Doak Family Homeschool Week 1

So week 1 of the Doak Family homeschool has successfully been completed! We started earlier than public school to make room for lots of breaks throughout the course of the year. Also, last week was the hottest week of the summer, thus far and I decided to just throw in the towel and give up on the great outdoors...that lasted until Friday when we headed for the beach.....

So Stella has started 2nd grade.

This week we started a unit on weather in Science. We did two weather related labs (made a rain gauge and recorded temperatures in various conditions). Kids are naturally scientists...They are so curious and observant. Stella loved working on her new labs. Science continues to be one of her favorite subjects.

Spelling proved challenging this week for Stella who for some reason, can not remember to put vowels in words...I don't think we need to worry about little Stella being one of the "freaky" homeschooled kids in the finals @ the Scripps National Spelling Bee....Don't get me wrong, I have faith that she will improve, and I will continue to work diligently with her, but until she stops spelling animal like this: ANML then we might want to shelve the dreams of her becoming a spelling superstar (darn, that's the whole reason I started homeschooling!!!).

We continue to read "Edward Tulane," which is simply a beautiful novel. If you haven't read it; check it out!! It's just fantastic and lovely.

Ashlyn started Kindergarten with her normal enthusiasm!! We are doing this unit studies curriculum with her called "Five In A Row." Basically, the curriculum chooses these fantastic children's stories and has you read them five consecutive days in a row (hence the title) and do various activities based on the book. It's an intersting way to work in language arts, science, and social studies... Our book last week was Mary Stoltz' s"Storm in The Night." I wasn't sure how Ashlyn would respond to hearing the same story for five days in a row, but with the exception of a couple "Mommy, we have to read this book AGAINs," it went rather well. The story was very good which helped. Based on that book we studied light in art, put together a thunderstorm survival kit, studied how people age, and learned the meaning of onomatopoeia...It's a challenging curriculum for a four year old, but it never ceases to amaze me how sponge-like the little ones are!!

Quinn usually hangs out and colors, plays on the computer, or plays with play doh while me and the girls "do school." I'm curious how much gets absorbed into his little brain!

Friday found us not in our little makeshift classrom, but @ the beach. We had cabin fever and decided to hit the beach. I took the kids over by the Lessner Bridge which is a great place to go with little kids since it's on the sound. The waves are not so bad and all three kids enjoyed getting in the water. We had lunch, searched for some shells, played, in the water...lots of fun. Stella wondered if this could be our new Friday thing and I'm thinking that's not a bad idea @ all...

So that's our first week of school in a nutshell! Overall a success and as usual, lots of fun!

On a more personal note, Jason practiced with our church band on Saturday and performed @ the Sunday morning service! He sounded great and the rest of the band members seem very excited to have him playing! It was nice to watch him perform albeit; in a completely different setting from what we are used to! Very surreal. We received the exciting news that our new church building will be "open for business," on Sunday October 4th!! We are so thrilled to have found this church and can't wait to make a move into the new building!