Week 14

Monday morning starts week 14 of school.  I can't believe we only have 5 more weeks of homeschooling before Justin starts school on January 6.  (This doesn't include the 1 week off for Thanksgiving or the 2 weeks off for Christmas.)  This past week in science we dissected a worm.  Or rather, I tried to dissect it and Justin watched.  Well...he looked at it after I cut it open.  He didn't want to watch me hack it open.  LOL  I LOVE dissections!  It was always my favorite part of biology.  Justin doesn't share my enthusiasm. 

Week 10

We have completed about 45 days of school.  I can't believe it's October.  Justin has read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Lincoln: A Photobiography and Shiloh, so far this year.  Not sure what he'll read next.  Math is still a struggle everyday, but we get it done.  Everything else is going well. 

Week 3 & 4

Well...I'm already getting behind.  I might just start doing a monthly update rather than a weekly one.  Everything is going well.  I have been pleased with my curriculum choices so far.  Nothing really exciting to report from the past two weeks.  We have gotten back into a routine and at this point we just wake up every morning and "get it done". 

Week 2

Here's a little snap shot from the week.  Justin getting "comfy" during reading time. 

 

We added Civics and Science this week.  Our schedule seems to be working out so far.  It's hard to believe we have already completed 10 days of school. 

Week 1

 

We have completed week one of 8th grade.  It was a slow start with us mostly concentrating on math, literature, and Bible.  This year Justin will be using Switched on School House 8th grade Bible, Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1, Notgrass Uncle Sam and You (civics), Switched on School House SC History, Rainbow Science Year 2 (this is a continuation of last year), Progeny Press Literature Guides, