We had our first day of school for 2014 on Monday Jan 27th, rather impromptu-ly (is that a word?), as some school books had arrived the previous Friday and my Dear Husband (DH) had to work the public holiday. So we thought 'why not?' and jumped in! I also wanted to get in early, because next week is going to be hectic, we have excursions, and activities starting up again, and my piano students (plus a few new ones) starting again and...and...and... you get the idea!
Winter Rose is 8.5y/o and would be in Grade 3 this year if she was in school, at home she's mostly doing Grade 4, likewise Winter Savoury is 6.5y/o and would be in Grade 1, but is mostly working on Grade 2. We added little Mr. Winter Glow 3.5y/o in preschool to our line-up this year, as he craves routine, mental stimulation and special time with Mama. Spring Sage is the sweetest little baby ever, and he slept perfectly in line with my routine on our first day of school (I am under no illusions that this was anything other that a freak coincidence, but I savoured it!)!
Our day began with breakfast and morning chores (little things like emptying dishwasher - WR, and watering the garden - WS) and then we started our new 'Morning Board'. This is literally a pinboard that I commandeered to use for all the bits and pieces we never seem to get to. It gets changed once a month. This month it includes the following:
A Calendar, one child crosses of the day, the other changes over our kids calendar - a fabric calendar with velcro pieces for day/month/year/season etc.
Memory Verse -
Psalm 143:8 "Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, for in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to You."
Learning the Hymn - Holy, Holy, Holy
Studying Composer - Claude Debussy
Studying Artist - Vincent Van Gogh
Geography - The Netherlands (Van Gogh's birthplace)
Math facts flash cards
Phonogram flash cards
We do the calendar and memory verse every day, and one of the others every day on a rotation throughout the 16 school days of the month. The first day, we did the hymn study. We watched a few versions of Holy, Holy, Holy on Youtube, then, once we had the idea of the tune, we sang through the 4 verses together. It was a really lovely way to begin our school year. Here's a pic of our morning board:
Then we went to the park! This is a new policy instituted for this year, 1 hour of outdoor exercise every morning - weather permitting (if it's raining, we do exercise games on the xbox kinect). WG especially really needs this time to run off some steam. It also lifts everyone's mood (mine included!) and helps us to be ready for some work.
Back home, a drink and snack later, and we settle into some history. We sit together on the couch while I do our reading, we're at the end of King David's life now. We talk a little about the reading, and WR & WS give me a short narration. They each formulate a sentence to put in their history notebooks which WR writes and I scribe for WS. WR writes a sentence about David choosing 1 of 3 punishments for conducting the census, WS chooses King David's Army's defeat of Goliath's sons.
Then we move on to Maths, while WG plays with Starfall on the laptop (and midway through decides to open iTunes and begin watching an episode of Adventure Time - kids are savants with technology!) They took out a notebook and I presented them each with their new level textbook of Singapore Maths (4a & 2a). The first part is mostly review so they are able to work through somewhat independently while I flit between the two of them and hang out some washing!
While they finish up, I take WG for some preschool. I have decided to use Before Five in a Row. We started with the book 'Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?' which is actually a really lovely book! We read through it together on the couch, then we did a little activity. I cut out a heart shape and wrote a verse from Proverbs - 'a happy heart makes a cheerful face' - then we drew lots of different colour smiley faces :) all over it. WG decided they needed arms and legs too!
We moved on to our Violin/Russian time. WS continued with his Rosetta Stone Russian while I helped WR with her violin practice - on her brand new 1/2 size red violin! After 30-40 minutes they switched.
This took us up until lunch time. We were all getting a little tired by then so the children went outside for a play while I put our lunch in the oven (I had pre-made a couple of meals on the weekend). While they ate I began our new read aloud - Dangerous Journey, the story of the Pilgrims Progress, generously loaned to me by a friend. DH arrives home about now. We break for around an hour all up.
After lunch we get into English. WS starts his new Aesop book from Royal Fireworks Press as well as Writing With Ease 2. WR begins reading Grammar Town, copies down and works on memorising subject/object pronouns ("can I please write them down?" - out come the sparkly pens!), and then we begin again where we left of last year in Classical Writing's Aesop A, with a story by James Baldwin about Diogenes.
We do a little art - WS draws me a goblin from his 'how to draw manga monsters' library book, and WR completes a lesson on portraits/face proportions from her Lamb's book of Art.
We finish out the day with some independent reading time. WR is reading 'Child of OZ' and WS is reading 'Rowan of Rin' - one of my childhood favourites! WR read RoR just a few days ago at my prompting because I have such fond memories of it, she loved it and raved about it to WS. I catch up on some housework, and the kids celebrate with an ice cream and water fight in the backyard!
I practice my piano, we have some leisure time, I begin dinner and the kids play some games.
Everything went smoothly, it was a lovely day. The kids enjoyed their work and tackled it without complaint, which is great because the work is actually interesting and learning is genuinely fun (for the most part) in this house!
Happy 2014!
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