We are getting into a good groove with our homeschooling. The kids are awesome! They wake up, eat breakfast, and then go to the homeschool room to get started. They work hard and are finished by 11 or 12 every day. At first I thought maybe they weren't working hard enough, but they are doing at least one lesson in every core subject each day and sometimes more. I'm positive that they are accomplishing more in our 2-3 hours at home than they would be doing in school, so I let them be done. That makes all of us happy!
Christian got access to his Spark Online classes and has been working on them diligently each day. We were nervous about how learning through an all online program would be, but so far it has been great. He spent a lot of time doing pre-assessments for all of his classes. They took a long time, and he was frustrated that they were required. After they were graded, he realized that everything he was able to pass on the pre-assessments he did not have to do in the course. This was AMAZING news! He passed almost all of his Geography class already because of the pre-assessment. He loves Geography and has a very good memory, so it was pretty easy for him. He is so excited that he can learn things at his own pace and doesn't have to be slowed down by having to re-learn everything.
I am also really glad that he has 2 physical education classes. He is not very active, and both classes require him to exercise daily and keep a log. This will be great motivation to move more and participate in some new activities.
Andrew learned about diagramming sentences in Language Arts. He has never done it before (and truthfully, neither have I!). We worked through it together though and have learned so much. We also learned all about the Jewish people for our History lessons in "Story of the World." The kids were pretty excited that they already knew these stories because they were from the Bible. Even though we knew most of the details, it was pretty cool to understand how the events fit with the other things we have learned. For example, on Thursday we listened to the story of Abraham. In the previous lesson we learned about the ruler Sargon who used force to unite the people of Mesopotamia. When Sargon died, the various city-states broke up and began to war against each other. It was because of these events and the fear of invasion that Abraham's father, Terah, left Ur and went to Haran. When Terah died, Abraham followed God's commands and moved his family to Canaan and became the "Father of many Nations." I love when everything comes together like that.
Hyrum and Andrew participated in Marine Biology again this week. It is quickly becoming one of our favorite classes because we do it with our friends and because it is hands-on. I taught the lesson on Tuesday about marine life classifications. I was worried that the kids would be bored, but they actually loved it. We learned about the different types of life in the ocean and what groups they belong to. Then we played Plinko to review. On Thursday, we went to the Buskers and learned about coral. None of us knew anything about coral, so it was totally enlightening. I love that I get to learn things too! After the main lesson was over, the younger kids got to color pictures of a beautiful coral reef while the older kids looked at a giant map of the world and wrote down countries that have coral reefs. I loved that the lesson included Geography as well as Science.
The boys also started their Swimming Lessons this week. Hyrum has P.E. as an elective, but I wanted the other boys to participate as well. Christian and Andrew got the same teacher they had last year, which is great! He was really able to connect with them and bring about some real progress. They had developed a few bad habits over the last year, but they quickly got back into the groove of things and were diving and practicing their strokes by the end. Hyrum has never had private lessons before, so I am hoping that he picks things up really quickly. He is right on the edge of being an independent swimmer, and I am excited to see him learn and grow.
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