First things first! First Day of School Pictures!!!!
Jake , 9 years old, Fourth Grade
Jared , 7 years old, Second Grade
Merry Ellen, 2 years old
I admit it. I was a little picture happy so you'll have to bare with me just a bit longer. Here's a few more pictures of my sweet babies.
So here's how our school day went. First we started off with the breakfast of champions....cinnamon rolls. Merry insisted on taking a picture with Daddy.
Before the boys and I sat down to begin the day I played with Merry and worked a little on her school stuff for the day. She's working on the color RED and basic things like counting/shapes. Yesterday was rough for her. She's used to getting all (well, most) of Mommy's attention. For the most part she did well but when things didn't go her way...it was NOT pretty. Here she is working on sorting her colors. I ordered this sorting pie from Zulily and she LOVES it!!!
Next, the boys and I sat down and went over our schedule and new work boxes. I am using Sue Patrick's work box system. I changed it a little to fit our needs but I am very excited about using it. It teaches the boys how to be independent and also allows them to see how much they have accomplished and how much they have left for the day. I will post another blog post soon about how we use our work boxes. In the mornings the first thing we do is our quiet time. We sit down together and individually do our quiet time before we start school. Here are the boys (and Merry) doing their quiet time.
Here's a picture of our work boxes. Each child has a set of drawers. As they finish, they take the number off the drawer and stick it on their master card. The boys MUST go in order. Merry may choose from ANY of her drawers.
Here are a "few" more pictures of the kids doing school work. I changed up our curriculum a good bit this year but I will tell you about that in a bit!
Jared is still doing mostly ABEKA. I love this program and the foundation it gives my children in the basics just can't be beaten.
Jake is doing a BUNCH of different things. Here's the list:
Reading: Drawn into the Heart of Reading with Chapter Books and Book studies from Brave
Writer Language/Writing: Easy Grammar 4 and Partnership Writing from Brave Writer
Spelling/Vocabulary: Wordly Wise 4 Math: Abeka Math 4
Some of our curriculum will be done together. I love that my boys can learn together and it simplifies my life tremendously!!!
Handwriting: Even though most public schools don't teach handwriting anymore I just can't let it
go. Handwriting became a source of dread for my kids so this year we are trying Handwriting without Tears. So far they like it and it doesn't seem to dreadful.
Science: We are doing Apologia: Exploring Astronomy. We will spend the whole year studying about outer space and the planets. We actually started this last year and the kids absolutely love it. It is very deep and covers a lot of information. The kids favorite part is the experiments. We've only done two lessons so far but so far we have used the sun's light to melt chocolate, made a model solar system, and made a pin hole viewing box for the sun.
History: We are using Mystery of History for history this year. I love this curriculum because it ties secular history in with biblical history. Yesterday we studied about creation and Adam/Eve. Then the boys were challenged to make their own unique creations and name them. Also, the boys watched videos from the site "Answers in Genesis" that explained on a child's level about the big bang theory and evolution. They were so engrossed in the videos that they begged me not to turn them off even though school was over and I was finished teaching them. I highly recommend visiting this site. They have information and videos for every age.
Here the boys are with their creations!
Hope you enjoyed a sneak peak into a day at Perrin Academy. Keep us in your prayers as we strive to be who God has called us to be.
In His Grip,
Ellen
