First week down... 35 to go!

We made it through our first week of homeschool, and I have to say, it wasn't torture!  That's GREAT progress!  Sure, we had our hiccups... whining, complaining, fit throwing... but this isn't about me.

Seriously, though, it was a pretty uneventful first week.  There were some "behavior training opportunities" (wink wink), but we got through them quickly.  We finished all of our work, and watched some great online videos of different animals... like different jellyfish and the Jesus Christ (Basilisk) lizard.  Thanks to our Usborne World of Animals book (which gave us the idea), we try to find videos that go with each daily science lesson.  That is a great addition to our homeschooling experience that we can all enjoy.

We're also using Usborne Science Activities: Volume One.  Last week we did some experiments with magnets, testing what will stick to magnets and what won't.  The kids made charts to record the results.  It was pretty fun.  

Thanks to our book "From Akebu to Zapotec," we found out that there are people groups in the world that do not have the Bible in their own languages.  I guess if I had thought about it, I would have assumed that there were.  Reading about specific groups that don't have the Bible was very sad.

The book we have is the 2nd book in a series.  It had to be written because the publication of the 1st book caused Christians to pray, and most of those people groups now have at least some portion of the Bible in their languages!

We are reading about one "Bibleless" people group each week--this week it was the Akebu people of Togo, West Africa--and spending some time praying for them.  Actually, the book comes with a cd, so we are listening to each story.  It gives my vocal chords a good break.  Love that!

Everything else is going well.  The kids are progressing in every area, and it feels like we've finally found our homeschooling groove.  The only thing that's falling through the cracks right now is Sarah's pk3 materials.  I find that if she's happily playing or whatever, I don't feel compelled to stop her in order to teach her something.  My opinion is that very young children need more free-play than sit-down learning and scheduled activities.  So at this point, I'm keeping her activities scheduled, but will only use them as needed to ward off boredom.

Alrighty, so week 2 is in full swing.  Today is Caleb's 6th birthday, so we are having a very light school day... more of a movie day, actually.  Planet 51 and G-Force are on the agenda.  We had donuts for breakfast at his request, and tonight's dinner will be at McDonald's play place, with cupcakes and presents following.  It's a good, sugary day. 

P.S.  I forgot to mention that housework is also falling through the cracks, but that's not really a new occurence.....