Our First Two Weeks of School!

We've finished two weeks of school already. The time flew by! Transitioning from an 'eclectic' approach to a mostly 'traditional-textbook' approach has proved to be challenging, but it's definitely getting easier already. Now that I've printed a bunch of materials (that I didn't know I needed to print) and tweaked the schedules, things are running much smoother. 

 

Over the past two weeks, the children have worked really hard! I'm loving BJU, and they are too! It's been worth all the time and energy I've poured into it. The boys are learning so much! Although I have no regrets, *because I always pray and ask GOD to lead our homeschool* I do wish I had used BJU sooner. If I could describe the academics in one word, it would be EXCELLENT! We're also enjoying Apologia's General Science course! The experiments have been terrific, and the notebook is absolutely gorgeous. I love it all!

 

Here are a few pictures from the last two weeks:

 

I made a special dinner for the first day of school. We enjoyed stuffed red peppers, broiled asparagus and a sweet summer salad!

 

My awesome husband has been reading to the children every night for several years. They started reading this book the first week of school. So far, they all love it!

 

I added "Sermon Notes" and "Sunday School" dividers to the children's Bible notebooks. I love how our children are learning so much at church.

 

We were blessed to care for this mourning dove for a couple of days. Thank you, Lord, for bringing "Nature Study" into our school schedule!

 

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 I love these "stars" in the solar system because it makes the homeschool room feel cozier.

 In BJU's Heritage Studies 5, we are studying cartography!

This map had to be shaped and cut a certain way in order to fit on this sphere to make a globe.

I enjoyed making this Place Value Pocket Chart out of card stock paper and paper fasteners. Thanks, BJU, for this manipulative! I love it so much I even made a holder just like it for all the number cards! I saw quickly that this is an effective teaching tool, and I think we'll get lots of use out of it this year.

In BJU's Science 5, we are studying minerals. We made Rock Candy! Although the crystals that form are not minerals, the conditions -heat and time- are similar to those of mineral formation.

Day 1 of day 7!

Salty Crystals! We decided to make salty crystals from Epsom salt as well as from Alum. Alum crystals are supposed to form faster than Epsom crystals. We'll see over the next 7-17 days!

 

The Pilgrim's Progress, Book 1 of 2 finished!

The rating it received= 5 STARS!

Learning how to measure mass and volume! This block of clay weighs 124 grams!

 

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In Apologia's General Science, we learned about "Density in Nature." Can you see the rock, grape, ice cube and cork in the different layers of liquids?

 

Apologia's General Science- Atoms in Motion!

Blue=cold water

Yellow=hot water

 

Apologia's General Science-

Chemical Reactions- BEFORE!

 

Chemical Reactions- DURING!

 

Chemical Reactions- AFTER!

 

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I was blessed with a new office on the main floor! It's very convenient and helpful!

 

THANK YOU, LORD, FOR ALL THE BLESSINGS! I LOVE BEING A HOMESCHOOL MOM!

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

The Phantom Tollbooth took us on an extraordinary adventure!

Here are a couple of quotes from Wikipedia:
"...It tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, decides to drive through it in his toy car. The tollbooth transports him to a land called the Kingdom of Wisdom. There he acquires two faithful companions, has many adventures, and goes on a quest to rescue the princesses of the kingdom--Princess Rhyme and Princess Reason--from the castle of air. The text is full of puns, and many events, such as Milo's jump to the Island of Conclusions, exemplify literal meanings of English language idioms."

"Critics have acknowledged that the book is advanced for most children, who would not understand all the wordplay or the framing metaphor of the achievement of wisdom."

I can definitely recommend this book! Some homeschoolers have warned against this book because of it's magic and because one of the characters is a witch. The "magic" to me is more like a child's wild imagination, and the "witch" is not actually a witch at all. She is simply a woman in charge of "which" words to choose from, so she is called "Which." We listened to it on audio as we flipped the pages, so we had all the whimsical illustrations from the print book plus all the sound effects of an audio book engaging us!