Week 4 and 5!

We're getting settled into our daily routine ever so slowly. No two days have looked exactly the same, but we are getting our work done and having fun as much as possible. Every once in a while I have to remind them that they are still "in school" so they need to calm down and be respectful of our school time - but for the most part, they are doing great!

Eden is losing teeth left and right! Since this picture was taken, she lost another bottom tooth! 

My Ella

Working hard

We start each day with memory verse work and a "draw through the Bible" lesson. I read a Bible story out loud and the girls draw whatever they want to represent what they are hearing. It has been an incredible way to get our "God time" in BEFORE the dreaded bedtime routine when no one is in the mood to sit still and listen. :) 

The beginnings of Ella's drawings - the clock represents the time that had passed, the man is Noah, the 40 represents the days and the rainbow is self explanatory! :) 

Eden's work for Noah's Ark

Ella's finished drawing with her memory verse at the bottom

I'm sorry - when did Eden start to look like a woman???!!!???

I decided to try something new and it is working GREAT! I take a plain piece of white printer paper and create a lesson plan for each child for that day. They feel so empowered when they get to check off a task that I think it makes them work harder! Hmmm...they might get that from me. ;) 

Eden working on her first spelling crossword puzzle

Busy board day! 

Ella is in the beginning stages of multiplication and Saxon uses the "groups of" visual concept to begin learning this lesson. Look at the arms on this kid! 

Multiplication here we come!!!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE when I walk into the classroom and find Ella sincerely helping Eden. Makes my day!!!

Ella working on her reading lesson

This was crazy to me. I opened up their memory verse notebooks and could not tell which one belonged to Ella and which one belonged to Eden! Their handwriting is becoming identical!! 

I decided to call Memaw and let the girls recite their memory verse for her. They were so surprised and excited when she started reciting HERS to them!! SO SWEET! 

And - the coolest thing that happened to us this week was that we decided to make "thank you" cards for the police officers and as we were delivering them, Channel 5 News just happened to be there covering a different story and asked if they could interview the kids! It was super special and a great way for my kids to see how doing something nice for someone else can potentially lead to something nice happening to YOU! :) 

Week 2 and 3 down!

Post #2 - I'm already doing better than last year with my posting...so...yay! :)

We have had a great start to this school year. Last year I was so stinking stressed about doing everything "right" that I think we missed out on one of the major benefits of homeschooling...HAVING FUN! Now, don't get me wrong, we have already had a few "if you do not sit down and finish your work" threats, but overall, I'm trying really hard to make this year's work interesting and more interactive.

First on the agenda = FUN DAY MONDAY! 

Since we started back to school weeks before the public school, I thought a cool tradition would be for us to take that day off and just enjoy the fact that we get to be together and school at our own pace. We went swimming at my bestie's house and then enjoyed a nice lunch together before heading home for Ivy's afternoon nap. Great fun was had by all! 

I'm sorry - when did she grow up???!!!???

Ivy was more interested in the non-pool activities :) 

But these three water bugs had a blast! 

It's always best to be "safe" when mowing the grass! 

Love him! 

I told Eden to fly...

...and because of that, Miss Competitive had to go next :) 

We had quite a bit of work to accomplish after taking off a day, so here is a little glimpse into the next few days.

We had a little break in the super hot weather so we decided to take advantage of it and go on a nature walk. I found this idea on Pinterest (where else, right??) so we grabbed our notebooks and left the house! Ella drew pictures to go with her words.

Eden's findings!

Ella independently working on her Reading lesson - LOVE that she can do this now!! 

We had a super busy math week so we moved our study time back upstairs to our old classroom with the huge whiteboard...aka...Little D's bedroom :) 

I took Ella's spelling words for the week and scrambled them up. Daddy took her on a coffee date later that night and she worked on unscrambling them for "homework." She drew a little picture up top. She takes after her daddy in the art department! 

Sweet little Ivy wanted to work on her spelling words too!

Eden practicing her odds and evens

Ivy wore David's superhero cape for like 2 1/2 hours one morning. She wanted to do "math" on the board with Eden. :) 

Ella is working on a butterfly packet for Science

Eden is working on a frog packet

Ella's reading has improved SO much! It makes my heart so happy to sit next to her and only have to help her with the hard words. She is a rock star! 

My little ladies hard at work

Working on their memory verse

Wish this was real money ;)

Eden working on her planets packet

Math!

English time

Week 3 Spelling Words

Eden is learning how to graph in Math 

Ivy stole Eden's pattern blocks. Still wearing the cape! :)

Loving Ella's handwriting these days!! I told her that I didn't want to see anything other than this type of perfection from here on out. I'm a no-pressure kind of mom/teacher! ;)