Lego Club

I mentioned that a fun part of fifth grade this year is the Lego Club we host twice a month.

It's a very small group of homeschooled friends.

We meet on the first and third Thursday of each month.

Our meetings start with a time for show and tell, each kid brings something they have built.

Then we have a challenge.

 Self portraits one week.

Balloon powered car races.

Lego glasses

pumpkins, turkeys, blind builds.... they have all been fun.

After the challenge is completed the kids have free build time.

It has been a very wonderful experience. I have a fun time watching the kids get to know each other better, work together, encourage one another, and just have fun.  

A New School Year

It's an odd time to post this, since we are midway through our 14th week of fifth grade, but here we are. 

We decided to homeschool again this year.  So far it has been going very well. We went with a Timberdoodle bundle, that I ended up shifting around a little.We will use it all, but the writing program will be put off until next year, and we are probably going to take two years to get through the history curriculum. I also opted for real literature reading instead of the Literature textbook everyday.

Our workload is a good balance of worksheets and book reading.  I really love our history curriculum as it is all US History this year, and very rich in content.  We recently put a pin in it to dig deeper into the Revolutionary War, which is very interesting to Nate, and I enjoy learning about it too, so why not!

Our hands on activities are great, and I rotate in the excellent activities from previous years, so we have so many options!

We've added a couple of new parts to our homeschool.  One being Poetry Teatime.  Once a week( in theory) we set a fancy table, have special treats, hot chocolate and read poetry.  We have read other things, like Letters From Afar, and even done Mad- Libs during this time.  It's a great addition to our schooling.  We have also started a Lego club, but I'll explain that some other time.  

So far this year has been very smooth.  Thankfully we do not have testing this year, and word is the flu shot should be more effective so last year's fear of truancy shouldn't be repeated. 

(Nathan had 3 separate week long illnesses during fourth grade.  Between spring break( I don't regret it) and a trip home for a loss in the family, I was concerned about getting our legal minimum completed!)

Perhaps it's just the maturity of another trip around the sun, but this year has been much better in certain subjects.  Last year the literature I had planned was an absolute nightmare.  So terrible in fact, I ended up letting him read aloud ANYTHING.  The books he had been hellbent on hating last year, have him reading with ease and excitement this year.  He has read, Robinson Crusoe, The Time Machine, and Journey to the Center of the Earth with great enthusiasm! 

What a difference!

We are working on growing an enjoyment of art, I'll update if we ever make progress on that front!

Remember When I Used to Blog?

Ya... Me either
I miss it though. 
Documenting our day to day life is important to me!
After a year away, I am going to make the time and effort to get back into a good routine.

I was so sad when I started looking back through my neglected McMath Moments and realized I was doing a great job of documenting our Expedition Earth adventures.  Then I just stopped.  It makes me seriously bummed that I did not get to show the rest of our journey and the rest of our fourth grade year.  I did make a recap though, and I will share that because it was a FANTASTIC school year!

I really am going to commit to keeping up this blog.  So check back real soon!