Hi, everyone! I hope your 2021 is off to a decent start. I know many, many people were hopeful that as soon as the calendar turned from 2020 to 2021, things would feel lighter and suddenly be more "normal". I knew that probably wouldn't be the case, but I've still been surprised by the political unrest we've already seen this year. I have found it difficult to not feel down about everything these past several weeks. I think it's a combo of post-holiday blues, longing for life to feel a little normal again, and the constant influx of information regarding the pitiful state of our nation. Our January calendar just looks so empty compared to how it has looked in the past, and that's getting to my head a little bit. I miss parts of our "old" life . . . pre COVID when Bren was playing basketball, we had church events regularly, we visited the Library, I wasn't afraid to take my kids in public, and we had a school community that kept us busy. It's just so hard to not get caught up in feeling sad about it all.
With that said, I've been working hard to get us back into our school routine at home and fill our days with things that bring us joy and help keep us moving forward. I feel like before we went to Florida, we were in a great rhythm with school, and I'm anxious to find that place again. We took two weeks off for Florida, had two weeks of school when we returned (although we struggled through the first week and had company during the second week), then took two weeks off for Christmas break. So yeah, our first week back after the new year was pretty rough! This week was much better, and I'm hopeful that things will continue to improve.
Here are a few of our favorite moments from school this week that I want to share!
Bren received a Volcano Eruption kit for Christmas. Everyone was anxious to do some of the experiments!
Santa also brought him a microscope that he's been enjoying. It's fun for me to watch his delight in this kind of stuff!
Brianna has also been enjoying the microscope!
The science curriculum we are doing this year is all about Botany. This doesn't interest me too terribly much, but the kids have had a great time with it. Each lesson has several hands-on activities that they just soak up. I feel like I always have flowers, vegetables, or plants sprouting around my house as part of the Botany lessons! This week, they are seeing how long it will take for white carnations to start turning colors after placing food coloring in their water.
The big kids also wanted to get back to selling cookies since it's been a few months since they've sold. We made several batches of three different kinds of cookies this week for them to sell. Grampy took them out to sell as he often does, and they were disappointed that they only sold about 15 bags. It's a good lesson for them that not every week is going to be their best week!
The twins are doing really well with their basic subjects, and I try to remember to do fun projects with them, too. This week, I taught them how to cut snowflakes from coffee filters, then we painted them with watercolors.
They turned out so pretty!
We've been playing lots of games . . . sight word bingo, Monkey Math, and Lemonade Stand (which teaches money concepts). I try to keep things fun for them!
We also started learning to tell time. We already had one clock, and some friends handed the other clock down to us. It's great that they both have their own!
I put Brianna and Brenson in the same math this year, and that has worked really well. They are able to help each other, and they pretty much do most of their math without my help. It's important to me that they learn how to learn and figure things out for themselves (although I'm certainly available if they need me).
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this on here before or not, but my parents teach my kids a bible class on Thursdays. We started this last semester, and after taking December off, we have started back at it. Mom teaches Brooke and Brecklyn, while Dad does a class with Bren, Brianna, and Chloe. It's been wonderful for the kids, and it gives me a small break during the week! This semester, Dad suggested that he teach a shop class with Bren on Friday afternoons, while Mom gives Brianna cooking and sewing lessons. This has also worked out great so far, and I know the kids are loving it. I can't say enough how grateful I am that they want to teach my kids these valuable skills!
While there's nothing too exciting going on around here, there are blessings to be found every day. Homeschooling has been an amazing (and growing!) experience for me, and I hope the kids feel the same way. I definitely love it more than I thought I would and that has been an excellent surprise :-).
No comments:
Post a Comment