I spent time, gathered and posted two different things for yesterday…all done on Tuesday.   And somehow they disappeared!  I’m so frustrated.  It was pictures of the kids with grandparents for Christmas.  So, look for those posts tomorrow.  However, since we’re starting back to school on Monday, I decided to update what we’ll be doing for the second part of the year!

Zoe:  Character Quality Language Arts Level Pre-A, Green Series.  This is a language arts series that has no frills but is straightforward in teaching grammar, writing, dictation, reviewing phonics, comprehension, reading, etc.  It’s going to be a tough couple of months as adjust from Abeka phonics and reading and spelling to this…however, I think it’s going to be the challenge Zoe’s been lacking.  At the end of this month, for example, she’ll be writing her first book report!  Not only is it great in teaching language arts, it’s also chock-ful of character traits in relationship to the Bible.  Yippee!  That’s more than a two-fer to me!

Ace: Will continue with K5 Phonics with Abeka although I’m struggling to make it more challenging.  He’ll finish it up early this year because of how much he’s taken off!  I can’t wait to see it.

Liam:  Is continuing with gross and fine motor skill building along with cognitive skills.  He’s also going to start K4 Phonics with Abeka again.  We tried it in August and he wasn’t quite ready.  So, we’ll try again and see how it goes.  He really is ready to start writing and we’ll probably work on that “informally” as well.

As for the rest of the subjects for Zoe and Ace:

Math:  Saxon Math 1…Zoe’s already figuring out multiplication facts but we still need to work on basic math such as the addition and subtraction of single and double digits.  As well as the $$ part of math…so, we’ll continue while she continues thinking about multiplication and we help her figure that out.  She’ll fly through the times tables when we get there.

History/Geography:  We’ll spend January covering Georgia history with a neat packet I got at the homeschool conference last year.  Then, because I noticed the kids had no clue how to locate, say, their HOME state, on a map, we are starting Geography.  This is where their group Christmas present will get a workout…a SmartGlobe from Oregon Scientific.  We’ll be using Beginning Geography workbooks from Evan Moor for this study!

Science:  Continuing with the most awesome Answers in Genesis God’s Design for Life.

We’re adding two new things this year.

Music:  My mom gave us a child’s 8 note set of handbells and so, the kids will be learning very simple music theory and music with those…they are thrilled with the gift and can’t wait to learn it.

Spanish:  We have recently befriended a new minister and his family that has come to our area.  They will be starting a Spanish speaking church plant which is much needed…there are few, if any, Protestant Spanish speaking churches in our area…and they are much needed. Their family is precious and they share much of the same values and beliefs we have (as far as family and the church goes)…Mark has remarked that he’d love to attend their church if we could only understand what he was saying!!!  Don’t freak out church friends…their services are in the afternoons and I’m not saying we’re really going to change churches 🙂  However, we’ve offered to help them but our services are pretty limited because of the language barrier…so, if we can overcome that, we’d be a much better help and we’d all be able to particpate in this ministry not just Mark and I.  And so, we are using Teach Them Spanish! to get started and probably something a little more intense once the kids (and us) pick up on it!

Looks pretty packed but it’s not too much.  Our music and Spanish will only be once a week so that should make it a little easier for us.  I’m looking forward to all the challenges that the rest of this school year will bring.  We’ll finish up with school the first part of June, pending any interruptions or family events.