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End of the Week Wrap-Up {1st day, a field trip, & Co-op!}


Wow!  Can't believe it's time to wrap-up the first official week of school for us.  It's been an good one overall, even though we're still working on getting back into the swing of things.  


We kicked off the week with Labor Day and a visit to the Frist Center in Nashville.  They've had an exhibit this summer that I really wanted to take the family to see and this was the first chance we've had.  (It's still on through September 15th, if you're interested).  


The exhibit is called Sensuous Steel and it's all Art Deco era vehicles--most of which are very rare.  I love the decades of the 20's, 30's, and 40's (think: Hercule Poirot) and really enjoyed this little automobile time travel.


If you're a fan of Agatha Christie's Poirot books, you'll know what I mean when I say Hastings would have loved these cars:)


Of course, no visit to the Frist is complete without some time in the Martin ArtQuest Gallery and we definitely spent some time there on this day, too.  The kids never fail to make some lovely and creative art to take home with us! 



Tuesday was our first "official" day of school.  We did have a few challenges and several attitude adjustments, but overall it was a very good day.  You can read more about it here.


I didn't try to cram every single subject in this week, but left a few to begin next week so as to ease us back into our routine and not overwhelm anybody (myself included).

This year in Bible each of my kiddos have their own studies that they're doing.  We are still doing some things together as a family, but I thought we would try some things independently as well.  The Princess is using God's Great Covenant NT1 and Mr. B is using Grapevine Studies NT Part 1--so they are both studying in the Gospels.  They both seem to be enjoying these subjects and I hope they will continue to.  The Princess is able to work independently on hers while I am still working along with Mr. B with his.  We enjoy the "stick-figuring" part of it a lot!

(Can you tell which story these stick figures are from?)


Math has been a success so far (thank goodness!).  The Princess is loving Teaching Textbooks and I am very happy about that.  I'm hoping and praying this program will save us all lots of tears this year.  Mr. B was happy to get back to his math as well (Singapore).  Of course, they are both doing some review here at the beginning, but I'm just happy they're enjoying it.

We began First Language Lessons this week, which is also starting out with some review.  Grammar review is always good in my book though!  Next week we'll add in our new writing curriculum, Writing With Ease.  I can already tell that this year is bringing new challenges to Mr. B.  He has a lot more writing to do this year.  And while I will do my best to not make him write just to be writing, I am going to have to push him and challenge him somewhat in this area to do more than he has in the past.  He just doesn't enjoy it and always tries to get out of it.  This week had several writing exercises (besides his handwriting curriculum) that really stretched him.  

Next week we'll also add in Sequential Spelling.  I purchased this with Mr. B in mind, but I may have The Princess also practice the spellings list along with him just to keep her sharp. 


We picked back up where we left off this summer in Story of the World Vol. III.  This week we read about the French Revolution, Catherine the Great, and some inventions by Watt and Whitney that began to change the world.  

We enjoyed a rousing game of "Storm the Bastille" and The Princess also thoroughly enjoyed completing a "patent application" for her very own invention ("the Super Chair").  


Then the day my kiddos have been eagerly awaiting finally came: the first day of our Fall Co-op session!  We all had a wonderful morning with our homeschool group, seeing old friends and meeting some new ones, too.   

This semester The Princess' classes are Lego Learning Club, Pet Pals, and Creative Thinkers.  Mr. B is taking Lego Learning Club, The Human Body, and Music.


After co-op we enjoyed lunch with some friends and then came home to crash (oh, wait ...that was just me.  The kids were still full of energy:).  

And that wraps up our week!  I hope yours has been a great one~would love to hear about it!  Leave me a comment if you would like.

This post is linked to the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

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Christie said…
Wow! Looks like an awesome 1st week! Gabriel is also having to do a lot more writing this year. After fighting with him over the teeny tiniest bit of writing last year, I was dreading it this year. He actually likes it though and reminds me to bring out WWE!! :)
September 7, 2013 at 10:40 PM
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