First Grade

Since Xander has been doing so well with homeschool, we decided to bring the girls home as well about 2 weeks ago. I thought I'd share what curriculum we are using for them too.

Reading-
Alphaphonics; They do a few lessons a day. We started it this summer and are picking up where we left off so they are already more than halfway through it.

Climbing to Good English First Grade; They do a few pages of this every day. It has phonics practice, spelling, and basic grammar lessons.

Finally, they also read a chapter of a book that is their level out loud every day. Right now we are reading the second of the first grade Pathway Reader, More Days Go By. They are getting really good with this and when we finish this book we will move on to regular early chapter books.

Spelling-

All About Spelling- This is a very different type of spelling program than I am used to but so far we like it. Right now, the girls are just memorizing the different sounds each letter makes. For instance, when they see the "ch" card, they will need to say "ch, k, sh" in that order to show that ch says ch as in cheese more often than it says k as in school, which is more often than it says sh as in chef.

Handwriting-

They are practicing their print right now and we may move on to cursive in the spring. I will add in copywork (Bible Verses) for them next week.

Spanish-

They are joining Xander in La Clase Divertida. They need to catch up to him but we are working through it quickly. I think it is one of their favorite subjects!

Math-

Math Mammoth First Grade. They are doing really well with this math program. I think they have struggled in all of the other math programs they've used at home and school in the past but this one is making it click for them.

Science-

Singapore EarlyBird-

Geography-

Map Skills 1 and some geography games with Xander

Art-

Artistic Pursuits with Xander.

History-

Mystery of History with Xander

Music-

They are learning how to play the recorder and to read music. They have small fingers so it is hard for them to completely cover the holes to play it correctly but they love this! Xander is sitting in on this with us too.

PE-

They do yoga in the morning with Xander and we count their taekwondo as PE too.

So far, we are having lots of fun and getting everything done!

A little late

I'm about 6 weeks late with this, but Xander really did turn 9 in August! It's hard to believe that he's really that old. I used to think he would never, ever, ever, ever, ever fall to sleep on his own in under 2hrs without screaming. And now he doesn't scream about it anymore but he still takes forever to fall asleep. I used to wonder if he would ever eat solid food and now he is always wanting more. It really does all go so fast.

He didn't get to do much for his actual birthday because he tested for his deputy black belt. He was very excited about it and so proud. The next day he went to a jumpy place with his best friend and then we had pizza and cake at home with just us.

He's still usually the best big brother to the girls and very good about playing with them and looking out for them. His favorite subject in school is Greek and he likes to learn all about the myths and history. He is still very creative and loves to make up stories and games and ideas for inventions. He's lucky to have a friend who gets all of that and they will get together playing games I can't even understand. The biggest one is the "Game Creator" and he even has the girls and a bunch of other kids from his old school sucked into playing it. I have no idea what it is or how it works but the girls get very upset if he tells them they have lost power points or whatever. Maybe he can explain it to some of you if you ask.

Here's some pictures from his birthday!

Preschool

Marie has been going to preschool for about a month 2 days a week for 3 hours a day. She loves it! She's going to the same school at our church that Grace and Greta went to when they were 4 and it is nice because so many people remember her from when she used to tag along with them. Her class is very small- there's 6 kids total in her class; 2 boys and 4 girls. Marie sees a few of them in Sunday School too which makes it better. She has 2 little friends that she is always talking about and their teacher says they play together all day. Marie isn't shy at all at school and I think she may turn into a real leader. Of course, she already tries to play the leader with Xander, Grace, and Greta, but it is interesting to see how the other little kids in her class will follow her around too. These are some pictures of her first day. She picked her backpack out herself and even though it is almost as big as she is, she insists on carrying it herself!