A Week Off!

The boys were happy that they already got a special week off. They took some reading assignments with them but for the most part had a fantastic vacation. You can read all about their adventures in taking their big brother Mike to college in our My 3 Sons blog.

End of Week 1

The first week was a whirlwind of activity! We spent time setting up notebooks, our desks, and the school room. The boys also started their first assignments in Religion, History, Geography, Literature, Science, Grammar, and Math.

In Religion, they began reading a book called "The Church In History" by B.K. Kuiper.

In History, we reviewed the height of the Roman Empire. There were reading assignments in "The Story of Europe" and "Our Island Story" both by H.E. Marshall. They also worked on their vocabulary and time line projects.

In Geography, the began their transparency map project. They prepared 5 map books, one each for the World, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Later in the week, they marked the impact of the Roman Empire in the World map book.



In Science, the began working in their General Science book. Module #1 is called "A Brief History of Science." Their experiment for the week was about density. They had fun making a mess in the kitchen as they watched layers of water, vegetable oil, and maple syrup settle in a glass jar so that they could watch density in action. Then they added a rock, a grape, an ice cube, and a piece of cork to the mix. I am glad that the instructions in the experiment say, "Clean up the mess and put everything away"!

Overall, I think everyone had a good time and a great week!

The First Day

Today was our first official day "Back to School"! We had a full day.
Whew!

In order to start off on the right foot, I set the breakfast table with
balloons and streamers and then put in the center a couple of knight statutes and a gold candle with "jewels" glued on it. Super came downstairs and saw it and he said, "Oh, I get it! The candle is you and you are the princess. And and I are the knights." I hadn't even thought of that! I was just trying to put stuff out on the table that was on the TOG Y2 theme. But it was cute that he thought that! Works for me.

Then they had a huge chocolate chip muffin with a candle in it. I told them to make a "Back to School" wish. Super wished that he would get straight A's so that I would let him get a hamster. Keep wishing buddy! There are enough animals around here! Tutone wouldn't tell me
what he wished because "then it wouldn't come true."

Then I told them that we could pray to Jesus, so we didn't have to wish for what we wanted to get out of our school year. If we prayed Jesus would help us do well and learn all the
material. I thought it was a great way to make the point while still having fun.

They had a blast! But then it was time to get to work.

Welcome!

Welcome "Back" to school and to our new school blog!

I hope you have fun reading about our many adventures in homeschooling this year. I have learned some new blogging tricks and I hope that it makes for a more interesting read.

This year in History class we will be working in Tapestry of Grace's Year 2. Y2 covers from the Fall of Rome in 450 A.D. to the signing of the American Constitution, which occurred 1787. I really love TOG because while it has the advantages of being very "hands on" as they say, it also it very reading intensive. I learn a great deal from each unit myself.

In Science class we will be working from a textbook entitled "General Science". As you might gather from that title, it covers a wide range of scientific topics from Geology to Biology. However, each chapter contains many experiments and the boys are already pestering me each day to begin Science class.

In Math, the boys have begun Pre-Algebra and once again we are using Math U See. What can I say? The boys love it. It's probably without question one of their favorite subjects. For Super, it is his favorite with Science trailing in second place. For Tutone, strangely enough, Grammar is his favorite subject but Math is a very close second.

I hope you have a great year! Drop in often!