Curriculum Choices 2019-2020 8th Grade Year

Ummm... did I just type that? 8th grade?? How did that happen so fast? Didn't I just take this photo yesterday?

Sigh...time moves entirely too fast Mamas. Make sure that you are cherishing every moment you can. Even those that bring you to tears or make you question if that phase will ever end? It will and a new one creeps up on you.

The next thing you know, they are almost taller than you and are doing things all on their own.

Okay, enough with the emotional stuff... Let's get on to what our 8th grade school year will look like.

We actually took the summer off this year due to a lot of fun adventures. It is the first time he's ever had a summer break in our entire career of homeschooling. Hopefully it works in our favor for when it is time to start back in a couple weeks!

Here we go!

Math and Science
We will continue doing these two subjects on Florida Virtual School. I'm thankful we have this free program to compliment our homeschool curriculum and keep us on track. The teachers we have had so far are wonderful and work with Boo Bear to make sure he does his best. This option is a great one for us as we do not want to do all of our school work on the computer. It gives us the option to pick and choose the courses, up to 6 classes at a time, that he can take. We typically stick with these two subjects as we like other options, for now, for the rest.

Grammar and Spelling
We are trying a different route this year with our grammar. We will be doing the ACE Paces for English and Word Building. These smaller books help Boo Bear to actually see completion throughout the school year and it helps him to keep pushing along. I have been a writer and editor for 10 plus years but I do NOT like English... Go figure... We are excited to try this program out this year and will keep you posted on how it works for us.

American History

We are using the NotGrass US History program this year. We started it a few years ago and did part of it. We really enjoyed it so we're going to finish it up and do a review for it this year. It is a great program that encompasses maps, quizzes, fun projects to reiterate what we've learned and so much more! 

Music

Boo Bear takes guitar weekly and plays on the youth worship band. This will be one of our extracurriculars through the year as well. 

We will also be making our regular frequent trips to the library for reading materials and research. He will be writing in a journal daily as well. Our field trips look different now that he is older. They are fewer and far between but mainly because he isn't as interested in those as he used to be. That's another sad fact of them growing up. The things that you USED to love aren't as appealing anymore and it's a hard pill to swallow. 

Okay, enough of me gushing over memory lane. This is going to be an exciting year ahead and there will be many adventures, I'm sure! 

What does your homeschool year look like? 

Weekly Wrap-up (Several Weeks Now)

Whew! It's been over a month since I wrote up a "weekly" wrap-up post. I guess time sure flies when you're having fun, huh? So, without further ado, here's what our last month or so of homeschool has looked like.

Adventures in Life

Well, this past month we have watched an eclipse, gone through a hurricane hitting our state and home, went on a field trip and visited my brother and sister-in-law. Whew! That's a busy time just in itself, not including our everyday other things. Boo Bear has started theater back in the past week and is working on his fall play. He's super excited to be back in theater and Mama is just trying to get back into the busy fall routine that always hits about this time. 

Let's take a look at our studies: 

Field Trip

We went to a science museum and utilized their free homeschool day back in August. It was a nice trip and was a different museum than the one we typically visit each year. Mimi and Papa were able to tag along this year but alas, Nana was not available. We'll have to plan another trip with her. 

There were lots of fun hands on things going on and of course, dinosaurs were amuck!!! 

We had a blast touring all the different exhibits and Boo Bear got to be a weatherman for a bit. Little did we know as we rode out a Category 1 Hurricane in the simulator together that in less than a month we'd be staring down the barrel of a Cat 5 coming ashore. Thankfully, God is still in control and the storm diminished quicker than they expected so by the time it reached us it was around a Cat 1-2. You know it's something when your weathermen in the state say that they do not have a reason to explain why the storm did what it did except that there were thousands of prayers going up. Yay God! 

Boarding up our windows in prep for the storm.

Don't get me wrong. There was still devastation, we were without power for 5 days and many others are still in the stage of total destruction as their homes are gone, power is still out and they are not sure what to do next. Please don't stop the prayers coming for our state or those in Puerto Rico, the islands Mexico.

Our Studies

We've finished up the science history chapter and have moved on to the next module. This is going a little slower than we might normally go as we are doing an 8th grade science this year. We are having fun, enjoying the journey and moving as we can. 

