{Classical Conversations}

At the end of January, we had completed 15 weeks of Classical Conversations. The weeks are FLYING by. Just 9 more to go before we have completed Cycle 1. I can’t stop saying how thankful I am for Classical Conversations. It has changed our homeschool in a very positive way. I have seen such growth in both of the girls. Little Bug would not do her presentations at the beginning of the year. After Christmas Break, she did her first presentation. She was proud of herself and we were all so proud of her. The other kids in her class were so sweet. They would ask her if she wanted one of them to go up with her for presentation. I did go up with her for the first couple of weeks but then I told her it was time for her to go up and do it alone and she did it! I LOVE this aspect of CC. Public speaking makes the majority of people afraid! Children in CC learn public speaking skills beginning at the age of 4! Public speaking becomes something they just do and it is nothing to be afraid of. What a valuable skill to learn as a child.

One day during our Memory Work review time, Uncle got his photo album out from his trip to Israel a few years back. He showed us pictures of him taking a mud bath in the Dead Sea! That week we had learned where the Dead Sea is on the map during Geography. This was such a memorable moment for us and it reminded me of one of the many reasons why we have chosen to homeschool our children.

We enjoyed making a craft for Week 13 Science about the parts of the earth. The girls cut the circles and then colored and drew what each part of the earth looks like. When we learned about gallons, quarts, pints and cups we made a Gallon Man! We use the CC app (for Apple) nearly every day during Review Time. There is much controversy out there about whether the app is worth it for $15. To us, it is completely worth it! We love to use it to review our Memory Work.

{Independent Work}

Independent Work Time is going very well and allows me time to work individually with each girl while their sister is doing her independent work! Obviously, they work on things they can do independently. For Little Bug this includes: copywork, Explode the Code and math fact practice. For Sweet Pea this includes: handwriting and educational game and activities that reinforce language arts and math concepts.

Little Bug just started doing copywork. Right now she copies Bible verses and her History Memory Work sentences.

Sweet Pea’s handwriting has really improved. She enjoys writing her letters! In the picture below, she is working on matching the rhyming words.

{Language Arts}

Little Bug has completed 38 of 49 All About Reading Level 1 lessons! She got over that hump where we had to go back and re-do several lessons because I didn’t feel she had completely mastered the concepts. Once we got over that hump, she has taken off. It seems she flies through the Fluency Sheets now whereas they used to take FOREVER to get through! I can’t say enough about how much we love AAR. Even Little Bug told me one day during a lesson that she loves AAR. That was music to my ears! I really spent a lot of time researching phonics curriculum to decide what would be the best fit for Little Bug. AAR has definitely been a perfect fit. I searched the used curriculum sites and found AAR Level 2 for $50! It is on the shelf and ready to go whenever we finish Level 2.

Sweet Pea has been enjoying the ABC printables I used with Little Bug years ago. I put a hold on her AAR Pre-Level to allow us time for these games and activities. We will pick back up with AAR Pre-Level soon. We also did a few Ready-Made Preschool Level 1 lessons and we just have a few more lessons to go before completing that!

{Math}

Little Bug is still working on learning her basic addition and subtraction facts. We began the subtraction fact Saxon 1 lessons at the beginning of January. We do the lesson one day and then the next day she writes the facts on her lapbook. Every day without fail we have been going through ALL the addition and subtraction facts she has learned so far. Repetition will imprint these facts in her mind forever and that is my goal!

The last week of January, I decided it was time to bring Horizons Math K back to the table! We picked right back up where we left off at lesson 109. It was amazing how easy Little Bug found problems such as 34+3 to be because now she KNOWS what 4+3 is without having to think about it!

Sweet Pea’s math has been games and activities from the ABC printables I did with Little Bug. We also play math games we have which Sweet Pea loves to play. This month she especially enjoyed Sum Swamp and Zingo Numbers.

{Art}

One of the themes Sweet Pea did for preschool was “Winter & Snow” so we made these winter tree paintings. I taped the shape of a tree onto the paper and then the girls used water colors to paint all the white space on the paper. Once the paint was dry, we peeled the tape away!

{Adoption Day}

Our Field Trip for January was to the courthouse for Sarge’s Adoption Day! This was a long day coming for our family and we were thrilled to give Sarge an official name and make him legally our son! I had talked extensively to the girls about how to behave in a courthouse and before a judge. They were excellent and got to watch the whole process!

- Elaine