First Day of School

We finally got school started this year after pushing it back a few times (because I wasn't ready for summer to be over!)

I am happy to say that the first day was a success! I love when things run smoothly. We got our basics done in the morning (math, spelling, reading, writing, Bible, etc.) and then had some fun!

In our Tapestry of Grace curriculum this year we are starting with Y2U3 which begins at early American History; we are excited to finally be learning about our country after spending 2 years across the Atlantic in Europe, Asia and Africa as we studied Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Reformation history.

To celebrate, we made maps of the United States. But these were not just any maps; they were not made of paper and they were not even salt maps.

In the past, as we began a unit, we made salt dough maps, (see here and here), which are great for creating topography with mountains, rivers, lakes, and other geographical features. But, this time I decided to go more for the fun factor and so we made our maps from sugar cookie dough! I made the dough the night before, then divided it and gave some to each child on parchment paper. With my sister's help, we rolled out the dough and then let the kids cut and form their giant cookies to the shape of the United States.

After we cooked the maps, the kids decorated them with frosting and sprinkles.

The finished products:

The best part was that they got to eat them when they were done(or at least part of them - they were huge!)

The boys laughed about eating the United States: quote - "wow, Florida tastes delicious!" and 3 year old Rose walked around all day saying "that is the United States" and "California is right here" (as she correctly pointed it out on the map!) So, even in the fun, someone may have learned something!

I think the cookie dough maps were a big hit and a great way to celebrate our first day of school!

Salt maps

We made salt maps last week of South America. We will paint them this week.





-- Post From My iPhone

Unit Celebration - Medieval Feast

We finally finished our first unit in Tapestry of Grace Year 2! Because we had such a busy time during this unit (living in two places, etc.) we had thought that we would just skip the unit celebration. But then, at the last minute, we all decided that we felt like celebrating and sharing what we learned. So we quickly put together a medieval celebration (it was simple - we planned it and put it together in two days). Besides our immediate family, my sister and her family as well as my brother came to join in. We had a great time. Here are some pictures:

Playing 9 Men Morris - A Medieval Game

Playing GluckHaus - another Medieval game

The Kids' work for Unit 2
Leo showing his dad his hard work

The kids' cousin shows her work to Uncle W

Saber shows his work to Aunt A and Uncle Z

Knight Saber

Lady Rose

Cousins singing the night away!!

Although it was simple and quick, we had such a great time at our unit celebration. The "Medieval food" was great and the games were fun. We even listened to some Medieval style music. It was also great to see how much we all learned about this time period in history! Now it's off to the Renaissance and the Reformation!

School the last 4 weeks

We are in week four of school and things are coming along nicely. We are enjoying the curricum and learning lots. In History, we are currently learning about Medieval Europe. This week the focus is on Charlamagne.

The following is a little summary of the past few weeks of school and projects:

First Day of School

Salt Maps - After Step 1

Finished Salt Map - Leo

Finished Salt Map - Saber
Finished Salt Map - Jakson

After learning about the mosaic art in the Byzantine Empire, we made our own mosaics. Can you figure out what each of us made? Mine is on the far right.

Both Leo and Saber made cars that are used for various experiments in the their science curriculum. Each made his car almost completely by himself. They are studying forces with the cars.

Leo's motorized car

Saber's racer car
We are now taking our school on the road! I'll keep this updated as much as possible as we travel.

Curriculum and starting school

This year I am so excited about the new curriculum we are using for school. It's called Tapestry of Grace and it covers History, Geography, Literature, Writing, Art History, Church History, and as the kids get older it even includes Government and Philosophy. It's a four year program that cycles through history and it has four levels in every year. It follows a classical education method (grammar, dialectic, rhetoric), yet also has somewhat of a unit study feel to it. It is so packed with great books to read, interesting writing assignments, thought provoking discussion questions, and even hands on projects, among other things.

I have also been so inspired by many of the other moms using TOG (Tapestry of Grace). I belong to a couple of TOG groups, and I am so impressed with the insight, knowledge, kindness, helpfulness and faith in so many these women. Such an inspiration! I've learned so much about preparing for the school year and have found so much information and interesting topics based on their input. I've read their blogs and laughed and cried as I read. I've prayed for many of them as they list their prayer requests, and I've been inspired to try new things, both in homeshooling and in other areas of life.

Here are a few of our other curriculum choices for the year:

Math U See - All three boys will use MUS again this year

Spell to Write and Read - Saber with start with this, then I'll include Jakson, and maybe Leo later. I'm excited about this program too, but a little worried about the learning curve for me. It's a bit labor intensive at first.

Easy Grammar - Leo

Cursive First - Saber, perhaps Jakson

Exploration Education Science - Leo and Saber

The rest of our work is usually just things that I find or pull together from various sources.