It’s hard to believe, but we are already getting close to finishing our first six weeks. Not because I’m looking at the calendar, mind you. A friend had to remind me of that!

The last few weeks since I share our first two weeks of homeschool update – well, we’ve been busy! In addition to our regular homeschool time, starting up with both of our co-ops, and swim team practice most weeknights, we also took a trip to Florida for the Family Forward event at Universal Studios.

Needless to say, there is a lot to share with you all, so I’ll try to highlight all the best stuff from the last (almost) four weeks. I’ve been trying to post on Instagram as often as I can, but I have a love/hate relationship with having my phone in the schoolroom. Trying NOT to get sucked in and distracted by different apps can be so very hard, but it is also fun to share what is happening as it happens.

LOTS of Family Time in Florida

We were at Universal  from Thursday through Monday and had an absolute blast. It was partly a conference, but the kids were so excited because they were able to be with me the entire time. Workshops were geared toward the kids, we enjoyed some special perks (like a nighttime visit to Hogsmeade with a dessert smorgasboard), a special VIP tour, and we rode practically every roller coaster at both parks (again and again). I’ll admit I have a hard time with the 3D rides though. Our favorite ride was definitely the Hulk, and we spent more time in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade than anywhere else – they were both absolutely amazing. Between butterbeer (a cream soda and butterscotch flavored drink) and the candy shops, we were on a sugar high much of the weekend!

A highlight was watching the kids jump right in and make NEW friends quickly. We spent our last day at the park with two other families – the adults chatting while the kids ran around and rode their favorite rides. Just wonderful.

Extracting DNA

Rick and Kaleb had fun working on a DNA science project while we were in Florida as well. Kaleb helped separate a strawberry’s DNA. It was funny because the actual DNA clump looked a whole lot like something that might come out of your nose.

Another Electronic Project

Zachary has been having a BLAST building with EEME. His most recent project was a switch panel (we’ll be sharing more on it next week), but above is  a quick peek at what he did.

Dictionary Skill Learning

One of the things Kaleb has been working on during his grammar time is finding things in the dictionary, either by saying if a word will be on a page between two key words, or looking up the correct spelling of a word when given three choices. I have to say it’s nice using a good old-fashioned dictionary.

Learning How the Earth Rotates

During our science time, we’ve been talking about the rotation of the earth. We pulled out our desk lamp and the globe to show how day and night work based on the earth’s rotation. Spinning it repeatedly is just a bonus.

Group Subjects…Finally

We waited a few weeks and eased into our group subjects last. History and Bible were the last two that were added in. It’s a little strange not having Laurianna at the table with us this year though (sniff). While we work together on our group subjects (vocabulary, history, and Bible), she is working on her own schoolwork.

History Galore

This year we are combining two programs together (Mystery of History 1 and Story of the World 1) using Biblioplan Ancients Family Guide. Several of you have asked how we are doing that – and I promise I will share soon! We did this some last year and are really enjoying this approach so far. We love both programs and each offers a different style, so it makes it more fun.

Hands-on History

Laurianna is 100% in love with Exploring World History from Notgrass. The hands-on projects are something she is having so much fun with (and she is learning a lot history-wise as well). Above she is working on a project from unit 5 and painting a picture of how the Israelites felt after receiving the Law. She chose to make the Hebrew word for ‘joy’ and is making her paper look like parchment.

Chalk Pastels

Kaleb is getting back into his art projects now too with Home Art Studio. The walls of our classroom are needing some color as well! His project prompted the rest of us to work on some art as well – I love that!

A Messy Desk is the Sign of…

Typically my computer stays out of the classroom, but lately there have been a few things that needed to be transferred to Kindles for the girls or re-printed because I managed to miss something. But the above was enough to about drive me crazy. A messy desk makes me just want to stop everything and fix it and pushes me to distraction.

Mind you, after taking a picture, I had to take five minutes and just clean it off.

A Little Spielgaben Fun

Our Spielgaben set is typically used by Kaleb for hands on math or to work on some fun projects, but McKenna is one that I find often like this – designing something fun with the manipulatives. Just makes me smile. Her final creation was so detailed!

Enjoying Co-op

We are back in the swing of co-op now and our kids (especially McKenna and Zachary) are so excited about their two classes. This year we carved out space for a middle school group and they are working on Mad Scientists Club and a judicial class. Both have been a blast so far.

Egg-speriments

To go along with the story, The Big Egg, they read this week from Mad Scientists’ Club, the kids tried some fun experiments with eggs. Using just half shells, they put them down to see how much weight four half shells would support.

The managed to get three books on, but when they added the hefty Mad Scientists’ Club book, the cracking started. We have a few more experiments going on at home too that we’ll have to share with you all – we’re just having too much fun trying different things.

Fun with Life of Fred Readers

Earlier this week I shared our thoughts on the Life of Fred beginning readers that Kaleb has been using along with his reading program. If you haven’t seen the post, don’t miss it (there’s a giveaway and an additional 10% off coupon!!). Kaleb is a hesitant reader, but every day he pulls out several of these to read to me. And the laughter begins. It has been so wonderful hearing his giggles and to see the LIFE being infused into this little boy all due to the pages of a few readers. (The readers are so silly and fun!!)

