A week off

Wow, it's been awhile since I've updated!  This will be a quick one... we are taking the week off... our first real time off all fall.  I have to admit, I do miss doing school this week.  We have a busy week planned though so it will go fast.  The kids are in a great routine and it's a little hard to be out of it, but I know we need to take a bit of time off here and there... keeps us all on our toes!

The kids are all doing marvelously in their independent studies.  Jayden finished Gamma level math and has started Delta... he's completed multiplication and now moving onto division.  He's already got the concept and it is quite easy for him.  A nice break from multiplying 3 and 4 digit numbers together!  Rylan has decided he wants to work on his math independently now and he does so very well.  I just help him with the word problems at the end of his sheet.  He's doing so well... he really needed more challenge.  Bryson and Kylie continue on wonderfully as well.

It is fun to have all the kids reading now.  Even Bryson is on book 6 or so of the first Bob Book set!  He's doing a great job and learning to blend.  His vowel sounds are even coming along well.  We work out of Phonics Pathways, but use the All About Spelling tiles instead of the book at this point.  He loves it!  Rylan is reading amazingly well.  Loves all the easy readers... our latest fav was Owl at Home.  We had good laughs over Owl's silliness. 

History has us almost at the end of the Ancients!  Yeah!!  Jesus is almost born.  We've been waiting a long time for that!  We'll finish MOH Book 1 before Christmas... then we get to begin our new book and learn about the Early Church and the Middle Ages.  I'm going to move from doing one timeline to each child creating his/her own.  I think this will help them own it more and it will be fun for them to make it personal.  It will also allow for Jayden and Kylie to do a bit of journaling with their timeline... Jayden especially I feel like I need to expect a bit more out of.

In Science we finished up desert and woods.  The kids loved the Small Square books!  I'm really excited to start their next unit next week... birds.  I went to the library today and got lots of fun bird books.  I also found a Bill Nye on YouTube about birds AND we're going to go to the zoo to see the bird show.  Fun, fun, fun!!!

I've really appreciated recently our ability to home school our kids.  We are teaching them the values we want to instill each and every day.  I don't have to "undo" anything once they come home... I'm able to use teachable moments during the day... not just "book and paper" moments, but "real life" moments.  This is teaching that would not happen if I wasn't with them.  Jayden had one of those "teachable moments" today... one he would have rather not learned, but an important, character building one.  One I am glad I was able to have a hand in teaching.  

Tomorrow we get to visit Great Grandma and Nana.  The kids are excited to see them both as well as meet Nana's new puppy!  Kylie has only been talking of "Lucy" the past couple days!   The nice part about a flexible homeschooling schedule!