Our Homeschool Week(s) in Review

The last couple weeks have been spent getting back into a normal routine of school.   The girls keep plugging away on their math.  DD10 is about 2/3 done with the Delta book of Math-U-See.  We've hit a point where we are slowing down.  We both like the way the material is being presented....hopefully this program will be the one that works for her!    DD13 is still doing Saxon 8/7, as well as slowly working her way through the Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics.  She does complain sometimes that trying to remember all the necessary math concepts is overwhelming, but she's holding her own.  (Not bad for a child who was once at least 2 years behind in math!)

For our language arts, DD10 is still doing the Calvert Grammar CD.  We took a break from All About Spelling, but we've come back to it and will soon be finished with Level 1.  I ordered Level 2 this week, so we'll be able to continue the program.  Even though Level 1 was pretty easy for her, it's been good to build a firm foundation.   DD13 does her Daily Grams, which she actually enjoys (especially analogies!).    We also do IEW's Fix-It....for some reason this turns into a giggle session.  I'm not sure what's so funny, but the girls seem to have doing it and they're learning, so who am I to complain????   Unfortunately, HWOT's Cursive for DD10 went by the way side....really need to pull that back out!  We also got out of the routine of IEW's Writing program...MUST get back on that!!!

The last couple weeks of science for DD13 has been finishing up the sections on earth science in Apologia's General Science.   She prefers geology, but we're now headed into the life science section.  We are now coming together at co-op for discussion and labs for the remainder of this course.  Another mom and I are teaching it.  I had the first class......I was 15 minutes late and finished 15 minutes early......maybe I should work on my timing a bit more! LOL.  I was able to show a couple short videos from The Truth Project by Focus on the Family that tied into our discussions.    DD10 has a break from science right now...with the exception of what she's learning in our Bible time.

For our school Bible time (as opposed to our personal devotion/reading time), we have been going through Answers in Genesis' It All Begins with Genesis.    We're about half way through.   This has really enriched our science class as well!  When we were studying fossils in General Science, IABwG had a great illustration that the kids acted out to learn just how difficult is to become a fossil.  Now that we're on the life section of General Science and discussing DNA...our discussions in Bible time ended up being on DNA.  Don'tcha just love it when God coordinates your school lessons!!  (You don't think that *I'm* that organized, do you!!!!)

A little extra Bible time we had this week was watching the video The Star of Bethlehem.  I had ordered it from the library awhile back, but was in line waiting for an available copy that finally came in this week.  It was just FASCINATING!!!!  It's the story of one man's mission to determine what exactly the Star of Bethlehem was--was it really an astronomical event and could he prove that it happened?  Well, what he found was amazing--the symbolism is undeniable!  I whole-heartedly recommend watching it! (Probably best for about 12 and up--it's a bit on the technical side.)

On to history......we are still working on Mystery of History, Volume 1.  We're now on King Solomon.  Not a lot of options for read-alouds, but we are reading Rachel's Secret Journal from the Bible-Time Kids series.  The girl's father is one of the Temple workers for King Solomon.  It's an OK read...certainly not great literature.  The diary format makes it a bit cumbersome as a read-aloud.

I guess that's about it, I think, except for our co-op.   During these winter months, we continue to meet weekly, but with a reduced schedule.  Our main focus is to keep the upper sciences going and allow the younger kids an organized time of educational games and a gym time with more time for socializing ('cause ya know we're unsocialized!)  I had the 4-6 grade kids at co-op this week for the educational game time, and we broke into two teams (7 kids each) did some Bible trivia.   I think for next week, I'll make a ZONK game for them that covers multiple subjects.

Have a blessed week!

B90 Update

I am so excited that there are ONE THOUSAND people committed to reading the Bible in 90 days over these winter months!!  Isn't that great.....1,000 people all reading the Bible all the way through at the same time.

I've never been very good at keeping resolutions.....which is why I usually don't bother....but this time around I'm determined to keep this one!  So far, so good.   I'm a bit ahead of my schedule (I started about 10 days ahead of the rest of the group, as I needed to finish at least 5 days ahead of the scheduled ending).

I will be starting 2 Kings today!!!   Every time I've tried reading the Bible through before, I have gotten bogged down somewhere in the Leviticus/Numbers/Deuteronomy area and then gave up.   I made it through this time....and it was not nearly as bad I remembered it being!!!

I love that I'm getting this big overview of the Bible rather quickly....yet, at the same time, I'm reading things I've never read before....all those lesser known things that are asked in the Bible trivia games!  LOL.

I didn't do it the first several days of reading, but at some point I decided to start highlighting different verses or words that strike me.  Words God said.  Who did right/Who did evil in God's eye.  Just whatever jumps out.  I look forward to going back through those later and spending more time.

My B90 mentor Debbie wrote this great article about using the Fruit of the Spirit to read through the Bible,

If your goal is to read the Bible this year (whether in 90 days or just to get it finished before the end of the year), I want to encourage you to keep going.....you CAN do this!!!  God's word is waiting to speak to you in ways you can't even imagine.  So pull out your Bible, and draw close to Him.......He's waiting.

Today is officially Day 1 of reading the Bible in 90 Days...

However, I'm on day 9.   I needed to start a bit earlier, as I need to be finished before the end of March (and this group reading officially ends on April 1.)

I just wanted to thank my mentor, Debbie in Alaska....it was her blog where I accidentally came across this program.  When I clicked on a link for more info, I learned there was a new 90 Day Reading starting at the beginning of this year, so I signed up.

A quick hello to all Group 8 participants who might be stopping by my blog......I look forward to getting to know more about y'all.  I won't be blogging every day, but I'll pop in once in awhile with my progress.

I'm excited to be reading through the Bible for the first time!

Read with me!