Teach Them Tuesday: Homeschool Highlights of the First Week

We had a fun first week of school here at our little home academy! As with every year, I prayed all summer about our upcoming school year. And, as always, God resolved every question, concern, and decision I took before Him, and got us off to a great start. I love homeschooling my kids and am so thankful for the journey we’ve experienced together, and, because of that, I can easily get excited for the start of a new year. Here are a few highlights of our first week:

We always have a “Pre-First Day of School” on the Friday before our first whole week. This is just a fun day when we take first day photos, hand out school surprises, set up new notebooks, go over the year’s plan, and have lunch out at a restaurant. It also usually includes a swim but we didn’t get that in this year.

The school surprises include some ordinary school supplies in themes/colors I think they’ll enjoy, a few fun snacks for the first few school days, and always some new fuzzy socks (because we’re cozy at home!). Some years I’ve added in a fall candle or a new mug for those afternoon hot chocolate and tea breaks.

Because this is our 14th year of homeschooling and our stock of curricula and materials is plentiful, I really didn’t have a lot to purchase this year. So with those savings this year, my students got a little something extra (the wrapped gifts) which I’ll share in another post.

My oldest daughter is in college and living in an apartment on campus so her back-to-school goodie was a basket of laundry items along with a cute sign from Dollar Tree that reads “Sorting Out Life One Load at a Time”. I’m sure that as a college student, she feels the truth of that! Bless her.

On the Monday following our pre-first day we were ready to get to work for real! Pumpkin resumed her favorite study spot on my daughter’s desk. She will sit there all morning just watching the pages turn. Now that’s a loyal study buddy!

My son is nearing the end of his elementary years so I’m soaking up every minute and thankful to be going through my favorite lessons and projects one more time before our elementary years come to a close with this last little student of mine. One of our favorite curriculum choices has always been Story of the World for history. There are 4 volumes that get cycled every 4 years. We read the books, listen to the CDs, practice narration, complete the worksheets and mapwork, and looooove the projects and recipes! We don’t get in every project every year, but when we do, we have a blast with them.

Last week we studied the fall of Rome and made sugar cookie ruins. I took the opportunity to teach about the 3 Roman columns with picture examples for my son to copy with cookie dough. We baked our column cookies and then “ruined” them, although they weren’t really ruined in taste–they were delicious!

We went into battle as Roman soldiers with our Roman signum. Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR)–The Senate and People of Rome!

And we cooked our meat and veggies over the fire as a soldier would at battle camp.

Later in the week, we enter battle once again, this time as fierce Celts! I tried to get my son to let me paint his face and chest with the blue Celtic swirls and patterns, HA, but he declined, so we compromised on painting a t-shirt.

No Celtic uniform is complete without a double-headed axe, a cloak, and a dragon brooch.

By the end of our first week of school, we’d gone through 3 wrapping paper tubes, a whole box’s worth of cardboard, a couple of paper towels tubes, lots of aluminum foil, and countless glue sticks. The axe has been his favorite and it’s had to be repaired several times already, LOL.

We also read a portion of Beowulf which he thought was pretty cool and funny. Below is his idea of what Grendel would look like. Typical boy, right?

In other areas of our week, we met a friendly kitty on one of our walks.

We stopped by a couple of flea markets one day. My son enjoys a good flea market as much as the girls and I do, but for different reasons. Below are examples of what the girls and I go in for…dishes and furniture and old books and such.

And this is what my son is attracted to….anything with rust! He has as much fun exploring rusty tools and gadgets as I do with pretty dishes and decorative nick-nacks.

The pumpkin patch saw a lot of growth throughout the week, and by Friday we even saw the first few little baby pumpkettes. So exciting!

Also on Friday, our field trip co-op kicked off the school year with a pool party! I completely forgot to take pictures until we were leaving and snapped one of the pool because I liked the shape so much, I wanted to show my husband. Not only did our hosting family have this great pool but beautiful acreage out in the country, complete with the cutest farm animals which were very kid-friendly. Such a fun time!

On Saturday, this teacher mama got quite the treat with my tea ladies at a tea tasting class! This was such a good class loaded with information on how tea leaves are grown, dried, processed, and categorized. We learned about tea bases and how they can be flavored, and also about herbal and medicinal teas. Oh, and of course, we sampled many tasty teas. The little cookie you see there is a lavender cookie for neutralizing the pallet between teas. It might look pretty simple, but it was so delicious!

I’ll close with some sunrises from my morning walks.

This rainbow popped up after an afternoon shower, perfectly arched over our street–a gentle reminder of God’s presence and promises for our new school year.