Journey to Excellence

Our local library had a fun event last night. They hosted a "Stuffed Animal Sleepover". The kids showed up in pj's for stories and songs. Then they left their stuffed animals at the library for a sleepover. It was great that it was an evening event because Rick got to take Brynne. She had a great time, until it was time to leave Pup there. Then she started crying. Rick convinced her to go ahead an leave him, but at home she had a couple of breakdowns. She was up bright and early this morning, ready to go pick him up. We went for preschool storytime and they were reunited. Brynne received a packet of pictures from the evening, showing her everything that Pup and his friends did at their sleepover. She has spent the majority of today posing several of her stuffed animals and taking pictures of them.

Last Friday I took Eli to the library to get his Summer Reading Program prizes! He has read 21 books so far this summer! When we were leaving, we noticed that the murals in the foyer of the library looked very 3-D, so Brynne wanted to do some posing. I thought they turned out really funny!

I love laid-back summer learning. We just take something we come upon that interests us and go with it! It's been so great! I've also enjoyed taking Eli along for the ride with us! At the same time I am working diligently on the U.S. History curriculum for both Dawson (9th grade) and Brynne (2nd grade) for next year. I feel like I am taking a super-fun trip through history right now and I am enjoying preparing for it more than they will probably enjoy learning about it! I am hoping my enthusiasm rubs off on them! So far I have completed three, 3-week units and am most of the way through the fourth. That has us at 12 weeks of lessons. I am feeling much-accomplished! I will be doing a post soon about exactly how I am creating this curriculum using America: The Story of Us from The History Channel. I received this dvd set for free last year and it is the cornerstone of our curriculum! It is awesome! I also just saw that it is available through our local library, so may...

The highlight of our week last week was definitely related to food ! On Tuesday night Dawson {finally} cooked us the Greek meal he had been planning. Oh. My. Gosh. It was delicious! This kid can cook! He made Greek salad, Feta stuffed chicken and Lemon custard cakes. And we had grapes and cheese for an appetizer. Dawson ~ 8th Grade We are finishing up our unit on Ancient Greece and the Human Body Systems for science. He spent a great deal of the week studying for a vocabulary test and for his upcoming tests on Ancient Greece and the body systems. We finished Classic Myths to Read Aloud by William F. Russell. It was an excellent study of the myths. Dawson took a vocabulary test over 61 words used throughout the book and made a 90%. That was a great grade! But I was more impressed when he came down Thursday afternoon with his book The Last Olympian from the Percy Jackson series and pointed out two of his vocabulary words that were in one sentence in the book. Isn't that...

We really have just gotten so busy , it seems, during the week that I feel like I am giving Dawson an hour or so of my time and then going over what he is to do on his own only to leave him for the day. Then Brynne and I have lots of activities to attend to, like: library, coop, grocery shopping. And this week we added additional errands, a physical therapy appointment for my older daughter, picking daddy up from the airport and going to my younger son's Veteran's Day program. I enjoyed all of the learning that went on at these various events, but I felt like Dawson was left behind and on his own more than I would like. Part of what I enjoy about homeschooling is the time I get to spend with my kids . So, not spending time with him really bugs me. Wish that was going to get better in the next few weeks, but with the holidays it's not likely. Here's what we did:  Brynne~ 1st Grade Math can be done anywhere at anytime. I walked by Brynne on Monday and she had our ...

We got out of a groove and back into one this week. I am certain that will happen many more times in our Journey! Being back on a Schedule is marvelous to this structure-freak teacher! That being said, I am still enjoying the unexpected moments of learning that I am allowing to occur through the day. Having my schedule just helps me to steer us back on track when we veer off. Brynne ~ 1st Grade For Brynne I have definitely settled into a solid teaching philosophy with her. Since I did not purchase any curriculum for her, I have been winging it! I am now very comfortable with our daily does of Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, History lessons with the American Girls stories and Science lessons with our Nature study. It's just all so good! She is reading like a maniac, which I am loving! She amazes me every day with how she is putting "things" together. She is so excited about learning! She spells out loud all day. Yesterday afternoon I let her take a Spelling test with...