Week in Review: October 17-21

After a couple of weeks  away from normal we were ready to be back at our regular routine. I'm pleased to say that our week off did everyone enormous good and school was so very easy. We accomplished everything quickly each day and we all stayed focused for the most part.  It is really nice when something we choose to do is validated! Now, let's see if I get the same validation after the next break...because if I can just find that one perfect formula homeschooling will suddenly become a breeze, right? Right...

On a more realistic note, the sun is shinning more brightly now and I'm ready for the time change. I love the fall time change, absolutely hate the spring one. I never feel like my body ever actually adjusts to the spring forward thing. We've adjusted our desks a bit this year and that has helped some, but my girls often wander away from the designated school room to study which suits me just fine.

Here's a peek into what we were up to this week...

Grace: Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory Unit 19

My sweet girl is going to be so disappointed when we leave Beyond Little Hearts behind! She loves all of the activities and although will be excited to move on up into Bigger Hearts, there is something about this particular guide that all of my girls have loved dearly. Here she is studying poetry and drawing a picture to go along with her poem for the week. We are continuing to learn about the early American settlers with lots of opportunities to talk about how some did this in a good way, and others not so much.

Math is going very well and she is thriving with using both Math Mammoth and Math Lessons for a living Education from Master Book. Since she is a full grade ahead in this subject I am trying to keep her from getting to mathematical concepts which she is not developmentally ready for. She's still xipping right through and is on track to finish second grade math early.

Beth: Preparing Hearts for His Glory Unit 27

The end is in sight! Not that I'm anxious to leave Preparing Hearts with Beth, but there is something exciting about accomplishing what we set out to do. Since all the girls are in different stages of their guides, I get to have that start to the new year feeling more than once a year! 

Beth loves her math and story problems in particular. She forces herself to get through the rest of her math assignment just to get to the story problems. 

For history we are moving towards the end of the Middle Ages and are charging ahead into just a few areas of history after that. She is very excited to begin studying the beginning of time again when we finish this guide. 

Do you see how she is sitting? I can't figure out how she is comfortable, but she is constantly sitting in odd ways. For whatever reason this is comfortable to her and the beauty of our environment is that it is ok. I don't think traditional schools would be so quick to allow her to throw her leg up onto the neighboring chair! 

Rose: Resurrection to Reformation Unit 12

We are diving right into the period of the Reformation now. Rose is telling me frequently now how excited she is to learn about so much history. She realizes our focus is unique compared to most school settings in that she has had a lot of history up until now. Unfortunately from what I hear from our friends with kids in traditional schools it is becoming harder and harder for teachers to include meaty history in the elementary years. I can understand having taught full time in the past. She is grateful for the opportunity and tells me often. 

Rose is happy to work independently as much as she can. We have a few subjects which are still very much the both of us studying together, but quite a bit of her work is on her own and she just checks in with me.This is excellent for her as she is learning to budget her time and balance how to get it all done. 

We also carved pumpkins and are participating in an online literary pumpkin patch. The girls loved this! Unfortunately our pumpkins started rotting after two days.Here are their entries...

Rose - Glimfeather from The Silver Chair

 Grace - Wishbone's pawprint from The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde

Beth - One of the orange tabby cats from The Cats in the Doll Shop

Another great week went into the books! 

And then Grampy and Grammy came for a few days along with my husband's sister and her five kids! We had a houseful, but it was such a fun weekend!