Back to School... and Back to Routine

After a long and wonderful Winter Break... we woke up this morning to start our Back to School routine. And, boy were we glad not to have to leave the house with the icy rain and dreary weather! Too bad the dogs still had to go outside for potty breaks! :)

We started our break the week of Thanksgiving, and we continued that break (except for some Bible study, Math, Reading & Foreign Language here and there to keep our minds active) all the way up until today. Whew! Our goal was to have as much time as possible to serve others during Christmas and really dig deep into God's Word to prepare for the Celebration of Christ's glorious birth. We also had plenty of fun baking days! It still flew by way too fast, yet the girls were happy to get back to our school routine and have some order around the house again.

The girls were so excited when they awoke this morning... they always have such a zeal for starting the new term with new books and new schedules. Everything "new"! Here was a recap of the "buzz" around the house:

~Had blueberry waffles for breakfast... yum!

~We got back on our chore chart routine that I just love from Managers of their Chores. That means that the girls get everything done in the morning, from Bible devotional to brushing their teeth and the dogs... all without me asking... yea! :)

~Ava recited the Old Testament Books of the Bible (she was afraid she had forgotten them) and Caroline recited the New Testament ones.

~We said our Christian, American and Texas flag pledges and it was Ava's turn to hold the Bible as we did our Bible Pledge of Allegiance.

~We also had the blessing of Erich playing guitar and leading us in our Praise Song this morning, How Great is our God.

~The girls loved drawing the Tabernacle from our Exodus Study. It's amazing how elaborate and beautiful the Israelites created it according to God's detailed instruction!

~Caroline read her Longfellow poetry and Ava read A.A. Milne's poems... they both loved them. (especially Caroline b/c she loves it when her poets have rhyming stanzas... it's that left brain of hers)

~Caroline reviewed her Algebra that she swore to me that she hadn't forgotten... she hadn't. :)

~Ava read Aesop's Fables of the Ant and the Grasshopper... then we read Prov. 6:6-11 and discussed the biblical basis for diligence. (Diligence is a character trait that Ava is working on... so am I)

~Caroline did her spelling while Ava did her copy work... that sounds boring... moving on...

~We studied our Botany lesson and learned about how wonderfully God designed flowers, pollination, bees, and creation. Bees are very fascinating... I won't go into it all here, but the girls were amazed!

~The girls even suited up to brave the cold and collect icicle specimens... that didn't last long. :)

~Caroline read and narrated about The Alamo and The Gold Rush in California. She just loves history!

~Ava worked on counting out change and paying for items in our pretend store. After Ava finished paying for everything, Caroline handed her the items she purchased as if we were in a real store. It was just precious... Ava's eyes lit up when she got a teddy bear, gum, a purse, and even some peppermints... everything she had "purchased". That was a great Math lesson... no wonder Math is Ava's favorite subject! (she likes shopping, too... lol)

~Ava read and narrated her History story. I typed exactly what she said to me so that she could work on grammar and clarity of thought and speech. Here is what she composed:

Narration of “Bruce and the Spider” from Fifty Famous Stories Retold

There was once a King of Scotland whose name was Robert Bruce and another King of England who were at war together. The King of England and his army fought Robert Bruce. Six times the King of Scotland’s men got beaten. So, the King, Robert Bruce, went up to the mountain to hide in a shed. He thought to himself, “I just give up.” Then he saw a spider who was making a web. She tried six times to hatch her string on the other end of the web, but it fell every time. She tried it a seventh time and it hatched onto the other side. He learned from the spider that people shouldn’t give up. So, the King of Scotland told his army to fight one more time and then all his people won.

~Caroline and I finished off the school day reading Oliver Twist... wow... that's a challenging book to read. We had to look up a lot of words... its amazing how many words Dickens writes since he was paid for each one. (If only I was paid for each word I said... lol)

~And, we had some friends stop by for a quick visit... brrrrrrr for them!

~As an after-school treat, we snuggled up in bed, popped Kettle Corn and watched a movie! It was a great first day back to school!

I just love homeschooling my precious children! God has truly blessed their hearts with a desire to have good disciplines, character and a love for learning! I wouldn't give up this precious time I have with them for anything! And that was a sample of our blessed day!

Oh, and since I love looking at schedules, here are our Term 2 Schedules: