Into the bookwork

Monday was such a great day out ~ what a hoot! We all slept well and rose to a mild day and overnight drizzle. All of us felt much more enthused and we started our lessons most successfully.

The first thing I'm trying to incorporate is a more 'hands on' type of method with our Bible study. I've seen various programs, but ... well, let's just say that there's been something that's made me resist purchasing any of them. So, today I started something new. We've already read through all of Genesis and Exodus, so I thought I'd start to 'recap', but having the children and myself taking some notes along the way. As usual, what I intended didn't fully eventuate, because as we went along I realised that there were a few 'holes' needing repairing. Mariposa is still learning to become a fluent reader, so I concentrated on just writing simple sentences on the days of creation. For Maestro, I quizzed him on what words meant, remembering the order of events, actually 'looking up' scriptures and asking if he can recall any others which may come to mind when he drew conclusions (as in, recalling the words, not the references). I was really pleased at how it all went, and I'm writing notes as we go.

I plan to do follow-up activities of sorts, especially for Mariposa, as more reinforcement. The first activity is to do a 'Creation Wheel' - something I did with them a few years ago but they've forgotten. I had found the idea on another homeschooling site, but do you think I can find it now? If I ever do, I'll post the link.

We then moved onto Spelling, then Mariposa worked through her English book. I'm having Maestro complete the Newsademic Free Cover Stories I receive via email every fortnight. This week was about Obama's inaugeration. After reading the 2 page article, he then filled in the free comprehension / activity pages.

As my impromptu Bible Study became extended, I decided to leave Maths until tomorrow, so we then focused on Music. Both children are now learning violin, Mariposa having had her very first lesson last week, so both did their practice. We covered some theory also.

All this, with our breaks for morning tea play and lunch (and me on the phone with an unexpected long phonecall!), lead us to 3pm. The day just flew!! Maestro had his dance lesson for 90mins, then we were off for violin lessons. Doing well. :) This is probably what this whole week will be like, but if we're happy we wouldn't have it any other way.