Weekly Wrap-up ~ trying out a new schedule

I have known since we began school over six weeks ago that our later morning schedule was not working…but I was very hesitant to change it.  It’s not that any of us sleep in {everyone is up by 7:30am…at the very latest}, but I liked having some time in the morning to get things ready, to exercise, to clean out my email…:) 

Well, not starting our school day until 10am has SO not been working for us…so this week we moved our start time up a bit…and it has been going so much better!  We have been able to complete almost ALL of our schoolwork before lunch…and have a half hour recess too :) Both the kiddos and I love the fact that our afternoons are now mostly free time…

Our New {and improved} Schedule ~

6:00am	Mom is up ~ read Bible, 5 miles on exercise bike
7:00am	Mom showers
7:30am	Kiddos awake, 1/2 hour movie or PBS show Mom breakfast prep
8:00am	breakfast/Keys for Kids devotional
8:30am	Calendar & Bible Study {T/Th} or Circle Time {M/W/F}
9:00am	AM chores {make beds, get dressed, brush teeth, etc}
9:30am	in basement school room for L/A and Math
10:30am	snack and recess {if math and L/A are finished}
11:00am	geography at kitchen table
11:30am	history {T/Th} or science {M/W/F} at kitchen table
12:00pm	lunch prep, lunch, and clean-up
1:00pm	take a walk or outside play{M-TH}, nature study {F}
1:30pm	Chores and Quiet Time prep
3:00pm	Snack
3:30pm	free time, outside play {M/W/Th/F}, Art {T}

 

Bible ~ We are really learning a lot with our new Bible curriculum Bible Study Guide for All Ages.  This week we continued learning about Joseph.  I love the all three kiddos have activity pages that match their learning level, and they love all of the visual components that this Bible study provides.

Reading ~ Dd6 has almost completed Step 7 in her All About Spelling book…I cannot say enough wonderful things about this curriculum :)  Right now she is reading to me from one of her Sonlight Readers.  I have the AAS reader, Cobweb the Cat on a shelf waiting for the day that we get to Step 15 and she can use this reader {it matches the work she is doing in AAS}.

I tweaked ds8’s reading a bit, he still has the same list posted on the refrigerator, but this week I began assigning a book for him to read from the list.  Before he can read one of his “fun” books each day, he must read at least one chapter from his “reading” book.  And just so ya know, he is finding that his “reading” books are actually “fun” books…he just needed to give them a chance :)

Grammar ~ Both of the older kiddos are working through First Language Lessons…dd6 is doing FLL1 with me {she keeps begging me for a new poem to memorize}, and ds8 is doing FLL3 with me.  Thanks to our new schedule, we are actually completing 2-3 lessons per week in these books :)

Writing ~ Ds8 completed week six in his Writing With Ease 2 book this week.  I have held off on starting dd6 on WWE1 {she is still a very beginning reader}…although I may begin doing some of the narration assignments with her.

Math ~ Both kiddos are still plugging along in their Math books.  Ds8 is ecstatic that he is now given two minutes to complete his speed drills :) 

History ~ This week we continued our study of the Vikings.  I read Leif the Lucky aloud while the kiddos colored some viking coloring pages and we perused a couple of Viking books that I reserved at our library {and picked up at our library’s cool drive-thru window!}

Geography ~ We learned about The Netherlands this week.  We read about The Netherlands in our A Trip Around the World book, and also in Our World: A Country by Country Guide.  We also read an article in our God’s World News magazine about a 14-year old girl from The Netherlands who wants to be the youngest person to make a solo sail around the world.  And I found a cool magazine all about The Netherlands at our library {Faces: The Netherlands}.  Most of the articles in this magazine were a bit too old for my kiddos, but it did contain some really interesting pictures that they enjoyed looking at. 

Science ~ We continued our study of the sun this week.  We learned about solar eclipses and thermonuclear fusion {pretty impressive, huh}…and we learned that you can melt chocolate by using a magnifying glass to direct a spot of light from the sun onto the chocolate {and the chocolate melts faster when the spot of light is smaller}.  We also learned that edible experiments are the best {especially the  chocolate ones}!

And I must admit that I had a “duh” moment this week…I discovered that our Exploring Creation with Astronomy Notebook has mini-books that can be cut out and completed for each of the lessons…how did I miss that ?! 

Nature Study ~ I had intended for us to complete our first assignment in our Autumn Nature Study ebook on Friday, but ds3 was on the couch with a fever from lunchtime on.  He’s feeling much better now {we’ve had some strange 6 hour fever germ going through our home lately}…so hopefully we’ll get to do our nature study this weekend.

Next week is our county fair.  The kiddos and I usually spend at least one day there…checking out the households entries {ds8 entered a photograph last year ~ and got a 4th place ribbon!}, walking through the livestock barns, and visiting the petting zoo area.  I am really looking forward to our first official field trip of the school year :)

This post is being linked to Weekly Wrap-Up hosted by Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers