Here we go

Summer time is here!

What a wonderful school year it's been! Avery found his groove, I managed to keep us all alive and well, the baby is now on the prowl and we have a couple of months to relax and refresh our minds and spirits for next school year. Here is a very abbreviated summary of this past school year.

Greatest challenges:

• Keeping the three year old from climbing onto the school table while teaching Avery his lessons.

• Nursing a baby while teaching Avery lessons while keeping Emile from climbing onto the table.
• Having Avery maintain focus if I leave the room (even for a second)

Greatest rewards:

• Avery loving to write letters, notes and stories especially with elaborate illustrations of monsters and battle droids.
• Emile asking me what each part of the body's real scientific name is (i.e. clavicle, sternum, humerus). Seriously!
• Watching the boys study together the wonders in nature, that makes it worth it all right there!

This past year I went through a slew of material to see what would work and would wouldn't work. Here are a few of our favorites:

• A little journal writing idea book purchased from our local educational store.
• Writing Strands
• First language lessons by Susan Weiss Bauer
• History of the world by Susan Weiss Bauer
• R.E.A.L. Science
• School Zone Big first grade workbook
• Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings
• Sketch books and Field guides
• Movable alphabet
• Homemade toddler activities-oatmeal, beans, cotton balls, scissors glue & construction paper, playdough!

Bayou Boat Tour

We took a guided boat tour of the Vermilion River today. The kids had a wonderful time spotting all of the interesting wildlife there like the turtles, water snakes, and best of all the alligators that swam only a few feet away from us. Afterwards we had a picnic in the park then went to the Ice Cream parlor for a very special treat to finish off a wonderful day!

Poem Memorization

Elves Song
by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sing all ye joyful, now sing all together!
The winds in the tree-top, the wind's in the heather;
The stars are in blossom, the moon is in flower, And bright are the windows of Night in her tower.

Dance all ye joyful, now dance all together!
Soft is the grass, and let foot be like feather!
The river is silver, the shadows are fleeting;
Merry is May time, and Merry our meeting.

This week in science the boys were learning about Mollusks. We were able to find tons of snails in our strawberry patch to study and also befriend. Emile particularly became quite fond of the little creatures, wanting to keep them as his pets!

Trip to the Aquarium

spring breaks

We have been taking many little breaks over the last couple of weeks. With this beautiful spring weather to enjoy and so many birthday's to celebrate, we decided to continue our schooling into the summer. We are about to finish the First grade portion of our grammar book, and have covered all of the basic concepts in first grade math. So we will take a break from those subjects over the summer. History and science are his favorite subjects and will give his hungry little mind something to chew on this summer when it is too hot and mosquito invested to play in the back yard. We plan on returning to the UL literacy program this summer to help with reading fluency and also creative writing. It's such a great program and I hope that this year something will click and he will begin to LOVE reading for himself! As much as I love to read aloud to him I want him to have the tools to find information for himself, and not struggle.

I am so proud of all of the hard work he has done this year! With very little complaints and way too many distractions from his little brothers to overlook, he has exceeded my expectations and has been a wonderful example for his younger brother. Hopefully next year Emile will be ready to do the same and he can show little bit how it's done.