This blog is my attempt to document our busy but BLESSED lives raising and educating our children for His glory. A child of God, wife to one, and mom to 6 fabulous kids. We are in our 16th year of homeschooling using a Classical ~ Literature based approach.

Come along for the good, the bad & the ugly.



Saturday, August 26, 2017

Weekly Check-Up: Week 4 ~ Eclipse, Field Trips, and New Schedules

So, I completely missed getting Week 3 posted last week.  Unfortunately, I cannot remember anything significant that happened during week either. So I am going to progress to week 4 and try my hardest to not let that happen again.

Week 4 was a busy week for us. I made the executive decision to pull Mikayla and McKenzie from the gym for the week…yes, they both were going through withdrawals but it was so needed for both of their bodies to get some rest. Plus we had the Solar Eclipse, the first day of Tapestry of Grace History virtual co-op, field trips, and taking our oldest back to University for her Junior year. A full week for sure!
This week I also experimented with a new school schedule for Mikayla and Montana. It is more of a block schedule having them complete our necessaries daily and then having focus days for the rest of the subjects. This schedule worked a lot better this week for both girls. I am still trying to figure out how to get all the school in for Mikayla as homeschool 2-a-day schedule starts after Labor Day. She will only have 2.5 hours to eat and do some school work before heading back to training.  Trust me, the thought of pulling her from morning training has entered my mind several times but I know she gets the best training during the morning with the smaller groups. This year a group of gym moms and I will be taking turns sitting with the girls during break hours to make sure the girls stay on task and are not playing around. Plus, Mikayla knows that we will be working from 630-930PM every night to finish her daily work. 

Below, this is what I have for both girls:
Mikayla


Unfortunately, I have not figured out how to get our Morning Time Recitations in for September which makes me a bit sad…but I am still thinking. If you have any suggestions, please do share! My weekly goal is to only need to work with Mikayla on Saturday’s but I know that history progresses it may be necessary to work with Montana to make sure she is well prepared for Co-op discussions on Tuesday.

Madison and I check in daily.  We do math together at 9AM and then I typically make my corrections to her work she has already done for the morning right before starting school at 930AM with my younger kids.  In the afternoon, we check-in and she turns in the rest of her work for corrections. Next week, her AP Language class starts and I am so excited for her! Reading the syllabus, I know she will get the push she craves along with having some great teaching. Her teacher is AWESOME already and class has not even started! A lot of the students are from the surrounding area, including having one boy in the next town over. AP Government and Honors Physics with Dr. Wile start in September and they both are equally exciting from reading the syllabuses! 
McKenzie and Micah are my easy students, yay! They both love to learn and this past week we spent learning through play. McKenzie’s reading has really picked up which makes me happy! She wants to read now which is great. She turns 8 on Monday and will be having her birthday party on Saturday with many of her gym friends on Saturday afternoon.
On Monday, we watched the solar eclipse like the rest of the country. We did not have glasses because I was weary of them, but we did experience a darkening of the skies and saw the shadow. We watched on NASA TV and I told Madison that we will go to TX when the next one occurs to be in a section of totality.
Wednesday, we went on our first scheduled field trip to the National Weather Station that is about 5 minutes from our house. It was an awesome experience to see firsthand how they predict the watches and warnings along with the weather forecast. We learned what to do in a Thunderstorm, how they send out the weekly emergency test signal, and were even able to see the approaching Tropical Depression that turned into Hurricane Harvey. Madison is taking Meteorology as her elective science course and is working on her cloud brochure project so this was all helpful information. She still wants to be an Astrophysicist, but Meteorology has peaked her interest. McKenzie and Micah were not old enough to go to the weather station so they went on a field trip to the big park with daddy. They had a lot of fun and enjoyed the morning out that ended with eating lunch out.
Friday morning, we headed back to Lynchburg to drop Marie off for her Junior year. Sigh, it does get easier Mama’s but man it is still tough. I know she is safe and she is excelling in her Graphic Design Major and meeting so many new people. This year, she chose to work in the human resources department in the Advising office. She starts on Monday morning and I know it will be such a great fit for her! We won’t see her again until Thanksgiving break, but I know the time will fly by!
Well, that’s a wrap for now! I am knee deep in prepping my lecture slides for history class on Tuesday. I am teaching the first two weeks of the curriculum on the Rise of Egypt and Pharaohs. The kids have presentations to do on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and man the work I have received so far is impressive! The new students have put a lot of effort into their reports and I can’t wait. Montana is reporting on The Great Pyramids of Giza. If I can figure it out I will link her report next week.

Until next week, be blessed!

Reviews posted this week:







Weekly Wrap-Up


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