Our First Day of School

We had a wonderful first day of school.  I was really expecting it to be not so wonderful since it was our first day after having such a long much needed break.  The kids actually jumped right back in and did wonderful! I was so proud of them today.  We started our day with Math.  We switched to Christian Light Publications this year from Math U See because I noticed a lot of gaps after using Math U See for  two years with Leanna.  She was still struggling with telling time as well as subtraction and regrouping even though we have worked on it for half of last year.  I was so glad that I decided to start her in the 200 Light Unit since it started right off with telling time.

Here is today's work:

Devin also did a great job with his math.

Then they both moved on to their Explode the Code worksheets. Here they are working diligently. 

Leanna started All About Spelling, Level 1, this year.  I have to say, I really think I am going to love this program! I have never seen her do so well with a spelling program.  She finished the first two lessons without one complaint.  We went through all Phonogram Cards 1-26 and she knew most of them except for the "I", "O", and a couple others.  We will work on those over the rest of the week and she will probably have them mastered by Friday. She had so much fun putting all her little bug stickers on the photograms she had mastered. 

Leanna started Writing With Ease 2 this year.  She completed her first lesson and her narration skills were wonderful. She wanted me to video her doing her narration, but the I've been waiting an hour for the video to upload so I am guessing I will need to find another way to upload it. I'll try again later. 

Leanna also started Growing With Grammar this year which was new for us.  She did really well considering we have started using so many different curriculums this year.  Here is a photo of her first Growing with Grammar lesson.  I almost fell over when I saw her handwriting.  She has never written neat.  She took her time today and was so proud of herself. I don't think she even knew she could write so neatly.  She usually wants to speed through everything and just get it done quickly.  Our favorite slogan in our house is, "Slow and steady, not fast and lazy....".  She FINALLY got it today! Yay! 

If you look at #1, that is how she normally writes.  For some reason, when she got to #2 today, she decided to buckle down because she wanted to make me proud.  When she saw how excited I was, she continued. You can see when we get around #4, she started going a bit faster and getting "lazy" again (i.e., "friends", the capital "L" in "love", and the huge letters). 

Devin continued with McRuffy Color Phonics this year.  He used McRuffy Color Phonics last year for K and he absolutely loves it.  He loves the stories in the readers and does so well with this curriculum that I just couldn't switch him to anything more Classical.  He will continue this until the end of First Grade.  I may try using All About Spelling with him also after I get the hang of it by using it with Leanna.  I am thinking about adding in a writing curriculum for Devin since I feel McRuffy is lacking a bit in this area.  I may pick up Writing With Ease for him to use alongside it.  

We then went on to Science.  We started using REAL Science Odyssey this year.  We were going to take an outside class that was going to cost a couple hundred dollars. I opted out this year and decided to purchase my own Science curriculum.  Leanna and Devin both absolutely LOVED this curriculum.  They had so much fun and learned so much today in just one lesson.  

They learned all about living and non-living things and then had a lab to do to determine whether certain things  (people, rocks, plants, bikes) were living or nonliving based upon certain characteristics.   Below is Leanna's lab. 

Here they both are working on their Science.  They both decided they wanted to leave their school desks and do Science on our "reading rug".  They both got their lab sheets, attached them to their clipboards and made mom move to the floor. :) 

We then hopped in the van and took a trip to the library.  I reserved a bunch of books online last night to go along with our Galloping the Globe study.  We came home, snuggled in bed and read a few of them. Here is some of what we read: