School is underway

What a busy week we had. Jase has his first week of 1st grade homeschool under his belt and baseball is in full swing. Even though it was a busy one, it was definitely productive and I feel great going into the new school year. 

As far as homeschool goes, I occasionally {like 1-2 times a month these days!} read a couple of homeschooling blogs and that's about it. I am not really tapped into any support groups or social media groups at all. I have a girlfriend I converse with, but other than that it's me, the kiddos and the Lord! Lots of praying going on over here!! This year I think I will start branching out to see what all is out there, because I know there is a ton. Now, we did go to a meeting over the summer for a Classical Conversations program, but at the time we did not feel led to pursue that any further. It was a great program and those kids have a wealth of knowledge, but the commitment expected wasn't something I wanted to sign up for just yet.

Last year I piecemealed my curriculum together and it worked for us. There was no suggested lesson planning or pacing, I just set our own pace and decided each day how much work we would do. There are definitely pros and cons to this methodology, but coming into this year I was looking for less planning on my part and wanted more of a full package curriculum. Well, my girlfriend told me about a company she had found and after researching it I was definitely on board. The teacher's manual is like GOLD! Everyday is planned out for you and the lessons/books/activities thus far have been great! Heart of Dakota the name of the curriculum and I would recommend it to a homeschooling family in a heartbeat. It is Christ-centered in which it emphasizes God's plan throughout history, specifically American History from the 1565-1860's {for Jase's age range}. Jase has loved all of the stories we are reading and the history we are learning about each day.

The first day we had a geography activity. We were to use rope or tape and outline the earth and give your student note cards with the continents on them and have them plot them on the earth. This is right up Jase's alley...he loves geography! Well I wouldn't call my earth a complete fail, but it could have been better! I used masking tape and some of us must have got twisted, because about every 5-10 seconds {not kidding} someone was tangled up in it!! See below for proof!!

We read about the first pioneers to come to America and it was pretty neat! I am relearning history with him! Then we looked at a map to see the path they took from Spain to Florida and using a Little People boat Jase sailed the same path on his earth. Then we back tracked a little and discussed Christopher Columbus and his 3 ships and paths he took.

All week long we've been talking about trusting in the Lord at all times, especially during tough times and we brought it full circle by discussing the pioneers and the trust they had to have. Both kiddos memorized our memory verse:

"I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8 

I am trying to drive home the importance of not just remembering the words, but to let the meaning sink into your heart.

And today our art project was to make a homemade shield in relation to Psalm 18:2:

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Both kids enjoyed decorating their shields. Jase drew a lion, rock, warriors and a fort on his shield. Allyson, of course, made a princess shield!

It was a great week for school and I am excited to see what this year holds!

As if school wasn't enough, Jase had 2 baseball practices this week for fall ball. Tee ball is no longer...we are now in coach pitch! He really likes baseball and I'm glad! :-) This kid is a sports fanatic let me tell you! In the evenings after dinner he will ask to turn sports on: baseball, football, you name it he loves it! Oh and we are the LSU Tigers!! Geaux Tigers!! Even though we are Texas Longhorn fans, we have family in Louisiana and they are HUGE LSU fans, so we spread the love around and support them as well.