Language Arts:
What I have found out from the past few weeks is that 5th grade is going to be a tough year for us. I have realized that we are really lacking in the English Grammar department. For the past few years we really just focused more on literature and reading, and only a slight portion was grammar related. He is really struggling with the added expectations I have put on him this year. I am so happy with the curriculum I chose to use and think he will get up to where he needs to be. As a reminder we are using Learning Language Arts though Literature the purple book and Wordly Wise 3000 grade 5 book. I realize I said that we were lacking in grammar and then we are using a literature based program, seems contradictory in a way. In actuality though, I think with using this program, he is reading passages from books he likes and then applying grammar rules. I have never used this program before and I am so happy that we chose it. It, so far, is a good fit for our needs at this time.Bible:
We have begun our Bible curriculum, which is Apologia's Who Is God?, and I love it! The boys are doing well, and learning to dig deeper into what they think and feel about certain topics. We have been talking a lot about how we can know if something is true or not. This has been wonderful for them, especially the 5th grader who is at that age where he is trying to figure some things out for himself. I am happy that they both seem to know that the Bible is true, and what God says in the Bible is truth.History:
These past two weeks we have also done some digging deeper into History. We have learned about Stonehenge, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Early Egypt, the Sumerians, and the Minoans. We had fun wrapping Noah up like a Mummy!Read Aloud:
For our read aloud time, we just finished up reading the Christian Heroes then and Now book on Jim Elliot, and we have begun reading The Golden Goblet. The Golden Goblet I think might be a bit over their heads, so I'm not sure we will continue with it or not, we are currently on chapter 3. On Friday instead of reading The Golden Goblet, we read The Magic Treehouse book Mummies in the Morning. They both really liked that one and thought it was funny that we read the whole book in one sitting. They make me laugh, because its only like a 60 page book. Silly kids!Preschool:
In preschool we began our Letter of the Week curriculum and have done letters A and E. We will be working through the vowels first and then move into the consonants. I really am impressed with how well my little 4 year old is handling school this year. Not to say that we don't still struggle, but for the most part he knows what is going to happen and is happy to do his "numbers" (that's what he calls his workboxes).Field Trips:
Last Friday, we took a field trip to the local Apple Orchard, that was a great time! We were hoping to get to pick some apples but found out that they were not open for picking until Labor Day. We might go back after Labor Day just to pick some apples. On the upside though the playground was open and the kids were able to play. There is usually a cost but since it was early in the season it was free. My kids were super excited for that part! We also picked up some yummy apple cider doughnuts, apple cider raisin bread, apple cider, and of course a few apples!I really do plan on taking more photos of our school days, but like I said at the beginning it's been crazy! I really do love this homeschooling journey that we are on, and am so excited to have the opportunity to be with my children everyday and see them learn!