A Stable Beginning: Life update ~ Our first 9 weeks {long}

Friday, October 22, 2021

Life update ~ Our first 9 weeks {long}

Hi friends!

Whew, we made it! Today we ended the first quarter of our 13^th year of homeschooling. It feels great to have the first 9 weeks of school down. As I have said before this year marks a milestone for us in that

my last three children have been educated entirely at home. It’s a huge honor and one that I don’t take lightly. It’s been said that “I {just} homeschool”, but I think I do more than just “homeschool", I educate my children to fear the Lord and guide them as they walk the road of compulsory education. So far, this endeavor of educating our children at home has paid off and we have three outstanding, self-sufficient young adults (I’m a little biased), and I am excited to see my younger three continue to flourish and achieve their educational dreams over the next 11 years we have left homeschooling.

Montana, McKenzie, and Micah have worked hard and put in the time needed to follow through with our ongoing school theme of “striving for excellence in all we do” (yes, the same thing that an Air Force Airman strives for). We are just starting to get into our groove especially with our nighttime study hours. As a team we have decided that we will not stop and take our typical Sabbath break week but to continue so that we will have the full week of Thanksgiving off. The kids are all excelling in their courses, and we are having fun learning together!

We have reached the stage with Montana where I am here to guide her through her day. The only course I am actively teaching her this year is Algebra 1. We have daily check in’s and a thorough check in each Friday but she is pretty self-sufficient at learning all the while keeping a once a week Mother’s Helper job and a busy softball schedule. {Keep hanging in there Mama if your child is not at this stage yet, it will come!}

Montana has found a love of Biology, which makes my heart happy since it’s my favorite science as well. Math has finally clicked for her, and she is doing an amazing job in Algebra 1. Because we do keep grades in high school for our transcripts, I am pleased as punch to say that she has A’s in all eight of her courses, whether online or mom taught. Including two 97% in Biology and Spanish 1 that are online with Veritas Press Scholars Academy.

McKenzie is rising to the occasion as well and doing a great job in her two upper middle school VP online classes, General Science and Latin Transition 1 (this is actually a 1cr course, but I am still considering if and how to include on her high school transcript). She is sitting at solid B’s in both courses after having a few mix ups at the beginning of the course on her quiz in Latin and her formal Lab report in science. Latin seems to come easy to her, yay! All those years of me teaching and chanting with the older girls, she must have been listening. 

Her love of science is growing too, and it seems like we will have to make the decision come February if we will move her onto high school science with Physical Science in 7^th grade or not. Trying not to think too much about it right now though. In math, I am torn with what to do. She is currently in Saxon 7/6 and it is “easy” for her. She rarely gets any problems wrong and does a lot of the work in her head even though she knows it drives me bonkers, LOL. I’m considering giving her a test each day next week to see where she stops getting a 95% or better and then start there. Or should I just move her to Saxon 8/7…? Hmm, decisions, decisions that need to be made this weekend.

Micah is really coming along too. He sometimes has a hard time getting started doing his lessons as he would rather play but it’s not as frequently as last year. We changed his spelling out week one to the 3^rd grade book when I discovered that he knew how to read and spell all the Spelling 2 words. He also knows how to read and spell many of the words in the first half of the grade 3 book so we are just using those lessons as review until we get mid-book. I moved him to an online course for Bible because he was feeling left out with his sisters having online classes. He loves his Bible teacher, Mrs. Lawson, and is really proud of his new big kid Bible.

For history, we stopped using the Sonlight history Core C portion and have switched to doing the SOTW with McKenzie. Science we are doing Earth Science in conjunction with the Co-Op course I am teaching. I have 17 1st-3^rd graders and each week the class is so much fun! We “exploded” our volcanoes this week and had a blast. The joy of discovery through their eyes is fun with these littles each week. In math we are working hard on memorizing his math facts and he enjoys using the math centers in the Math Made Fun curriculum from The Moffatt Girls. We do this at home and at the Co-Op class I am teaching. Reading and Writing have been going great too. The only thing I feel we are “behind” in is Grammar. However, I am reading aloud so much, and he is writing throughout the curriculum I think we are good. Micah is looking forward to start learning cursive in a few weeks, hopefully before we break for Christmas.

