Homeschool, Round 2

On one hand I can't believe the summer has flown by..on the other hand, I'm so excited to be back in our routine!  This summer has been jammed full with play dates, swimming, bowling, family camp, movies and fun.  But the predictability of our school routine has been warmly welcomed by all!  Here are our 2012-2013 Curriculum choices:

SAMI (4th grade):
~ My Father's World  Exploring Countries and Cultures.  This curriculum includes history, geography, science and art.
~Singapore Math
~Bible will be daily devotions and worship, memory verses from AWANA
~Rod & Staff Grammar
~Handwriting by A Reason For Handwriting
~Building Spelling Skills by Christian Libety Press
~Typing Instructor
~Online Spanish by Speekee

MATTHEW (1st grade):
~My Father's World First Grade Curriculum.  This contains phonics, handwriting, history, science and art.
~Singapore Math
~Bible with daily devotions, worship and AWANA
~Online Spanish by Speekee

I'm still working on getting a schedule that allows for enough individual time, but we're getting there.  We are already learning so much...ecosystems, map reading, geometry. ant farms, worm habitat - lions and tigers and bears..oh my!  It's going to be a wild ride people!

End of the Year Wrap Up

 The horse pictures I tried to upload on the last post...

 Easter

 Cal Ripken TBall-Go Mudville!

 My sweet niece-Eleanor

 AWANA Awards

 CHEVA Homeschool Convention-Sami won 1st place in her age group for her horse study

 CHEVA Choir

Matthew won 2nd place in his age group for his horse study

These last few months have been crazy busy in every way possible!  Easter, T Ball, AWANA Awards, CHEVA Homeschool Showcase, choir performances, my beautiful niece was born, vacation, on and on.  To top it off we have finished our first year homeschooling!  Whew..we survived!!!  It went better than expected in some ways and worse than expected in others.  My relationship with the kids has grown tremendously...come to find out, I didn't know them as well as I thought I did.  We have all grown closer to the Lord, learning more and more the importance of grace and forgiveness.  I think I have apologized to the kids and God more this year than ever before!  He has really shown me my weaknesses as a mother and I have learned to rely on Him daily for strength and patience!  I am looking forward to next year and all that the Lord has planned for us!

For the Love of Horses

We have been studying different types of animals for a couple of weeks. I had the kids pick one animal to study more in-depth and horse was the winner! We spent one week learning about body language, body parts, feeding..you name it, we learned it. We finished it off with a visit to a local horse ranch. The woman who runs the lessons spent 2 hours with the kids going over all the care that is involved with a horse. She finished it off with each of them getting time riding. She had the sweetest horse named Argo, the kids can't wait to go back and see him. That same weekend we were able to visit some friends who own a horse. The kids took turns riding "Baby" and we went to an english horseriding lesson. The kids have loved every minute of this lesson. Now there is only one problem with this, every couple of days I hear, "Mom, why can't we have a horse???" Ugh...
*Pictures to come whenever Blogger decides to let me load them :/

Something to Chew On...

This was an article shared by the President of our homeschool group CHEVA. It brought tears of relief and frustration all at the same time. I think any mother can relate, homeschooling or not.

Empty Cisterns and Real Refreshment

School Days

School has been interesting with the holidays but big progress has been made. Matthew is officially reading! I wasn't really expecting it to click until next year...such a smart boy! We are doing a study on animals and took a trip to the zoo with friends. Now we are specifically studying horses. This weekend the kids get to take a visit to a ranch. They are going to have a 2 hour lesson on the care of horses and how to ride. They are so excited! More pics to come...

Christmas and New Years and Valentine's...Oh My!

Where does the time go?? Christmas came and went with the blink of an eye! The "big" gift for all of us was a 4 day vacation to Disneyland. We went the end of January. The kids ran in Tinkerbell Kid Races and I did the Tinkerbell Half Marathon. Topped it off with 2 days at the park and dinner at Medieval Times. Our best vacation as of yet! Now here we are at Valentine's Day already?? The kids had a great time at our homeschool group's Valentine Celebration. So much fun crammed into such a short amount of time!