Time Off Trouble

We've had way too much time off!

We took time off so I could make all the costumes for the kids Christmas musical at church. Then we took time off because I was sick. And then we took time off for travel at Christmas. And we took time off to rest up from all that traveling. Plus the New Year Holiday. Geesh....

We finally got back to school last week. But it's been tough. None of us were interested in a school day. It was touch and go those first couple days.

Chad's work schedule changed again. So now we school Monday through Thursday with no days off in between. But that gives us a 3 day weekend. That's nice.

We started with some warm up math, reviewing the basic operations. Except for division they didn't complain too much. And then we did some decimals. The remembered how to add and subtract with decimals. Now we'll see if they remember how to multiply and divide!

We finished reading Phineas L. MacGuire....ERUPTS! We had been reading it before the extended time off. So I thought about starting over, but they remembered where we were and what was happening in the story. So we just picked up where we left off. It only took a couple days to finish. Now we're reading the sequel: Phineas L. MacGuire gets Slimed! Cute stories.

We've begun our study of Exodus. And we're adding in some new memory verses and memorizing the order of the books of the Bible. Jeremy is able to recognize and read a lot of the names now, so it's getting easier for him. Soon we'll be able to do Bible quizzes.

This semester we're really focusing on science. So I'm working on putting together lots of science experiments. We did 2 last week. I wanted to do 3, but I can't find the right kind of thermometers. This next week we'll move on.

I also want to really work on History. I have this great time-line I want to use. And it works really well with the Bible study. I need to find a way to put the time-line up on the wall so we can see what's happening with the making of history. We're in the Egypt section now, so I'm looking forward to learning about Egypt and making some costumes and crafts and things. I need to go the library and pick up the books first.

Another goal for this semester is to improve the kids handwriting. I know they can do better. They have really nice handwriting when they make the effort. They just hate making the effort. Jeremy even wants me to switch to the computerized school work so he can type instead of write!

Right now, Kylie is at a 5th grade level on everything except Math (6th) and English (4th). Jeremy is at a 3rd grade level except for Math (6th) and Vocab (4th). So Kylie really needs to work on the English. They both need to improve in Writing Skills. If I can get them close to the same level for everything, switching to computerized curriculum will be much easier. On all of us.

This week the kids begin a P.E. class, along with some other homeschoolers, at one of the local parks. So that will be fun. Jeremy is also signed up for Little League. He'll begin with tryouts on the 30th. Then we'll find out which team he's on and when practices will start. The season officially begins March 1st and then we'll see some game time. He's really looking forward to it. So am I! :D

Now if I can just shake off the blahs and get moving...