Math is moving along and we're in Chapter 3, decimals. Whew! Those things can be boogers but Boo Bear is grasping it well so far. We are staying pretty much on pace with what I had envisioned for this first semester before the fall/winter holidays bring so I'm happy with it. 

Reading is going well and he's showing great skills in reading comprehension. He's also moving right along in his Geography, Writing, and Reading work books. He is struggling with spelling so we are working with some tips and tricks to help that. If you have any to help, that'd be awesome!! 

We also viewed the eclipse this year as well. That was a fun day in our home. Papa and Mimi came over at the peak so they could borrow our solar glasses and had a lesson on eclipse science with Papa.

Safety first!!

We also made up some of the view boxes so that everyone could have a good time seeing the eclipse together. 

There were some cool things going on with the leaves in the trees during the peak times. 

Did you get to watch it? Were you in a great location to see totality? Let me know!

That's a little glimpse into our homeschooling adventures for the past month or so. I hope you all have had wonderful adventures yourself and hope that we see you around the blogosphere! 

Be blessed and have a wonderful week ahead. 

**I'm linked up with Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers this week. Stop by and check out some other great homeschooling blogs!**

Weekly Wrap-Up : An Odd Week...

This week was an odd one. It was one of those where you work and work but you really don't want to work. You know what I mean? We all have those times where you just don't want to. I am not sure why. Not sure if there's something crazy in the air, our weather has been kind of dreary. Not sure if the impending eclipse has us all in a "mood" or what. Whatever it is, we did less than we have been but still moved forward. Which, that's the point, right? So here's a look at our week. ( Linking up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers this week)

All Thing Math
Math is moving along pretty well. There has been one day so far in the whole four weeks of school that tears showed up but otherwise it's been pretty good. We're moving along learning the distributive property this week, working with expressions, and learning lots of terminology. To be honest, I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to add the alphabet to the math world but hey... He's getting it :)

Science
Have I mentioned how much I love Apologia? Well in case I haven't, I do! This week in our science reading we are still working on the history of science. We're learning about scientific ideas that were once believed and now are not, we're talking about tons of the major scientists throughout history, how the Dark Ages affected science and so on. One thing this week that I just loved seeing was about Sir Isaac Newton. Did you know that Newton wrote more on the prophecy of Daniel than he did science?? I was blown away!! Many of the scientists we've learned about were devout Christians.

My kiddo has some great examples in his life of science and faith working together. My father and mother both have science degrees and our praise and worship leader, who Boo Bear just adores, works in a laboratory herself. So he has some pretty amazing examples of how science and faith can coexist. However, I have had moments with him where he broke down in tears asking how could you love science and believe in God. These reminders in this science book are just what we needed to reiterate that in fact, God and science go hand-in-hand. So thankful for this!!!

Reading, Writing, History and Everything Else
We've been moving right along in all our other classes as well. He's doing such a great job at tackling all his workbook pages and getting them done. I'm seeing a real change in how he handles school work this year. I'm very proud of him for all the hard work he's putting into his school work. It's not that he hasn't before but I can see a very big difference in how he is tackling the work to get it done and completed without the hassle :). That's a huge difference!

I tried a new recipe this week, well two new recipes, and they were a big hit. I did a Mediterranean Pork Loin and the cauliflower broccoli au gratin I had been wanting to try. Even Boo Bear liked the side dish so that was good!

So, this weekend we are looking forward to some relaxing downtime, I believe. Never know what we might get into. How was your week? Hope you have a blessed weekend ahead and a great week to come!

Week Three Down!

Welcome to our school journey through 6th grade!

Week three is in the books! We have been diligently working right along. Boo Bear is totally blowing my mind this year. He's been working very hard to get all of his school work done. No fighting or tears. Well, a few tears because let's face it, whoever decided to put letters in math was crazy!!

Otherwise, we are working away and getting stuff knocked out. I am very pleased with how our curriculum choices are going so far and how everything seems to be flowing well.
So here's a look at our last few weeks.

Math
He has completed chapter 1 and we are halfway through chapter 2. The 1st one was a simple review and chapter 2 has thrown him right into the mix of Algebra with it's equations, expressions, terminology and putting those darn letters in with numbers. He's doing great though. We've had some challenging days where he wanted to quit, but we worked through and he's doing amazing.

Science
This has been really fun so far. We are learning a history of science in our General Science curriculum from Apologia. I'm trying to take it a little slower than we will eventually go through this book because it's a lot more involved than our past books. I don't want him to miss things. He gets to go do experiments with Papa and Mimi so that is lots of fun.

