School Notes: Week of 8/29

This week of school only entailed Thursday and Friday due to the fact that we were watching my friends' children while they were away on a trip M-W, but we still managed to accomplish something this week and keep the momentum of establishing a routine in motion.  We will also take Monday off for Labor Day...and possibly Tuesday too, for reasons that will be explained next week if we do. :)  It's actually nice to have a couple of short breaks in the midst of just starting up anyways, as it allows for me to have some "breathing room" to assess how things are going and establish somewhat of a mental routine for myself.

With four kids to talk about on this blog, I'm sure I won't list everything they do each week, but my goal is to try to capture some of the highlights of each week as much as possible and showcase some of their accomplishments.  I have discovered that "threatening" to post their work publicly is a great motivator for doing their best work. LOL.  ...at least for some anyways.

 During Group Time, we've been using our Geography Songs CD to learn the various countries of Asia.  Of course, they all helped assemble this Global puzzle, but this is a photo of Sister Strings DISassembling it so that she could have her turn to do the countries.  It's a cool puzzle because the country pieces are actually shaped like the countries rather than the typical jig-saw design.  Our puzzle-loving Grandma would love this!

And, what do ya do when Mom's friend brings her home a small chunk of fudge as a treat for watching her kids while gone, but Mom won't let you eat it all?  Why you make your own! Yes, that's what Brother Brass decided to do here.  Peanut Butter and Chocolate fudge. Yum! ...Home Ec?  LOL.

 ...Baby Bach decided that he loves this new school book (sorry, I forgot to rotate the pic)...

...And produced this for his first assignment.  Not bad for one who typically does NOT like to draw or color at all.  I think we'll be using this once/week.

...And Miss Melody is enjoying her A Beka science and History the most.  Here's a sample out of her Geography book that goes along with her History.  I love how A Beka teaches not just map work, but geography skills and terminology along with their history books...and it's a very mom-friendly curriculum...very easy to use.

So far, everyone is progressing nicely through their lessons, and the schedule is working wonderfully in keeping everyone, including myself, on task and working diligently.  I especially like the 30 minute group time that is scheduled each day for my older three.  It's just long enough to allow for me to get some miscellaneous "stuff" accomplished with them without interrupting the flow of our independent learning schedule.  Next week I plan to start back up with our IEW (writing) DVD instruction.  We started it last spring.  It may be another short week though...stay tuned.