Well, our annual Labor Day Beginning Of School was a success! Our annual field trip to start the year did not happen, due to finances, but we had a great day!
The day started with a pancake lesson. The Boy made pancakes with a little guidance and they were yummo! He was quite impressed with himself and we even cleaned up the kitchen when we finished. Phenomenal!
Math is our hardest, and most disliked subject. In previous years we have started our day with math to get it out of the way, but this time we started the day with Genesis (beginnings, starting school.... get it?). We followed that with a brief math lesson, then followed up with Psalm 119:11 as our handwriting/memory lesson.
Instead of using a language arts program this year, we are using some of the classics we are reading as our samples and tests of good writing skills. Right now we are reading Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows, and looking for prepositions each day in a selection from what we read the day before.
A few years ago, we planned to use Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology (before there was more than one volume). It didn't work for us at the time. So, this year we are going to try it again. The first section of the first chapter went well and I am so glad to have found, on the internet, questions for each section (compliments of a very-together homeschool mom). The Boy read the lesson, then Dad went over the questions with him when he came home in the afternoon.
We are going to take 3 days and re-read d'Aulaire's Leif the Lucky because we are tackling American history (from the ground up) and world history at the same time. I can't find a book on Leif Ericksen, that I like and it was pretty good, if a little young for him. It is just to review the fact that the Vikings were the first Europeans here, even if they didn't stay.
Using Mystery of History, with A Child's History of the World, is going to be interesting. After reading Genesis first thing in the morning and following it up with ACHOW's description of how the world began, we had a wonderful discussion of how people interpret the Bible. Comparing Hillyer's idea of Creation and Earth's beginnings with what we had read earlier in Genesis was just an added bonus for the day.
Putting some history and Bible between math lesson and math practice was a great idea (if I do say so myself). We breezed through those problems without too much grumbling.
After a nice lunch and again cleaning up the kitchen, we read some good old-fashioned nursery rhymes and today's selection from Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows. I figured my 12 year old boy would scoff at Mother Goose, but we really had fun with it. Ah, the memories. The Mother Goose: A Collection of Classic Nursery Rhymes version we are reading is by illustrator Michael Hague and is a beautiful book. Even though I would love to say it is due to some great planning, I just realized as I was writing this that both of these books are illustrated by Michael Hague. Talented man.
When Dad came home from work (he had to work on Labor Day, but we are grateful for his job so we aren't complaining!) he and The Boy talked about what he had learned about zoology. They also did a quick little geography practice out of a Scholastic workbook I found at a garage sale for a quarter. It is Daily Practice with Geography and is just a quick little thingy. This is an old edition, so the answers in the back are no longer correct for some questions (those Slavic and African countries tend to change names a little too frequently), but Dad can figure out the correct answers.
After having Big Sis and her friend come over and eat steaks Dad grilled for us, we sat down and read from 3 books until time for lights out. My husband is a major fan of Sci-Fi genre books. That and westerns are about all he reads, unless I can snooker him into reading something I really enjoyed. So, I found this book called Daniel X by James Patterson several months ago, with Family Reading Time in mind. The Boy did NOT want me to read it, thought it would be stupid and boring. I read the first 25 pages and he was so upset when I stopped. He begged me to keep reading and could hardly wait until Tuesday for me to read some more! (Strategically planning the cliffhanger-stopping-place was a very smart move, Mom).
After the Sci-Fi book, we toned it down a bit with the Happy Hollisters at Snowflake Camp. When I was a girl, many moons ago, I loved this series of books. My mom was a member of the Readers Digest Book Club (whose mom wasn't back then) and she enrolled me in the HH club. I got a new HH book about every other month. I could not wait for them to come. Corny, Brady-Bunchish, but I love them still. The Boy does, too. They are so full of "jeepers" and "golly, gee whiz" but it makes me think of all the innocent fun I had as a child growing up in the 50's and 60's. I want him to at least fantasize about it, if he can't live it. The kids are so well mannered and respectful. Mom is a stay at home mom who loves and respects her husband. She doesn't drink or swear. Dad is a respectable family man who is the head of the household and puts his family above everything. We read a couple of chapters and The Boy was begging me to continue. (Again, great planning for the cut-off point!).
Finally, as our first day of school was ending, we read sweet old Winnie the Pooh. We have read off and on in The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh and are finally in The House at Pooh Corner. What better way to end a great day!
Hope your Labor Day was as great as mine.
Our lives homeschooling our little boy who has become a young man.
