Tag Archives: Character Academy

Uggghhhh and Homeschooling in the New Year

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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.

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A Homeschool Christmas Party

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We were able to celebrate Christmas this year with a bunch of our homeschool friends.  I think the kids had a great time and I had less stress since Mark was there to help out!

They made gingerbread houses (okay, graham cracker houses)…
Christmas tree ornaments…
Christmas trees with tons of icing…I believe Ace was contemplating licking the spoon.
And glass ball ornaments (in which I was the only one who broke one).
They also listened to stories while the moms (and dad) cleaned up.
And this is where you keep the baby while you clean up.
The kids also got to watch a Christmas play and sing carols…but those are in video form so look for the next post.
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The Character Academy

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We did start school on Monday, but I just never got around to first day pictures! Wonder why?? So, here’s a picture from Zoe’s Science experiment. Our unit is on the Tower of Babel/building, etc. So, w gathered some samples of soil around our neighborhood. She glued some of them to paper to show how they’re different. Then we looked at how each type of soil compacted when you added water to it. Zoe enjoyed getting her fingers dirty! She didn’t like the way the red clay felt though.
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Done

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After a rocky start to the day, including a quick trip for milk for breakfast, we started school.

It went pretty well, except we forgot something for Ace’s so he did start his preschool curric., Interlock like we wanted…he’ll start it tomorrow, though.

Only a few tears from Zoe and Ace. Zoe on not getting the map of her room drawn to scale and perfectly. Ace because he whined while working on letters and couldn’t have a sticker.

Only 179 more days to go 🙂 Like we don’t do any teaching during the other days.

Ace really was excited about phonics. I’m wondering if I should have started him on two lessons a day like I did Zoe. He pretty much knows all of his letter sounds. I think for maturity sake, we’ll just stick with how we’re going.

Now it’s on to getting ready for our home visit from our social worker today!

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Answers In Genesis

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Can I just say that this morning was awesome, and I can’t wait to go back tonight. Zoe was thrilled and learned a lot. There is so much truth, science, and good news in the book of Genesis.

Here’s a trailer of a movie that Ben Stein (from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) been a part of. I think it will be very eye opening and I can’t wait to see it.

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Ken Ham is Coming, Ken Ham is Comming!!!

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We’re having a conference starting today at our church from Answers in Genesis! Can you tell I’m excited? Mark stayed home this morning so I could take Zoe to the school conference in the am and then we’ll be going tonight and tomorrow.

Now, for a potty update. Liam has no clue when he goes so I’m just letting him sit on it when he wants to and he goes, etc.

Everyone is sleeping better. Josiah is still waking up at 4 am on the dot and won’t go back to sleep until he snacks (not even ten minutes today) but he sleeps until 6:30 or 7.

I think that’s all the updates. I’ll post more later. Gotta go start some bread.

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Meet the Newest Character

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Meet Freddie the Fish (Beta, that is)!

See, you all thought I was pregnant again…hehehe…get your math straight. My kids are 17 to 19 months apart, so it’s when they’re 8 to 10 months old that I get pregnant. I still got another month.

This week we are studying fish. We took a trip to a local fish store to learn about the different kind of fish and being the insane woman I am, got a Beta fish. We figured if we could keep this one alive, then we’ll look at getting some “real” fish in a “real” aquarium. Looks like Liam’s lovin’ it to death! Poor fishy.

Anyway, he seems really bored but when I went to check on him tonight he seemed to perk up when I looked at him. Can’t believe I was talking to a fish. I’ve lost my mind!

And another thing, why do they keep poisonous fish in an OPEN tank toddler level! Eeek! Luckily, Liam had already stuck his hand in an open tank on the other side so I had a firm grip on it and I also yelled at Zoe and Ace to stay away.

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Field Trip!!!

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My kids have no concept of what this means and I pondered whether I had lost my mind this morning as we set out to a local art museum for Toddler Thursdays. Then I remembered that I have no brain to speak of…so I was good 🙂

Anyway, after getting lost and ending up at the city history museum, we made it to the art museum and headed over to hear the end of the talk about color (which Zoe and Ace already know but I thought they’d have fun. Then we went to do our art activity. It turned out better than I expected.

Zoe, Ace, and Liam all made bubble art. Zoe called her’s “Bubbles of Art.” Ace called his something that was incoherent (he makes up his own language sometimes).

So here’s what ya do:
Take some dishwashing soap and drop some food coloring in it. Have the child (or you if you child doesn’t know how to blow yet) blow bubbles then place a piece of paper/cardstock on top of the bubbles. It makes really cool designs.

We only saw one child suck instead of blow and taste some yummy soap. Liam was very good at letting me blow for him and when I wasn’t paying attention he’d call out “bow, bow peas” Just a couple of spills on our part and we were good.

After the art activity, I took them around the museum. It had a lot of wonderful, beautiful paintings that Zoe and I enjoyed looking at and Ace kept wanting to touch. Liam was firmly strapped into the stroller (I may have lost my mind but I know what’s smarts!) and Josiah was napping in the stroller. Ace about gave the security guys a heart attack but they left us alone for the most part and Ace enjoyed holding my hand most of the way through. As we were walking around, Zoe said she wanted to be an artist when she grew up. Surprise, surprise!! I can’t wait to see her face when she sees what “Santa” is bringing.

After the art museum we decided to head over and see what our city history museum held. To be honest, I can’t tell you about the history of our city, but I can tell you they had a cool train engine locomotive and car and a streetcar and a really great little play area that held the three olders attention while I breastfed Josiah.

So, that’s been our day and I’m hoping the kids get a nice long nap so they can play with daddy while I go out with MOPS.

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First Day Recap

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So, we finished up our first day of school. And to those, who didn’t catch earlier posts we are homeschooling. We are working from Alpha Omega’s Weaver Curriculum. They have preschool curriculum that we’re using called Interlock. I really like it. Right off this week, we’ll be talking about triangles and the Trinity and how God created everything.

So, an overview of a general week of school is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we do Interlock. I also work with Zoe out of two workbooks that are starting her on phonics and handwriting. On Tuesday and Thursday, Zoe and I work from workbooks that are centered around phonics, handwriting, and early development. We’re also working on telling time on those days. Tuesdays and Thursdays will also be our “going out” days as we’ll run errands, have ballet, and MOPS.

School went good. Getting used to a new routine is hard, but they’ll get used to it. Liam actually stayed downstairs and played while I worked with Zoe and Ace. We sang songs, talked about how Daddy’s are special and related it to our Heavenly Father and opened gifts from Daddy and a gift of the globe (which I found at Target for $15, thanks Kim) to represent God’s gift of the world to us. Zoe and Ace also made cards for Daddy. Ace learned about triangles and Zoe and I reviewed the three basic shapes. She was itching to get started in her handwriting book, and we worked two pages in it and then two pages in her phonics book. Lots of fun! Zoe said her favorite part was coloring and the gifts from daddy (which was candy). Ace said his favorite part was the candy. Josiah had a tough time getting to sleep but I think the key is swaddling him tight in his SwaddleMe…he’s been out for over an hour now!

I didn’t make them sit in the desk…it’s slanted and hard to do work on. But they wanted to get their picture made in it! Note, Zoe’s nice sunburn from playing outside at Fun Day yesterday. I think it’s a little cute for her…it’ll add to her sweet freckles.

Opps! I just realized Zoe is wearing Ace’s shirt…she’s got one that says, “I’m the big sister!”

Okay, it wasn’t Liam’s first day but he had to get his picture made. I just realized he really needs a haircut!
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