And so it begins

So school has begun again. For most of you that means you might have a little time to yourself, and maybe even a moment to get the house in order. For me, it means a rigid daily routine and less time for myself, some frustration, some joy, some tears, some smiles, LOTS of time together.
Our day begins with me getting out of bed, for now that's about 6:30am, we'll see how late "school" starts once I am nursing a baby at night again! Kids are up at 7am and feeding animals, making beds, and getting breakfast. Everything gets cleaned up in the kitchen so that "school" can begin at 8am. (which for our kids is a half hour later than the public school, so this is nice. No running after the bus with hair flying, shoes in hand, and backpacks only half zipped up!)
This year we are using My Father's World Creation to Greek Curriculum. (I put a lot of our stuff together from different sources last year, but this year with the coming a new baby and my history of Preterm Labor, I needed a  curriculum with less teacher prep.) There are lots of things we like and a few things we have omitted.
Here's a quick overview of our day
Prayer and Song
Scripture Memorization :this semester we are memorizing the Living Christ
    (we also use our memorization to do copy work and dictation throughout the week)picture prompts, copy work, & dictation pages found HERE!
Bible Reading (we are studying the Old Testament this year... I was totally appalled to realize my 12 year old had no idea who Cain and Able were. Glad we are getting a good base of  Old Testament this year!)
Greek Roots: This is my older kids Favorite part of our day. We study one root word per week. (of course you end up learning a whole bunch more as you recognize the patterns and roots from words you already know.) My Big Fat Greek Wedding keeps coming to mind "give me a word, any word, and I will show you how the root of that word is a greek word." So true. My kids love looking up new words with their root word. Next year we will study Latin roots.
History: Creation to Greek, currently we are in the creation which for us is a review, because we used creation last year for a science base, but we are looking forward to pyramids and lots of other fun stuff!
English: We use English Language Lessons, Abby also has Handwriting and she is practicing cursive. She begged me to do it last year, but I was just to crazy, so we are finally getting around to it this year. Jacob is also using All In One English. And today I made posters to put up so they will quit asking me and learn for themselves the distinction between Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives! found from one of my favorite first grade blogs HERE
Math: We are still using Math U See and I still LOVE IT!!! So simple to explain. simple to do. I love that my children can easily understand the concept being taught and that they review the previous concepts as well. Nothing fancy, but it really helps them learn.
Art: We are using GOD and the History of Art: So far we like it. I let you know later if it is awesome. We'll be using it for the next 4 years....so I HOPE SO!!!
Spelling: We are using Spelling Power, and I am really impressed. One this we do just a little different is that on Mondays we test on all the misspelled words from the previous week (just to make sure we really do know them!)
Reading: right now the kids are each reading books that interest them, In the next couple of weeks they will also have Assigned Reading.
Music: Vivaldi, Bach, and Mozart are on the list for this year. Rachel will do Tchaikovsky. (which is her favorite by the way!)
Science: The current unit for Abby is on Dinosaurs (this is the book I omitted because I did not agree with the authors despite their having a Christian view. My view is just different from theirs. No Biggie I just need to get to the Library so Abby can get some different books.) Science has some fun stuff coming later as well. Jacob is using Apologia General Science this year. Love it!

We are able to get everything done before 12pm, I do snack at 10am while the children are still working on school work. Then the afternoons are free for play. Rachel is using the 1st grade curriculum from My Father's World with the addition of Math U See, Explode the Code 3 1/2, and Reading Books I picked up from the school (she is much farther ahead on her reading than the first grade program, but I thought it would be good review, plus it comes with fun science just for her.) We do her work while Jacob and Abby do English and Math. They are already familiar with the routine of both, so they can ask questions if they need to, but there is little need for instruction from me during that time.
David will start Preschool in September with the Mother's Co-op. I will teach one week (2 days) every six weeks. I've had lots of fun putting together the curriculum for this year. Lots of fun Montessori stuff. Check out my pinterest for ideas.
Jacob is doing football with the school, Abby and Rachel will do Dance, and David is in Soccer. I'm teaching piano 2x's a week and still working with the Young Women in Personal progress. SO Life is Pretty Darn Busy.

I have to say I am grateful for the opportunity to home school my kiddos. It is a LOT of WORK! But I love having the opportunity to teach my children the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I get to bear my testimony to them on a daily basis. I also love knowing exactly what my children are excelling at, and what they are struggling with. Believe it or not afternoons are pretty quiet around here between 1pm and 4pm. And I actually do get some me time before the afternoon revs up again.