First Week of Foundations - Collage Friday
Friday, August 30, 2013 at 5:00AM 
These first weeks of school have been a huge learning curve for us.
Our relaxed, interest led days are being replaced with more structure and schedule.
I am so thankful, however, that we still have freedom to explore our interests.
Classical Conversations is such an amazing program for homeschoolers. Our first week of Foundations at home has been a joy. We have been doing daily memory work, and then supplementing as we choose in other areas of the curriculum.
With all of the material available online and our subscription to CC Connected, I'm not at a loss of things to do with Grant through the rest of the week.
Leigh Bortins has woven together everything beautiful and worthy across all ages. It's amazing to me, really. I feel that I'm getting guidance and direction I need from a true EXPERT.
Don't get me wrong - I feel I am the ultimate expert on my children's education, but I really appreciate a program and community coming alongside me, supporting me, and (most of all) delineating a worthy curriculum.
Anna has reached a good rhythm in her schoolwork. We've needed to help her make a detailed schedule with exact times, but this is GOOD for her and she is adjusting nicely.
It's funny - I've gone from being an extremely relaxed homeschooler to a very classical homeschooler in the span of just two years. It was a gradual transition, but it fits us well.
This holiday weekend we are sticking close to home. We have plans to attend a Braves game and I will also be FINISHING SQUILT Volume 2: Classical Era. Yay!!! (I had hoped to be done a bit sooner, but a little thing called homeschooling got in the way - ha!)
It has made me so happy to see so many people using Volume 1, and I'm hoping Volume 2 will be just as good!
First Day of Foundations
This was Grant's FIRST experience with a school setting of any kind. (He did go to preschool, but that was some time ago now). He goes to a Sunday school class each week, but he knows his teacher so well and the children are all like family.
I think he was excited about the first day of CC, but also nervous, too.
Grant's class has 8 children his own age. Our tutor, Ms. Melissa, is so kind and caring.
Grant seemed to hop right in and enjoy himself. He loved the geography, math, and we also did some fun science experiments outside.
Each child is asked to give a short presentation each week. I didn't think this would be any problem for Grant. He's very confident and (if you know him personally) is NOT shy. He always has MUCH to say.
When it was his turn for the presentation he stood in front of the group and started sobbing. My mama heart just broke, but then I realized this is GOOD for him. We will practice this week and he wants to get up and try it again next week. (He told me he wanted to be "perfect" and got very nervous.)
Perfection - the curse that he has inherited from both his father AND me. Poor kid - a double whammie.
Random Collage
We had a BUSY week. All activities are in full swing and I haven't had much time to catch my breath.
Pictures, from top left:
- I have an awesome app, Time Hop, that lets me see what I was sharing on FB, Twitter, or Instagram on a certain date one, two, or three years ago. Look at my little G! His smile and enthusiasm have been infectious since he was tiny.
- I cooked dinner EVERY SINGLE NIGHT this week! The key to keeping my family happy is feeding them well. One of favorite comfort foods is Paula Deen's Hashbrown Quiche. There is something I love about a quiet kitchen and time to cook a good meal. (Plan to Eat has been my lifesaver for a couple of years now, too.)
- Anna's children's chorus kickoff was last Saturday. Oh, my friends, those children can SING. This chorus is a huge blessing in our lives - beautiful music, a caring director, and exposure to a wide variety of children from many different homeschools, private schools, and public schools is GOOD for Anna.
- We finished Lassie Come Home and watched the movie, too. This will go down in history as one of our favorite read alouds. We did something special while reading the book that I will share in a post next week.
This Week's Favorite Resources
I'd like to start highlighting some of our favorite resources from each week.
Here goes!
1. I start each morning with Grace for The Moment - I read it the minute I get out of bed. Later, at breakfast, the kids and I read Grace for the Moment for Kids. I love these two books.
2. Anna continues to study It Couldn't Just Happen. I'm so pleased that this book is required reading for her.
3. Grant was given a big set of K'Nex. He LOVES them. (I'm not sure he loves them as much as LEGO bricks - see my Learning With LEGO post from this week, by the way!). This week he built a K'Nex SUV that took him quite a bit of time.
4. It might be hard to see, but this is a lesson I did with Grant about pronouns from First Language Lessons, Level 3. This curriculum makes grammar FUN and the drill and repetition solidifies the concepts.
5. We have several of the Usborne Internet Linked books. This particular book, Mysteries and Marvels of Nature, got a lot of use this week, as Anna is researching fungi.
