A Looooong Day

This is completely my fault, but Tuesday are going to be tough! We start in the morning with taking Danny to school and Sarah doing school at home. This part is fine...but then the real fun starts. Pick up Danny at 11:30, feed both kids lunch, clean up (yeah, right) and out the door by 12:30.

Choir at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware starts at 1:00. I think this choir is going to help Sarah with her musicianship and also with her ability to follow instructions, as there are quite a few distractions in the room. The instructor is on faculty at the University, so that's cool too. I feel so nostalgic being in the conservatory building. Very surreal.

So, okay, we finish choir at 1:45, then back in the car, eat a snack in the car, and off to piano in Clintonville at 3:00. She loves piano, and Danny loves to pet the dog, Bacon, at the teacher's house. Boy oh boy, am I going to need a break on Tuesday nights! Too bad hubby is never home on Tuesday....

Month One

We are in full swing now with school. It's going better than I ever imagined, and I find confirmation of our decision to homeschool every day. There are still adjustment issues, of course, but I expect that those will work themselves out with time.

After a slight revision, I have decided on Biomes for our first science topic. I thought that animals and Biomes would be best, since Sarah loves animals, but that was way too disorganized for both of us. We'll do the Biomes first, and then move on the the animals after we've researched the major areas they live. We have visited a brook, a wetland and grasslands so far. Of course, we hike a lot so we've been to the woods, but not with the purpose of doing any real investigation. We'll just have to go back again!

History is much more interesting to Sarah AND Danny than I ever imagined. We are using The Story of the World curriculum lent to me by a good friend, and it's just so cool! The lessons are just long enough to give some detail, but not long enough to bore my children so much that they stop listening. The added benefit is my personal learning...I don't remember anything from World History, so our Ancient History curriculum is nearly as new to me as it is to them. It's really hard sometimes to stay on a child's level when it's so interesting!

Our visit to the Honda Wetlands Education Center at Glacier Ridge Metropark.

Turning over rocks in the brook at Scioto Park to see who might be living under them.

Sarah and Dan both loved making "cave" drawings while learning about the earliest people. I have 6 of these things and they won't let me throw them away!

Riding the camel at COSI in the Egypt exhibit. They were also able to try to build a pyramid, pull the blocks for the pyramid using a simple machine, walk through a "tomb" chamber, see real mummies, a sarcophagus, canopic jars, and other artifacts on loan from museums. (The camel was probably their favorite...)