Moving along nicely

Homeschooling seems to be going nicely again this year. Kids are enthousiatic about the new books and games I got, they are anxious to learn more, they love all the crafts they get to make and they love our new school room, of course.

Just today, after doing their homeschooling, they got to paint some cats for Halloween. This is one of their favorite holidays so they just love the extras we do. They are also enjoying the recipes we have been making. I am encouraging the older two to cook a meal once a week and they are quite proud of that.

We are almost done with our China unit and I have decided to save the rest for next summer. Between all our regular subjects, I think we have enough to do. Well, we are still doing Fall, of course :) Then, the one on xmas.

I think organization is the key. Every year, I am more organized and every year gets easier. And I can see how having a bigger school room that is more organized is helping the kids too. Not only do they never have to look for anything but they are paying a lot more with the games and reading a lot more books.

I have bought some fabric to cover the chairs and want to first sand then taint both the chairs and table. I also got a slipcover for the loveseat, where we love to seat and read books together. A lot still to get done but we will get there.

4 different styles

I have four children homeschooling. Each get to do some writing each morning.

Catherine sits and gets to it but often looks around to see what is happening. She gets her pages done but it does take a certain time.

William whines and complains about it. He keeps repeating how much he hates writing and how useless it is. He gets it done anyway.

Zachary rushes through his pages, often having to erase everything and start over. For him, the faster, the better. Unfortunately, Mommy does not see it that way.

Alexandra sits down to do her page with great joy. She can spend an hour just on one page. Every letter is perfectly written. She will not let me look at her page until she feels it is how she wants it to look. Patrick and I amazed at how well her writing is. Perfectly drawned letter on the entire line. Perfect space in between each too.

Four kids homeschooled by the same mother yet all four have a different style. And get different results, obviously.

Three ways

We started learning sign language again last week. Whenever a sign comes up, there i also an English word on the screen to show it. I then say the word in French, to help both Alexandra and Mathieu know what the sign is in French. It made me realise that not only are they learning sign language but they are practicing their English too.

Sign Language, English and French, all in one. I think listening to a Signing Time dvd to start off homeschooling every morning is a great idea. Not only are we starting with family time but the music and songs puts us all in a good mood.

The winner this week

The kids favorite subject this week was geography! Yay because I worked really hard on making a simple book more fun.

Since we are just starting the new year, I am slowly introducing subjects and more to the kids. Gepgraphy will be in two parts: using the book Galopping the Globe (along with everything I added to it) and using Sonlight's lessons also. The first one is meant more for fun, although they are learning so much. The second is more formal.

I hope to remember to post about each favorite subject every week. That would be really fun to read about at the end of the year.

You have to get this book!

I received both my Usborne orders today. As you can imagine, I was quite happy. Now that I have a few minutes, I am sitting down and looking at the most interesting one (for me, lol).



I love this book and I cannot wait to try all the recipes and go through all the links it provides. I know the kids and I are going to have a lot of fun preparing and eating all those delicious foods.

The best part is that it also provides lots of info on each country, besides recipes and beautiful pictures. And the links, amazing addition to their books. There are pages on just cheeses, breads, fruits, vegetables and more. This book will be such an addition for both our Galopping Around the Globe studies and on each country we will study more deeply later on. After all, what better way to learn how other people live in other countries than to try what they eat? Right?

Day 1

Today was our first day. A new year of learning has begun. I hope I will be able to keep this blog updated much more regularely than I did last year.

We started the day with our China unit. I read them this book:



Catherine started reading this one on her own. Her English reading skills are getting so good. I guesstimate she is reading at a grade 5-6 level now. Remember that she is French Canadian and English is not her first toungue.



I then gave each of the kids a coloring page on the Chinese zodiac. Then, we took a small break to get the school room cleaned up (renovations still going on). Well, I got the room cleaned up while the kids went outside and put together a new *house* for the kittens. They spent HOURS on it. They even cleaned up the front porch. They played with the kittens, they drew sweet messages on the wall, the gave a bowl of water to the kittens, they simply had fun. I knew we had more homeschooling planned but I thought the first day should be more fun than formal. So, I let them have fun.

We will get more done tomorrow.

The First Day

Today is the big day! We start homeshcooling again. Kids were so excited, they were up at 6am! They got dressed, made their bed then had breakfast too. I have a lot planned today and they know it. They have seen me working on all the planning, they hvae seen me putting together games, buying books, receiving books, printing activity sheets, getting actitivy books put together, and everything else. They were already quite anxious to start and got a lot more excited when they saw that I had gifts for them for the end of the day :) Just two gifts, one for the girls and one for the boys. They know that and they would have fun playing together. I know they will, they are such caring and loving children.

The school room is not ready but that is ok, we can work on the kitchen table and sofa. Patrick worked really hard on the renovations all weekend long. He even made me a bookcase in my study so I can have room for all my Archie Comics books. Of course, I think this one was more for him as he loves to read them and did not like having to open boxes to read *new* ones, lol.

Better get started. I obviously also have to prepare lunch and dinner, bake some muffins or cookies, a cake, do the laundry and normal daily cleaning and picking up, place another Usborne book order and keep on working on my homeschool planning. I want October done asap.

Have a great day! I will be back later tonight or tomorrow morning to share all about our first day.