School Daze

And I do mean "daze!"  That's what it's like trying to homeschool while nursing a newborn around the clock, LOL!  But I'm just so thankful that Zaden is nursing that I can't complain.  Anyway, here is a quick school update.

The kids have been doing math for about 4 weeks now.  Charis is about 2/3 of the way through the Math-U-See Epsilon book, and Tobin just has a few more lessons in Delta.  Arden began Delta and is sailing through the beginning lessons introducing division, which is a piece of cake when you know your multiplication facts!  And Kenna is delighted to have her own math book this year, as she has started the Primer.  The first lessons are basically number identification, and as she has been counting pretty well for awhile, I know she could easily whip through this book, too.  But I'm happy to take things slowly!

We introduced language arts 2 1/2 weeks ago, but this is going much more slowly than math.  Charis's vocabulary workbook seems to have gone AWOL, which is incredibly frustrating to me!  I know I ordered it!  I have no idea where it could be, though!  She is still working on a writing assignment that I wanted her to finish last week.  She just has no concept of keeping her assignment to 2-3 paragraphs, LOL!  More like 2-3 pages!  Whenever she does finish, I will have her publish it on her blog. 

Last week we actually began our history and Bible curriculum.  We read about Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America, and this week we read about Jan Matzileger--neither of whom I ever learned about in school.  Fascinating!  We also began our literature read-aloud, Moccasin Trail.  And this week we finally began science.  I've told myself that if we get through half of the core before Ted returns from his deployment, then we'll be doing well!  If we accomplish more than that, then that will be great, but I'm not going to kill myself to do it!

In addition to her math book, Kenna is also working on handwriting, and we're reading through the wonderful books I ordered for her from Sonlight's early learners core.  Sometimes Lucan listens in as well.  I usually am nursing Zaden when this happens, so it works out quite well.

As for extra-curricular activities, the kids continue their piano lessons on Thursday mornings.  I am SO thankful that Mrs. D comes to our house!  Thursday afternoons they attend a homeschool P.E. class at a nearby community rec center.  Stefanie picks them up and takes them to class, and then they go home with her to play for awhile.  This gives me a consistent time one afternoon a week to try to get a nap, as I can get Lucan and Zaden napping at the same time and lie down while Kenna watches a movie.  Charis and Tobin are working their way through Draw Squad, an incredible resource.  I thought Charis was a pretty good little artist before--she's amazing now!  When Tobin saw the book, he immediately said he wanted to go through it, too...I hadn't realized it was consumable, so I ended up ordering him his own copy, and he is beginning to do lessons as well.  I love that they are learning these skills without any time or effort on my part!

Aside from what little actual school work we've been able to do lately, the kids are getting a lot of practice with home ec!  From doing laundry to helping with Zaden and other housework, they are definitely not lacking for things to do!