Week One ~ Back To School

One of the MANY bonuses to homeschooling is you can start when you like. The public schools here started back on Wed/Thur last week (depending on what grade and which school) but I decided the boys would do best to start with a full week.  So we held off and started on Monday 1st February.

This is a huge selection of photos but I think it showcases our week quite well - enjoy!

Monster - 9 years old 

Monkey - 6 years old 

Munchkin - 3 years old 

I decided that our mornings will be comprised of written and structured learning. Therefore I will expect Bible reading, spelling, maths and writing/handwriting to be done by lunchtime. Structured, sit down work is NOT my boys favourite thing to do, so best to get it out of the way before they get tired and need to move more.  In these two photos Monster and Monkey are tackling their maths workbook page for the day.  Monster is working ahead of his age/grade level and doing Year 6 maths this year.  Monkey is doing Year 2, but about half of the book will be a review from last year so I will accelerate him at some stage. 

Though I had planned activities/games for Munchkin, he asked for the whiteboards and textas and spent long periods of time drawing elaborate pictures throughout the day. 

I only photographed Monkey, but both older boys started writing some long overdue thank you notes for Christmas presents they received.  They will be writing a few a week until they are finished. 

Finally our selection of books for the first day back to school.

The top picture is Munchkin's read aloud choices and the bottom photo is Monkey's.

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I think Tuesdays will be our science experiment days.

Monster got a GREAT chemistry set from his uncle for Christmas which will come in very handy in the weeks to come, but for the first week I stuck to something easy, reactions with dish soap.  The first was pepper and dish soap, the second was food colouring in milk with dish soap. The boys loved the experiments - though Monster wasn't keen about the write-up I wanted done. 

Monkey's Christmas present from his uncle arrived so there was some time spent experimenting with the GREAT ring toss game! 

Monkey also asked to do some more "science experiment" so I set him up at the dining table with a rather controlled situation and he amused himself concocting for quite awhile. 

Our books for Tuesday... top photo is Munchkin's selection, middle photo is Monkey's bedtime read aloud, and bottom photo are two wonderful books I chose for Monster to read about how flood and fire affect this beautiful land, its people, and animals. 

The four photos above are the learning activities I planned/set up for Munchkin.

Either I didn't plan and present them well, or he just wasn't interested as he did very little with them all week. 

Finally we ended our day with a trip to the park to feed the ducks and other water birds.

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Thursdays the library is open late (until 8pm) and our favourite librarian works in the afternoon/evening, so we have decided Thursday afternoons are for the library.  The boys enjoy some computer time and I get an extended period of time to research and resource books I want to use for the remainder of the school year. 

We had some excitement when Monkey lost his second tooth in the late afternoon. 

Munchkin's book choices. 

Monkey and I are doing a mini space unit (or sorts) as we read this series of books before bed in the evenings. 

This set of early readers is incredibly too easy for him now as he is reading small chapter books, but we decided to have a little review and work our way through the set before returning it to the library. 

Monster and I resumed our Australian History unit by finishing off the Ruby series this week.

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 We will be using this beautiful book throughout the year to study some geography.

 To accompany the book I bought the above colouring book and the two older boys will colour the correct page for each country that is represented.

I read aloud this beautiful Monet picture book (above) while the boys working on a Monet colouring page.  Their interpretations were interesting... 

 Monster and Munchkin's read aloud books for Friday!

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Monday 

Tuesday 

Wednesday 

Thursday 

Friday

This is the current puzzle Monster is working on. The difference this year is that he is doing the entire thing on his own.  It is our evening time together.  I read aloud his history books while he works on the puzzle.  It is exciting to watch!!