Language Arts

This has been going well with writing and reading. Spelling is a different story. This seems to be a struggle for my guy but we're working on it every week. Some of the things I'm running into are he has all the letters there but a few of them are in the wrong order. We decided to shorten his spelling list this week to see if it helps. Also, on one of his tests, I asked him again to spell it orally instead of writing and he got some he missed while writing them correct. So, I'm trying to work on helping him memorize those words and figure out how we can get through our spelling lessons. I've told him that some people just have trouble with it and so we're working diligently. 

If you have tips or tricks on learning words, please feel free to share them! 

He also found a few new books he's enjoying from the library. He's loving these two series, The Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut and Here's Hank. He's reading these books in two days or less, which if you read of our earlier journey in reading, this is a huge accomplishment!

History

We are loving NotGrass American History! I mean we are having a blast so far! We started watching Teen Jeopardy this week as they were featuring young kids and some of the questions on there Boo Bear knew because we had just read about them. 

This is certainly a hit for us. We've been reading about Jamestown, Boston, Maryland, Native Americans and so much more. I am loving the Map studies he's doing and the lesson sheets are a great help. 

We have a few more weeks before his theater starts back up so we'll be busy, busy! Fall always brings on lots of fun activities and crazy running. I really like getting our school back into a routine before things like that start up. So far we are on track with the lesson plans and are doing well. I pray this pattern continues. 

So that's about where we are right now. He's plugging away at his history right now and I'm gearing up for a relaxing weekend, hopefully. 

How is your school going? Hope you have a blessed week ahead and thanks for stopping by!! 

Linked up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers 

Our First Week Back!

 So we made it through our first week of 6th grade! Whew! This week was kind of a slow start so that we can get back into our routine. I don't like hopping right back in full blast as it can backfire, dramatically. 

So we took it slow and trickled in almost all of our subjects for the week. I'm very pleased with how our week went and I am excited to see how the rest of the year goes. So far, so good!

I think I will try to do weekly reviews this year, however, it may be more like bimonthly or monthly. Let's face it, life is busy! However, I miss my blogging so I'll be here as much as possible this year. I'm looking forward to sharing our journey through middle school and sharing tips, ideas, and so much more! 

So, here's a look at our first week back to school!!

Bible

We are starting our year doing the Jesus Calling for children devotion. He's loving it and I love that this is how he starts his day. 

Math

Our math went smoothly. We started with review, as each year does, and we are moving right along. Long division is how they chose to start the review so that's been fun (read sarcastically). We are making it through without too much break down yet.

Science

We started our science this week and so far so good as well. We're taking our time as this curriculum is technically for an 8th grader. However, it's my favorite subject and we have grandparents close by who can assist with any questions. He's doing great and super excited.

History

Love this!!! He's having a great time with history and so am I. I love American History so this one fits both of us to a T. He's excited to do the work and listen and I'm excited because I love this subject myself. 

We're also working on our Geography skills in a workbook a few times a week. That's a fun break for him as well. 

Language Arts

We're slowly adding in all the aspects: Grammar, Spelling, Reading, Writing, Cursive. It's a lot but it doesn't take up as much time as you might think. I'm considering adjusting my calendar/schedule. To be honest, I made out schedules for 12 weeks with every single subject everyday. I'm trying to figure out what works best for him so we may do these skills three or four days a week instead of all five. It depends on how busy his science and math get down the road. Those days that are more difficult than others call for some tweaking. That's the beauty of homeschool!!

New school year screams new school supplies!

Extra Stuff

This week Boo Bear took a field trip with dad to see some cool things he's never seen before. He has also moved up to youth group at church so he got his first taste of what it really is like this week as well. We have a friend coming to hang out today and we have a nice family weekend to spend at home hanging out. All too soon he will start back with theater and other outside classes so we will soon be running crazy!

So, that's us in a nutshell this week. Moving along slowly and steadily. Super excited to see what next week holds as we add more in and get deeper in our studies. Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic weekend!! 

Be blessed!

Welcome to Our 6th Grade Year!

Wow! Can't believe we are about to embark on our first year of middle school! Time sure does fly when we're having a blast! Right? Here we go! Welcome to 6th grade!!

