An Aspired Week..week 4

Our Week

Over the past two years I have 'meant' to focus on Math facts. I was very diligent with the first kid did a pretty good job with kiddo #2 and pretty much dropped the ball on #3. So this year I have made math facts a priority. So as the year began I still wanted to find a way toincotporate more math drill into our homescool. I want my kiddos to have their facts down pat by the end of  3rd grade and I have not been successful in this endeavor in the past so now I'm playing catch up.Then one day as I was visiting blogs I found this game at Highhill Homeschool Blog . Highhill Homeschool is the blog of a very creative American Mama home educating her children in Germany. The game  she created is called Speed! and it's a skip counting game.

Speed! is skip counting game that teaches multiplication I promptly ordered it from Amazon and it arrived from Amazon on Thursday of this week and it's been a really big hit. At the end of their math hour they are required to play a math game for 15 minutes aimed at improving /drilling their of math facts.


 First we watched the YouTube video(below) that explains how to play it and it has been infectious. Our 10 year old loves it and she has already set up several tournaments. Tournament play works well with her competitive nature.

In addition to Speed! we also started doing  XtraMath (have I mentioned that we LOVE XtraMath?) which tests your kiddos and let's you know which facts they need to work on and then it works with them to learn those facts. The kids have really been doing well with this electronic drill that reinforces our Math facts recitation in the morning and their individual facts review prescribed by Christian Light Math.

Homeschool Preschool

So while the bigs were busy playing Speed! with every spare moment they had the preschoolers were working on the second week of Hubbards Cupboard  a free Christian preschool curriculum that we are using for our twins. Keep in mind our 3 year old twins also participate in our morning recitation (this is fun for them, not intense). We are moving pretty slowly through this curriculum right now they are studying the days of creation. This week they are working on the 4th day of creation. Their memory verse is Genesis 1:1 which by the way is the same verse they were memorizing in Truth & Grace (2&3 year olds) during "baby" recitation. They really enjoyed working on their art project and painting suns in the backyard. They are also suppose to be working on their colors but they now this weeks colors already. Even though we do not get this done everyday or sometimes even every week we have truly enjoyed this curriculum.


Co-op News: 

First, I am considering using a second dedicated co-op bag f like the one I have for our History, Art & science Co-op, for our Bells Co-op. I will

Finally, this week we had our first Choir Co-op. Our Choir co-op is a free ministry provided by a wonderful woman our director Mrs. Lassister and her very musical family. Several of her children have pursued degrees in music and she is an amazing musician herself. We meet bi weekly at a wonderful local Baptist Church. This is our 5th year in choir, we took 2 years off and now we are back This year Choir has a band/orchestra and our 10 year old will hopefully be able to play clarinet in it. The volunteer Band Director previously worked at one of the best private schools in our area and has 40 years of public & private teaching experience. We are truly blessed.

This &That: 

I am still slowly listening to Issac Newton CD's. This week I watched a documentary on Issac Newton also, which was very informative. My kiddos will watch it on a Wednesday after we get back from Piano Lessons. Also I randomly received this article from Homeschool Enrichment on Isaac Newton which I'll be printing and giving to our middle child who is writing a report on him. As I am finishing my CD's and have watched the movie I think my interest in Mr. Newton has waned and I am looking forward to finishing the Newton CD's and moving on to Wuthering Heights by Bronte.

I am also slowly re-reading Teaching the Trivium by the Bluedorns as I have been revamping our homeschool. I think I am going to have to read a few more Classical Education books after I am finished with this one, my interest in this topic has certainly not waned.

Autism in our Homeschool:

I am hoping to purchase and read Simply Classical from Memoria Press.

"This revolutionary new book guides parents and teachers in implementing the beauty of a classical education with special-needs and struggling students. Cheryl is an advocate of classical Christian education for special-needs students. The love of history, music, literature, and Latin instilled in her own children has created in Cheryl the desire to share the message that classical education offers benefits to any child."

Here is an excerpt from  her blog, it is from a conversation she is had with one of her children who has recently found out that she has a medical condition that requires her to take 7 pills per day at specific times:

  "The other day on our way to the hospital’s outpatient clinic for her blood work, I parked the car and said, “Michelle, I want you to know how much I admire your courage.” She smiled and covered her face with her hands. Despite her embarrassment, I continued. “I do not think I would remain so cheerful if I endured everything that you do.”

She looked up and paused. She said quietly, “C’est sa raison d’etre.”“What does this mean?” I asked.“That is her reason to be,” she explained, “from Lesson 6 of First Start French.”She looked at my face to see if I needed elaboration, but I understood. I found her contented interpretation mature and comforting.

These are the sorts of conversations I would hope to have with my daughter but we are not there, and she is certainly not able to process information like this young lady. Autism is a hard disorder and it takes a toll on our relationship and on our family. Due to that I had removed her from our classical school (she homeschools using a textbook approach from ACE Ministries & participates in our family gathering in the morning) but now I am reconsidering this decision and I am egar to see what Mrs. Swope has to say. I hope to read this book over my Christmas Break and I am eagerly saving my pennies.

Well, I certainly hope your week has been Aspiring too!

We are linked to: Weekly Wrap Up, Homeschool Mother's Journal & Friendship Friday