Homeschool Catch-Up

All my days are running together and I forget to post my weekly updates. But we are still doing school, we took a little break after some melt downs occurred and now we are back into out groove.
I am happy to say that Nikolas is catching on to reading very quickly and has just a few more pages left in his kinder math workbook. I ordered him the first grade book and we'll see if he passes up Joshua.
Joshua surprises himself by reading new words every day. Seriously, it doesn't surprise me! He is so smart, they both are. Makes my job so much easier. Joshua loves drawing and being creative. He drew blue prints for a Lego project and then built it!
I love all the books we have been reading with Sonlight. Right now we are reading The House at Pooh Corner, the boys are enjoying it a lot. I, personally, am really enjoying reading about missionaries and their stories in I Heard Good News Today.

Nikolas is reading the directions for his math work.

Drawing in his journal.

Butterfly

Tangrams in jammies.

Another butterfly

My plate is too small.

I have a lot going on right now. Homeschooling, of course, I'm taking physics (not recommended) and world history, we are  preparing for an international move (and we aren't sure where we are going but we are leaving Mexico), hub's job change, Bible study, my poor husband was sick all weekend, we are celebrating Nikolas' fifth birthday, ugh, there must be more.

I have been very overwhelmed with a lot of anxiety and emotions. I have been turning to food and have gained a few pounds back. I know God has it all figured out and I know He will provide for our family. If I didn't know that I would be in a padded room. Sometimes I am really close to that but then I step back and I give it to God. I can feel my shoulders lift and it feels good. I wish I could stop taking it back though.

Weeks 5 and 6

We did some book work, I swear. But we also had some fun! We returned, with some good friends, to Africam Safari in Puebla, Mexico. We drove through all the animals like a safari, got to feed the wallabies, and chased emus. Then we visited the pyramid and church in Cholulua. And then, we took dad to the Papalote or Children's museum here in Mexico City. Lots of fun and great learning experiences, too. 

Week 4

Handwriting Practice

Joshua's handwriting practice, he gave it to his friend.

Working on math.

Nikolas working on handwriting.

Taking turns reading to each other.

Reading to us.

Focused on math.

Week 3

Finished week three today. Still moving things around and finding our groove. Nikolas is flying through his math book, literally he is on page 103 of 250. He picks up on new things so quickly and he isn't even 5 yet! His birthday is in October. Nikolas told me that math and science are his favorite things to do in school.

Joshua is so stubborn and sometimes so difficult to get through to. It can be very frustrating for both of us. He is really smart and reading more and more words every day. But, I know he is easily distracted and really doesn't like to be told what to do. This may be a hereditary issue. Just sayin'. But we did talk last night about what he enjoys most and least. He told me he likes science the best (after guitar and art) and then math. He is over all the handwriting and copywork. I think I'll back off on that only because his handwriting is pretty good already.

Joshua's passport for Expedition Earth

This week we finished learning about Egypt and started Ancient Greece and Rome. We learned about weather and it was great that the boys could tell their dad why the thunder comes after the lightning and what the thunder really is.
I think I mentioned this is week two but I wish everything held my boys' attention like Curious George. He is a miracle worker!

Week 2

It is interesting to watch how different my boys are. Nikolas colors lightly and slowly. Joshua colors hard and dark. Nikolas is going through about ten pages a day in his math book! He really loves to listen to me read. Joshua, on the other hand, is really hard to work with sometimes. He has a hard time focusing and is still not a fan of workbooks. But he also likes to listen to me read but he has to be playing with trains or something while I'm reading, which is fine by me as long as he is quiet. His reading is always improving and instead of reciting our memory verse he read it today. We are finishing the Core pretty quickly but the language arts seems to drag a bit, I may cut some out because they are a little ahead of the game with phonics and reading. Week 2 has been another success. Whew!

We learned about rainbows and weather this week.

Ready for lunch!

 We also learned about the Egyptians and did some hieroglyphics. 

