Ahhhh... our first full week is in! And it's been a busy week!
We've been working on getting into a good rhythm and being content with being around each other, 24/7! :O It's such a feeling of great joy and fulfillment, overall, though, at this point. 
math goin' down on a Friday
There is still enough sibling rivalry, to be sure, but the tables are also starting to tip a bit... with all of this time together, the kids are forced to figure out how to stand each other... he he ;) There has been MUCH more laughing and playing together this week, than before; I love it! They are starting to figure out, on a very primal level, who they are and how they relate to each other best. When they were in school, they typically spent 3pm-bedtime arguing quite a bit. So much of their "best" had been given to others, that they didn't have as much left for each other. This has really been a blessing to ALL (meee, tooo) of us. :0)
They are up, dressed, beds made, and having breakfast downstairs by the time I greet them in the am. Read: I stumble downstairs in search of my coffee and my smile. Gressa is responsible for letting Garmin out, and Ava feeds him (Soren feeds him later in the day). I leave their daily school work schedule out on the table before I head to bed, the night before, and often, I find Ava at work, right away in the am. She's definitely a Morning Person, like her dad... lucky girl!!
I don't mind which order the kids tackle their subjects in, as long as we complete all of the work. We start with Bible and Geography together, and then they each choose what's next, for themselves. I've found that it works best to let them decide; it's been motivating for them.
The kids breeze through their school work at this point; I give it to them, and they just do it... but I realize that a lot of it is review right now, and that that WILL change, eventually. So, I'm really trying to help them to not rush, and to take their time, even though they just want to fly through and conquer. The fact that there aren't any major learning struggles does make it easier on me, though, because I can focus more on logistics and getting us smoothly sailing and hopefully somewhat prepared for any rocky waters ahead.
Bible, Math, Spelling & Reading are daily non-negotiables. English is 4 days per week and we hit Geography nearly every day, doing more than one lesson per day, whenever we get into it. Apologia Science curric is layed out for two days per week, and we recently added "The Story of the World" for History. I am teaching it as a read-aloud, and it's great, so far! It presents the bible as the true book of history that it is, and addresses so many questions, etc., as well as superbly explaining WHAT history is, how we go about learning about it, and why it's important in so many ways!
Ava continues to exceed my expectations in Math, and to meet my expectations in the fashion in which she accomplishes that: she cannot concentrate for extended periods of time, but she is completely learning how to work with that, and still accomplish what she needs to get done.
Soren had his 1st Math test at the end of the week, and he did great. He is so math-brained; English is his challenge. He worked on shape creations during all of our read-aloud today.
Gressa is doing really well with her phonics and reading. She is starting to recognize basic punctuation and write more complete thoughts/sentences. She is sooo much more detail-oriented than Ava and Soren, and really likes to do neat printing. She recently finished her 1st official school reader/phonetics, and was very proud of this... as you can see :)
I am so thankful that I have personally experienced the phenomena of increased auditory comprehension while keeping my hands busy! For instance, I don't hear anything the tv says, in general. Nothing. But, put a crochet hook in my hand, and suddenly I could summarize any boring sitcom episode that was on, in seconds. It's crazy how keeping our hands busy can increase comprehension for some of us!! "Idle hands, idle mind"... so true, I guess! Knowing this is the case, I allowed all of the kids to engage in whatever kept their hands busy while I started our read-aloud today. We are reading a book in the Christian Heroes series: "Nate Saint". They were each able to describe to me, details of the story, even though they appeared inattentive (fidgeting with various objects, being antsy, etc.) during the reading.
The Astronomy science lesson for the week ended with project of making the solar system. We worked together with the Jungwirths, to measure approximate planet sizes in relation to each other. In one lesson, the kids were encouraged to develop a mnemonic for remembering the planet order. This is Ava's :)
This little Neptune, was made by my G. I just love it. I know, it's just a lil blue balloon! But it's one of those sweet little nothings that just melt your heart; such pride she took in her contribution!
The boys had fun trying to fit in costume-layering, while doing the project...
