Week #1, homeschool

We made it through week #1 of homeschool. We have learned from the past three years of homeschool that things go much better when we spend the first week easing into it, so that's what we did. We spent our time becoming familiar with our new curriculum and subjects. We also had our first field trip and went to Sea Life Aquarium and got to dissect a squid. It was so cool! Here is a quick snapshot of our subjects and curriculum:

Group time (the subjects we do together), mom's favorite time of the day:
*Bible: We are doing a Kay Arthur for kids study on the first 6 chapters of Revelation. Super cool study!
*Zoology: We are studying all about flying creatures, I love Apologia science curriculum! This is our third study, we've already done Botany and Astronomy. We are Notebooking this year which means we study Zoology on Mondays and Wednesdays and I write main points on the white board, on Friday's each child picks a few topics and creates pages for their notebooks. It could be a paper about it, a poem, a drawing, a diagram, etc...
*Read-a-loud: I always pick a book to read out loud to the kids, right now we are reading the Hiding Place by Corrie TenBoom, my namesake. It's great insight into the Nazi concentration camps.
*Chores

Jadon's other subjects:
Physical Science (he is taking this class on Thursday mornings from 9 to noon) using Apologia's science book.
Math (Math-U-See Zeta)
Language Arts (Soaring with spelling, reading, and vocabulary), writing composition happens from our study of Zoology and our notebooking time.
History, he is studying World Mission, World Empires and World Wars. It's a new curriculum by Answers in Genesis, there is a learning curve to teaching it like with anything new but I think we are really going to like it!
Geography- a workbook on world geography.

Camden's other subjects:
Math (I don't have a formal math curriculum for Camden, I just print my own worksheets for him and we move on to the next topic once he masters the skills)
Geography- Camden is finishing up a study on the continents from last year, we have Europe and Asia left and he is also working through a map skills book
Language Arts- We are continuing to use Dianne Craft's approach to reading and writing and spelling. Camden's reading has improved so much (insert happy dance here). :)
History- Camden is studying about the Revolutionary war and I'm learning along with him because history is my weakness.

Annagrace's subjects:
Eagle Ridge- Anna attends Eagle Ridge on Tues/Thurs
Language Arts- Soaring with Spelling, Growing with Grammar, Reading
Handwriting- cursive book
Math- (Math-U-See Gamma)
History & Geography lifepacs by Alpha & Omega

So that is our "formal" curriculum but some of our best schooling happens when our noses aren't in our books. They can happen in the kitchen while cooking, while watching a documentary, while driving in the car, or while dissecting a squid! Check out our pics!