We also finished The Boxcar Children, early! I have really enjoyed reading it to the boys. They always want to know what happens with the kids next. We finished it a week early! I am enjoying the books that Sonlight has chosen, it is only week 2. We also started reading The Complete Adventures of Curious George. The boys love George! Two other books we read that are not part of our curriculum are The Brave Young Knight by Karen Kingsbury and What Happens When I Talk to God? by Stormie Omartian. These were both great books with vibrant pictures and even better words. I highly recommend them!

What Happens When I Talk to God?: The Power of Prayer for Boys and Girls By Stormie Omartian / Harvest House Publishers It's never too early to assure your children that their prayers really do make a difference! Bestselling author Stormie Omartian helps kids ages 3-7 get to know God better, thank Him for His love and ask for His help in tough times. Bright, contemporary watercolors present a beautiful picture of kids growing closer to God in prayer.

The Brave Young Knight By Karen Kingsbury / Zonderkidz What distinguishes a great leader? Is he faster, stronger, or smarter than everybody else? Not necessarily, as one young knight learns. Join him as he competes with other boys to become prince of the land---and discovers that those who have the courage to fight for what is right and true are the real winners.

Our New Calendar and some ham.

Hubs made a frame from pvc pipe for our new calendar and we got to use it today! This was as serious as I could get them to be.

Classroom Redo... again.

Our map area! 4 maps to please my little guys' need to know where everything is. Literally. The US map rug is from Costco. The world map on the wall is a shower curtain (thank you Pinterest!) that I ordered from eBay. There is an inflatable globe that I hung from the ceiling to get the rotation effect. And the map under the window is from Sonlight and it has the world on one side and the US on the other. It is markable, so as we learn about different areas we mark on it with wet-erase markers. Then we can go back and review throughout the year. Oh, that window really needs to be cleaned. 

To the left of the maps is the brain of the operation Mom's desk up against the wall. Everything is neatly stored (in this picture anyway) under the table, on the table, next to the table... everywhere! My laptop is closed but this is pretty much where is stays. Pinter, Cricut, laminator, paper, books, basic supplies like pencils, crayons, glue and scissors. We do most schooling here at the table. For more on my bulletin board, click here.

To the left of that are the bookshelves, storage cabinet and the boys' desks. For more on the boy's area, click here. To learn about how I organized our books, click here.

This collapsible storage basket or box thing holds the books we use for the week, teacher manuals, my binder (more on this is another post), my school books, planner and non-fiction books that I am trying to read. That adorable owl cup is from Christian Book and has Proverbs 2:6 on it. My Cricut stays on top of this box and my light is clipped to it.

Week 1

We completed week one of the 2012-2013 school year. Sonlight is going to be great! It made my life so easy and the boys enjoyed the reading. Joshua would rather read than do math but he is liking the Math from Critical Thinking better than others we have tried. Nikolas loves the math and does about 4 pages per day. Explode the Code is always a hit, Joshua is doing his online right now. It went well, better and easier than I anticipated. There was some whining and moaning but we got through. Next week we have Vacation Bible School and I don't plan on doing any school. Then on 8/13 we will be back to 4.5 days of school per week. I think it will be a great year!

Celebrating Dad's birthday at ComicX for dinner.

The Boys' Work Space

Through the look-through is our front door, hooks for jackets and my purse. The blue chart on the left goes with Explode the Code. 

Each boy has a desk and a set of drawers. 

Nikolas' desk, drawers (that I jazzed up with paper that they each chose). Nikolas has everything blue. That is his weekly binder on top. His name plate above his desk with shapes, numbers and letters on it.

You can see the paper I lined the boring plastic drawers with. Then just printed out labels. Any individual supplies (color-coded pencils and notebooks) will go in the top drawer, workbooks in the middle and journals or fun stuff in the bottom.

Joshua's desk and laptop. His binder is red. He has the name plate on the wall above his desk like Nikolas.