Even with all the disruptions of travel and a hurricane this month, I still feel on top of the game since we started school in early July! We’ve made excellent progress over the past three months of our new school year, despite all the interruptions.

Language Arts

We continued to work through All About Reading Level 3. Little Bug has just three more stories to read to complete the first reader!

I am very pleased with the “English Grammar Notebook” I put together for Little Bug. There are three sections: 1. Cycle 3’s English Grammar Memory Work, 2. English Grammar Memory Work from Cycle’s 1 and 2 that are covered in First Language Lessons Level 2, and 3. An “Other” section for any other MW that is not in Cycle 3 or covered in FLL Level 2. This system is working beautifully for Little Bug to memorize all of her English Grammar Memory Work! I typed out all the MW and placed it in the notebook so all we have to do to review it or learn it is open our notebook!

Everyday during Language Arts time, we start by reviewing all of Cycle 3’s English Grammar that we’ve learned so far (at the end of September we are on Week 6). Then we do our 5-10 minute First Language Lesson. When a definition is introduced in FLL, we go to our CC English Grammar and memorize the definition and word lists that CC uses.

Why am I focused so much on the English Grammar Memory Work? I have heard having all this foundational knowledge of English Grammar memorized before beginning Essentials prepares the child for Essentials! Memorizing all of the English Grammar plus working through FLL will get Little Bug prepared for Essentials in the 2019-2020 school year. My goal is to help her master memorizing all 3 cycles of English Grammar Memory Work! I am confident by making the CC English Grammar be a huge, yet simple part of her LA studies over these next 2 years, she will achieve this goal.

Sweet Pea has completed Book 3 of KII and has started working through Book 4. The LA skills and concepts taught in KII are right where Sweet Pea needs to be. This month, we’ve done 2 pages of Explode the Code Book B and then 2-3 pages in KII. For the remainder of Sweet Pea’s LA time, we have snuggled up together on the couch and enjoyed reading books together. This is just what Sweet Pea needed and I am confident I made the right choice last month to shelf the phonics curriculum for a future day. Her time will come, and that curriculum will wait patiently on the shelf in our master closet until that day!

Math

Little Bug started the last LU in Level 1 CLE Math this month! I am so proud of the way she has faithfully plodded through this math program and has learned all that she has learned. I cannot sing the praises of CLE Math enough!

With Little Bug, repetition is imperative and review is built in to the lessons every day. There is also a built in, genius flashcard system for learning/reviewing the addition/subtraction facts. That was sorely missing in Horizons.

I've been working with Sweet Pea on Number Sense during the month of September. We've done a lot of counting 1-100 as well as other daily activities to help her gain a better understanding of numbers.

Classical Conversations

We had Dad’s Day at our CC Community and Dave was able to join us for Morning Assembly time, New Grammar and Presentations! Homeschooling is not just “my thing”. Dave is very involved in our homeschool and I am grateful for that because I need support and the children need to know that Daddy cares about what they are doing.

Boy did we have fun during our Break Week reviewing Week 1-4 Memory Work by playing Candy Land and BOOM! BOOM! quickly became their favorite and for the first time, we played competitively with minimal tears. Little Bug and I even squared off for one game and she beat me.

We have faithfully reviewed our Memory Work daily this year. Last year was tough with the failed adoption and then adopting Beau mid-year! But that’s okay, because the beauty of CC is that my children will see these cycles over and over again throughout their years in the Foundations program of CC. Cycle 2 will come again. For now, we are in Cycle 3 and we are loving it!

History

Our studies in American History have been so enjoyable. We’ve been learning about the Declaration of Independence and the Liberty Bell. I thought my brother had a picture with the Liberty Bell so I asked him to send it and the girls loved seeing their Unk with the Liberty Bell they have just read about.

We’ve also been learning about the American Revolution and General-turned-President George Washington! We sketched George Washington using our Draw-Write-Now book.

Geography

We have now learned 30 of the 50 states and capitals! The girls trace the USA map along with the states learned so far just about every day now. I am so glad we have finally formed this habit of map tracing! Most days they trace with a dry erase marker on their Geo Trivium Tables and then once a week they do a tracing on paper. They continue to work on their States and Capitals Flipbook each week.

Field Trip to Arboretum

I decided to join a local homeschool group so we could take advantage of making some more connections with other homeschool families in our area as well as participate in field trips and mission projects this group provides. We went on our first field trip with them to the local arboretum and I took all four kids with me by myself!! That was a huge accomplishment but the field trip was close to our house and at a time where I could get Beau up a little early from his morning nap to get there on time and then get everyone home in time for lunch and naps. During our hike I had Sarge in the stroller and Beau strapped to me on my back. That worked well. Once we got to the picnic area, I let Sarge run around with all the kids and Beau got to sit in the stroller to watch everyone while I chatted with some of the other moms. It was an enjoyable outing with all 4 kids!

Art Class

Our homeschool group offered an Art Class and I signed Little Bug up! She enjoyed herself very much. It was a special time for the two of us as Grams kept the other children. She chose to paint the Eiffel Tower which was perfect since the lamp in her bedroom has the Eiffel Tower on it. She chose colors to match the decor of her bedroom.

Cooking

Little Bug asked me if she could cook something one day, so I decided to let her have a go at it. She came up with “Apple Drizzle Delight” all by herself. She ended up making two batches for her siblings and they gobbled it all up!

Adoption Finalization

We finalized Beau’s adoption this month! The girls got to experience the court house and the Judge’s chambers for the second time in 20 months, as we just finalized Sarge’s adoption in January of 2016.

Hurricane Irma

Mid-September was consumed with the anticipation of Hurricane Irma, deciding whether we needed to evacuate or could stay home (we stayed and it was scary), going through the hurricane and then the aftermath of clean up! We never missed a beat on schooling through the storm although public schools in our area were closed over a week! We were without power just over 24 hours and Little Bug did her nightly reading by flashlight. Our church provided a hot meal that we took advantage of the night we were without power. That was a huge blessing to not have to worry about what to feed the kids. The creek behind our house flooded but it never put our home in danger. We did not have any damage to our home except for LOTS of debris that we all worked together as a family and helped clean up once the storm had passed.

As we head in to October, we are looking forward to our holiday traditions!

- Elaine