Weekly Wrap Up- The Impromptu Vacation Edition

One of the things I love about homeschooling is the flexibility.  We were going to do school this week and next and then take a two week mini vacation before starting our fall schedule.  BUT, Kathryne and then Charles both had a touch of something minor at the beginning of the week- not sure what, just puny.  We ended up taking off Monday and Tuesday for sickness, so I decided to scrap the whole week and start our fall schedule next week, taking only the second week of September off for our Great Wolf Lodge vacation.

So, after everyone was well, we hung out at home and played lots, enjoying the cooler weather this week.  I planned out our first two fall weeks schedule.  We started our church activities for the fall this week- choir for the little kids, middle school youth group for Kathryne.  AWANA starts Sunday.  Soccer starts Monday.  We had a good week.  I'm looking forward to being in a regular routine next week, and I am really excited about starting our fall stuff!

I'm so glad we're homeschoolers!

Linked to Weekly Wrap Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

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at 5 Minutes for Faith.  I have a post up.

Bible in 90 Days- Day 51 Check-In

I realized that it had been awhile since I had blogged about my Bible in 90 Days reading.  I am caught up at this point and am still enjoying being a mentor through this reading.  We are over halfway through our reading now and are in the thick of the Old Testament prophets.

The prophets often seem full of gloom and doom.  They are there to tell Israel and Judah (and some of the surrounding countries) the consequences for turning away from God.  But, there are also some real jewels of promise in the prophets.  There we can read God's promises to always be with Israel, His chosen people, to always restore them if they will call on His name.  The prophets are a contrast in consequences and promises.

Isaiah 40:
²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding.
    ²⁹He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound].
    ³⁰Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted;
    ³¹But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

Weekly Wrap Up- When Everyone Else goes Back to School

Our local schools all started back this week.  Because we school all summer, we are actually getting ready to take a break again.  I love homeschooling.

Bible- We are reading in Proverbs.  I really enjoy discussing the Proverbs- especially with the older kids, and I am always impressed at their insights.

History- We are continuing to read American History Stories You Never Read in School but Should Have.  This is a great little book, and we've been reading about the American Revolution.



We also read a couple of fun geography books this week which had us finding places on the US and world map:    A Small Dog's Big Life, and The Scrambled States of America Talent Show.





Math and Reading- All the kids are finishing up their summer books with reading, language, and math practice.

We will continue to work through next week and then take two weeks off before we start our fall quarter.

For more Weekly Wrap Ups check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Four wonderful reasons that I am glad we homeschool today...

Local schools started back yesterday.  Here are my four wonderful reasons to homeschool today:

You can't wear Elmo slippers and a princess necklace to "real school."

It doesn't get any sweeter than this.

You can't chew gum and make snake tongues in "real school."

Middle school is much more predictable at home!

All of my kiddos would be in school this year, and I am so glad they aren't and that I am home with them.  I'm livin' my dream!

Show Me Your Curriculum

Mama to 3 Blessings has a blog post- Show Me Your Curriculum. 

We homeschool year round with a quarter in the summer where we do unit studies and more "fun stuff."  This summer we have used:

Bible- Answers in Genesis Egypt Files VBS
Science- Human Body unit study
History- Ancient Egypt Lapbook
Skills practice- Vacation Station books from BJU Press


We've also been reading:
History Stories You've Never Read in School but Should Have
See Through Storms


We also participated in our library's reading program.

We have finished up our VBS and two unit studies.  I have several books we are continuing with through the rest of August, and the children are finishing up their summer workbooks.


In September, we will begin our fall curriculum.

The older children will using a literature unit study that studies all of the Chronicles of Narnia and incorporates other works by Lewis.- Further Up and Further In.
This will cover their language arts, history, and science.

The younger girls will be doing Five in a Row Volume 1.
This will cover their language arts, history, and science.

All of the children will also be listening to Story of the World Volume 3.

We will continue with Latin For Children Primer A which we started last year and then begin B.




I am using The Fallacy Detectives with older children to teach logic.


The little girls are using Explode the Code to practice phonics.


The big kids will be doing cursive copywork while the little girls will continue with Handwriting Without Tears for copywork practice.

We will be using A Child's Geography.


And for picture study,  Art Auction Mystery, which looks to be really fun!


I am going to let the kids listen to Classics for Kids again this year.  This is a great website with a weekly musical program focusing on various composers and genres of music.

I also plan to incorporate Shakespeare again, but I haven't decided if we are just going to read from Beautiful Stories and Lamb's Tales again or if I am going to pick a play to study.

Wow!  It looks like lots laid out like that.  I am looking forward to a fun year!

Homeschool Blog Hop

Mama to 3 Blessings is hosting a Homeschool blog Hop to get to know some of our fellow homeschoolers.  Hop over to her blog and meet someone new.  She says there will be several "get to know you posts," giveaways and homeschool information.  I'm looking forward to it.

Weekly Wrap Up- Getting Back Into the Groove

We've been doing school on and off all summer, but we are getting into a more normal schedule now.  We still have some fun things planned with friends before "real school" starts back, but we are getting into more of a regular routine.

I sat down this week and laid out our fall calendar as best as I can for now planing activities for each child and for us as a family.  So far, I know we are participating in choir and AWANA at church; Kathryne is participating in our middle school group- All Access and will be a part of the local teen homeschool group.  Charles is going to play soccer.  Kathryne is going to take a homschool drama/theater class.  I am looking into activities for the little girls, but I am not sure what to look at right now.  Ashlyne would love to do gymnastics, but it is so expensive!  I am looking at activities we can do at the Y because we are already members.  Besides church, we have tried to limit each child to one activity at a time because of cost and family size.


This week, we finished up our Ancient Egypt Lapbooks and our human body unit study.

Charles finished up a hot and rainy and stormy season of flag football.

We started a second round of swim lessons.

And, we had Kathryne and Rachel's family birthday party at the Y pool.

For the rest of the month of August, we are doing some odds and ends school stuff that I have had for a while and not gotten to- some fun "extras."  We are reading two books this week:  American History Stories You Never Read in School but Should Have and See Through Storms.

For more weekly wrap-ups, check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Happy Birthday to Kathryne and Rachel

Because we have two birthdays close together- July 21 and August 9- we often have the girls' family party together and then let them do something with friends separately.  Tonight we had our family party at the YMCA outdoor pool.

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