Back into routine?????

The lack of posts can tell you what life has been like here the past few weeks!  Before Christmas we finished our study on Ancients!  Yeah!!  Our time line is complete and fun to look at on the wall.  Over a year of work! 

We took 2 weeks off at Christmas, then on New Year's Day, my best friend's father passed away suddenly.  We've been supporting their family the past couple of weeks so we've been out of routine a bit.  We made our last trip out of town this weekend and this week we're going to buckle back down!  In the midst of this we celebrated Rylan's 6th birthday!!

Even in the midst of some chaos, we have gotten quite a bit done the past couple weeks.  We started our new history book focusing on Early Church history and the Middle Ages.  So far, it hasn't been good for the Christians!  Prison and martyrdom has been prevalent!  The new book is packed with much more information, so I have to break it down more for the kids.  I added a daily picture/narration to our history work.  Also, the kids each have their own time line, to which premade figures and their narrations/pictures are added.  It's working out really well and the kids love having their own timeline.  No more fighting over who gets to put whom on!

All the kids have been reading (or have been read to) a version of Beowulf.  Jayden is still in the midst of his version since it's longer and harder.  The kids have done well with such a gory story.  The children's versions that I chose are quite nice.  The younger boys had one version, Kylie another with a bit more and Jayden's is still a child's version, but with a lot more detail.  I don't remember ever reading the story so I'm learning too!  I hear lots of "GROSS!" when we read!  (and I have to agree!) 

Bryson continues to grow rapidly in his reading skills and Rylan has graduated from a true beginner to a much more fluent reader.  He tackles most of the "easy readers" with ease.  He will often choose to sit and read in his free time as well.  Greg and I both love to see our childrens' love for reading growing all the time.  Jayden has particularly been into Roald Dahl and of course, chemistry books!  Kylie FINALLY figured out that American Girl books are NOT hard for her.  She tried to read them a year or so ago and struggled.  She has refused to read them any more... until I brought home Kaya books.  She was into Sacajaweah (sp?) so I was hoping maybe a Native American would interest her.  It worked!  She reads them in one sitting (which I was not surprised about).

Math is going well.  Rylan continues to amaze  me with his ability to memorize facts.  His writing is the biggest obstacle.  I think I'm probably the only one that can decipher his writing... :-( 
Jayden is flying through learning his division facts.  All his work in Gamma (multiplication) really paid off when learning division.  He will start remainders coming up here.  Kylie is just 2 lessons away from finishing Beta (addition and subtraction) and will start Gamma (multiplication) in a week or so.  She hates anything new, so this should be an interesting transition.  I know she will do well as she excels at her math lessons... it will just be the hurdle of a new skill.  Bryson continues to do well in his Primer as well.  He's not quite to adding and subtracting, but close.

Spelling is going well for all... we still love our program.  Jayden is about to move into Level 4.  Both the older kids spelling skills are really quite good and I credit that to our wonderful program!  It truly is a jewel.  Rylan started Level 1 not too long ago and is already half way through. 

Writing is also going well for the older two.  I moved Jayden into Level 3 of Writing With Ease.  He's doing so well with narrations and dictation.  In just a few months he has caught up to the level he's "supposed" to be at.  Kylie is doing wonderfully with Level 2 as well.  For both kids, this has really helped them be able to narrate better in history and science.  They no longer struggle with what to write during these times.  Rylan still really struggles with fine motor.  His writing is very shaky.  I've been trying to figure out what to do with him next year for writing/grammar.  I think I've decided on WWE 1 and FLL (First Language Lessons) for him.  WWE has just a bit of writing so it's very gentle.  FLL is all oral grammar work for first grade.  Perfect for him.  Bryson, on the other hand, will be writing novels by the time he's 5! 

Oh, speaking of novels... Rylan has been writing stories!  Okay, not writing, rather, typing!  He sits down at the computer and types out his own original stories.  They are pretty cute too!  This is amazing to me since he would NEVER write them... but he loves typing.

We started a new science (Elemental Science) and the kids and I just love it!  It follows very closely the suggestions in WTM.  We've been doing narrations 3 times a week and the curriculum makes it really easy (which is why we're actually getting them done!).  We also consistently have one experiment a week which the kids just love!  We have one (maybe 2?) weeks left of animals and then we start a 10 week study of the human body.  I am SO excited for this as are the kids!  They will each get to make real paper models of the body systems.  What I got will work great for the older two, but I think the younger two need something different.  I need to take a look at something for them. 

Piano is going good for the older three.  As of late, not as much practicing, but again... we'll get back to it this week.  Jayden started basketball and he's excited to get back to that.  Kylie is still skating, soon to be getting ready for the spring show.  We got to see her costume and it's really cute (even yellow!).  She is NOT overly excited for the show (hates being in front of people), but I'm hoping she has a good experience.  Believe it or not, we have to sign Jayden up for baseball THIS WEEK!!  (Okay, Rochester is ridiculous since baseball doesn't even start until JUNE!)  We're trying to find a way for the younger boys to try soccer this spring...

Here are some picts.. not of school, but just fun ones over the past few weeks...

We finally finished our Trojan Horse!!

 

The "Farkle Queen" playing with Grandpa Curt.

 

Daddy (far left) with the cast of our church Christmas drama.  (The Elvises 

were the three kings!)

 

We loved the bird show at the zoo! This rounded out

our study on birds...

An original production of Little Red Riding Hood

put on by Ky and her best friend Chloe.  All their

own idea!

 

Celebrating Rylan's 6th birthday with our best friends!

Rylan requested a penguin cake this year.  

 

Rylan's first "kid" birthday party at a bouncing place.

We had several busy boys!!

 

Daddy and Anh in the gymnastics pit at Liam's 7th birthday this past weekend!

 

I guess that's it for now... it's either feast or famine here!