Below is a summary of the courses/curriculum we have switched up as a result of cancelled classes and/or just needing changing.

Montana:

Art History (Co-Op class) --> Artistic Pursuits High School, book 1 (1cr)

BJU Cultural Geography (Co-Op Class) --> BJU Press Online Cultural Geography (1cr)

I gave Montana four options to complete her history credit and she choose to stick with the BJU Cultural Geography, but she wanted to try the distance learning online (DLO) video course. Since we had been taking the course at Co-Op before the class was cancelled, we just jumped right into the DLO course at her same spot. I just had her re-enter the answers to the first 3 quizzes and tests she had already completed, and she has taken off right where we left off.

McKenzie:

Positive Action for Christ, Wise Up --> BJU Press Online Bible Truths 6

I initially switched McKenzie’s Bible a few weeks into the schoolyear to BJU and just recently added her to the online DLO course from BJU.

Micah:

BJU Spelling 2 --> BJU Spelling 3

BJU Bible Truths 2 --> BJU Press Online Bible Truths 2

Sonlight Core C History* --> SOTW, Vol 2

*still using the literature

Marie, Madison, and Mikayla are also thriving in new jobs and University life!( I haven’t decided if I should call them by their real names on this blog or not since they are all young adults). Marie has just started a job with GAP Inc as a UX Designer. She self-taught herself the coding needed and upgraded her portfolio over the course of the shutdown this past year. So proud of her for working hard and pursuing this job even though she is just 2 years out of University.

Madison is a Junior and loving her new responsibilities in her AFROTC Cadre. She said her physics major classes are difficult but enjoyable and she is confident that she will make the Dean’s List again this semester. She always sees the bright side in things. She is living in an apartment this year and has been enjoying being able to cook her own meals. Her roommates are also enjoying her cooking/baking abilities and we are counting down the days until she returns in December. They had really bad tornado’s in her area a few weeks ago. So bad that she had to go to the storm shelter, yikes! All turned out well but I was on pins and needles each time my phone blared the tornado siren.

Mikayla is living her best life at University right now. She is thriving in her courses and has nothing lower than a B (which makes Mama so happy)! Her roommate is fantastic, and her teammates are great! They all really support each other, and it makes it easier to know she has 17 people to count on when she needs something. She just picked her courses for the Spring semester and is looking forward to the photography class she’s enrolled in. Gymnastics training is going well, and we are hopeful she will make the lineup for three events this first year. She is currently battling Achilles’ tendonitis (you wouldn't know it from this jump), but we have purchased her new sneakers and inserts for all the walking around the campus she is doing.

The Mr. has been home for a year now and it’s been great! He pinned on his new rank at the beginning of the month, and we are all looking forward to the next steps come March of next year. He got a smoker for his birthday and has been enjoying smoking all kinds of meats for us.

As for me, these last 9 weeks have honestly been a blur between school, Co-Op, Cub Scouts, and everyday life at the fields or at the gym. I love that we have a firm schedule now each day as I thrive on routine. I have had some added stresses in my life, but I am working to not let them affect me too much. I am looking forward to a little slow down of just one sport as the ball games close out next week. However, McKenzie’s gymnastics gears up mid-November with many fun meets to travel too.

Unfortunately, as I suspected my iron and Vitamin D have both dropped since my last check 6 months ago. This explains the extreme coldness and tiredness I have been having. I have vowed to myself that come November 1^st I am going to get back on track with my weight, eating, and stresses etc. I can’t pour into my family and all of our activities we like to participate in if my cup is half full. For example, a few weeks ago I missed a curriculum review for the first time in my 12 years with reviewing for TOS Review Crew. Honestly, I was so disappointed in myself for being late, but the bosses were gracious so that took the sting away a bit.

So, if you have read this far, YOU are a Rockstar! I hope you have enjoyed the tiny glimpse into our last nine weeks, and I hope you’ll stick around for more. Until next time friends, be blessed!

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