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The Weekly Wrap-Up: Greeks, Mandolins and the Zoo

Whew! We've got 2 weeks under our belt for this school year already! It's been a fairly good week overall. I feel like I am still getting organized though~and that's a little tough for this type-A mama.

Our new learning room is almost done. I am SO ready for it to be finished. There's just a little bit of painting to be done, a couple of things to be hung and my workboxes to finish up. I can't wait to blog it:)

As for the lesson planning, I am going a few days at a time...which is driving me a little nuts! Last year when we started school I had September through January all planned out. Now that's not to say I would do that again, but at least a month at a time would be nice. I just haven't had a chance to sit down and do all of that. But I must soon~maybe this week.

Here's what we did this week:

We are studying the character trait of *Responsibility* this month, using Character Sketches. I have also incorporated Scripture memorization this year and am thrilled at how well the kids are doing with that. I love that they are hiding God's Word in their hearts!

In Language Arts, The Princess is doing great with Total Language Plus. She is doing the Charlotte's Web unit right now and really enjoying it. I personally am very happy with it as well. It is the most wonderful change of pace from her previous grammar curriculum.

Mr. B is doing very well with First Language Lessons, too. They are short and very easy lessons for him to grasp. He is also reading through a Pathways reader right now and I can see improvement every day in his reading. I am so hoping that his love of reading (and not just being read to) will really bloom and grow this year.

I am just really glad that our new choices for Language Arts are working out so well this year.

Our other big switch to Singapore Math is going great as well! Math is my son's favorite subject...and my daughter's least favorite. However, they both seem to like the Singapore Math much better than our previous math choice. This makes a mama so happy! Of course, we are at the beginning of our books, which is review, but it's not so much review that it wears you out. Just the amount that's needed.

We are still finishing up Story of the World I in History and have been really enjoying studying the Greeks. I plan to take next week and finish reading The Children's Homer to the kiddos before going on. Greek history has always been interesting to me and we are all enjoying it.

The kiddos enjoyed making some Greek paper dolls complete with Spartan warrior costumes. The Princess even drew a few extra pieces for hers.

In Science we are just about to wrap up Discovering Creation through Astronomy. I have to say though, that this has been one fun subject for our family. We have all learned so much about our solar system.

Our composer of the month is Vivaldi and our artist of the month is Picasso. I have primarily just introduced them. We are listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons throughout our days and enjoying that.

The Princess also discovered my grandfather's mandolin this week. She has been strumming away, writing her own little songs! I love for the kids to explore different instruments and look forward to them beginning lessons at some point in the not-too-distant future.

We completed our school week on Friday with a field trip to the Evansville, IN zoo with our homeschool group. I love to take field trips on Fridays, and only do our regular school work Monday through Thursday.

This was a great field trip! We made some new friends in our new group and had fun hanging out with them all day.

Vince enjoyed *sharing* some lettuce with the giraffes:)

Even though it's a small zoo, they did have a nice collection of animals and specimens to look at. I liked their collection of *pinned* insects. That's not a hobby I want to pick up, but someone had amassed an amazing collection there!

We had fun hamming it up for the camera and meandering through their botanical garden...aka the Amazon rain forest.

And I just loved this cute little porcupine sitting up in a tree~isn't he adorable?

Since we're in a completely new area, I'm looking forward to lots more field trips this year. There seems to be tons to do and explore and I can't wait!

I hope you also had a great week! Enjoy your weekend!



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Kym said…
We're studying ancient Greece too! Love the zoo pictures - looks like a lot of fun
September 17, 2011 at 9:30 AM
Phyllis said…
What a wonderful week! I LOVE the photo of your husband feeding the giraffe lettuce!! The Greeks are so fun to study. We are also just finished week 2!
September 18, 2011 at 7:07 AM
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