So I wanted to take some time and share our curriculum choices for our upcoming year. We are going to do a soft start on Monday so we can ease our way back into school. This is the first year, ever since we started homeschooling, that Boo Bear has received a true summer break. Usually we work right on through the year but this time with theater camp, we changed that up.

He played the best Magic Mirror I've ever seen. (not bias here at all)

We had some adventures too. We visited a museum with Mimi and Papa, went to see several movies on the big screen and have hung out with friends.

Even tried out the new trampoline park close by with a Ninja Warrior course and everything.

But alas, school must return. So, here's a look at what we'll be doing for our 6th grade year.

Science, Language Arts, and... Batman!
Science this year is again an Apologia course. We've worked with this curriculum since we started so we're sticking with it. With Papa and Mimi being close this year, it will surely be a fun experience! We are working on General Science. He is in 6th grade and that's supposed to be for 8th grade but we feel he's ready for the challenge. We'll see!!! It's going to be a lot more work than he's used to so prayers for both of us are appreciated!

Language arts is a mixture of workbooks we've used before. We'll be working more on cursive handwriting again, spelling and reading comprehension. Also going to work on a Geography skills workbook and writing workbook to help his handwriting and language arts learning. He needs to boost his confidence in his spelling and writing. He also got his Mama's issue of not having a neat handwriting so those are all skills we're going to tackle. 

And of course, you can't have school without some fun, right? Hence the Batmobile pencil box so that the Dark Knight can have his supplies ready at the helm!

History

I am so excited about history this year! I love American History and always have. So, this year we're going to be working on Notgrass America the Beautiful! We are both super excited to use this amazing looking curriculum. I've heard nothing but awesome things about it so we are ready to dive in! 

Math

We are sticking with Math Mammoth and moving along with this curriculum. I love the ease of use, that everything is all in one place including teaching manuals. I am excited to move forward and see where this year goes!

Our School Room

We also have a different set up this year. I have to admit. I can't stand things looking cluttered.  (in most scenarios) My desk and Boo Bear's desk is two of those areas I want neat and tidy. I feel like it is more conducive to working if it is all organized and ready to be tackled. So here's a few shots of our new set up. 

Darth Vader makes journal writing more fun!

So, I went to Dollar Tree ( love that place!) and got some red and blue bins for his books and school items. Each bin is labeled as to what is in it and has all the supplies in each bin for that subject. So for example, Math has the protractor, ruler, compass, and calculator he will need throughout the year. Science has his notebook and all required textbooks, etc. Hopefully this will make it easier for us to work through this year and keep everything where it should be. I also have a bin for Science Experiments that has all the items needed for experiments through each module.

So that's a look at where we are so far :). I look forward to sharing our adventures this year and hope you stop by to see where God takes us. I want to enjoy this journey as all too soon it'll be over and he'll be off to college and getting married, and... Sigh....

Happy weekend to you and yours and we'll see you around!

Wrap-Up for Several Weeks

Things have been wild and crazy here at the Farmwood Academy. (yes, our homeschool has a name) We have been quite busy with a variety of things going on and some have been fun while others, not so much. Here's a look at some of the things we've been into these past few weeks.

Air Show Fun
A couple weeks ago we went to visit my brother and got to see the Thunderbirds in their air show. It was a lovely visit and a great time, although it was short.

We were able to see a ton of neat airplanes including C-30's, some old WW II planes and a wonderful show reenacting Pearl Harbor.

School
We've been moving right along with our school stuff. We are hoping to finish up by the end of May since Boo Bear has two weeks of theater camp in June and that will take us down for several days. I have always just tried working around the theater camp but this year our goal is to be done. Then maybe start our new school year back in July.

Since the school year is coming to a close, it also means that I'm looking for curriculum for next year. I can't believe my kiddo is about to be a middle schooler. Where does the time go?? I have our math for the next couple of years chosen but we are going to be changing up science this year for sure. I'm also looking for a good interesting history program as well, so if you have any ideas please share them.

Fun Times
We've been doing some fun things here lately as the weather, and time, permits. We got to do our favorite springtime activity of picking blueberries. An added bonus was Mimi and Papa got to go this year with us.

We also went bowling with Daddy, colored and hunted eggs, and had a beautiful Easter with Grandpa.

