The Case of the Missing Cheerios: Life update for Sept 2014~priddymomma

Hey guys! Welcome back to yet another fantastic post about me! Life update time. You must be so thrilled.

I have exciting news:

I’M PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just kidding. But now I have your attention. Bwahaha!

I’m still in the process of getting Cheerio Champ evaluated for Asperger’s/autism. We have another appointment on October 2^nd, so we should know more then. Princess Cheerio is as smart and adorable as ever. My husband has been really interested in conspiracy theories lately (IT'S A CONSPIRACY!), and I’ve been writing a novel. Yes, a novel. How novel!

The biggest thing going on this week for us is the start of school. We home school and love it. I will share with you what we covered our first couple of days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday). If you have any questions, feel free to ask. We are eclectic homeschoolers and quite proud of that. :)

Curriculum

Cheerio Champ (6) has a curriculum (created by me) based entirely on volcanoes. There are so many subjects related to or concerning volcanoes that I can’t even list them all. It is plenty for one school year! He’s in “first grade”, though he is participating in some of Princess Cheerio’s projects and can do some 2^nd grade work. He also reads at a 6^th grade level.

Princess Cheerio (2) has her curriculum based on a book called, “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” by Michael Rosen. She really adores the book. In case you aren’t familiar, the book tells the story of a family going on a bear hunt to catch a big bear. On their journey, they find obstacles that they can not go over or under. They realize to their dismay that they must go through them. They include such things as caves, snowstorms, and grasses. The book allows us to talk about weather, bears, environments, etc. I'm even planning to set up a bear hunt obstacle course. I haven’t figured out how I want to replicate “snowstorm” yet, but I’ll figure it out! Princess Cheerio will also participate in some of the experiments and such with Cheerio Champ’s studies.

Structure

Our school week is not Monday to Friday. Instead, it is Tuesday to Saturday. My husband is off on Sundays and Mondays, so our "weekend" is different. Also, if there is a sick day or what not, we are able to flex the school week into the weekend or wrap into the next week. We don't take time off for holidays. We usually complete more than 180 days of school in a year.

Here is a "typical" school day schedule:

7:30 a.m.-wake kids, hygiene, writing practice (vocab words for Cheerio Champ, drawing for Princess Cheerio), chores

breakfast

9 a.m.-reading and discussion; any brief lectures on topics we're covering that day

9:30 a.m.-yoga and meditation

10:00 a.m.-short educational video for the day and brief recap

10:30 a.m. -quiet time/nap time (provides chill time, nap time, and play time)

12:30 p.m.- worksheets, playing, chores, lunch

after lunch until 2:30 p.m. - buckle down learning/projects (For example: Wednesday we baked GF apple crisp and drew an orca)

2:30 p.m.- dad gets home; go outside (sometimes outdoor learning for no more than 10 minutes); play and explore

3:30 p.m. -school day over

Only about 3 hours of material taught over the course of 8 hours. They learn plenty, don't get frustrated, burnt out, or bored, and sleep hard each night.