Loving it...but feeling stressed

The kids have taken so well to homeschooling.  In fact, they say they LOVE it.  Pretty amazing coming from kids who were so negative about school last year.  I love it too.  I love that we have time together.  I love that I'm not crying tonight because public school starts tomorrow.  I love that I can give individual attention to the subjects that need it most and that we can breeze ahead in the subjects that come so easily for them.  BUT, I have been stressed this week.  I still have such a learning curve on how to best teach the children.  And I am having a hard time narrowing down what we will learn this year...I want us to learn it all.  Praying that God will help me simplify my plans and focus on what we need to learn.

Our big project this week was beach presentations.  The boys each chose something from the ocean or beach to research and then compiled and presented their research to the Principal.  G focused on sharks and put together an impressive Power Point presentation to go along with his oral presentation.  T studied hermit crabs.  He used his new pet crab "John" as his visual aid.  It was T's first time to give an oral presentation using only notes.  He aced it.  Both boys received an A from the Principal who is known for being tough in the grading department.

This was our first week to focus on spelling.  Below is a craft we did to practice our spelling words (writing them out with yarn & glue).  G (who hates spelling) said "This is really fun!".  I pray that all three kids will realize that learning can be fun & that they will be motivated to become life-long learners.

First Field Trip

We surprised the kids with their first field trip...and it was a BIG one.  We told them that we were going to visit their Aunt & Uncle in Katy.  They were SOOOO excited.  We did not tell them that the next morning they were going to Gulf Shores, Al for a week-long vacation.  It was nearly impossible to keep the secret, but so worth it to see the excitement and shock on their faces when they found out the plan.

When we told the boys that we were heading to the beach...notice the matching Beach Bum t-shirts.

The Colors of the Seasons

This has been a great first week of Pre-K!  My favorite part has been just having more intentional focused time together.

We read the following books to help us learn more about the four seasons.

To wrap up our study of the four seasons A created a poster showing the different colors and looks of the seasons.  

While A worked on her poster W "water" painted:)

Sugar Substitute

In this case the Sugar Substitute is grandma.  Sugar came down to teach the kids about ancient civilizations while I enjoyed a weekend getaway with friends.  The kids LOVED it!  They made a model of the Nile River Delta and practiced cuniform writing on clay tablets.

Oh, yes, we also got some new Aggie hats that we're very proud of.

Martin Academy's Opening Day

Martin Academy officially opened today.  A was thrilled to be starting her first day of Pre-K.  She knew we would be starting Pre-K on Monday so she has been asking every day when Monday will be.   We began our morning with blueberry muffins and some sweet Bible time.  

Our character trait for the week, based on our memory verse and Bible story, is being orderly.  With that in mind, I thought it was the perfect time to introduce her chore chart.  For now, this is a new and exciting thing:) The pictures were drawn by none other than Mr. Martin.

 I found this idea off of planted-by-streams.blogspot.com along with many of her other ideas that I have been inspired by.

One of the most surprising things about today was how quickly our actual "school work" was completed.  We did about 30 minutes this morning of Calendar Math and Handwriting and 40 minutes of Phonics/Reading and Science during W's nap time.


In between our lessons, we enjoyed swimming at the pool with Sugar.

It was a fun, successful first day of Martin Academy!