Home school during a "short" week

This week was a bit shorter for us because Daddy took Labor Day off. So we got to spend a lot of time just spending time together being a family.

On Tuesday when we finally jumped into school we started learning 2 new poems, 1 new scripture verse, and reading a couple of fun new read alouds for our morning time. Our morning time is becoming our favorite time of the day.

When we got to the curriculum for the week Arielle started learning the letter "Ll" this week.

First we read all about leaves and how they work. We looked at how a leaf has to be attached to the tree for it to continue to live and thrive. We learned that once the leaf falls the tree it will die. That is the same thing that happens when we fall away from a life in Jesus.

Then we went on a fun walk around our neighborhood picking up leaves. We discovered that there are a lot of different kinds of trees and bushes with lots of different types of leaves.

Sometimes they even act like they like each other.

We examined the leaves, classified the leaves, and made leaf rubbings from a few of the different ones we brought home. Today we went on a walk at the zoo and while looking at the animals we also looked at the different types of leaves around the zoo. It was fun to see the different types of trees in the different habitats.

Of course there was some table work to be done as well but we kept that to a minimum this week and I actually think we will be cutting back on a lot of the worksheets and things like that. They really just take up ink and paper and we can learn the same things through other hands on methods. That is the joy of homeschooling!

She loves to draw but writing her letters correctly is a bit more challenging.

Dart is also moving along with his schooling. In science this week we continued on the human body. It was fun to see him be able to color in and identify several of the internal organs and body parts. There was a fun experiment about how chewing helps us get our food digested but I forgot to get all the supplies. Hopefully we can circle back to that one in the next few weeks.

In history we are still going through ancient history and today he got to learn how to write his name as well as the rest of the family's names in cuneiform. That was really neat.

I also became mom of the year when I let him practice his addition skills using Pez candies. I set a timer for him and he practiced adding in groups with the candies. Then when the timer went off he was able to eat the evidence. We tried to get rid of the evidence before the girls got up from their nap but it didn't work so we all had Pez candies for snack.

The candy was a bit more sour than he had anticipated it being.
It was funny!

A few work sheets were also involved for the week but again we mostly have been focusing on the hands on activities. We are moving along with our reading and we have been learning long vowel sounds this week. That one is a bit more tricky but he is picking it up pretty quickly.

I honestly think the one fear I have always heard that new home-school moms have is "Can I teach my child to read?"  I would be lying if I said I have never had that thought. I actually ask that question almost everyday. But then I look around me and I see and hear from home-school graduates everywhere and I realize that they are just fine and my kids will be too.

The rest of the week consisted of playing outside, exploring the zoo and learning a bit about roles and responsibilities around the house. It was lots for fun getting to help wash the dishes for the first time. I have to say they both did an excellent job and I was able to take 2 phone calls and get the rest of the kitchen cleaned up with only minimal mess involved. WIN!!!

Brother washing dishes and sister rinsing and stacking.

I hope you enjoyed your peek into our week as we continue to make our family our greatest adventure!