Today the boys started working on their travel journals.  Everywhere we went along our journey we picked up postcards and/or brochures about the places we visited.  This morning we printed some of our favorite pictures and we sat down to start recording our memories.  We are only doing one or two events a day so we will be working on them all week.  Today the boys finished Niagara Falls and Stewart Park.

Here is Austin's journal pages.  I did the writing for him obviously.  His Niagara Falls page says "I liked going on the boat and I liked the water."

His page for Stewart Park includes a seagull feather that he picked up while we were there.

On the back of his park page he drew a picture of a seagull on a rock.

Here are Gavin's pages.  He included an elaborate picture of Niagara falls, the boat, the birds and the bridge that crosses into Canada.

His Stewart Park page says "My favorite thing was the merry go round."

After trying all summer to get Austin to ride his bike with no success, this afternoon he announced he was going to ride his bike.  He went outside and started riding around like he'd been doing it forever.  So then of course we had to go on the trail so he could ride his bike with his brother.

We have another busy year of homeschooling planned this year.  I am still keeping lessons fairly short and we aren't doing all subjects every day but we are switching to doing history and science every day rather than alternating days.  This year Gavin will start Abeka Language 3 and Math 3.  We will also being using second grade RightStart Math again this year since it works so well with Abeka's third grade book.

We are also going to continue working on our Prima Latina book.  We got about halfway through it last year so we are going to try and finish it this year.  It's not that we are lazy but we divide each lesson into four lessons.  Actually three lessons and then I test him on that chapter.  This book was a little above Gavin's level at the beginning of last year so we had to adjust a bit.  By the end of the year it was a little easier but I just felt like one day wasn't enough to really learn the vocabulary and everything so we spend two weeks on it (two days each week).  Plus that let me break it into 15 minute mini lessons rather than the 45-60 they want you do devote each day.

New for this year is Spanish.  We are going to be using the Risas y Sonrisas curriculum.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find a curriculum that had lessons on DVD so we are going to do our best with it.  We'll see how it goes.

Also new this year, we are going to be using Tapestry of Grace Year 1 for our history curriculum.  I have been searching for several years for the 'perfect' history curriculum and I'm very excited about Tapestry so I hope it works as great as I'm hoping it will :)  

Tapestry is on a four year plan.  If you start in Kindergarten you would do each year three times so we are a little behind but that's okay.  It goes in chronological order and has lots of fun components to it.  The things I liked about it is that they use books as teaching tools, there is no textbook involved.  I liked that I can choose from the books they recommend or use books I find on my own.  It also provides flexibility because Gavin is still technically in the lower grammar stage but some of those books are too easy so we could use some of the easier books from upper grammar as well.  Also, it provides weekly plans with lots of activities/projects to choose from so even though it is a curriculum, I can choose the things I think the kids will like to do most from their list of options.  I also like that all the kids will be learning the same thing in history at the same time.  It is designed to teach kids at different levels at the same time and adjusts the books and projects for each age group.  Even though Austin and Adelaide aren't doing school with us yet, they will be soon and I don't want everyone doing different things.  They even have projects that the kids can do together which I think is great!  The other nice thing about Tapestry is it also includes Geography, Writing, Government (in upper grades), and Literature.  And finally, I like that it includes Asia, Africa and the Middle East instead of focusing solely on European history.

This year will take us from Creation to the Fall of Rome.  It will be a lot to cover in one year.  Our main topics will be (all Ancient) Egypt, Babylon, Israelites, India, China, Greeks, Assyrians, Persians and Rome.  

In science we don't have a curriculum this year again.  I have had the worst time finding science curriculum that isn't way to basic but not to hard.  It seems like the concepts covered are always super easy or middle/high school level.  Anyway, my plan is to spend most of the fall semester studying chemistry and most of the spring semester studying geology.  Do you see a paper mache volcano in our future?

Not to be left out, this year Austin will start doing a little school at home too.  He will be working on the Abeka K4 program in phonics and math as well as some other activities to help learn letters and numbers and basic math concepts.  He will only be in school for 20-30 minutes each day.  He may also do some of our history projects with us if he's interested but I'm leaving that up to him and not making it a requirement until next year.

Another new thing I am about 90% sure we are going to try this year is our local homeschool co-op.  They meet once a week for two hours.  I think Gavin would really enjoy the classes and he knows most of the kids who are in the co-op already.  They have a lady from Peru teaching Spanish (which would be a great supplement to Spanish at home since she actually speaks the language!) and then the other topics vary but include literature, history and science running on 7 or 8 week cycles.  Spanish is all year though.  We are going to talk to a friend who is involved tomorrow and we have two other families who have been trying to convince us to do it all summer.  I think we are finally going to give in and give it a try.  The downside is that I'll have to eventually teach a class too, since parents take turns teaching the classes.  That is fine but since I have been promoted (or am the only sucker in the group depending on how you want to look at it) to head den leader in Cub Scouts and I'm usually class parent in Austin's class at school, which involves planning activities, it will be a lot to plan and do.  But, it will be fun too!

That's our yearly plan!  I always start getting anxious about it all about this time but I think it will be another fun year!  Next year Austin will be officially with us since he'll be in Kindergarten so I need to enjoy this year of teaching only one kid :)