Our last two weeks and some changes

We started getting back into our homeschool groove last Monday, after taking off a couple of weeks for the holidays. Despite the dreary weather here in GA and having to be cooped up most of the days (causing more sibling bickering than normal) we have had two very GREAT weeks!!!

We are currently learning about Marine Mammals for our unit study and also taking time to learn about Martin Luther King and Chinese New Year as well. You can find out what resources we have been using on our latest FreeBEE Friday post.

The only change we made for the new year to our homeschool was an adjustment to our schedule...we actually kind of, sort of have one now, lol. This was per Gwyn (my almost 7 year old's request). Oh by the way my precious little girl will be turning 7 tomorrow (the 20th)!!!!!

Here is a picture of my little girl on her 1st birthday!!  I cannot believe how much she has grown.

So here are the schedule changes we made. We are now using these nifty charts that I purchased at Dollar Tree (the kids each picked the one they wanted). Then I had them laminated at Office Depot so we could use dry erase markers on them.

Each weekend I decide what subjects we are doing on the various days by placing a circle in the square (it varies depending upon field trips, appointments, etc). I also put any field trips or special items on the chart as well. When they finish an item they put an X over the circle. Four days a week we do our math and reading curriculum. We now only do our unit study material one day a week (even though we will read our unit study books or watch documentaries that go with our unit study here and there throughout the week). We do Art twice a week, PE once a week, Spanish once-twice a week and Music once a week. On Friday we do "Friday Fun School." Instead of doing scheduled stuff the kids pick what they want to do. We play games, cook, work on our unit study, go on a field trip, etc. It's a fun day but there is of course still learning taking place. A few other things we also do throughout the week are get together with our homeschool group for an activity or field trip, go on a nature walk, volunteer at a local horse rescue and Rowyn's speech. So far this schedule is working beautifully. I even had a SUPER proud mommy moment the other morning when Gwyn got onto her A+ TutorSoft math lesson, completed her lesson and quiz and printed her worksheets all by herself...before I was even out of bed. She was so anxious to get it Xed off her schedule.

Here are some photos from our last two weeks. Besides the above mentioned items we have been learning about we also took a fabulous live online MLK class from Founders Academy, attended a fabulous science class about sound from Kevin Howard at the library and made sun-catchers with our homeschool group. We also made posters about our pets to take the nature center for pet month. And the kids learned a very important life skill. They learned how to fill out a deposit slip at the bank and counted back the cash we received. There was one day that got very thrown off because we had to go pick up our new used car and get the tags, emissions, etc done. So the kids did some carschooling and watched their Rock N Learn Phonics, MLK and Dino Dan DVDs. I am so very grateful that our friend gave us a portable DVD player.

Have you made any changes in your homeschool for 2013?

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Linking up with:  I Can Teach My Child, Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers,  Homegrown Learners