My Full Heart: First Week of School!

I think we had a very productive first week of homeschool this week! So far, I’m really pleased with all of the curriculum choices we made and how well they’re working with my boys. I’ll break it down into each grade level and try to hit on the highlights of the week. This first week may be a bit lengthy.

First day of school breakfast – you can tell who looks more excited!

SILAS – 7th GRADE

I can’t believe he is in middle school this year! He is really taking ownership of his schoolwork and doing most of it with zero help from me. 

Physical Science – He had several fun experiments/demonstrations this week that helped him visualize the concepts he is learning (the different types of energy). He completes his workbook pages with minimal help from me and does the experiments totally on his own (while I try to snap pictures!). 

shooting a rubber band at a target 

he made a ramp for a toy car

swinging a tennis ball around his head

learning about momentum with dominos, golf balls, and ping pong balls

World History – He reads the assigned pages on his own, gives me a narration when prompted, and completes his workbook pages all on his own. He brings them to me to check before putting them in his binder.

Writing Strands – Again, this has been done completely by him. It’s a bit easy right now, but I want him to start slow with writing instruction. I do want to add in some grammar review each day, even just parts of speech.

Progeny Press – He finished reading chapters 6-8 this week and completed most of the questions for these chapters. We do this together for the most part, while he answers aloud and I help him condense the answer into a short enough response to write down. He loves the book he’s reading – The Last Battle – and his comprehension of the story has really surprised me. 

Saxon Math 7/6 – He is using Nicole the Math Lady with this, and he says she makes things so simple to understand! He completed six lessons so far. I do not make him work all the problems in the problem set.

TITUS – 5th GRADE

So far, I’ve been sitting with him for his lessons, but I hope to be able to give him a bit more independence as time goes on. 

Science – He had a few experiments this week to show air pressure and that air has weight. I was really surprised how he read all of the lessons aloud in their entirety to me because he hates to read. he remembered so much from each lesson! He completed his workbook pages with little help.

learning that air has weight

air pressure

American History – He learned about Native Americans this week, one of his favorite topics! He also read these pages aloud and remembered quite a bit! He really enjoyed these workbook pages, including researching a tribe of his choice and writing a mini-report! 

Language Lessons for a Living Education – I like this workbook so far, and he can do it mostly on his own. He liked reading the Bible story, drawing the picture, and the copy work on Day 4! It is quick but looks like it’s going to be a good variety of topics. 

Language Smarts E – This was a review workbook that I wanted Titus to keep using. He did some worksheets on prefixes and suffixes this week. 

Math Lessons for a Living Education – We love this series, and he was reviewing addition and subtraction this week, so it was totally on his own. 

Progeny Press – We finished reading the assigned chapters in Farmer Boy and finished the corresponding pages for those. He remembers a lot from this book, even though we take turns reading pages because he finds it challenging. There are a lot of details and descriptions in this book!

ZEKE – PRESCHOOL 3

The Gentle + Classical Preschool – We read Last Stop on Market Street three times this week. He enjoys this book! He learned the letter L and reviewed counting to five and counting five different objects. We did his memory cards each day, and he liked being able to hold them himself and recite the information. His nursery rhyme was Rain, Rain, Go Away and he would randomly recite it throughout the week!

counting five crayons

he can recognize the numbers 1-5

We did a fun rain in a jar experiment that I’ve done several times with my kids. He loved it!

We mixed red and yellow and made orange! He also did a red and orange sorting worksheet I created for him.

He also completed some worksheets from my Preschool Learning Journal and some that I created for him to go with his theme and letter this week. He loves worksheets and wants several a day.

he put a sticker in each circle

he filled the L with leaf stickers

he traced his letters and gave the lion a mane in an AB pattern

reading numbers and placing leaf stickers on the tree

he cut and glue a tiny green leaf to the tree – can you spot it?

this set is available in my Etsy shop – alphabet collage worksheets

he made this adorable paper plate lion! He drew the whiskers and mouth himself

he cut the edges to make a mane

Mercie starts her school Monday. It’s going to be weird to have her gone during the day four days a week, but I know she is going to love it. Eli had his last first day of high school this week. It’s bittersweet! Have you started school yet?

My high school senior!

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