Trim Mama
So if you've read any of the other posts on here, you know I'm using Trim Healthy Mama. I have a couple of health issues that make it very difficult for weight to come off so it seems impossible sometimes. I have been very frustrated lately because my scale is a big meanie head. It is stuck in a certain spot and it refused to move.

When that happens, I tend to get very downhearted. I eat very well, I mean tasty food. But when you work hard and it doesn't seem to make the scale move, it gets hard to fight through. BUT I have to say that I had an NSV (non-scale victory) this weekend that just made it all worth it. Yes, I have things such as my A1C coming down and feeling better, but we all know we want the scale to show it too. So, my resolution is I'm dropping the scale. It's nothing but a discourager and I don't need that sabotage in my life. :) Anybody with me??

Here's what I'm going to use. I'm going to use photos like this as my inspiration and encouragement.

So, are you trying to make healthy changes in life and have been discouraged? I encourage you to drop the scale and use your NSV's.

So that's what's going on around here. Just keeping on keeping on basically. I hope you had a great week and make sure you stop by Kris's place and see how other homeschool weeks went.

Have a great weekend ahead and see you around!!

Weekly Wrap-up: Dancing Raisins, Science Experiments and Fun!

Happy Friday! I hope you've had a wonderful week. This week was pretty smooth going for the most part and we are making progress. Here's a look at what went into our week this week:

Science and More Science
If you've been around this blog for any length of time you know I LOVE doing science experiments almost as much as my kiddo does (maybe more). So this week we had some fun experiments in our Apologia Chemistry and Physics book. We were able to learn the difference between polar and nonpolar mixtures, had some dancing raisins, and saw what dish soap, milk, and food coloring can do.

We had our last science class of this month and they made volcanoes yesterday. They talked about biomes and then to celebrate the last day of the dinosaur exhibit at the museum, they created their own volcano action. It was fun and we are looking forward to next month's session on space.

MathThis week we went back to Math Mammoth. I enjoy Singapore but for the money, Math Mammoth makes it much easier for me as the teacher to get the lessons done. So, we are combing that and Khan Academy to help fill in any gaps that may have been missed along the way.

Boo Bear likes doing the Khan Academy videos and it's free so it helps to shake things up a bit.

Reading, Writing, and Everything Else
We had some beautiful weather here this week and took advantage of it. We did some of our work outside until it got too warm and the pup needed to get some AC and water.

We read some more in the 39 Clues book and finished our audio book in the car. We were listening to the Magic Thief. It wasn't one of my favorites but we are about to start the story of Maleficent on audio so we will see about that one.

Boo Bear is reading one of the Franny K. Stein books and we picked up the George Washington biography to read as well.

Writing has taken on a new spin for us. I have started a journal book for Boo Bear and give him titles to write about. It is easier to see what he knows, where he has gaps, and what we need to work on. Plus, he enjoys writing crazy paragraphs so that he can come up with his own story. It works for both of us! He enjoys the topics and I love that it's writing without the tears.

We had some fun times around the dinner table this week too. I love that his dad gets him sooooo tickled he can't see straight.

I love my two boys. They are both amazing and keep me on my toes and in laughs daily.

Today we have friends coming over to hang out, watch the inauguration, and eat some tacos. Great way to start the weekend if you ask me.

So what did your week look like? Hope you had a fabulous one and have a wonderfully blessed weekend ahead!!!

I'm linked up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers today. Make sure to stop by and check out other weeks in the life of homeschoolers!

Weekly Wrap-up: Crystals, Football, Tornado Warnings and Freezes!

So, crazy week we've had here! As in we went from normal temps to tornado warnings at 1:45 in the morning to freezing cold temperatures. All in the span of about 48 hours or less!!! Then we started to normalize back out to our normal weather pattern, which means lots of beautiful days and lovely temperatures.

Here's how our week looked:

As I mentioned, this past weekend we had some crazy weather going on. It started storming Friday night and then we ended up waking up at 1:45 to the tornado warning going off.

Hubby and I got up and checked the weather and stayed up till around 2:30 when it finally calmed down. We had strobe light lighting going on and that is what concerned us. Once that storm passed, in came the cold weather. I mean, cold for Florida. Freezing temperatures, freeze warning going off all day for two days kind of cold weather. Whew what a weekend!!!

Monday we did our regular school load and moved on through our normal routine. Monday night was the big National Football championship game and of course, I watched. As much as I could anyway. It was on way past my bedtime so I only made it till the beginning of the 3rd quarter. Sigh... I'll just say this... I always have been and always will be.... a Bama girl!

