Weeks 2 & 3: Finding our groove

We're starting to settle into a great routine- which I LOVE!! Everything is in full swing- school, soccer, dance- so it's been nice to plug in extra activities like Mathnasium and trips to the Library.

Here's how we're liking everything so far!

Classical Conversations- We've completed 2 weeks so far and the girls are still loving it! Annie gets a bit restless in the 3rd hour, but she loves the art lessons and science experiments. Essentials makes my head hurt- I literally forgot all about adverbs and prepositional phrases. Audrey is putting forth a lot of effort- which I love! Being able to sit with her and learn with her- it's pretty wonderful! Full disclosure: we haven't done any of the memory work at home, and I honestly don't know if we'll ever get to the point where I make that a priority.

Time 4 Learning- Prior to starting the week, I create a detailed plan of the activities and quizzes they are responsible for completing. I spread them out Tuesday-Friday and assign them using my Parent Dashboard. When they login, they can see which assignments they have to do. I also write their assignments in their planners so they have a hard copy and constant visual.

We start with T4L everyday and we only use it for Math and Language Arts. It's nice because they can do it independently! I sit with them, though, in case they have a question, or to remind Audrey that she REALLY needs to be writing things down. She's learning about common multiples and she definitely needed me there to model the process #severaltimes. Abby, on the other hand, loves taking notes!

Unit Study-

I took some time to look at 2nd and 4th grade SOLs for science and social studies. I wrote down things that were similar and things that were completely different. I made a plan to cover everything. We started our Weather unit last week; they wrote in their science notebooks (things they already knew about weather and the things they wanted to learn.) We researched cloud types, did an experiment, read books, and watched videos. We were off to a great start that week. With Hurricane Florence brewing, we took the following week to learn all about hurricanes and we paid close attention to the path and forecast (we even got some US geography in!) I don't know if we'll stick to my plan of following the SOLs. There's something exciting about creating our own learning path!

We must do all the Science experiments!!!!

SpellingCity.com has been awesome! I upload their word list and assign them certain activities. We do a test on Friday. This has been a nice addition to the routine. Audrey loves when I put her spelling words into songs LOL

Triple Threat- Audrey & Abby loved their first class! They especially loved the singing portion.

Preschool- Sweet Anne! She's having a hard time being away from us. On Thursday as I walked her up to school, she was complaining about having to go while her sisters got to stay home. TWO HOURS LATER I get a call from her teacher; Annie has a headache and is not her usual happy self. So we went to pick her up, and as soon as we got home I sent her straight to bed. I made her stay there until we were done with our schoolwork. Friday was much better (we made sure to send her with her glasses!) Fingers crossed that it gets better! Her teacher is very sweet, and posts pictures everyday on the class FB page.

The freedom and flexibility we have has been such a blessing. On Wednesday they wanted to go outside and play together after breakfast. So they did! We didn't start school until 10:00.

We are jam packed each evening with dance and soccer (and this week we add cheer to the mix!) It makes for later nights, which is ok because they are able to sleep later. What a blessing!