Homeschool Days September 2021

We ended another busy month of school last week.  We are in a good rhythm and our days, for the most part, are running smoothly.  In spite of several road trips lately, we have still kept up our school work. The boys have been very flexible to do school on the go.  That is a blessing. 

 

We are loving our missionary study! During September we learned about Gladys Aylward and Eric Liddell.  Our focus word for Gladys was virtue and for Eric we learned about living a life of honor. We are doing audio books instead of chapter books for this study.  That has come in very handy while traveling.  We have enjoyed listening to several chapters while on our road trips.  The boys have loved the story of Eric Liddell the best so far.  This study covers character traits, geography, and most importantly the life and ministry of some great Godly servants.

 

 

In reading, Ben read this Flat Stanley book.

 

He has also been reading this fun book and will finish it today.

 

Cruz read two books.  The first was The Sign of the Beaver.

 

Next, House of Robots.

 

 

Cruz doing a daily math worksheet.  They also both do daily online drills using Xtra Math and sometimes drills on the Math U See website. We also drill using flashcards from time to time. They take a math test every Friday.

 

Cruz doing a Fix It Grammar lesson.

 

Ben practicing spelling words on the board.  They do daily online spelling practice using Kids A-Z.  They take a spelling test every Friday.

 

Cruz does a weekly online IEW writing class.  They meet for an hour online and then he has the rest of the week to finish his keyword outline, rough draft, and final paper.  He submits a paper each week to his teacher.  He also has regular vocabulary tests through this class.  He really enjoys writing.

 

I can see this shelf from my desk and often get a chuckle when I look over at it.  The bottom stack of books belong to Ben.  Notice how nice and neat they are, always.  The top stack belongs to Cruz. See the difference?  This image pretty much describes the two of them. 

 

Our local library had a 911 exhibit on loan from New York.  We went to see it one afternoon.  Cruz had just recently read a book about the 911 attacks so it was extra interesting to him to see the photos and read more about it.

 

On the way home from a recent road trip we stopped at the Mississippi welcome center to pick up some brochures for our Mississippi History study.  We are using them to cut photos of places and things from around the State.  

 

During September we studied the State symbols.  We did a magnolia, mockingbird, and flag art project. We learned the State motto and listened to the State song. We learned about weather patterns and did a weather tracking experiment. We also looked at car tag images from over the years.  Lastly, we ended the month learning about Mississippi Indians.  We are enjoying our study so far and learning a lot about Mississippi.

 

They are compiling all of their work into a keepsake notebook.  I took their photo in front of this sign at the welcome center to go on the cover.

 

 

 

In Science, we began the month with a lesson titled Mapping Your World.  We began to study the globe.

 

We expanded on our project from last month.  We added lines of latitude and longitude to our globe. We learned about the hemispheres, north and south poles, equator, and prime meridian.

 

We then began drawing on the continents.  We will use this globe and add to it throughout the study.

 

Cruz doing a Science notebook activity to log what he had learned.

 

We also studied tectonic plates and the earth's movement.  We used a boiled egg to help understand tectonic plate movement and also used it to review the three main parts of the geosphere- the core, mantle, and crust.  We learned about convergence, divergence, and transform motion.  Living in Guatemala has helped them better understand this study of earthquakes and volcanoes.  It is a part of life there.

 

They did an afternoon art class with our homeschool fellowship group.  They painted these wooden pumpkins.  During September they also had an afternoon park play day with the homeschool group and I participated in a mom's night out.  Fun times!!

 

For P.E., they started tennis lessons.  It is a group lesson with other homeschool kids.  They are loving it!  We go back several evenings during the week and play/practice as a family.  It has been great exercise and fun for all of us.

It is now October and I am loving all things fall!!  It is my favorite month to be home in the States.