Learning 4 Life: School Update!

Seth's arrival in August meant that we took the month off from school so that we could adjust to life with an infant. The girls started "back to school" after labor day. Lily is in kindergarten this year which means that she is doing the same curriculum that Zora was doing when I started this blog! So hard to believe! Zora is in 3rd grade this year. Both of them are doing so well! We started out with only 3 days a week because it was all this exhausted Momma could handle. Now we are up to 4 days a week and that's where we're going to keep it for the rest of the year. Fridays are a break for all of us :-)

The theme for Lily's year is "A Trip Around God's World". We're learning about this wonderful world God has created and all of the wonders in it...the solar system, continents, landforms, oceans, animals, plants, weather and much more! We're studying a continent each month and the history, culture, climate, etc. of each. She's doing very well in handwriting and math (her favorite subject), and she's progressing very nicely in reading/phonics (her least favorite subject). When we first started back it took her a while to get into the routine, but now we're into the swing of things!

This picture is of Lily learning about how the moon gets craters - from rocks hitting its surface. We demonstrated by holding a rock over a bowl of flour and dropping it. We experimented with different heights to see how big or small the craters would be.

We also touched a little on earth science - fossils, rocks, etc. Here is Lily excavating rocks with her mallet and dowel rod. She found six rocks and was able to identify which types she had discovered. This experiment was perfect for her...she got to hammer stuff, make noise, make a mess and not get in trouble for it!!!

The first continent we are studying is North America. We learned about all the countries in North America, but we have spent the most time on our own country, the good 'ol USA. She made a bald eagle craft with her handprint (don't know why the picture keeps loading sideways...).

I'm still using the same curricula with Zora in most subjects, but this year we've made two changes. She's no longer doing a "Phonics and Reading" program because the one we were using stops after 2nd grade. In place of that we are doing novel studies and book reports this semester. Next semester we are going to study poetry and short stories. She is loving it so far! In September she read "Paint the Wind" by Pam Munoz Ryan and in October she read "The Misadventures of Maude March" by Audrey Couloumbias. This month she is reading "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" by Joan Aiken. I'll make a separate post with her book reports and the projects she's done to go with them.

Zora making a shadow box as one of her book report projects

Another exciting change we made this year was in her science. Every year I have struggled trying to find a science program that is exciting AND affordable. Each year we've tried something different and ended up unimpressed. Well, thanks to my friend Sarah, we heard about Real Science 4 Kids. It is affordable (especially when you find a brand new set on ebay!) and very fun! Right now we're doing chemistry. The lessons are very informative and the labs are fun! So far we've learned about atoms, molecules, acids, bases and chemical reactions.

Zora's marshmallow molecule