"we're excavating, mommy!"

Yes, one of my kids said that to me a couple nights ago. We had decided to go ahead and skip the first two Usborne books in core 1 for now, and just incorporate a bit from those books as we go through the rest of the core. So, that puts us in week 7, and we've been learning about archaeology this week. This is super cute, so bear with me on it. I really wish I had taken pictures to share, but I didn't so you'll just have to imagine it happening. :-)

We had just finished reading "Archaeologists Dig For Clues" in history, and I was chatting on Yahoo with a friend of mine while the girls were playing in the schoolroom area. Kimi and Jojo had recruited their big sisters to help them set up an imaginative play, and I wasn't watching too closely to see what was up. Before too long, they had gotten Missa to draw them up a grid map just like in the book we had read, and they had gotten out paintbrushes and some other things. The little two each picked a square tile to work at, and when I started watching what on earth they were doing (before I asked) they were carefully using popsicle sticks to scrape a layer of dirt carefully and put it into a pretend container, and then use a paintbrush to clear away the loose dirt from what they were digging up. (ok before I go any further, they were PRETENDING here, there is no actual dirt on my floor, maybe a few crushed tortilla chips right now but no actual dirt) Now, I had no clue what they were doing, as I was not paying attention earlier to their talking with their big sister and getting out the book we had just read to show her what they wanted and all that stuff, so I had to ask them what they were up to. Jojo, bless her little 3 year old heart, looked at me with a big grin and said, "we're excavating, mommy!" and then Kimi told me that she had found a kitty buried over here just like they found a doggy in the book we read. Jojo ran over to her, and they carefully dug around it and built the box around it and all the other stuff just like in the book to preserve the skeleton until it was back at the lab to be properly removed. Then Kimi drew it on the grid that they got Missa to make for them, and she "wrote" it down on the log. Oh they had so much fun that night!

I really wish I had gotten pictures of them during their "excavation" so I could share them too, it was just too adorable and I had to watch it as it was happening because it just amazed me at how much they learned from simply listening to me reading to their oldest 2 sisters for history. I didn't think they actually WERE listening, but apparently they were.

I do believe that for now, one core for all 4 of my kids to do history is going to be a very workable option. I'm amazed at how much my littlest girls are picking up regularly from the reading we do together, and I can't wait to start getting into history with them next week.

Which, last night I peeked ahead in the core to see what we're doing with history so I could be ready for it. I got "A Child's History of the World" (we'll call this CHOW to make life easier on me) and "Usborne Book of World History" (aka UBWH here from now on) to look over. Now, initially I did NOT like CHOW at all, I had read the first 3 chapters and thought it was terrible. But then someone at the Sonlight forums told me that the first 3 chapters aren't used at all, it starts in chapter 4. So, I decided to give it a chance and see how it worked before I tossed it aside and replaced it with Story of the World. Last night was my first time looking at it beyond chapter 3, and I skimmed chapter 4 and the pages in UBWH that we would be doing with it. Then I went forward a bit more in the guide and skimmed CHOW chapters and UBWH pages, then added in Time Traveler for skimming when we got to it. I ended up stopping around week 23 or so I think with my skimming. I had so much fun looking over what we were going to be covering that I couldn't stop. I do believe the girls are going to have a blast with the hostory coming up, I can't wait to get started on it. (and I honestly do believe that a parent can not successfully homeschool their children with materials if they aren't excited about them as well, I mean they can teach the material effectively but if the parent isn't excited about it as well then the kids won't get even close to as much out of the material because they will pick up on their parent's boredom or dislike of the material no matter how well mom or dad tries to hide it)

changes to my core 1 schedule

Well I posted a couple hours ago about the girls spending all of last week on the first 2 pages of Usborne's Peoples of the World. After that post, my brain started cranking and I started thinking about this a little bit. I grabbed that book and Usborne's Houses and Homes (the next book we'll be doing after Peoples of the World) and my core 1 guide, and sat down to do a little thinking and looking.