6. Crispin: The Cross of Lead is our current read aloud. It's quite good. We read aloud at lunch each day.
I can't tell you the joy it gives me to see so many of you link here each week. Then, as I visit your blogs, I see each of YOU supporting and encouraging others. We use the hashtag on Instagram and Twitter and it's really such a fun community to be a part of.
THANK YOU for making Fridays my favorite day of the blogging week!
** Please join me for Collage Friday! Share your photo collages from your homeschool week.
Grab a button from my sidebar, or text link back to this post in some way.
Visit other bloggers in the link-up to gain ideas and offer support. Our community is a wonderful way to make friends, educate ourselves, and see we are not alone in our struggles!
Reader Comments (20)
I love your collages! We would be fairly relaxed homeschoolers but my eldest son this year is asking for more serious work and to be a bit more independent. We too have been helping him work out a schedule. It's such a blessing to be around for them at each stage isn't it?
Wow, your week has been PACKED! It's all good though, and I'm really glad to be reading about your children's new learning direction with CC. It sounds absolutely fantastic to be part of the community.
Mary I have so enjoyed following your CC adventures on instagram and more. I can tell it has been a huge blessing for you all. And woo hoo for SQUILT Vol 2 coming soon. Happy weekend!
I love how you are so comfortable with your changing homeschooling rhythms, Mary. Right now we are very relaxed homeschoolers but I like knowing things will change over the years depending on where we're at.
That picture of Grant with his bottom teeth missing is so cute!
Thank you so much for hosting! Have a lovely weekend, Lucinda
That lesson on pronouns looks like fun! We started Lassie Come Home last year and never finished it, so I'm looking forward to the activity you are sharing next week. Have a great weekend!!
I'm so happy for you and your family that the transition into CC is going so well. Many wishes for a wonderful year.
I look forward to the Lassie post, we're such dog lovers!
Such a great busy week! Your children's choir is huge!
I, too, can't wait to see what you did with Lassie! I am adding it to our read aloud list. We love Avi. You'll have to post how you liked Crispin. Right now we are in the middle of his Poppy the mouse series. It's great! I think we still have about four more books in that series to read.
What a great post!
Love all your pictures. Can't wait to hear more about the chorus!
God bless!
We also started CC this year, after three years of Charlotte Mason-style homeschooling. I love Charlotte Mason's ideas, but I really love the Classical Model of homeschooling and am devouring The Core, The Well-Trained Mind, etc. I love it because it is very concrete, and you don't have to guess if your children are learning. Plus, they are loving it! I am looking forward to following your blog throughout the year as you continue to delve into CC!
It was definitely an exciting week for Grant! I hope he continues to like CC and has a great presentation next week. I'm glad you were able to help Anna with a specific schedule to keep her on track. Sometimes they just need a little more structure than they think.
I LOVE Plan to Eat too, and thanks for mentioning it a while back. I actually cook dinner more than once a week now and love the shopping list. They are very responsive when I have technical issues pop up too. I found a bug in the mobile shopping list today; I didn't want to find it, I'd have rather my list worked correctly. But they were almost immediate in their response and made a code fix within a couple of hours. You can't ask for better customer service.
You do know that when you recommend resources, 9 times out of 10 I have to go check it out, right? Ugh.. I'm trying to resist today, but I don't see it going well. :)
Have fun at the baseball game!
I feel for Grant! Once I got out of having to give a speech (temporarily) in Speech class by breaking my leg on the way to school! I'm sure with time he'll start to feel more comfortable doing it! School starts for us on the 4th and we'll be digging into Squilt! Have a great week!
Wow, you had another fantastic week. I loved the photo of the chorus! Thanks for hostessing (again) the Collage Friday! Have a nice weekend.
I'm glad to hear good things about "It Just Couldn't Happen". I have it on my daughter's reading list for this year.
Oh yes- I love the Collage Friday community too! (Though for me it usually ends up being Collage Saturday...) ;0)
Hope you enjoy your Labor Day weekend, Mary. We are sticking close to home too:)
I'll be praying for Grant and his presentation next week!
A great week Mary. I am anxious to see how you like CC. I have heard so many people on both sides of the fence talking about it. Your weeks always look so fun. I hope this is just a wonderful year for you and your 2 kids. Thanks for hosting.
Great week!! I just ordered your "Squilt" book and am anxious to get started. I am looking for some "baby friendly" studies and this seems to fit the bill (my grandson is with us a few days a week).
Looks like a start of a great homeschool year!! I have so many friends doing CC. Do you know if there's a comparable Time Hop app for Android? I searched and haven't found one yet.
Hiuzzah for Ms. Melissa! 8). Busy but awesome week over there!