Back In The Swing of Things!

We started school again last week.  Some of us struggled to get back in the swing of things while others dived right in head first.  By the end of the week we were all back on track.  For the girls we started  the year with a quick review of the Revolutionary War and now on to the War of 1812.  The four books we are currently reading integrate well into the curriculum and the girls are enjoying them.

                             

 Their curriculum, Trail guide to Learning  (Paths of Settlement)  is inclusive of all subjects except foreign language and math.  It's really nice because everything they are learning ties in and relates to one another.  For example, while they were learning about The Revolutionary War, they did copywork and dictation from the Constitution and Patrick Henry's famous "Give me freedom or give me death " speech.  They read books about John Adams, Abigail Adams, and George Washington to name a few.  I found a nice add on book at a trunk sale during coop that nicely showed King George's perspective during that tumultuous time.  For those of you who may be covering the Revolutionary War, the book is titled "Can't You Make Them Behave, King George?" by Jean Fritz.

   They learned about the different branches of government and their roles by way of the Constitution.  They are learning about each of the 50 states.  As battles and events are taking place in the books they are reading, they learn about the geography of where these things occurred and how the geography may have shaped the outcome of events.  Spelling and vocabulary words largely come from the books we are reading.  For art they are exploring water color.  They've painted landscapes depicting the vast expanses of the developing US at the time.  They have also cooked recipes of popular dishes from the states they have studied.  I can go on and on, but I'll save that for a review of the curriculum which I will do at the end of this school year.

  For the little one, I've continued with a work plan system that I nabbed from What DID we do all day? Click here to see her post.  I believe she found it by way of another homeschooler.  The system allows my little one to visualize what work he has done for the day and what he still needs to do.  It also allows him to see the bigger picture as far as what I expect him to cover throughout the week. Each time he completes a task, he can move the corresponding paper clip from the left side to the right side of the work plan.   I like this system so much, that I even created one for each of the girls for things that I expect them to do daily and weekly that are not included in their curriculum.  All three enjoy the visual aid and the fact that they need to physically move the paperclip.  I imagine there is a sense of accomplishment that they feel when all the paperclips have been moved.

All in all it has been a great start to a new year.  We are back in the swing of things and enjoying