork in a staggered fashion which enabled me to help each one get started with the new curriculum. Everyone did very well on their first day and we celebrated the first day of school by meeting CKB (a.k.a. Daddy) for dinner at El Chico! What a treat!

Day 2 went well also and Day 3 found us still on track and making it to piano lessons for both of the girls that afternoon. Day 4 and 5 and we finished up the week by setting up the pool in the backyard and enjoying the afternoon and evening outside. Miss E, Miss A and Mr. E reviewed math last week and will pick up this week with a little more review for some and new lessons for others based on how their review week went. Both of the girls aced their first spelling tests. Miss E, Miss A and Mr. E have all taken to their readers and accompanying workbooks very well and so far I'm very happy with this addition to their schedules. The same goes for the R&S English - I think we may stick with it instead of going back to Easy Grammar after this year. I definitely think it's working better for Miss A. She did o.k. with Easy Grammar, but I think the R&S is better suited to her and Miss E is doing fine with it also.

We enjoyed a busy, but fun Labor Day weekend. We took a "staycation" and ran some errands, took care of some of those "to dos" that never seem to get done and just enjoyed not having to BE anywhere at any specific time. The highlight of our weekend aside from just all being together was a nice drive in OK to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. The water in the park has a high sulphur content - after you try a sip from the fountain there, you'd think you'd just eaten the yoke of a hard boiled egg! Mmmmm. :-P

Now, we head into Week 2 of our school year. We will add in Tapestry and Zoology this week in the afternoons. I look forward to sharing about our first lessons in these subjects after we delve into them in the coming days!