Monday, August 19, 2013

First Day of School

Today went very smooth, if you do not count my call to poison control first thing in the morning. I was getting Twizzler started on his new math software when I heard a rattle between my legs and looked down to see that Hershey had managed to open a "child proof" bottle of Pamprin that I keep in my purse. All of my other medicines are locked up in a cabinet so that he can't reach. I could not believe that a 17 months old was capable of opening a bottle that I struggle with. I called poison control to be certain that he was okay. The woman on the phone said that it is a very bitter tasting medicine and it is large and hard to chew. If he had eaten it, it would still be on his teeth and he would be drooling and trying to wipe the bad taste out of his mouth. She was fairly convinced that he did not eat any. She told me it has the same active ingredients as Tylenol so even if he did eat it, he would be okay. It was still a scary start to the day. I am thankful that he has not shown any signs throughout the day that she told me to look for. He has been his usual, busy self. 

My boys are both using Teaching Textbooks for math. It is such a blessing to my family. Math is my weakest subject but Teaching Textbooks is very thorough and I find myself learning new things right alongside them. It was Twizzler's favorite subject today. Hershey crawled into Skittles lap to "help" him out but managed to only make the task more difficult, however adorable. I, of course, got a few hundred really cute pictures out of it.  


For reading, Skittles is reading a biography about Sitting Bull. Twizzler is finishing up the last 10 lessons in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons .

For all of our other subjects I use Heart of Dakota. It is a complete curriculum that is Christ centered. 

In History, we read about the early life of Christopher Columbus. Hershey climbed up on the couch to hear the story. He made it a bit difficult for me to read when he climbed up in my lap. We read that Columbus was a map maker and most learned people already knew the earth was round before he ever set sail. 

Then for Geography we learned about the continents and oceans. We learned that the maps Columbus made looked very different from today's maps because they did not know that the Americas existed. 


This year Skittles is learning cursive. He did page 1 from Cheerful Cursive. Twizzler is doing copywork each day. 

We read a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow titled, Four by the Clock. 

We are studying Proverbs this year for Bible. Our verse this week is Proverbs 2:3-5 

indeed, if you call out for insight
    and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord

    and find the knowledge of God.


For English, I began our lesson in the book that I bought with the curriculum. Skittles understood exactly what the lesson was but Twizzler got frustrated quickly. Luckily, I remembered that I had bought a Charlotte Mason book called Simply Grammar at a curriculum sale this summer. Twizzler and I cuddled up on the recliner together while Hershey napped and we had our grammar lesson. 

Skittles favorite subject today was science as usual. Yesterday we went to the beach and the whole way there he was asking me a million questions about what causes the tide to change and what makes the waves. Today he got his answers!!! 

Finally, we had spelling... Well, Twizzler did spelling. Skittles is starting dictation. WOW!!! I can't believe he is so grown up. They both did very well and only made one mistake each.... They were small mistakes made from being a bit over-confident. 

And so, we survived our first day of school. We got all of our work done and had time to go to the pool, the library, and ride the scooters around the neighborhood. It was a good day

1 comment:

  1. Glad to hear today went well for you guys! Sounds like a busy day as well. Keep up the great work!

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