A Day in the Life...

Knock wood, we've had a great past two weeks. Everything seems to be getting done--school, cooking, housework. It's pretty awesome. It probably won't last, but I'll take it while we have it.

After breakfast and morning chores, we started our day with devotions. Now that Christmas is over, we've put away Winter Saints and taken out Our 24 Family Ways. This week, we're talking about initiative.

After devotions, Michael showed initiative and got to work on his independent stuff.
Here he is reading Anne of Green Gables. He picked it.

While he did this, Katie Grace and I had her main lesson. She's working on two-digit addition with regrouping. Daniel likes to help teach at the board.
Nicholas, meanwhile, was making a zoo at the other end of the table.


When she was finished, we made a snack of that yummy popcorn we had to buy for Scouts, and listened to a Classics for Kids podcast (Schubert to be exact) and had a snack.
Daniel was bummed he couldn't have popcorn, but he had fun with the bowl when it was empty.
After a little break, Katie Grace worked on her independent work. She enjoyed painting her spelling words!
Daniel got busy with the nesting blocks.

Michael and I had his main lesson. We're working on fractions, and today was finding the greatest common factor (which will lead into the greatest common denominator tomorrow). Tough stuff, but he did great.

When Michael and I were finished, we did a quick art project, making Chinese lanterns from some watercolor paintings we did a few weeks ago. Michael doesn't watercolor paint, so he decorated a sheet of paper instead.

This ties in with China in Story of the World.
Meanwhile, Daniel fed the babies cookies.
The older kids finished their work and Michael practiced cello, and the little boys and I had circle. This week we're exploring winter woods with the animals. The circle time is from Winter Seasons of Joy. We also did a little mousie rhyme from Wilma Ellersiek's "Bringing Love, Bringing Joy" (translated by Kundry Willwerth). Then we made some icicles to add to the nature table.
By now it was lunch time (Phew! Can you believe we get all that done in a morning?!? The kids get little breaks built in, but to fit everything in, I have to go non-stop!) After a leftovers lunch, the kids played living room basketball while I cleaned up and popped a cake in the oven to celebrate Nicholas's baptismal anniversary.

Next was read aloud--Holes by Louis Sacher-- and while I read I nursed the baby to sleep. After I put him up, we read about Kublai Kahn and the Mongolian's taking over China. Michael had a really quick Story of the World map activity, and then we made a litmus solution we'll be using with our chemistry experiments tomorrow.

Then we cleaned up, and that was the official end of school!

Of course, the learning didn't stop. Katie Grace and Nicholas joined me in some "My Fitness Coach" Wii, and Michael did some educational web surfing, and Katie Grace had ballet, and Michael had Scouts, and there were tons of stories to be read.

All in all, a great day at the Morning Star Homeschool!