Back to School 2016/2017

Well this is supposed to be a Weekly Wrap-Up post, but we had a very busy weekend and I didn't get around to it, so I will just make it a Monday's Musings post! That's how we roll around here!

Last week we started back to school for the year. It is just so absolutely hot that we school year round so that we can take advantage of the cooler weather in the fall and spring. My kids don't mind because they hate being outside in the heat anyway. Might as well do something productive!

I would say that after having a break due to my oldest getting married and traveling, that we did pretty good. The kids had gotten into a late night habit so getting them up was a little bit of a chore. Other than that issue, it was a good first week!

We are still doing a pretty eclectic style of learning, mainly because I'm blessed to be able to review some totally awesome curriculum. Other than that, we try and keep it to a Charlotte Mason approach including Ambleside Online and Notebookingpages.com to notebook what they've learned. You can read my review of Notebookingpages.com here. They have really enjoyed the living books from Ambleside, so I try to incorporate it as much as I can.

So their schedule looks something like this:

We do a different worship song every week. They learn it and then they can notebook or journal how they can apply that song to their life or if they just want to write down what God has put on their heart. It's their time to spend with God.

We follow this with Bible/Devotional time. Gavin is continuing on with Veritas Press for Bible, and working out of his devotional, "The Plans I have for You." He will also journal in his journal that goes along side of his devotional. Edyn will be using Ambleside Online for her bible reading, and working out of her Devotional, "Jesus Calling." She will also be journaling using her new Spiritual Circle Journal. I will be doing a review on it soon!

Math - They are both using CTC math. We like it pretty well so far. I will also be doing a review on this one soon.

Lang. Arts/Writing - Edyn is using Apologia's Writer's in Residence. This is such a great program! You can read my review on it here.  Gavin is using Essentials Skills Advantage and Here to Help Learning. You can read the review of ESA here, and the review for Here to Help Learning here.  

They then work on their poetry memorization. This has been such a great course for them, and has proven to them that they can memorize things if they want to! It is by the Institute in Excellence in Writing and you can read the review for it here.

History is strictly Ambleside Online, unless they read some biographies on certain people in history during their personal reading time. They notebook everything they read.

Science - Edyn reads books on things in science that interest her, and then notebooks about it. She will have a full Science and Nature notebook by the end of the year. Gavin will be using Apologia's Astronomy and Notebooking Journal. Review to come soon! He loves it so far!!

Spanish is by Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids. They are already having a ball with it, and learning! Review to come on it also!

Gavin is also continuing on his Music Appreciation with Zeezok, and Edyn likes to listen in. You can read my review for it here.

Gavin is doing a short health course that I will also be reviewing soon. It is by Homeschool Scholastics, an i4 Learning Company, and he's also enjoying it so far.

They do personal reading time for 30 minutes a day, and can read longer if they choose!

We will also be adding things as we review them, even if we use them for the review period, and put them off for next year! That's the fun of being a reviewer!

Edyn is also diligently working on her sign language. She has taught herself so much so far along with everything she learned from her classes a few months ago. We are hoping to do a second class in the fall for her.

Their days right now take between 3.5 and 4 hours. We do Science on Monday and Wednesday, and History on Tuesday and Thursday. We take Fridays off since we school year round. This gives them time to catch up in case they missed a day during the week, or if we did school every day, a fun day! I like to have the flexibility for us!

So after a fun filled week of getting back in the groove, we took that Friday off and went to the neatest bookstore that we literally could have stayed in for days. It was such a cozy and homey place. It was in an old church from the 1940's with antiques all around and books for days . We loved to hear the squeaky wooden floors and to see the bare shiplap from the original structure. We had great conversation with the owners and learned so much. I love how they say that homeschoolers are weird and socially awkward. I couldn't get mine to leave because they are so comfortable talking to adults and asking questions about all of the old finds. The War Room was our favorite. I thought Edyn was going to move in.

All in all it was a wonderful first week of school. I pray that the rest of the year is too! I hope everyone has a great week this week!

Monday's Musings #1 What's been going on at Anchor Academy?

Well I've been wanting to do a post on the things we've been doing here at Anchor Academy, but it's just been crazy this past couple of weeks. We've been going and going, and then I started having back pain. Who has time for that?? Not this mom! Anyway, I needed a few days to just relax and not worry about anything but relaxing. Let's just say I gave it the old college try. It's very hard for me to do considering I hate to be still! Even though my back was hurting, the learning must go on! Here's the highlights of our week last week.

Last Tuesday, June 9th was Leeper Day! Leeper Day is the day Texas celebrates homeschoolers in honor of the Leeper vs. Arlington ISD court ruling back in 1994. This decision gave the parents the right to teach their children at home. I am extremely thankful of this because Texas is one of the most favorable states to homeschool in. We learn year round and I love the fact that we have the freedom and flexibility to do this in our great state!
            

Here are some of my people on Leeper Day!

We seemed to have a lot of projects and experiments this last week. These are my kids favorite things to do. If it includes glue, coloring, food color, or anything messy in general, they are IN.

In Science, which we are taking Physics and Chemistry this year, we have been learning about molecules. The kids got to do what I call a kitchen table experiment using Cheerios, water, milk, and oil....and food coloring. 

So, they started with a bowl full of Cheerios to see how the molecules reacted, when we poured in milk. Of course they scattered, and moved around.

 Next, we had to add water colored with food coloring to observe what happened to the molecules, and determine if they changed. 

Finally, (their favorite) was adding oil to see the difference. This was definitely the most obvious of the 2 because oil and water do not mix. The water molecules attract water molecules, and the oil molecules attract oil molecules. They really enjoyed seeing the oil "float" on top of the water.

In history, we have been talking about the Pilgrims, and their voyage across the sea on the Mayflower. They are really enjoying this. Last year in history when we were studying ancient history, they were bored out of their minds. They hated it...I loved it. Oh the struggle!! The fact that they are actually enjoying this Early American history has me ecstatic!! I say bring on the Pilgrims!! I wish we were studying this closer to Thanksgiving, but since we school year round, it didn't work out. I think we will definitely do some kind of fun unit study closer to that time. We have been reading a very old book called Pilgrim Stories. I do it as a read aloud, and they love listening to it. They also made forts this week of Jamestown.

 There is nothing sweeter than little hands!

Don't ask where he got his black facial hair looking thing, if I had to guess I would say marker, but he's a boy, and well you know how that is.

So, that's a little bit about what we've been doing this last week. We've also been checking on our baby swallows nest on our porch! It's so hard to get pictures of them because of the way they build their nest. We can't even tell how many babies are in there. We do love observing how mama bird and daddy bird protect and take care of them. Hopefully I can make a post about them and give you an update...if they will let me get some pics. 

Here's one of mom and dad in the nest at night. 

Have a blessed week everyone!!

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