First Week of School

We survived our first week of school. Actually, I think things went really well. Keep in mind, though, this is my 7th year homeschooling my children. Any day without screaming, hysterical crying, or threatening violence ON MY PART is a good day as far as I am concerned. Just kidding - really I'm just kidding. The longer I homeschool, the more I realize that it is a LONG, LONG journey. Keeping a sense of humor along the way is absolutely critical for keeping my sanity on this journey. If I can't laugh at myself, at whom can I laugh?

The week started off with a bang. Literally - it really did start off with a bang. Watch the video: http://eatsleepswim7.blogspot.com/2009/08/first-day-of-school.html on my daughter's blog -I am the slightly chubby middle-aged woman frantically running away from the exploding Diet Coke. I'm not sure what the kids thought was cooler - the explosion or watching me run away from the explosion.

As I am a "start as we will go on" type of person, I never gradually ease the children back into school. So, the first few days were an adjustment for all of us. Overall, though, things really went pretty smoothly the first week.

My boys took to their new workbox system for their independent work really well.One of my darlings struggled a bit more getting back into the routine of school...
Others barely noticed any changes in their daily routine...

And Basil couldn't even be bothered to leave her warm perch on top of the dryer. All three of my children (7th grade, 5th grade, 3rd grade) do unit studies in science and history together. We are starting the new school year off with a unit study about the American Revolution. For the first week, we focused on a review of Colonial Times in North America. I read a wonderful book to them over the course of the week: The New Americans: Colonial Times, 1620-1689 by Betsy and Giulio Maestro. I have been adding links to all of the books we are using in our American Revolution Unit Study on the side as we go along.

We also watched three videos from the Schlessinger Video Colonial Life for Children series. I was quite fortunate to be able to borrow these from my local library. We watched:

• Plimoth Plantation
• Jamestown
• Settling the New World.

After watching the Jamestown and Plimoth Plantation videos, each of the children prepared a mini-book about each settlement. We also played Made for Trade which was a HUGE hit with Duncan but my two older children were less enthused about the game.

All three of the children are reading books related to the American Revolution. Amber (7th) is reading Johnny Tremain and is using the study guide from Progeny Press. Mason (5th) is reading George Washington's Socks and is completing vocabulary cards and end of the chapter questions that I prepared. Lastly, Duncan (3rd) is reading Revolutionary War on Wednesday and is using Pockets of Time from Fortunately for You Books. I added links on the side for all of the books that we are using for our American Revolution study and will continue to add books throughout the study as we use them.

I have added a few resources to our time together in the morning. We are covering one phrase from "Latin Everywhere, Everyday" each morning along with three words from English from the Roots Up. We are doing one problem from Mind Benders A1 each week and the first one was humbling (particularly for me) but we finally figured out the answer.

New as well this year is Rosetta Stone Spanish Level 1. Amber and I are both taking this course and we are both enjoying it very much. I took French all through high school and minored in French in college so I am so enjoying learning Spanish. Amber and I both find the Rosetta Stone program to be excellent.

The highlight of the week was our first lesson in our new art program. We are using Atelier Art Level 5 this year, and so far, I can't say enough good things about this program. My children all loved the first lesson. They loved it so much that my boys both completed several more projects based on the art lesson on their own time.

Our planned nature study for Friday was pushed to Week 2 because it was pouring down rain here all morning. Amber had swim team every evening but Mason didn't start yet during the first week of school. For physical education, Mason and Duncan both walked for 30 minutes a day on the treadmill. For them, it was a nice break to their day, and they got to watch something fun on TV while they walked.

Well, that's our Week in Review for the first week of school. Next week, we will do a nature study and continue in our study of the American Revolution. We are all also looking forward to our next art lesson.

If you would like to see what other homeschoolers did this week, check out the Weekly Wrap Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.