Starting Sonlight and Cheekie update

Well, blogging has taken a lower rung on the priority ladder, as you have seen, due to a very active schedule this past week.

Our highlight was the arrival of new curriculum material from Sonlight. We already had the readers and read-alouds to begin, and downloaded the sample Instruction Page for week one, so off we went!

Then on Tuesday, our box arrived ... yay!

Maestro just couldn't wait to dive in. He managed to download the World Book Encyclopedia himself, then after looking through what he missed the day before on the Eastern Hemisphere Explorer, he was off and into the research. In fact, every morning he's right into researching. When we got home this evening, he was looking up more information to see what he could find on Pompeii. Hubby has decided it's been a great decision if he's this motivated.



So far I can see this is going to work really well for him, but I'm going to have to pace myself and balance he's keenness with the need to still help Mariposa with her basics. The read-alouds have been enjoyed by both children, and I'm finding that Core 1+2 actually compliments Core 5 nicely. On Friday, the last of the books we needed to start arrived (second-hand, thanks Melanie! ☺ ) and we began reading Red Sails to Capri. This is such a great story .. and we love the humour!

Of course, I've been having fun rearranging our bookshelves to make room for all of these wonderful books and keeping everything in one place. (No, you don't want to see my learning room atm. Books piled everywhere! I think I need to cull some we're no longer needing.)

So, in summary, this is what we're now doing with our homeschooling:

* Maestro ~ Core 5 and Language Arts 5 from Sonlight, Getty-Dubay Italics book D, Successful Spelling 4, Easy-Learn Maths 5B and Life of Fred; Fractions and Decimals, The Easy Spanish.

* Mariposa ~ Core 1+2 from Sonlight, Getty-Dubay Italics book B, Spelling Matters 2, Successful English 2, Easy-Learn Maths 2B, The Easy Spanish.

(links to these books are in the left sidebar if you wish to see the source)

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This week is also the week Cheekie turns four weeks old. I've been told from a friend that we should be able to determine whether it's male or female around now, but I've not found any solid information as to HOW I should know this. The closest I've come is through this link. Apparantly, if the comb and wattle begin to redden at this early stage, the likelyhood of it being male is high. Well, we have some colouring .. what do you think?

There is also a little lump at the back of the leg suggesting early formation of spurs, but I'm still not keen to call a decision as yet. Perhaps just waiting to see if it either crows or lays an egg is still the way to go?



Every day it gets a good run around outside in the sunshine. It will chase the children if they walk away, or run between them if they call it (very cute!) Tail and body plumage is coming along, but there is still quite a lot of down around it's head.

Well, I'm off to do more organising. Budgeting needs a look over before the month ends, as well as what's on our agenda tomorrow (shopping) and the coming week.