Scenes from the Schoolroom

Greek

Literature and Math

Spelling

Bible and History Resources

Reading

"I fell off my bike"

Cars

"Sleeping"

Spelling

"What's he doing"

Math

More Math - this time with hearts

Even more math - this time on the sofa

Curriculum 2013-2014

I can't believe that I am officially teaching 3 children this year!! I also can't believe I'll have a 3 year old, 2 year old, and 7 month old to tag along! :) Because of the ages of our children, I've really found that it works best to school all year and take lots of breaks. We started mid-July last year because I knew that Miles would be arriving in January and needed flexibility toward the end of my pregnancy and his first weeks with us. It worked so well that I thought we would just continue to do the same thing this year! I don't know if I'll always do this, but it works for now. Both girls finished up their math books in April so instead of waiting until August to start the next level, we started it in May. We've been working some throughout the summer at a more relaxed pace and it's been great. I seem to be more excited about doing all of those projects, that I don't really like to do, in the summer.  It seems to be much easier for me to get in our required number of school days when we school all year as well. If we all need a break in the middle of October we can take one without having to worry about squeezing everything in between September and May.

Here is what we will be using this year:

Henry - Kindergarten
Phonics - Veritas Press Phonics Museum
Math - finish Singapore Essential Math and start Math-U-See Alpha

Claire - 2nd Grade
Math - Math-U-See finish Beta and start Gamma
Grammar/Writing - Essentials in Writing and BraveWriter Projects
Spelling - Rod and Staff 2
Literature - Books from Heart of Dakota and Veritas
Greek - Hey Andrew! Teach me some Greek 2
Cursive - Abeka

Kate - 3rd Grade
Math - Math-U-See finish Gamma and start Delta
Grammar/Writing - Essentials in Writing and BraveWriter Projects, writing more across subjects (History/Science/Lit)
Spelling - Rod and Staff 3
Literature - Veritas and Memoria Press
Greek - Hey Andrew! Teach me some Greek 3
Cursive - Abeka and across subjects

Together
Bible - Veritas Press Judges - Kings
History - Veritas Press New Testament, Greece, and Rome
Science - Apologia Swimming Creatures
Latin - Song School Latin

Wow! That looks like a lot!

The girls will also continue to take piano from my mom. I'm pretty sure it's their favorite subject thanks to Boo. :) I wish we lived closer to Melanie and Scott because I'm also pretty sure I'd find something she could teach them. Lessons are always more exciting with grandparents.

Both Kate and Claire will also take ballet again. Kate has lessons twice a week this year so I'm interested to see how that will all work out.

And finally, the girls will take drawing lessons. This was so wonderful last year and I'm looking forward to another great year.

WOW! That looks like a lot! I'm really excited about the everything we are doing this year. I'm going to try and update this part of the blog once a month with updates.

Summer 2013 Picture

We recently won a mini session from Lizzy Nicole Photography!We had the best time with Ashley and are so thankful for these pictures that capture our family at this time of life. I especially love some of Sims' little smiles. They are the perfect 2 year old smiles/faces and I'm glad to have a record of them. :) 

Going to the Pool

...or as I like to call it...

Why do people always tell me I have my hands full???

Miles' car seat and diaper bag were both in the car. I had to carry those into the pool too. :)

We had fun though!

Camp Update: The girls had the best time and have talked about it non-stop. They are already talking about going for a full week next year.

Claire lost her first tooth 2 weeks ago at Rick's parents' house!

Sims' "smile" strikes again!

Camp Westminster

Our friends told us about this great camp just outside of Atlanta called Camp Westminster. It's run by a PCA church and our friends have been involved with it for years. In fact, their oldest daughter is a counselor this summer. 

Thanks to Boo and Papaw, Kate and Claire are over there for the First Timers session. It's a 4 day/3 night introduction to camp and the girls were so excited to be able to go! Here are the only pictures I took when we dropped them off. I'm hoping they'll be just as happy when I pick them up! :) 

Getting so old!!!

Henry and Jack also wanted their picture taken. 

And so did Sims. I really love this picture!! All of our kids at age 2 have had this great "smile."

 It's always been so funny to me! This really is his "I'm happy and trying to have a good smile," smile. :)

Here's a picture of the First Timers from their Facebook page. Kate and Claire are on the front row.