The rest of our week went about normal. I had a doc appointment this week to follow up with my normal blood work so Boo Bear got to have school with Papa. Have I  mentioned how thankful I am they are closer now so they can help with school? If not, know that I am SUPER grateful!!!

We have crystals!!!!

Last week I talked about working on the crystals chapter in our Apologia science and we did our crystal kit. They were pretty cool looking too! I think the green is maybe where we had cross mojination between the orange and blue.

We are moving right along using our Singapore math and the Khan Academy website as well. I'm considering going back to Math Mammoth for the second half of fifth grade math. Mainly because it's either buy that or buy the homeschool teachers guide for the Singapore and the other book we need for that. I'm just not liking the fact that I don't have any guidance/instructions on teaching the concepts. Most concepts are okay but some of them I'm looking up cuz let's face it, it's been a LONG time since I've been in 5th grade math and it's wayyyyy different than when I was there anyway.

We had our science class yesterday too and I'm really liking the teacher this month. She's great and seems to really connect with the kids, AND they are learning something !

Sometimes.... cake for breakfast is a necessity. Don't worry, it's Trim Healthy Mama luscious lemon cake and super yummy!

This weekend will be spent, hopefully, working on some of our home projects. I want to start working on our spare bedroom to set it up for a LEGO building, Nerf storing, extra fun room. Right now it's a throw everything in it and shut the door space and I want that to change.

I think that's about it for our week. Things were pretty normal here except for doc appointments and that crazy wacky weather. How was your week this week?

Check out other homeschool Mama's weeks and see what homeschool looks like by clicking here to visit Kris's site. Thanks for hosting the link up and thanks for stopping by!!

Weekly Wrap-up

So.... I'm hoping to get these started back up. To be honest, the weekly wrap-up is one of my favorite posts to write. It always helps me to look at what we've actually accomplished this week and not just feel like I'm always behind. I said "I" because I mean that. It's me. I'm the one behind :).

So, here goes!

Back From The Holidays
As soon as the gifts were opened and family left, I lost my kiddo to the mound of LEGO projects he had in front of him. His entire Christmas break was spent building the kits he received for Christmas and he was as happy as could be. One of his favorites was the Millenium Falcon from the new Star Wars movie. I've officially lost him to that too. He's in love and has seen all of the movies, including the newest one.

This was two days of work for him.

Of course, I'm okay with that because come on. Star Wars is one of my faves too!!

We started this week off early with a fasting blood work run for me. That's something I do every 4 to 6 months or so. It also means breakfast out on the town with Boo Bear, so he's okay getting up that early. He's been sleeping till 8:30 or 9:00, sometimes later recently. Think we are hitting that phase where pre-teen, teen sleeping patterns are trying to kick in. Whew!

This is how Mama functions on those early morning days.

We've been slowly edging our way back into the school routine this week. We started Monday and have actually made a full week of school go smoothly. We've started our Crystals chapter in science this week so we brought out the crystal growing kit he received a few months ago. They are slowly and surely starting to peek out of the water so hopefully next week we will have a shot of the progress.

We also started our science classes back up this week so he's excited about that. Drama will be on hold as this semester there were conflicts. So, Mama is enjoying the break and Boo Bear will try out some new adventures.

We've been working on Khan academy as well as his Singapore math books. I'm trying to make it different and get us out of a rut. He's loving using both and it makes it easier to practice topics he's struggling on. I love the reports Khan gives me and also that it shows me areas he's having a little trouble with. We've been doing some tough math here lately so shaking it up is always a breath of fresh air.

I started him writing short paragraphs/stories this week to help with his handwriting and grammar. He's a typical boy and doesn't usually like to write, but when I pick the "right" topics, he enjoys it. ;-) All in how Mama handles it! I'm very proud of his writing and glad that he's picked up as much as he has. As Mom, we always tend to second guess ourselves or wonder if we're doing enough.

In our reading time together we're reading the 2nd book in The 39 Clues Cahills vs. Vespers series. We LOVE these series and have enjoyed listening to the first series a few times over. Now we're into the second one and hopefully we can keep up with these amazing adventures. You should really check into these if you're looking for a fun, action filled series for your kiddos. (I even like listening to them and the hubby doesn't mind them either.)

