A week in the life of homeschoolers - July 29th - August 3rd

July 29th - August 3rd

In our homeschool this week...
Homeschool is back in session for us and we officially started our 2012-2013 year on Wednesday. I hope you will join us on our homeschool journey each week by reading our "A week in the life of homeschoolers" posts. This is our 2nd year homeschooling and we now have a 1st grader and Kindergartner.

Here are some highlights:

Sunday we spent the day at home. I finished up all my miscellaneous projects. Monday the kids spent quite a bit of time playing with their new marble slides. The marble slides super easy to make just cut a pool doodle in half and TA-DA hours of fun for only $1! Tuesday we played several games and then took a Founders Academy class on currency. The kids learned all about the history of paper money. After class there was a knock at the door and a package was handed to us. Inside the package were lots of great goodies from our friends at RoseArt. These goodies kept the kids quite busy the rest of the day (don't worry reviews are coming soon). Wednesday we started our first day of school. The kids had a special breakfast...I made them sand castle pancakes. Then we took school photos and had a scavenger hunt. After our fun morning we had calendar time and then began Sand Unit Study if you want to see what resources we are using click here. We read lots of books of fun books about sand, did some worksheets and watched YouTube videos. For a snack the kids had pudding sand cups. For our craft we did the sand art kits I picked up at Dollar Tree. Thursday we explored sand up close through our microscope and then used this weeks favorite resource which is the Scientific Observation Sheets I created, to record our findings. We made homemade moon sand and made sand castles. We learned how to say "my name is" in Spanish using Speekee (a program we are reviewing). Then the kids overtook my computer and had lots of reading fun on Reading Eggs, Reading Kingdom and ABC Mouse. Friday we got in our Physical Education for the week and headed to the pool for some fun in the sun.

In my life this week…
I am still trying to get all our planning done for the 1st half of the year. Even though I don't do traditional planning (because we pretty much wing it most days) I do still need the kids to pick their unit study topics so I can start gathering the resources we will be using.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
Your kids are sponges and learning is everywhere. There is no need to hit textbooks everyday because everything you do can be a learning experience.

I am inspired by…
My many blogging friends.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
This week we did not have any fabulous field trips but we will next week ; )

My favorite thing this week was…
Building sand castles in the kitchen check it out here.

What’s working/not working for us…
We will be doing unit studies again this year because it worked very well for us last year. So far our Sand Unit study is going very well.

Things I’m working on…
Getting our home and schoolroom more organized. I also just finished our Unit Study Exploration Box this week.

I’m reading…
Lots of books to the kids. We are currently working through two chapter books Mr. Pipes and The British Hymn Makers (review coming soon) and The Awesome Atlanta Mystery.

I’m grateful for…
My wonderful husband who works so very hard each day so I can be at home.

I’m praying for…
My husbands car which is on the fritz yet again.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

I take lots of photos each week (too many to fit all in one collage) so if you ever want to see what else we have been up do be sure to like the Kathys Cluttered Mind Facebook Page.

How was your week? When are you starting your new year?

Linking up with:

JDaniel4s Mom, Learning All The Time, Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers,  Homegrown Learners, iHomeschool Network, Chestnut Grove Academy