That’s the abbreviated version of the last four weeks. How is your homeschool time going?

Our family attended Family Forward at a discounted rate as a part of a family social media conference. All opinions expressed in this post are solely mine. I was not compensated for my time or post.

While we aren’t in full school mode (a.k.a. we are weaning into a few subjects as the weeks progress), the kids were literally ready to go and in the schoolroom BEFORE me on the first day of school. They were ready to jump in and go from day one.

And these four – well, they can drive me batty some days, but seeing these pictures literally made me cry. They are growing up too fast!! In just a few short years Laurianna will be ready for college. COLLEGE!!! What in the world??! We took these pictures just a bit before school started (nope, didn’t take first day of school pictures – dropped the ball on that too!), but I absolutely adore the pictures above and am happy to consider these their school pictures for the year.

I’ll confess. I dropped the ball and forgot to make our traditional back to school breakfast of funnel cakes. The kids still haven’t mentioned it, so maybe I can have a little grace on myself and make them as a surprise soon. (SHHH!)

That said…here’s a look at what we’ve been up to the first two weeks of our homeschool time.

Learning through Labs and Science

Zachary is working on a separate science program this year, Christian Kids Explore Chemistry. So far it has been a great fit for him and he is enjoying the ‘lab’ part of each week. His first lab required quite a bit of writing (not his favorite thing to do) but was a pretty eye-opening look at the different ingredients in products and how many we recognize.

The little boy and I are working on science all alone this year. He is rather sad that Zachary isn’t doing it along with us, but he is also excited to have some ‘mom time’ and learn more about the solar system with Nancy Larson Science 3.

Kaleb has jumped right in completely subjects, asking to do more, and was the one who couldn’t figure out WHY IN THE WORLD we weren’t doing more the very first day of school. His desire to do school is the best part of the year so far for me – because typically he is the more whiney of the bunch and doesn’t want to work on everything.

Learning Algebra…

McKenna was more than a little worried about starting pre Algebra this year, so it has been wonderful to hear how much she is enjoying it (and asking to do extra lessons). We ended up finding a used version of Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra version 2.0 so it will automatically grade for her (and yay, I was able to sell my old version!).

She has several new programs this year and it’s been a mess trying to get some things transferred from one laptop to the other, but she’s been a great sport in working along with me as we figure out the curve in her new subjects too.

A Little History…

We made a last minute history switch for Laurianna to Exploring World History from Notgrass. It was exactly what I had been looking for, but the program didn’t release until mid-summer. SO glad that we made this switch! We’ll be sharing more throughout the year, but it has been a great mix of hands-on projects and textbook work for her and she is loving it!

Her first project was creating a collage of items/inventions that were specific to the country she lives in, so she made a collage shaped like the US and had a blast digging through old magazines for pictures to use. It was also very interesting to find things she thought originated in the States and where they actually were from.  Week two she had fun creating her own dough and hieroglyphics.

In case you are wondering about the stand that is propping up her book, check out this post for 3 Tools for Your Homeschool Year (and we are loving!).

A Little Music…

One thing I am not is a guitarist – but the kids all are learning in bits and pieces from their dad. Laurianna pretty much taught herself to play with some instruction from Rick last year and is doing amazing, but that has brought out the other three in full force. Time to get a guitar that all the kids can use.

There may also be a little puppy that is rather happy to sit at our feet all day and not have us running back and forth all the time. If only we can keep her out of the pencils!

From Mom’s Perspective

Overall the first two weeks have gone very well. Personally I feel more unprepared this year than in years past. All the curriculum is here and overall plans are in place, but things seem disjointed with Laurianna working on more independently and the rest of us trying to find a new groove as we settle into a different routine. There are still a few things I need to focus on getting lined up because I am teaching two classes this year for our high school co-op…so a bit more to think about and plan for on that end.

We are working with several new-to-us pieces of curriculum this year and my patience level with myself is fairly low. I want it all figured out yesterday (sigh). Together we’ll work through the kinks, but really are loving all we are using so far.

One of my main goals this year is to focus on the highlights and not get bogged down by the little stuff – because that is so very easy to do. There are many moments in the day that are frustrating – especially when I don’t ‘measure up’ to my own expectations. But then there is that little glimmer of hope and encouragement that reminds you of the WHY behind your efforts. Sometimes those moments seem so far and in between, but they make it incredibly worth it as both a teacher and a mom.

Last week I shared a quick video clip on Facebook (with both boys being goofs in the background). Mind you, it was the FIFTH ‘take’ on the video because the boys were trying to be as goofy as they could possibly be.  It’s unedited and silly, but hopefully it will encourage you all a little bit as well.

Setting a Goal to Write Notes…

Each week I’ve also set a goal to write an encouraging note to the kids as well. I found these super cute encouragement notes from one of my friends Mary Dean Draws (she hand draws these and they are great!!), and I’ve been printing them off and putting one on each kiddo’s desk every Friday highlighting something I am proud of them for during that week. (Yes, there have only been two so far, but I printed off a stack to remind myself!).

That’s a quick overview of our first two weeks – what highlight can you share from your school time with us? Leave a comment and let’s encourage each other!