Weekly Wrap-Up ~ Frazzled

We started school yesterday, along with our public school kiddos. To put our first day in a word: Frazzled. We were all a bit off-kilter.

We were completely prepared: had our day planned, our schedule set, our copies made, our videos and books lined up.

But, with taking First Day photos, and having introductions to new materials, we got a little behind. We ended on time, though, so all was good.

All-in-all it was a successful first day. Some highlights from our short first week:

Dawson worked steady all day and didn't complain or attempt to delay even once!
He wrote a beautiful poem about America.
Brynne LOVED her MEP math curriculum. We ended the day with it and it was certainly a highlight.
Getting back to Co-op activities was so exciting! Choir and Zumbatonic were fun!
Everybody got started reading this week.
Teaching Textbooks Algebra I arrived and has been installed and is ready for Monday.

Here are a few pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

Working hard on IEW.

Brought in the old desk from our photo shoot. It's just the right height for Handwriting Without Tears.

MEP during nap time.

Is that the teacher kissing the principal??

Zumbatonic time! Even the moms had some fun!

Even though it was just a two-day week, we all felt what Eli's shirt expressed ...

Make sure you come back for my first Study America Saturday post (If you have an American History lesson you did this week, write a separate post and link up with me!) and a Science Sunday post this weekend!

In the meantime, go see some other wrap-ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

ABCya

Eli's reading resource teacher shared a website with me yesterday that I would like to pass along. It's called ABCya . There are separate educational sections with fantastic games for ages kindergarten through 5th grade. I browsed the 2nd grade level, and it includes age-appropriate games about Letters, Numbers, Shapes, Geometry, Patterns, Mouse Manipulation, Art and Holiday games. There are lots and lots of fun and creative games for children to play. They are fun, but oh, so educational. Eli's favorite, in his short time playing it, was Create a Car . A lot of the games also have Apps available for purchase (99 cents for most of them) for the iPad and iPhone. I have been looking for another free website for games similar to Starfall , for some time. I think I have found it. I can feel confident having Eli and Brynne play these games.

How to Build a Homeschool U.S. History Curriculum from "America: The Story of Us"

FINAL UPDATE (JUNE 2012): We completed our entire U.S. History course last month using the America: The Story of Us video series and the resources I had planned. We officially covered Episodes 1-9 which got us through the 1920's. We plan to use the remaining three videos when we study the World Wars in a couple of years. I just want to go on record as saying that I believe whole-heartedly that the use of this series with my resources would more than qualify your child for a full credit of U.S. History. And, it was exciting and enriching. Feel free to follow all of my lesson plans. You can see them all at this link: http://journey2excellence.blogspot.com/search/label/America%3A%20The%20Story%20of%20Us Update: America: The Story of Us is now available as an InstaStream through Netflix! We also had it available at our local library. If you didn't receive a complimentary copy, you won't have to pay the $30 for it! Many of us received a complimentary copy of "...

Journey to Excellence

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