So, I think that's about it for now! We are excited to get this second half of 5th grade moving and grooving. Normalcy is good. I enjoy the break every now and then but my normal routine is what I crave. How about you??

Check out other homeschool wrap-ups by clicking over to see Kris's site. I'm linked up with them there and hope you have a wonderful week!!!

Welcome Back to School! 5th grade Here We Come!

Wow!!! Did I really just say that? 5th grade? Can it be? Yep!! This kiddo is in 5th grade this year.

We started our new school year last week so this is kind of a late first week wrap-up. But hey, better late than not at all, right? So here's what our year looks like this year.

Science:
Apologia Physics and Chemistry - this one is really exciting for me. I've always loved Apologia but this new set is even more fun. It's two different topics that I've generally enjoyed in my past science experience. And who doesn't love lots of experiments? If you do then Apologia has them all for you too. This is a fun new book that we are super excited to dive in.

Math:
Singapore math -5A and 5B. This is kind of a change for us. We have been doing Math Mammoth for the past few years and enjoyed it. I was kind of looking for an actual textbook in our hand type of deal this year though. We are changing up some of the way we do things and so this just fits in with us better for now.

Reading:
We are reading all sorts of things so this will be something new every time.

Grammar/Spelling:
We are working on a couple of workbooks to get our spelling and grammar in this year.

Other classes:
We are of course keeping up with drama/theater this fall. We also have science classes going on starting back up next month at our local science center. These are two that Boo Bear looks forward to every semester.

We also have added in a co-op of sorts. My parents have since relocated nearer to us and so they have volunteered to do a science/math/reading co-op deal for us and a few of our homeschool friends. We had our first meeting this past week and the kiddos were well worn out and had a great time.

We've also already hit our first field trip this year to the local science museum. They always have a free day for homeschoolers and we love visiting. I also opted this year to get the yearly pass, not sure why I haven't before but this year is a totally new year. There will be lots of museums on our field trip list this year.

So we've had a successful, busy couple of weeks getting back into our school routine. Have you started yet or do you have a plan to start soon? What is your week looking like?

Happy New School Year!!

EdTechLens Rainforest Journey Review

Science is huge in our house. We love all things to do with experiements and learning about the world around us. We recently received the EdTechLens  product called Rainforest Journey for the 4th grade to review.

EdTechLens offers different digital learning options for grades K-5th grade. This online science program for kids offers a way for them to learn all about the Rainforest and gain their life sciences credit they need during elementary school.

This program offers the sophisticated software that you'd find in higher grades but tailors it so that your elementary student can easily maneuver their way through. It is a program that offers a variety of lessons,  extra learning and even quizzes at the end to make sure your child grasped the topics in each lesson. This works great when  you're teaching one child, have multiple levels in your classroom or if you work with a co-op group as well. It adapts to a variety of levels depending on the product level you purchase.

What we received:

We received a one year online subscription to the Rainforest Journey science curriculum.

This online science program offers 34 different lessons to use to learn all about the rainforest and the rich life that lives and moves there. Each lesson or day you work with the program should last around 15 to 30 minutes depending on where your student is at. For us, it looked like about 20 minute days spent on the program.

The program provides you with daily lessons, easy navigation throughout the site and assessments to test if your child grasped the concept based on that lesson. Each lesson is similar throughout the program for all grades but adds more concepts for the older children to learn.

This is not just an online program. There are many other great additions to the program than just sitting at your computer. After you have done the lesson you'll find extra tools on their website, activities you can do outside of the computer, and much more. You'll find that all the activities they offer to reiterate the lesson are easily done at your home.

The online homeschool science curriculum covers a variety of topics including animals in the rainforest, adaptation to survive, the ecosystem around the rainforest and much more.

What we thought:

We both enjoyed working with this program. Boo Bear had his own sign-on for the site so he could work under his name. Signing in under my screen name means that I can see his progress, his assessment scores and also go through the lesson with him if I choose. Each day he would sign on with his screen name and work for around 15-20 minutes. He would have the computer read the material to him as he studied the pictures that were shown. These are amazing pictures, by the way. He easily continued through each lesson he was working on and took assessments at the end.

I like that he can work this program on his own if he wants and I can easily track his progress through the program.

I would recommend trying this program out and seeing how it works for your student. It's a great way to make sure they get their life science in for elementary and get a good solid foundation for future science programs.

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