Happy 1st Week of School!

We had a wonderful first day and week of school! (Have I mentioned how excited I am for school this year?? :o)   )

We started off our morning with what we are calling our "Genesis Moment"  This is where we meet all together at the table.  We start off praying that God will bless our day and help us to be productive and focused.  I love praying with my children.

Then I've decided I want us to take a hymn a month and sing it together.  I love the old hymns.  They are so rich in wisdom, Godly living, great vocabulary and they are just deep.  This month we are doing "Come Thou Fount."  We've had fun picking apart the hard parts and learning what the hymn writer was trying to bring to light.  I love the stories behind why hymns are written too, so I've been sharing those.

We then quote Scripture together.  I want us to memorize passages together.  We're starting off memorizing James 1:17-27.  I've had fun incorporating some tools and games I used when teaching Sunday School to help us memorize.  

Then, we may discuss the verse more or I give them an assignment, such as writing the verse down, saying it loud outside, or calling someone to tell them about it.

My plan is to also incorporate a little read aloud time.  I've had fun reading them small bits of missionary stories.

I am loving our "Genesis Moment!!"

Callie is my 7th grader.  She is super diligent in her studies.  She loves to learn!!   She has handwriting that looks like it was printed from a computer.  It really is perfect!  She is loving her new reading curriculum, and honestly wants to work through the book faster.  She truly loves school....the pencils and markers, the books and how they smell, the studying and creating posters of what she's learning. She created a poster on the different stages of archaeology.  She is so artistic and creative!  She's amazing!

Silas is my 8th grader.  Can next year really be high school?? sniff sniff.  He is super intelligent and reminds me so much of my Josh.  He is very quick to get things done and is motivated by checking things off his list. I'm realizing I probably need to increase his workload, he's getting it done too quick!  He is loving science this year and learning about Applied Engineering.  He also loves hearing and reading about preachers of old.  He recently borrowed Josh's book called, "The 10 largest Sunday Schools."  It was written in the 70s.  He read that book so fast and picked apart all the whys, dos, and don'ts of growing a Sunday School ministry.  I'm trying to incorporate lots of learning this year with what sparks their interest.  When I realized he was devouring that book I decided to run with it.  I had him create a list of pros and cons comparing the different methods of Sunday School growth.  It turned into a pretty neat paper that I wasn't even planning for him to do originally.  That is why I am loving how we are doing school this year!  And then, when all the "school learning" is done for Silas, you can find him with his football in hand running here and there through our yard.  He's a pretty cool kid!

Micah is my 5th grader.  He really learns differently than all my other kids.  He announced to Silas and Callie last night, "I'm just not into books like you guys are! I like the stories, but not really the pages."  And I've found that to be somewhat true for him.  He was very impressed with the size of his Language book this year.  He's a good student that has lots of good input, but he's definitely more hands on.  He is LOVING his Science class on Paleontology this year!! So when he was telling me all about how long the T Rex was he asked if he could measure it out.  He's my tools kid and loves the chance to dig in his or his Dad's toolbox, so he ran to get the measuring tape.  We realized T Rex would have been longer than our living room and couldn't even fit in the picture!  So we ran outside to see if we could fit it all in the picture.  He was super excited about science, tools, measurements and we breathed some fresh air...have I mentioned that I am loving schooling my children?? :o)  He's an awesome kid that is so interesting to be with.  I love his wealth of knowledge of things he's learning.

 We've had an amazing start to our school year.  Looking at the pictures gives me a feeling of bliss.  It's hardwork that's for sure, but so worth it.