Term 1 Update Week 12 (Year 2 and Year 0)

These updates are the highlight of our culminating weeks!  I love looking through the reading list and reflecting on the growth of the kids and giving thanks to God for being able to be here to see their development in character and academics!  Reading through the Volume 6 study as well as the Volume 1 study this year also continues to shine a light that this path I am on is the right path at the right time.  I'm so thankful for my "tribe" of fellow Charlotte Mason mamas in our book studies and co-op and the support of my family!  I just realized this is starting to sound like an Oscar worthy acceptance speech so I will go on to update how our term went in weeks 7-12!  LOL!  If you want to see an update of weeks 1-6 click here.

Schedule


First off, let me share this video with you of how I plan out our weeks.  I have fallen in love with our schedule and although we don't get EVERYTHING done in a Charlotte Mason way (I totally have dropped the ball on Swedish Drill and Handicrafts!) I have seen that this format for us works and schooling is getting done in a beautiful way with a rich feast of topics!

Christian (Year 2)


Our reading list has become a little thicker now that we are in Year 2 but I would have to say that he has become a wonderful narrator and loves the stories in each subject!  His favorite right now is the Burgess Animal book and loves it when we look up each mammal/rodent after reading.  I started a project of combining a companion guide to the book and will hopefully finish the Term 1 chapters so I can having something to review with him at the end of the year and also have the resource for Eva Mae when she hits Year 2!
Our history readings are making all sorts of connections and I can really see the work that went into scheduling both the Our Island Story, Child's History of the World, Little Duke, and other books like Leif the Lucky.  Christian is proud that he has "Viking Blood" from both sides of our family! LOL! (My dad's family was from England with Scandinavian roots and Nick's family is also a mix of some European countries - predominantly England and Scotland.)  All the stories from Viking Tales last year and the references this year make him so proud when we read about some sort of Viking/Norman reference!  I love it!
His copywork is cursive and he loves it!  I love the Queen Homeschooling "Pictures in Cursive" and he also works with a cursive app on my phone once in a while.  There is still some improvements to make but I love that he is really taking to the work. His spelling is also coming along even without any formal work. He loves to keep a notebook and will write on his own, coming to me when he is curious on how to correctly spell a word.
I know I've said it before, but I am totally in love with Miquon.  He is multiplying fractions with whole numbers and it "clicks" with very little instruction from me.  Good job buddy!!!

Eva Mae (Year 0)


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Eva Mae's reading list is very short.  I have one fairy tale listed for each week and then have her narrate it back to me.  She is doing so well and I can see her attention span starting to mature!  Thank goodness!!!  She is still full of life and silly and creative - my left handed dreamer! But she is starting to develop into a great little student!  I think a huge part of that is being able to feel like she is bigger with having her own little Kindergarten co-op a few times a month and working through a math and handwriting book.  Our co-op has been great to cover some science each month for the kids!  So far term 1 has been all about the life cycle of plants!  We've learned about apple trees, corn, and pumpkins!  The kids have had a blast!
Eva Mae's math is also Miquon and things are clicking for her too!  In fact, this is a cute game we came up with together after our lesson on sums of "5!"

Today she did some subtraction and I think our next unit will start on number lines.  I loved that section when Christian was in Kindergarten!

Both Christian and Eva Mae are growing up in their reading skills too!  I kind of find it a little sad that I can send Christian off with a book and he can come back and narrate it to me without having me read it to him!  That's how we're doing some of our free reads.  The smaller books on the free read list are done by himself.  The larger chapter books I am still reading to him.  Eva Mae has easily passed the first 6 books of the BOB book series and we're continuing to work on phonics with her, letting the skill happen naturally through exposure in games, at restaurants, signs, etc.

Field Trips and Co-ops!


We've had an amazing few weeks of field trip opportunities!  We went to Florida for a few days and had a wonderful time learning about sea-shore nature studies (aloe plants, fish, crabs, sea shells, Spanish moss, sand pipers and seagulls, and palm trees!)

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We also visited the Huntsville Space Center and it was a lot of fun to see Christian's interest really pick up after experiencing many of the exhibits and displays!  He even changed his costume idea for Halloween (Odd Squad character) and chose to be an Astronaut!

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Our music this term has also come to life as we have been to several live concerts!  We went to hear Peter and the Wolf at the Nashville Symphony and then we attended a Baroque concert a few weeks later to hear music by Corelli, one of our composers this term!

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Co-op is also such a blessing because we can learn music, art, Shakespeare, and literature along with our friends!  Now that we are in Term 2 we have so much more fun activities to look forward to!
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Thanks for reading the update!!!  I do plan to work on some "Term Exams" with Christian this coming week as we jump into our new term.  Geography, Timeline, Drawing, Handicrafts, and Drill have been done but not on a weekly basis like I would hope.  However, I don't feel like the kids are lacking at all.  We may not have done a worksheet for Geography, but Christian can sing all the 50 states in song because we practice singing in the car!  Or he may not have written a story in his timeline from a reading, but he was able to make a connection in time from one reading to another in his narration!  Handicrafts will be taking precedence as we get ready for Christmas gifts this month! LOL!  I will hopefully update week 6 of Term 2 before we break for the Holidays!

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