Term 1, Week 1 Review

WOO-HOO!!!!! We have completed our first week of the new school year! I am pleased to report that, by the grace of God and with His help, I can, in fact, homeschool six children! Yay!!! The children did very well, overall. For the most part, I think I selected the correct levels for the new children, which is a big relief. The children are all enjoying their schoolwork, and I think this will be a very successful year! We are certainly off to a great start.

I have added to the margin a list of the books that the kids are reading. We use the Ambleside Online curriculum. Baloo is beginning Year 11, Padme and Lil Yoda are beginning Year 4, and Wendy, Angel and Dora are beginning Year 1. These do not necessarily correlate to grade levels, but do correspond to reading ability. I use the online curriculum as a guideline, then make additions, substitutions and adjustments as needed, based on the children's abilities as well as book availability. Because we have an extensive library, I will sometimes substitute an equivalent book we already own, rather than purchasing the new book listed in the curriculum.

The books listed in the margin include history, science, literature, geography, good citizenship and church history. In addition to these, the children do work each week in the following books:

Baloo:

Easy Grammar Plus

Current Events

Famous Speeches

Famous Essays and Short Stories

Building Thinking Skills

Copywork

Padme:

The Language Mechanic (Grammar)

Copywork

Phonetics Zoo, Level B (Phonics & Spelling)

Building Thinking Skills Level 2

Math U See, Epsilon

Wendy:

Explode the Code Book 3 (Phonics & Spelling)

Jump-Start 2nd Grade Grammar

My D’Nealian Handwriting Word Book, Grades K-1
Building Thinking Skills, Primary (Grades K-1)

Math U See, Beta

Lil Yoda:

Daily Grams for 2nd & 3rd Grade (Grammar)

A Reason for Handwriting, Book D

Phonetics Zoo, Level A (Phonics & Spelling)

Logic Countdown

Math U See, Delta

Angel:

Explode the Code, Book 2 (Phonics & Spelling)

Learning Horizons 2nd Grade Language

Modern Manuscript Handwriting Practice, Grades 1-2
Hands-On Thinking Skills, Grades K-1

Math U See, Beta

Dora:

Explode the Code, Book 1 (Phonics & Spelling)

Instructional Fair Grammar, Grades 1-2

Capital & Lowercase Letters, PK-1
Hands-On Thinking Skills, Grades K-1

Math U See, Alpha

In addition, we do group studies together. This 12-week term we are studying:

Artist Sandro Botticelli

Composer Johann Sebastian Bach

Hymns: A Mighty Fortress is Our God
Now Thank We All Our God
The Lord’s My Shepherd

Folk Songs: Camptown Races

Bill Grogan's Goat

The Crawdad Song

English From the Roots Up (Greek & Latin roots)

Lyric Language Italian, Spanish & French

Baloo works part-time and is a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. The girls all participate in gymnastics classes each week. In addition, Lil Yoda will soon begin Tae Kwon Do lessons and the new girls will begin ballet & tap. Padme wants to begin competitive horseback riding, but we are still looking into that. I hope to get all the kids back into piano lessons very soon, and Baloo would like to take guitar lessons again, as well. All of these things cost money, so we are waiting on the Lord's provision for these "extras". Right now we are spending our time getting to know one another better!

We will begin our Friday co-op classes in a few weeks. Registration isn't for two more weeks, so we don't yet know which classes the kids will be able to get into. Baloo is pre-registered for Physics but that's all we know for certain, yet. He will also take Spanish classes from a Spanish tutor, beginning in September.