Monday, March 8, 2010

Life Is Good

I have been neglectful of my blog lately.
Not purposefully. Our lives like many have been full.
But, unlike many, it has been full happily.
Besides last week when all of us were under
the weather with colds,
life has been good.

Lots of field trips.
We are discovering the abundance of opportunities
near our home.
We have been to a couple of Forts---Fort Clinch and Fort Caroline.
One is much larger than the other, but both
are deep in history.
We plan to visit the Fort in St Augustine soon.
We are loving the Forts.
My husband took our oldest to the submarine museum
Sunday- both want to return there soon.
We have collected many shells on our beach excursions
and are in the process of identifying them
with the aid of a shell book.
Lots bird watching around here and loving it.
We have started a bird chart and are recording our sitings.
Also, attempting to learn their calls.
We are listening, looking, smelling, and touching
nature.
We are constantly amazed.

As for our homeschool journey, we are in term 3,
our last term for this school year.
Since switching to Math-U-See, math is
much more enjoyable for both my son and me.
We watch the DVD, then we do examples on our
whiteboard, next my son works in his workbook.
Afterwards, we go over the workbook
til both of us feel mastery has been achieved.
Ordered Handwriting Without Tears two weeks ago.
I felt my son needed some extra guidance.
Not that my son's handwriting is awful,
but it definitely could improve.
So far, I am thrilled. My son actually enjoys it.
So it is a win win for us.
American history is coming along nicely.
We are currently reading Stories of the Pilgrims
by Margret B. Pumphrey, highly recommend.
Short engaging stories of the pilgrims' struggles
prior to their pilgrimage to the New World.
It also includes stories of their life
in a strange New World.
It is a living historical fiction based on sound
historical facts and records.


We are winding down our studies of Ancient Egypt this week.
Next week and for several weeks after that,
we will be reviewing our year studies of
Creation through Ancient Egypt.
With our science, we are slowly progressing along
in Exploring Creation with Astronomy.
We are a little behind in our notebook entries,
but hoping to catch up this week.
Our geography has us traveling all over the globe.
In the book Window on the World
by Daphine Spraggett with Jill Johnstone,
we are learning and praying for many countries and people.
My son enjoys the globe and we play
who can find the country or people first.
Much fun.
We are rereading Paddle to the Sea.
This go around we are incorporating map work
in our studies.
We are also using our imagination and talking about
what other adventures Paddle might be experiencing.
My son has such the imagination.


As you can see, our days are full
and happy.
We are deep into our Lenten studies,
but that is another post.
Hope life is being good to you too.
Many blessings.

8 comments:

Jill said...

Wow! Sounds like a great 3rd term! We're also doing Astronomy this year and we're a little behind. Just now to the moon. Oh, well...we school through summer. We also are doing Ancients and they're really loving that. Our schools are so much alike! I love it!

Unknown said...

Sounds like you're having a great time! What do your little ones do while the eldest is busy with his readings? Do you get them to join in somehow? This is something I'm trying to figure out for my busy little man!

Elaine said...

Just wondered upon your blog and love it! I too have twin boys, but mine are now 8 years old, sigh. Anyway, love the pictures! Question - your science - is it Apologia? I am interested in using Apologia but just can't get over the thought of studying one topic all year. Any thoughts?

Blessed Mommy said...

Nikki- So far, my oldest does his readings and maths while the twins nap in the afternoon. But, the twins naps are getting shorter and shorter so I know that will end soon. I think I might try having my oldest read to the twins and me a short story, maybe during our morning circle time. After that maybe a wiggle song. We do a activity together everyday. For example, painting with feathers, play dough, coloring, sensory tubs. My oldest loves this too and the little ones feel they are "schooling". If you have any ideas or find things that work for you, please share. We are still finding our way here too. Many blessings.

Blessed Mommy said...

Elaine- Twins are sooo much fun! My oldest will be 8yrs old in May. I had the same reservations as you do about Apologia, but thought I might give it a try anyway. We purchased the Exploring Creation with Astronomy book. So far, we love it. Each chapter concentrates on a subject, for example, the Sun, then Mercury, Venus,etc. etc., even a chapter on space rocks. There are fun project suggestions and a website for further resources. We are doing a notebook with drawings and writings on each chapter. I have found that Astronomy is not the only science we do. With our nature study or just exploring outside, we have studied about trees, birds, rabbits, shells. These extra studies are of things that interest my son. We find some shells on the beach and we ask "what kind of animal lived in here, or what bird is that?" You get the picture. I feel my son is retaining more by doing this immersion type of study. Hope this helps. Now, I am going to pop over and check out you blog. Many blessings.

Michelle said...

Sounds like you all have been pleasantly busy with life. Thanks for the info. in the comments about the Apologia Astronomy. We are planning on doing it next year.

Hen Jen said...

sounds like things are going really well, you homeschool sounds like it has such a nice, gentle rhythm! I really like using Math U see, glad to hear that handwriting is going well!

Unknown said...

Thanks for your reply-sounds nice and relaxed at your home :-) Lovely idea to get your eldest to read to the little ones. My daughter loves to do that too with easy readers.
I'm finding that introducing a short time of working on something together is helping my busy little man get used to doing a "structured" activity. So we're exploring mixing paint colours/texture rubbings (he liked this one)/printing/wax crayons and paint.
Where can I find info on the Sensory Tubs? Sounds interesting.
Being adaptable and learning to change our plans is definitely something us homeschool moms have to learn quickly, especially when nap times change!