After 5 years of being a stay-at-home mom, I found the wonder of mothering slowly starting to get crowded out by the mundane feeling. I realized our world seems to surround people with the negative, and complaining about blessings seems totally acceptable. So I decided to fight against that "normalcy" and focus only on the positive. I look back to my first year as a mom when everything was new and keeping house was fun and I aim to have that attitude again. This blog is my outlet to showcase the daily miracles that surround me in my blessed life as a stay-at-home mom so that I will never forget the wonder of it all.



Saturday, April 20, 2013

Sum it up Saturdays - The First Post

Well, I'm getting my very first Sum it up Saturday post up on the blog a bit later today than I'd like, but that's ok, because that pattern kind of sums up our week.  We've had a very needy baby on our hands this week.  We have done school when we can, here and there.  One morning, Arrow slept in so I took Logan out onto the deck with me and had him read me his hooked on phonics book while I sipped coffee in the sunshine....eyes still closed.  :)  Yep, one of THOSE weeks. 

The kids are moving forward well with Hooked on Phonics.  Logan passed another book this week.  He is basically in the middle of the 1st grade program and picking up speed as we go.  If he had more confidence, he'd move forward even faster.  He will resort to sounding out words he knows, just to make sure he gets it right.  He second guesses himself and it slows him down.  Ideas to help him gain confidence?
Felicity is currently working on the K Hooked on Phonics program but is still in the beginning of the program.  We are taking it nice and easy. 

I invited my Papa to come do school with us on Monday.  Best idea ever!  Oh my goodness, the kids had so much fun with him.  He walked the kids through their reading and handwriting lessons.  Then he sat in on our History lesson.  It was such a boost for us all!  It was amazing to see my kids work with someone else and it was good for me to see someone take different avenues with our same old same old. 


 
We started Story of the World Volume 1 recently and are really enjoying it.  This week we learned about the first forms of writing.  Here's some pictures of the kids giving Cuneiform a try using play dough and popsicle sticks. 

 Can you see Kian's K?
 
 Logan's "J".
 
 I wrote the kids' names in both Cuneiform and Hieroglyphs.
The kids LOVED learning about a Pharaoh in Egypt named Narmer who conquered another king, joining "Upper" and "Lower Egypt" into one country.  However, they weren't too interested in Sargon, King of Mesopotamia who basically did the same thing.  Hmmmm.  I have a feeling its because King Narmer was portrayed with an eagle on his arm.  The boys ate that up!
 
We started "Bible Copy" this week.  A few months back I figured what better way for the kids to learn reading and handwriting than straight from God's Word.  Zac wasn't sure if the kids would be ready for it but after stumbling upon a blog where another home schooling family did the same thing, I decided to just give it a try.  If they're too young, we can always stop and try later.  Logan did really good and I look forward to doing this with him.  I decided to hold off with Felicity though and have her just practice copying small sentences that I write for her.  Logan and I are starting in Genesis and just going for it.  We'll see what becomes of it but I'm excited.

No math this week as a friend is taking a look at our curriculum.  But Logan is having a hard time grasping skip counting so any tips would be appreciated!

So, how did your homeschooling week go?  I'd love to continue the conversation in the comments field.  And if you care to write your own Sum it up Saturday, PLEASE leave a link!  I'd love to read it.
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5 comments:

  1. DebApril 20, 2013 at 10:14 PM

    So interesting! And I love the picture of Papa and Felicity!!

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  2. Mama Gone GreenApril 21, 2013 at 7:53 AM

    sounds like you have been busy!

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  3. UnknownApril 21, 2013 at 11:53 AM

    I loved seeing felicity's picture with their papa, how neat! we don't have story of the world yet, but next year we will, I cannot wait to get started. When doing skip counting with G I had made out the numbers on card stock and taped them up around the room, he hopped from one to another, but then when it got nice outside we wrote the numbers on the ground. sort of like this but smaller.. http://www.parents.com/blogs/homeschool-den/2011/02/16/math/skip-counting-by-3s-and-4s-active-math-game/ the played on it all the time.

    Here's my link to our sum it up sat. post http://lambservants.blogspot.com/

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    Replies
    1. JennyApril 21, 2013 at 9:03 PM

      Joanne, Thanks so much for the idea and links. I just read your Sum it up Saturday and am very curious about the Nate Saint book. I plan to look into that!

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  4. MeadowApril 22, 2013 at 10:51 AM

    Tasha Tudor has a lovely Bible verse book that we look through and then I copy (ahead of time) the verses in a notbook so the girls can see how the printed letters should look. Then the girls copy them. It is not a super long book but we ended up with about 20 or so days of hand writting out of it.

    I remember doing the same thing with Story of the World. It's great seeing your kids having so much fun with history.

    It is lovely to have another adult work with the kids now and then :)

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