Thursday, March 24, 2011

A Little Over Two Months Left

If we keep on schedule, we'll finish up school at the end of May.  We've been plowing through teacher work days and snow days so we can finish up on the early side.  Sam has been plugging away and has been generally interested and cooperative .  All homeschoolers have their bad days and we are no exception.

Our biggest problem of late has been me- although I don't let on.  I'm the one who has been having trouble getting motivated to do school.  Oh, I do it.  But, oh my word.  As much as I love the curriculum (we use Sonlight) and learning along side Sam, I'm ready for my summer break. 

Thankfully, Jamey is around some these next few weeks and he has been teaching Sam two days a week.  It's been one of the huge benefits of him going back to school- having these 4 and 5 week breaks here and there.  They're too short to find a job and work, so he hangs out with us knowing that before long, he'll be back in the world of work.  Then we might not think student loans were so bad.  I take that back.  It will be good to get out from under so much debt.

What was I trying to talk about?  Oh, yes.  School.

Sam and Sadie have been making ocean boxes for science.  We're studying Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day and they are adding creatures to their boxes as we study them.


 

Most recently, we've been studying mollusks which include snails and the shells they create.  This has been so much fun since we're planning a trip to the beach this spring to visit family.  We found some shells and the kids glued them in their boxes.  This book is coming with us to the beach.

We loved reading White Stallion of Lipizzaner about the horses of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.  This book has amazing pictures throughout (which helped keep Sadie interested) and the story is one of determination and hard work.  Sam was fascinated by this book and we were SO psyched to be able to watch some youtube videos of these amazing horses when we had finished the book.  It really made the story come to life for us. 






A friend lent us Treasures of the Snow.  Talk about a treasure of a book.  I highly recommend it and really don't want to tell you much about it because you just need to read it yourself.  Trust me.  There's nothing questionable and it has a wonderful Christian message.



Two others we've loved have fallen right along with what we've been studying in history.  The Door in the Wall takes place in the Middle Ages and The Apprentice takes place in Florence, Italy during the Renaissance.  Both are wonderful stories of boys set in their time periods in a way in which you forget you're reading a book in order to learn about a time period- the story line just carries you away.

What has your family been reading that you love? Pin It

11 comments:

  1. Those boxes look great! We're hanging on for two more months, very much looking forward to summer break. I, too am the one who's not motivated. Praying about that...

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  2. Hey, I recently started following your blog and I love it!! I was raised Seventh Day Adventist and was homeschooled through 12th grade. We used Sonlight too, it was awesome! Motivation was one of the hardest things for us as well, I guess it just goes with the territory of homeschooling:-)

    Best of luck, and God Bless!

    LaRee from Nebraska

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  3. When I was a child, while living in Germany, we studied the Lipizanner stallions in school and then was able to see them a few days later. To this day the memory still fills me with awe!

    Currently I am reading Corrie ten Boon's "The Hiding Place." It is something we pull out every few years.

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  4. I agree with Peggy- I saw the Lipizanner stallions a child in Charlotte, NC and I'll never forget how awesome they were. I didn't stop talking about them for months.
    If you keep up with sea studies shoot me an email and I'd be happy to send a box full of shells, egg sacks, all kinds of stuff the kids would love (and you could decorate with later).

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  5. Those 5th day ocean boxes are delightful. Extremely cute dioramas.

    Thank You for the book recommendation. We also are trying to finish up quickly.

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  6. LOVE the dioramas! I miss homeschooling...! She's 33 now. Think she would mind repeating fourth grade?

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  7. Hello, I just found your blog and have so enjoyed browsing through your posts.

    We are going to start gardening this year and your Veggi Gardening 101 post was wonderful!

    I had a question. I noticed you used My Father's World Adventures and now use Sonlight. I was wondering why the switch? We are trying to decide between the two for our son and would love to hear from someone who has used both.

    Thank you so much.

    vlcjrogers@mac.com

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  8. Virginia Lee,
    We used MFW for K, 1st and 2nd and are using SL for the first time for third grade (Core 1+2). We LOVED MFW K and are using it loosely with my just turned five-year-old. MFW 1st and 2nd were a little bit disappointing and it's hard for me to put my finger on it. We would've like more books (read-alouds and books for Sam to read on his own) and more of a challenge overall. I found I was supplementing with so many other books that we were basically only using it for History and Bible.

    We've been incredibly pleased with Sonlight and will be using it for Sam and Sadie for next year. I particularly like being able to chose what level of readers Sam uses so I know he's challenged.

    All this said, everyone experiences curricula differently. Maybe you could order them both and take a good look?

    I hope this was helpful. Feel free to email me if you have more questions:-).

    thyhand123@gmail.com

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  9. I love those ocean boxes, we have got to do something like that with our grandson. He has this thing for the ocean and all of its inhabitants.

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  10. Hello!I just wanted to comment because I love your blog and I just started blogging myself. I homeschool 2 of our 7 kids. Motivation has been hard for me since Christmas break for some reason. We are on spring break this week (including my school going kids) so I am hoping next week I will feel recharged. Anyway, I love your blog and all your garden posts because we are really expanding our garden this year. I need some tips so I will be visiting your garden posts for those for sure! have a great weekend.

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  11. I am glad the SOTW pdf link will be useful to you.

    I probably left footprints all over you blog in your homeschool post. I was inspired by the way you did Saxon -- doing the front page, circle on the back page! Sometimes, I need permission to let go, you know?

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Just a friendly reminder, if you know me personally please try to refrain from using my name. There are those who may try to locate me, break into my pantry and steal my pickled beets. Thanks:-).

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