The first 6 weeks of core 1 cover 2 pages of those two books each day. That equals 30 guide days at pace since we're doing the 5 day schedule. If we do 2 pages a week instead of 2 pages a day as scheduled, that means it would give me 30 weeks in those books. So the way I see it, I have 2 options ahead of me.

option 1: do the 2 pages a week, then go into the rest of the core as scheduled and not worry about taking longer than scheduled or planned. That would put us finishing up core 1 at around uhhhhhhhhhh mu birthday of next school year I think.

option 2: do 2 pages a week from these 2 books, and also go ahead in the guide starting in week 7 at the same time. This would give me exactly 30 weeks of material if I go at pace in the guide with the remaining material, so we'd finish the core right around the start of next school year.

The OCD part of me is screaming to do option 2, so that I can stay "on schedule" and not "get behind". But at the same time, the super relaxed part of me says to do option 1 and just see what happens. But then, I also have that nagging little part of my brain reminding me that on my notification, I said we were doing core 1 and I should try to actually do core 1 to where I'm at least 2/3 done with it when I do portfolio review (we won't be doing standardized testing prior to 5th grade by our own preferences, I refuse to teach to the test like they do in schools, and the standardized testing may or may not be used as reporting starting in 5th grade just based on the scores and how accurately we feel they reflect our girls' abilities and knowledge if we choose to do testing then). It just doesn't feel quite right to say I'm going to do core 1 and then when its time for review have to say that we did all the read alouds and poetry but only the first 6 weeks of the history, know what I mean? So, I'm kind of flip-flopping on this one.

If you have insight, input, or an option I've not tought of yet with this, please comment and tell me! I'm totally open on this, and I have a feeling Scott doesn't have much of an opinion beyond "as long as they are learning dear, whatever you choose is fine with me."

Well, I said I wanted to stretch out our core.......

So, last week I wrote about how we started core 1 finally. Well, we did day 1 of week 1 last week. Yes, that's IT. I did the reading to the girls for that day, and the 2 pages of that Usborne book had so much in it that they wanted to spend more time on that I just said OK fine and we spent Tuesday and Wednesday looking deeper at it, then took Thursday and Friday off since Scott was home on a mini-vactaion thanks to Thanksgiving holiday. So, today I am *hoping* to pick up with day 2 and move a little faster than we did day 1. But then, we have spent the day cleaning up the schoolroom and getting other little things not school-related done, so I don't know if we will get to lessons at all today.

I never expected the kids to want to spend 3 days on the material of 1 day of history, but it was certainly a fun time for us. I can't wait to see where this core takes us, and I'm really hoping that I can find a good pace that will allow us to finish it by the end of next school year. Yes, I said NEXT school year.

But the girls certainly did appear to enjoy spending all that extra time on the material from that first day. I just hope they don't expect to spend a week on one day all the time, I don't mind doing it through these two Usborne books we're reading first in the core but I really don't think I have the patience to do it through the entire core. Heck, 180 days of core scheduled doing one day a week would be 180 weeks or uhhhhhhhh, around 3 1/2 years. Nope, that is NOT happening.

we have OFFICIALLY started core 1 today

Yes I know, we put that off long enough didn't we? I've had a very hard time trying to get us organized to do lessons, so I called it just good enough at getting a little math and language arts done each day for the most part. Well, tonight Scott decided that he was ready to start his evening read-aloud time with the girls again for bedtime, and he pulled the first read aloud book in our Sonlight core 1 schedule. He is reading 1 or 2 chapters each night to the girls until it is done, and then will pick up a book from our bookshelf to read before he moves on to the next read aloud in the core (therefore allowing me to kind of keep up with the history so that it flows a little bit on the same schedule, he won't get too far ahead of us hopefully). In the morning I plan to ask the girls to tell me about what he read tonight, then maybe we'll do the map assignment in the guide (I say maybe as a major maybe thing, we are trying to let the girls take the lead on this stuff) and hopefully I'll keep the momentum going by starting our history materials. I would LOVE to see the girls getting through their schoolwork in the mornings to free up our afternoons, especially since the little 2 kids are normally at their easiest in the mornings. We'll see how it goes though, I've been really flakey for a long time so it is going to take some serious discipline on my part to get this implemented.