January 2017 homeschool happenings

In my life this month…

This was a busy month due to some poor planning on my part.  At the beginning of the month, I went on a blogging retreat with several other bloggers from iHomeschool Network.  It was amazing, I’ve made great friends there, but it totally kicked my butt for feeling productive organized.

But, I came home to very excited to see me kids, and a brand new tea cup.

In our homeschool this month…

We learned all about World War 1 and had a great week of funschooling covering it.  In a rare instance of writing somewhat close to real time, I’m actually writing about our World War 1 unit next week.

During our funschooling week we also caught up on all of our chemistry labs we were behind on, and I sent out the lab sheets I made for that to my newsletter (come join in, I send it out weekly with great tips and occasional early access to printables).

For geography, we spent the month learning all about Switzerland, with our super fun Switzerland Unit.

For reading the kids finished up reading Tuck Everlasting and watched the movie, and they started on Holes.  So far they like Holes much more than Tuck Everlasting.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

It was the month of field trips, busyness, and friends.  We celebrated my Mom’s birthday with a murder mystery party, which the kids were incredibly curious about.  We went on a field trip to the fire station, Homestead Village, and the Austin Aquarium.

We made it to our co-op’s park day, and to the two co-op classes.  Of course, all of this busyness probably is why I’ve spent most of this month feeling incredibly behind.

Games we’re playing

With my traveling and such we didn’t play as many games as usual, though I did manage to catch a game with Tara.

• Smash Up, because Jeff got the It’s Your Fault expansion for Christmas
• Castle Panic because Jeff got the Engines of War expansion to it
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer game– apparently they got it early at Gen Con because it’s not releasing for a couple of weeks
• Escape the Room– Thank you, Phyllis, for sending it to us.

My favorite thing this month…

Was heading up to Branson and meeting new friends and then heading up to Iowa to see old friends.  It’s like the song.

What’s working/not working for us…

Hmmmm…….  I was amazed at how well the kids did with their work while I was gone, but it also highlighted that they are not ready yet to be left to their own devices.

There were several key features that were not finished while I was gone…….

So, that’s a bit of both.  It was incredibly amusing to go back and forth on emails to get them to fix their work.

 

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

I’m debating about a history curriculum for next year.  I’m looking at Discover Texas, but also have real doubts and questions about it.  I’ve only been able to look at it online, and I’m strongly wanting to see it in person before buying it.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

 

I’ve been playing around with Facebook Live the past couple of weeks, and our video of our Trench Warfare simulation is rather…. crazy.

On my blog in case, you missed it…

First, I’m guest-posting over at Future Flying Saucers, the Attitude Apple.

Here’s what was popular, from the past month:

• Prayer Stations– this is the first time this has been in the top 5
• Tips on Teaching Highly Distracted Kids– Always a favorite
• Movies for World War 2– We’re actually about to reach this time in history, so I’ll be checking into this
• Jesus Changes water to wine– if you’re Baptist Jesus made grape juice
• Temptation of Jesus– A great lesson on the importance of memorizing scripture

Hop on over to Homeschool Mother’s Journal to see other peole’s months.