{RECAP} September 2019 Schoolhouse

Another month has come and gone and we are LEARNING!

The biggest thing this month was that I just needed to take a step back and roll with things every day. Lydia really struggled sleeping this month {especially her daytime sleep} so I felt like I pretty much had to hold her during her entire nap + her feedings which ended up with a lot of time taken away from our studies.

I’ve decided to just accept and it’s all apart of learning – just not as academic as I had planned.

We also had our family trip this month {all of THAT goodness here!} and Sarah’s birthday over in Utah so we took a decent amount of time off. But that is all part of the joy of year-round schooling. NO STRESS! Life happens and I am perfectly okay with that!

First up – JACOB!

Language Arts

Language Arts and Math were things I did NOT want to get behind on this month and we stayed right on track.

Jacob finished his reader and is reading it one more time on his own. It has been so rewarding to see his reading progress. He also really enjoys reading other books in his spare time and I have loved watching that new world open up for him.

We are still reviewing his phonics cards from his kindergarten year {which is oh so easy for him, but FOUNDATIONS people!}, he has completed two more sight word ladders, and one spelling chart. He is also so close to having his first poem memorized!

This month we covered: common and proper nouns, reviewed AR, OR, IR, and ER words; learned OO, EAR, ALK, and IGH words, soft C and G, and silent E – jobs 1-4.

Handwriting

Handwriting continues to go well – it’s the perfect activity with our read aloud. AND Jacob started learning cursive this month which has been fun! {I’ve always wished my cursive was better – maybe I should get my own handwriting book!}

Read Aloud

We finished our first read aloud of the year – Stuart Little by E. B. White. This book is a classic and just plain ‘ole fun. We loved it.

We are almost done with our second book – Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink. This was a book that was pretty unknown to me before but we are absolutely loving it. It’s such a sweet little story and has Jacob laughing out loud at parts. It is darling.

Math

Jacob has been a busy little bee in math. We love this program so much! It has such a special and unique way of making everything fun.

This month he learned the trapezoid, talked about numbers 11 – 20, adding to and putting together, reviewed doubles, nickel subtraction, doubles subtraction, and problem solving.

History

The rest of our subjects seriously did not see much action this month. The planner in me is a tad bit frustrated that we got so behind but then I just remind myself…this is one of the reasons why we school year round!

We are still studying Ancient Greece and this month talked about the Olympics, the Persian War, Philosophy, Math, Science, and Astronomy.

Science

I don’t know HOW this happened but we only completed one lesson in science this month. Oh geez. We are {obviously} still in or Kingdoms and Classification unit and this month we talked about cell functions.

We WILL get to more this next month!!!

Typing

Typing continues to go really well. I was unsure at the beginning of the year how it was going to go but Jacob thoroughly enjoys it and seems to be getting it. He feels like such a big kid on the computer!

Music

Music is yet another subject that I feel like we just haven’t gotten into a groove yet at all. The desire is there but it always seems to get pushed to the next day. Must find better solution!

We are in the Baroque Era and started discussing our first piece of music – Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel. Jacob is also still doing piano with me and that is going really well! WOOT!

Civics

We started a new unit in Civics this month about Early America. We have discussed Native Americans {which was really awesome since we were able to visit sites of the Nez Perce tribe on our trip} and Jacob weaved a mat for an extension activity.

State Study

We started our first state study of the year, and guess what state it was…IDAHO! Of course! Since we were going on our trip there this month it just HAD to be done. I think I may do a separate post for our state studies and what we do for each state on a separate post later this month so be on the look out for it!

Nature

Add this to the subjects we are still figuring out {I’m not going to lie, writing this all down this month is kind of discouraging me a little – I have high hopes for the next month!}.

This year I wanted to incorporate some nature studies into our days. I haven’t quite figured out when to do it though. BUT we did talk about the Autumnal Equinox this month and the kids watercolored a picture of what fall looked like to them and they loved that! We are all pretty jazzed about fall.

Arts & Crafts

Jacob did a neat {and easy!} arts and crafts activity this month. Seeing as it was the changing of the seasons, he watercolored leaf shapes.

Now, onto SARAH!

Peaceful Preschool – Letters B & C

This month, Sarah completed our study of the letter B and is about half way done with the letter C. This girl loves learning. It’s so fun seeing her take off.

For our study of letter B this month, we read So Many Bunnies by Rick Walton , and The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown .

Our activities were: painting a sea and sky and adding animal stickers to make a scene from the creation, making a carrot cake together, and creating a bunny mask.

We are still working on letter C, but so far we have read Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina and read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault. We also read a darling poem by Robert Louis Stevenson called, “The Cow”.

Sarah made a glitter glue C, watercolored a scene from Caps for Sale and watercolored a cow in a field of flowers.

TGTB Language Arts Pre-K

Sarah is really clicking with the sounds A, B, and C make which is awesome. We are using the songs that come with The Good and the Beautiful Primer and Sarah is constantly singing them!

We did lots of work with B and C – writing and identifiying it. She’s doing great!

Handwriting

Sarah continues to do well with her handwriting. We are mostly just teaching and working on letter formation. Practice makes perfect – and this girl wants SO much practice. She is always writing little notes to different family members.

Come, Follow Me

This month in our study of the New Testament we finished 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and Galatians.

Our focuses this month were that we can live with Heavenly Father in the Celestial Kingdom after we are resurrected, Heavenly Father will comfort us and then we can comfort others, we can be a cheerful giver, and the fruits of the spirit.

Wrap Up

Yep, that was a tad bit discouraging. BUT, this is something I have learned {and am getting better at!} is that I need to be flexible with our days. This month had a lot of “life” in it but that’s okay. Learning should go hand in hand with all things in life and we really try and do that – even if it doesn’t mean a lot of checks on “my list”!