Chamblee School

This year marks the beginning of a two-year stretch in American history. So very exciting! We love American history and I am looking forward to getting more in-depth with my 10 and 13 year olds and having my almost 17 year old really spending some time in some great reading.

This semester we are studying the exploration period and the early settlement of America. We are using Bright Ideas' All-American History for a spine which includes mapwork and a weekly quiz. Jordan adds to that using the same activities that my older girls did from Far Above Rubies. We are also using my favorite, KONOS, which includes some navigation, sailing and astronomy with the explorers unit. We are also reading LOTS of books about this period. For history we are reading one of our all-time favorite historical fiction books, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham and The World of Columbus and Sons by Genevieve Foster. Each of my students has weekly assigned reading on the explorers as well. We are doing our history studies on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

On Tuesday and Thursday we are covering geography using Around the World in 180 Days. Because we are only doing this 2 days a week, we will be going Around the World in 360 Days!! I am really liking this curriculum as it is really just a list of activities, questions, or vocabulary covering the geography, culture, religion and current events of each continent. To tie in with our explorer study we chose to begin with South and Central America. Next semester we will cover Africa as my brother will be moving there in the spring. For geography we are also doing LOTS of reading: Missionary Stories with the Millers (covering only those chapters relating to South and Central America and Martin Rattler by Ballentyne. We also have several Henty books that we are reading individually.

We will cover astronomy on the high school level with Signs and Seasons and the younger ones will participate at times. Although I determined NOT to do another pre-designed lapbook, I did get Hands of a Child's Advanced Astronomy lapbook as a freebie from The Old Schoolhouse magazine and will let the middle children work on that as well ON THEIR OWN. I will not stand and lecture them, but make them find the answers on their own. Jeff has an avid interest in astronomy, so I am hopeful that he will do a good bit with them in this study.

Our daily Bible study consists of a reading from the book of Proverbs (yesterday was the 10th, so our reading was Pro. 10), reviewing our memory passage (currently Ephesians 2) and we are using Balancing the Sword currently going through the book of Matthew. Each child also has his own Bible reading before school. We also use this time to read through Bob Schulz' Practical Happiness. We have also read through his Created for Work and really appreciate his messages.

I am not getting everything done with Jackson that I had intended, but we are doing more than we had been! His movie viewing has decreased although he is still on a Roy Rogers kick. In fact, he has been putting gel in his hair and slicking it back to look like old Roy and is currently dressed in his cowboy clothes, as usual.

The children usually begin their day with Bible reading, then individual work which I place in folders, one for each day of the week and they have an assignment list to work through. Breakfast and a few chores follow this time. At 9 we usually gather for our Bible study which includes EVERYBODY, Devin, Jordan, Aaron, Kaelan, Jackson and Caedmon. After our Bible study and prayer time we take a short break to move the laundry from the washer to dryer and fold a quick load, then gather without Devin for our time in either history or geography. Devin then works on chores, practicing her violin or assigned reading on the days that she is home. This generally takes us to lunch time. After lunch is music practice for one hour and then any unfinished independent work or chores are done.

We are doing a couple of things a little differently this year. I have moved Jordan's desk out from his bedroom and into the den. I found that he still needs a little nudge to stay on task and I didn't like him holed up in his room alone, especially as he is working three afternoons a week and I missed him!! Instead of doing the bulk of our school work in the dining room, we are staying in our school room. It has a table, my desk with computer, all of school materials and learning supplies and is open to the den. We have put a gate up so that Caedmon can't get out and we are all in the same room during the bulk of our school day. Caedmon will play happily on the floor in the den or schoolroom while we are reading and discussing and doing other school work. AND my dining room is a little less cluttered as the school books don't generally leave the school room now.

Today was a flip-flop day...individual work and practice times have been completed this morning, so now we need to finish our history reading for the week. Then we need to tackle some chores and planning for next week's lessons which always makes the week a little more pleasant .

How does your week look? I would love to take a peek into your day!