Second Semester School Updates *edited with a few more pictures*

We started back to school the week following New Year’s Day. We had a slow start because they had been on a light schedule during December. They are all ahead in their work, so we took the opportunity to do art projects and read books together about Advent and Christmas. They did a little bit of Grammar and math flash cards so they weren’t completely off track. The long “break” has made it harder to get back into the swing of things.

Judah (2^nd grade) is getting so distracted by everything from his pencil to his brothers, and he is getting work done at a snail’s pace.  

Bobby (Kindergarten) is adding numbers up to twenty in his head like a boss now and he is reading very well too. He’s read over 20 early readers to me since finishing his 100 Easy Lesson book. I’m adding in word searches and extra math books to slow him down a little and keep him busy.

Bob is perfecting his reading with massive quantities of comic books: Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, and Zita.

The other day around 4pm, I found him reading comic books for the fourth time and asked him if that's all he'd done all day.  His response, "Well, I did my school too."  At that point I shooed him outside until dinner.  Only in our house do you have to force kids to stop reading and go play outside.

Drew (3^rd grade) is getting the hang of long division and still working on his cursive being natural. He and Judah are starting Latin this semester and we are trying a new program, Classical Academic Press’s Latin for Children. So far the grammar has proved challenging, but I’m not concerned that they fully grasp that yet since they are starting young. I mainly want the exposure and vocabulary so they can see it again and again and it be easier in the upper school years.

The big kids are back in school for only about a week now.  Hannah had grown quite accustomed to distance learning, but the other two were sick of the computer, missing the social interaction, and losing focus and determination in their schoolwork.  They had an independent study project that they all completed just before going back to school.  We are still adjusting to the new norms of traveling to school and back everyday.

Basketball season is wrapping up here in a week.  The girls are both on Varsity together, but they lost a lot of girls this year .  Their team is mostly ninth graders playing against juniors and seniors.  It has been a humbling and challenging experience.  It is fun to see my two daughters playing together again.  I am team mom and I have been running the books/clock this season for all home games so that I can attend the games.  My sister and I played on the same team in high school and my dad used to do the books for my games in high school.  It brings back memories.

This is what this year's support of their sisters looked like...