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!

Week 10

This week started with an ass early airport drop off.  Dave went to Texas for work on Sunday.

So we traveled to France alone.  

We had French Dip sandwiches and French fries with friends on Monday.

 Nathan got back into school work with nearly no issues.

We learned lots of cool things about France and the animals that live there.  

We made an Eiffel Tower puzzle.

I made Coq Au Vin, or rooster in wine for supper this week, and we enjoyed french cheese and crackers.

We had friends over to make soap.

I think because the French are known for their perfume, but making perfume would be really tricky with kiddos, so we made soap instead.  We used essential oils and shea butter glycerin.  It is so silky, and smells so delightful.

I had some fun molds to use.   

I even declared we must use my very precious rose oil.  

Which is nearly 200 bucks for a little tiny bottle because it takes a gazillion rose petals to make a single drop of oil or something like that.  

But the rose soap is so amazing.  

Seriously!  

I'm going to make more because I think it might make nice gifts.

It was a very fun relaxed week.  Apparently Nate wore the same shirt four days in a row! 

A Fall Break

After our ninth week of school we took a week off for a fall break.  

It happened to fall on the week of Halloween.

Nathan wanted to be a soldier.  

During our break we had lots of lazy mornings with cooked or baked breakfasts, lazy afternoons of catching up on sewing and playing.  

We met friends for lunch and bowling one afternoon.  Actually we got flu shots first, then bowling.

  

We went to opening night of the new Thor movie.

We talked our friends into skipping school one day to go visit The Bakery Fabrics in Belle Fourche.

It also gave us time to catch up on a couple things around the house too, and in the classroom.  Gulliver's Travels had to be finished and it was no biggie.

It was a great week.  We have Christmas break to look forward to in December, and spring break to DISNEY at the very end of February.  This year is FLYING by!

Week Nine

Week nine is in the bag!  We have finished a quarter of the school year.

We traveled to the United Kingdom.

Nate decided to dress up for school.  

The boys had fun with coding the Ozobot.

We caught up on all of our work.

And made a Big Ben model.  Actually it's an Elizabeth Tower model since 'Big Ben' is just the largest bell inside the tower.  FYI. 

One day this week I had started snipping my split ends while Nate was working, and he asked why I was cutting my hair.  I explained about my split ends and showed him, but I decided we should look at it under the microscope... It was INCREDIBLE!  So cool we had our friend come over to look at it.  They looked and suggested I switch to Pantene Pro-V. 

Weeks Seven and Eight

Week seven flew by! 

Our homeschooling friend S came over to do school with us a few days because her sister was recovering from having her tonsils removed.  

We were 'traveling' to Thailand and we had so much fun making Thai boats, playing chess, 

.....going swimming, and doing lots of fun stuff.  We watched lots of videos about the floating market, and the foods sold and eaten in Thailand which lead to some grossed out fourth graders. 

It worked out insanely well to have two kids to school.  Nate painted his pumpkin sculpture while I did S's spelling dictation with her.  We all had fun going over sentence diagramming.... and lunchtime was a flurry of excitement. 

Week eight was B-A-N-A-N-A-S because we had a change of foster placements on Monday and then a constant crying unhappy baby that kept me busy.  Nate did some work independently on those days, but we got it all done later in the week. 

We learned a lot about Russia this week.

Adding the crazy of the week, hockey has begun.  For the next month Nate has two - two hour practices a week!  Good grief! 

We also spent two afternoons working the pumpkin patch to get some of our volunteer hours. 

Buddy Our New Fur-baby

At the beginning of September I mentioned that Nate and I drove to Iowa to pick up our newest fur-baby Buddy.

 Nate has taken so much responsibility for Buddy, his messes, and his care.

This pup is super sweet and soft.

I find his eye color to be so interesting!  I've never met a dog with eye color like his.

He naps a lot.

 He fits right in with the girls.

And even though potty training is taking longer than with the girls, this sweet guy is worth it.  Look at that face!