A Little Over Two Months Left

If we keep on schedule, we'll finish up school at the end of May.  We've been plowing through teacher work days and snow days so we can finish up on the early side.  Sam has been plugging away and has been generally interested and cooperative .  All homeschoolers have their bad days and we are no exception.

Our biggest problem of late has been me- although I don't let on.  I'm the one who has been having trouble getting motivated to do school.  Oh, I do it.  But, oh my word.  As much as I love the curriculum (we use Sonlight) and learning along side Sam, I'm ready for my summer break. 

Thankfully, Jamey is around some these next few weeks and he has been teaching Sam two days a week.  It's been one of the huge benefits of him going back to school- having these 4 and 5 week breaks here and there.  They're too short to find a job and work, so he hangs out with us knowing that before long, he'll be back in the world of work.  Then we might not think student loans were so bad.  I take that back.  It will be good to get out from under so much debt.

What was I trying to talk about?  Oh, yes.  School.

Sam and Sadie have been making ocean boxes for science.  We're studying Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day and they are adding creatures to their boxes as we study them.

 

Most recently, we've been studying mollusks which include snails and the shells they create.  This has been so much fun since we're planning a trip to the beach this spring to visit family.  We found some shells and the kids glued them in their boxes.  This book is coming with us to the beach.

We loved reading White Stallion of Lipizzaner about the horses of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.  This book has amazing pictures throughout (which helped keep Sadie interested) and the story is one of determination and hard work.  Sam was fascinated by this book and we were SO psyched to be able to watch some youtube videos of these amazing horses when we had finished the book.  It really made the story come to life for us. 

A friend lent us Treasures of the Snow.  Talk about a treasure of a book.  I highly recommend it and really don't want to tell you much about it because you just need to read it yourself.  Trust me.  There's nothing questionable and it has a wonderful Christian message.

Two others we've loved have fallen right along with what we've been studying in history.  The Door in the Wall takes place in the Middle Ages and The Apprentice takes place in Florence, Italy during the Renaissance.  Both are wonderful stories of boys set in their time periods in a way in which you forget you're reading a book in order to learn about a time period- the story line just carries you away.

What has your family been reading that you love?