Mini Jamestown

We just started studying about John Smith, Jamestown, and Pocahontas this week in our My Father's World curriculum. I was so excited when last week, I found blogs that used this same curriculum.  One of the blogs even has her posts categorized by the MFW weeks. So easy. I just click on the week I'm on and see what all she did. For her Jamestown study, they made these Jamestown replicas. (Click on the sample download in the upper right hand corner). This isn't a MFW project, but it was a good addition to our study. It turned out to be a little harder than I thought. The houses were tiny! But it was really fun. We colored all the printables with colored pencils.

Then lots of cutting, folding, and gluing. I didn't take the time to read all the instructions, so it didn't turn out exactly like it was suppose to, but we got the idea. 

I'm really having fun with MFW. History was a subject I never really liked until I got to college - partly because I think when you're young, it's hard to grasp a world before your own, but I think, too, the history curriculum I went through was lame. I hope the kids are finding this as fun as I am.

One of the books that came with MFW Adventures is becoming my absolute favorite. It tells of fictional characters set during historical events. The stories are all about children and are Christian based. Today, we started a story about a little girl who lived in Jamestown. LOVE IT!

New School Year!

This week, we officially started our new school year. I've been nervous about getting everything done that I have decided to do, but so far, it's going well. This summer, I bought some curriculum from a friend to do with the big boys. My sister's been using My Father's World for several years and speaks very highly of it. I'm not that big on researching stuff, so I decided just to take her word for it. So far, I love it!

It's been less planning on my part, the stories are interesting, and it comes with all these books. It's for 2nd or 3rd grade, but I'm going to try to drag it out longer since my oldest is 1st grade. I'm sure between Pinterest, the library, and all my teacher blogs I follow, I can add a bunch to make it last.

This is the lesson planner that I custom made for myself. This is when I started stressing. I wanted to fit everyone & every subject on 1 page. I figured if I couldn't do it on paper, there was no way I could actually do it in a day. 

But it fit . . . barely.

Dad copied and bond it for me. I've even got places for Ben on there. He's still doing "Letter of the Week" from Confessions of a Homeschooler, but we're already on "W", so we'll be done with that soon. I still need to look for some more workbooks for him.

I bought this art book at a garage sale this summer for the big boys. Ok, so it's not really "art" but I thought it'd be fun for them to learn how to draw some things. They love it so far. I got the sketch books this week at Hobby Lobby for them to keep all their drawings in.

I went to Target this morning & they have all their school stuff that's in the $1 bin for 70% off. Woohoo!!! I got each of these workbooks, rulers, and prizes for $0.30 each. The preschool workbook on the side was with the regular school supplies and was 50% off. I paid $2.50. It's really thick and I like I said, I need more stuff for Ben.  

Our new curriculum has us use a timeline. My first thought, oh, that's going to be ugly in my classroom. So I did my best to make it pretty. I made my own dates and bought some pretty ribbon and am hanging the events from mini clothespins. I'm happy with it. I know, I'm silly.

We also started a spelling curriculum that I'm borrowing from a friend. You're suppose to buy these tiles (primary colors, of course) to use to practice spelling words. Since I'm borrowing the teacher book, I decided to just make my own tiles. I started to use the same primary colors and then thought, why not make it match my school room? So I made them green and white. HA! Take that! The only problem is that the magnets are not sticking well. My latest attempt is super glue. Maybe that'll hold them. I need to buy one of those huge drip pans to use as a magnetic board rather than this cookie sheet. AND I was just at Walmart last night. DOH! When I get one, I'll figure out a way to hang it on the wall. 

I found these buckets 70% off in the $1 bin at Target earlier this summer. I had been needing a way to store our frequently used school supplies. This works GREAT!! The kids can reach the lower buckets and the one on top is mine.