My Father's World's, "Window on the World" this week introduced us briefly, to Judaism, Hinduism, & Islam. We learned about specific prayer needs of these people - most importantly their need for Jesus and God's Word. We prayed for missionaries' work in places where Christianity doesn't exist. The kids asked so many questions, and it was fun to be able to google and discuss all of their thoughts, ideas, and questions.
Geography! This has been SUCH fun! In an effort to maximize learning and catch a wave of peaked interest, I added the app, "Stack the States" to Soren's ipod. If you haven't checked it out, you should! I'm not big on apps for learning, because they are so easily overused, but this is a really good one; it's completely educational, teaching various state knowledge, and it's also very fun. We've also found a couple of fun youtube videos to supplement our study of the world/United States: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E2CNZIlVIg, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZFF8EuaGjM After several days of continent overview, I think that next week, we move begin a deeper study of our continent, North America.
"Mom, I wish we could do Geography all day, every day!"
Ava's final Geography project this week was to make a world cake, a project she embraced. She was off to the Dollar Store for ingredients on a couple of different occasions, in which she received both exercise, and questions about why she wasn't in school... ;D The cake turned out really well!
Ava's been enjoying her busy schedule of sports, too. She is back in her Acrobatics class once per week, and on the Valley Homeschoolers' Volleyball team, which has been great fun for her! She loves that she can go to practice in the middle of the day, to burn some energy! She has also been running again :)
Soren is in heaven, playing flag football, once again, with his 3 buddies: Will, Carsten, & Bennett. This is the 4th and final year they'll play together! Next year is no joke, with helmets + pads + tackling for them, and probably a heart attack for me... :O Soren's also enjoying running/biking/skateboarding anytime he can, as always. He continues with Lego League twice per week, and is excited about its challenge.
Broncos! Carsten, Will, Soren, & Benett
Gressa is having a blast being part of the Park and Rec soccer team, "The Crew", with her friends, Lily and Greta. All smiles on the field, all smiles :) The artsy girl would love to take a pottery class, too.
Also, this week, we started WINGS (Walking In God's Service), which is a homeschool co-op type thing, held at the YMCA on Wednesday afternoons. Gressa is doing crafts and gym time, Ava is paired up, one-to-one with a little one (while Mom helps with WINGS). She is SO excited to do this! Especially, since this time she was paired up with Charlie! She is hoping that's the case again, next time! Soren has gym time, and then is participating in Minecraft on a shared server, with others doing the same. While the kids were at their stations, I helped out with some outside games for the littler, littles. The kids are looking forward to going again, this week.
Lesson planning is going more smoothly now, and taking less time than initially. I was definitely burning the candle at both ends (even more than usual, for this night owl), trying to maximize all of my planning for them, and I ended up ill, and needing antibiotics. I learned my lesson. Sort of. I am missing CrossFit, BIGTIME, and hope that this week I can get back on track with that.
There is soooo much more I could write about, and ponder on... like what happened on Friday afternoon while Soren was skating in the driveway. Our neighbor's sister came home and announced that our neighbor's 10yr old pet bunny, Oliver, had tripped his arthritic little body down some stairs and d i e d. The kids indirectly received an impromptu lesson in empathy and made our neighbor some cards.
So, so many things happened last week, in the short time we call One Week. This week is sure to be the same! Tony is working from home on Mondays, while I work at the clinic all day. I have the kids set up to have a lighter day on Mondays, still completing Math, Reading, Spelling, and English. This week, I assigned Ava some read-aloud for the other two... looking forward to hearing how that goes! It should be a good experience for her. The reading is about the life of missionary kids, and how to pray for the children of missionaries.
Here's to a new and blessed week ahead, and to the Lord of it all who strengthens me and lifts me up, daily, in order to keep walking down this amazing path! I truly feel like I am working for a cause, His cause. I am wonderfully, happily exhausted in such a fulfilling way. Bring on Monday! No whammies... no whammies...
"I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn." - Albert Einstein
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