First Week Of School

Last week we started the school year at full speed. Originally I planned on easing back into the school routine but then decided diving in head first was the way to go. The kids all welcomed school starting too, it was evident that they were done with the lazy no routine days that our short 3 week summer break allowed for. I was more than ready for routine too.

On Monday, we went to the zoo. It was a total surprise for the kids. They knew we were going somewhere but didn't know where. Then when we arrived there was another surprise of meeting up with some friends from out of town. We spent the whole day together with them and stayed at the zoo until it closed. The kids asked that we always start the school year with a filed trip from now on.

I made sure to take some first day of school pictures at a park that is near the zoo. By far my most favorite first day of school pictures to date.

The rest of the week I decided it would be fun to stick with a zoo theme.


On Tuesday, we journaled about our trip.

On Wednesday, we played Which Animal Am I? I taped an animal picture on everyone's back. Then they went around to each other asking yes or no questions like, "Am I a predator?" and "Do I have fur?" When they figured out what they were, they came and asked me if they were their guess. The kids had lots of fun and made for a lot of laughter.

On Thursday, we learned about food chains and food webs.

And on Friday, we played the board game called Zooreka.





We also did other fun activities like shaking hands with each other while learning about triangular numbers and finding out how many handshakes it takes six people to have shaken each person's hand once. Believe it or not, those two things are totally related.





 
Another thing we did was learn about the Colors of Salvation and their meanings. We made cross necklaces that have the colors on each side as a reminder of what Christ did for us. We also started learning the Bible verses of Romans Road. The verses were copy work and we will be focusing on memorizing these verses this year.






Overall we had a great week with just a few speed bumps to maneuver and some wrinkles to iron out. I was reminded again this week just how thankful I am that I can teach my children at home. Being able to tailor their education around their needs is great but knowing that I can have the focus of our day on who they are in Christ is the greatest gift.