2010-2011 School Year, Week 1 - COMPLETE!

Whew! Going into this first week, I was a bit apprehensive about how things would go....I do have an 18 mos. old and a 4 year old to entertain, ya know.

Well, I must say I am THRILLED with how well the week has gone. Yay!  Miss Baby did so well and everyone got their work done - I couldn't be happier!

Of course...we had a light week, so next week will be a bit more challenging, but I'm thinking positively!

One thing that really helped was enlisting the help of one of the older children to play with Miss Baby when I was working w/one child - introducing them to their new books and so forth.

Next week, the three older will work on a lot of things independently, but a lot will also require my instruction and assistance. That is when I expect things to potentially get a little tough, but we'll find out then, right? I also have some things for Mr. A to begin working on at a leisurely pace - we'll work on those when the older ones are working independently and Miss Baby is playing in the same room w/us. Thankfully, our new house has a bedroom we can use as a school room and a big, open game room right beside it so I can be completely accessible during independent work if anyone needs me. Yay for the new house!

One frustration this week has been the fact that I cannot find one box that has 2 of the children's new math books in it. I am at the point where I'm going to have to order them and when the others turn up, if they ever do, they can be used by the younger children when they get to those levels. I suppose if we only lost ONE box during our move, that is prettttty good!


We spent a lot of time in HIStory this week, as well as geography as it related to our studies, and literature selections as well.

Each of the 3 older children created their own notebook covers for the period of history we will study this year - the 19th century.

Here is one example from Miss E:



Miss E has "graduated" to the Upper Grammar level of our History program this year and therefore has a few extra requirements and projects, more difficult readings, and so forth.

For this year, and into the next, she will be working on a cumulative project - creating a President Card Bank. We have chosen to do it in a modified fashion, not on "cards" exactly, but simply putting 2 presidents per page in her notebook (if we decide later we need or want them in card format, we can simply cut the pages in half - she is aware of this and will be keeping one president on the top half of the card and the second on the bottom half). Here's Miss E w/her first 2 Presidents completed:



For Arts and Activities for our Lower Grammar crew, they were to review coin values and learn who is on the face of the quarter and the dollar. They did not hesitate at all when I quizzed them on coin names and values. That took all of about 2 mn. to complete.  Fun facts: If you look VERY closely on the back of a "standard" penny, you can see a tiny Abraham Lincoln on the image of the Lincoln Memorial?  :)  Do you know who is on the quarter and the dollar? Mr. E and Miss A sure do!

All in all, a great first week - nice and easy - stress-free and calm - the way we like to get things going around here, and I even kept up w/the laundry and dishes all week - amazing! I already have some decorations on my teacher wall from my fabulous students....we're off to a GREAT start!!!  Praise God!

And, here's my Expedit bookcase from IKEA - it's not completely organized yet, but this is where it stands at present!

Off we go to prepare for Week 2!