Egg Fryer

 

This big guy can now fry up some delicious eggs and frequently brings me some. 

Birthday Donuts

 

I took my lovely friend Nicole out for her birthday and we finally tried 100 layer donuts from Five Daughter's bakery.  I could only eat 1/2 of my salted chocolate one. 

 

We also hit up the Franklin farmer's market, grabbed some lunch and finished with some pedicures.  There was a surprise party waiting for her at her house complete with grilling and snacks.  Happy birthday friend! 

Math U See

 

We have switched our math curriculum over from Singapore to Math U See.  It's more complete with in-depth teachings and comes with a DVD for the kids to use in addition to the teacher's guide for me.  It also includes counting blocks which will help Allie a lot since she seems to need a tangible math.  While one student works on their math- watching the DVD and working through their worksheets- I work with the other kid in reading/spelling.  So far it has been working much better to rotate them. 

Monday Musings

 

I love working with Brielle on her "school".  It is so sweet and simple.  Today she glued yarn scarves on her inch worms to learn the letter I.  

 

Today we tried giving Mathias a "wiggle seat" for school.  It is impossible for him to sit still and he has been falling off the seat at least 4 times a lessons.  His new seat is an inflatable, nubbed disc that he can hug or sit on a wiggle.  There are actually proven studies that wiggling helps students concentrate better- especially boys.  It's been a God-send to our lessons times where I need him to focus on his work. 

Anniversary Bonfire

2016 Paintball

Morning paintball to help celebrate my crossfit gym's 4th anniversary.  I was terrified at first but it was so much fun and I was a little disappointed when it was over.

Nashville Symphony

 

The kids and I attended the Nashville Symphony today.  A few times per year they provide concerts for kids and we loved it. 

Early Morning Games

 

The kids decided to play an early morning game- half dressed- before breakfast. 

The Big Hill

 

Finally visited the big hill in Spring Hill tonight after the kid's crossfit class.  It is an infamous local civil war sight where the cavalry stood their ground for the spring hill territory. 

New Week/Homeschool Update

 We are in our 7th week of homeschool for the year.  It's technically been a little longer but there were some breaks in there for Point Clear and awesome fall weather.  I am measuring our weeks by our new Classical curriculum and so today we will start that week 7. 

 The kids are almost finished with their Singapore math books and we will be moving onto Math U See.  It should arrive later this week. I am really excited about it and I will post more on that later.  

Mathias has read through The Mouse and the Motorcycle, The Swiss Family Robinson (his fav- he'd really love that movie *wink*) and Treasure Island (we are seeing a live stage performance of this in January).  He has also read through other random picks but those are his "school" reads so far.  He is now starting The Incredible Journey.  It is at a 6-8th grade reading level and looks a bit more challenging so we will see how this one goes.  He hasn't had any trouble with his previous reads.

The kids can sing the timeline from Creation to Jesus for now.  They can recite history sentences from Charlamange to The Reformation.  Their favorites being The Crusades (Allie), and The 100 yrs War (Brielle). 

Mathias LOVES his STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and while he is there the girls and I do our weekly errands/grocery shopping. 

All in all this school  year has gone well.  It was a bit rough in the beginning trying to figure out the logistics of it but now we seem to have found a groove of sorts.  For now.

Mathias' school by subjects:  All About Reading Level 2, All about Spelling Level 1, First Language lessons for grammer, Singapore Math 1B (soon to be Math U see Alpha), Charlotte Mason All about Birds for science, STEM, piano lessons, Prescripts for Cursive, Song School Latin book 1, Chapter books for reading practice.

Allie's school by subjects:  All about Reading Level 1, First Language lessons for grammer, Singapore Math KB (soon to be Math U see Primer), Charlotte Mason All about Birds for science, Ballet, Piano lessons, Voice lessons, Prescripts for Cursive, Song School Latin book 1, Early Readers.

Brielle's school by subjects:  All About Reading Pre-Reader, Singapore Math Earlybird K, Charlotte Mason All about Birds, Ballet, Piano lessons, Voice lessons, Song School Latin book 1, Quite buckets of blocks and puzzles and Play-doh activities for fine motor skills.

Our together time consists of reading the Storybook Bible, The Millers (we really like these), Art appreciation, read alouds and nature journals.  We also do all of our Classical memorization together which includes the Timeline, History Sentence, Latin, Math facts, geography, English, and science.

Fri-yay

Mr biker dude

 

This guy rode his bike 1.5 miles today 

The Renaissance period

 

Painting like Michelangelo.  

Sore

 

"You are kind to us everyday mama, so we can be kind to you." -Allie

The kids surprised me with a massage after my trip to the chiropractor visit. 

Cleaning out & Getting dirty

 

The rest of our week included cleaning out the kid's "too-small" clothes (which is awesome!) and playing outside in this amazing fall weather.  Seriously, all of our windows are open and it feels fresh. 

Grocery store fun

Evening Bike rides

Crossfit kids

 

The kids started Crossfit Kids this week and they love it.  They will go each week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. 

Two 2 Tango