Home school: the first month

It's hard to believe we've already conquered our fist month of the new school year.  Time has certainly flown by, more quickly than I ever imagined it would.  Between the boys' various & sundry activities and all our fun fall excursions, we've been extremely busy; perhaps that's why, when I look back, so many days are nothing but a blur! 

When we started school four weeks ago, it took us several days to get back in gear (the laziness of summer was difficult to overcome!), but we finally succeeded and have since then fallen into a comfortable groove.  Bub and Noh-man have done amazingly well in all their subjects-- I could not be more proud of them.  Both are working well above grade level and both are facing their new challenges with courage and determination (on most days, at least!  We still have the occasional meltdown, but so far, they've been kept to a minimum). And as for Big Man, he continues to make wonderful progress in penmanship and still loves to color alongside his brothers when they tackle their art assignments.  He's growing up more and more every day --all too quickly, I might add-- and continues to be a wonderful big brother to his little sister.   

One of my primary goals for the early part of this year has actually not been academic.  Instead, I've been trying to focus a bit more on "brotherly relations."  You know, how they treat one another (I know, it's surprising that that would even be necessary, right? Ha!).  To do this, we've been studying this verse:

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

Ephesians 4:29

Treating one another with kindness and love does not come naturally to any of us.  The constant bickering, arguing, fighting, and tattling that occur daily in our home are evidence of that!  So we're paying extra attention to the choices we make and the words we use.  In addition, Hubby and I continue to remind the three-- they'll be brothers forever... their bond is precious and their relationship is unique.   Abusing it is absolutely inexcusable.  So... step by step, day by day... we're all striving to control our tongues!

In summary, here are a few snapshots of the past few weeks:

  Big Man, still practicing those letters~

And Noh-man, glad to be done with his marker card for art.

Lolli-lu, learning by osmosis~

And Bub, diligently working on his art assignment: creating texture with markers~

Big Man, the accomplished architect!

And Noh-man, practicing away...

Fortunately, both boys are really enjoying their lessons, and so far, I've been able to teach them without too much difficulty.  It's actually been fun!

A little sentence diagramming~

Some leaf dissections and labels~

And of course, Lolli's name in blocks!