Thursday, September 9, 2010

Fall 2010

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Found My Blog!

You might have thought i lost my blog by the lack of posts, but of course, you all know how busy life can get and things get pushed aside. I just downloaded over 600 pictures from my camera, so i thought i would share what's going on in our lives. Some of them are from before Nathan was born; how the time flies! We had a terrific summer and look forward to a cool, pleasant fall.

We are 2 weeks into our new school year and all is great. I decided to go ahead with My Father's World again this year. We are using Creation to the Greeks, the 2nd year of the 5 year cycle. I am also doing their kindergarten program with Claire and still finishing up the 1st grade phonics with Owen. I am so glad we stuck with MFW. The Bible and history are phenominal (big word!). We have already learned so much in 2 weeks and the conversations we have based on the info are so great. Last weekend, we got to have a Shabbat Dinner Celebration, including homemade Challah bread, and had so much fun. It was the 1st time we've ever used our china, if you can believe it. The kids felt so special! MFW takes all of the thinking and planning out of homeschooling.

Some of the other curriculums we are using right now are:
*Math U See
*Multiplication in Minutes-Rapid Recall System (Little Giant Steps)
*Language Lessons for Little Ones (Queen Homeschool)-Charlotte Mason style but in a writable, workbook format that can be done independently if reading well.
*Italics Handwriting (Getty Dubai)-uses a one stroke method, where possible, which makes transitioning into cursive more natural.
*Various other workbooks for spelling and spanish
*Draw Write Now and God and the History of Art

We also started our new chore system a few weeks ago called Managers of Their Chores by www.titus2.com I can't tell you how amazing it is. It does take a lot of planning and preparation ahead of implementing it, but it is so worth it. The things that used to keep me running all day and overwhelmed at times, are not issues anymore. Everything is scheduled and dished out between everyone in the family. There is little thinking and trying to figure out what is next, because each child has a chore pack that they wear around the house as they do their chores. They just slide out the front card once they complete the job, slip it in the back, and then go on to the next card, until all chores are completed. Big time saver! It has given me more time to focus on school during the day, which takes up a lot of our day now.

Nathan is almost 4 months old now and doing great. He makes having another baby so easy. Or maybe it's that i have so many excellent helpers this time. Either way, we are loving being a family of seven! He is a stout little guy weighing over 15 pounds (at 3 months). He loves all of the faces he sees throughout the day as someone comes by to say hello or pick him up or play with him. He just blends right in with daily life and always blesses with his sweet smiles and unconditional love. Babies are wonderful!

That's all for this update-it's after 1am and i have to sleep sometime!

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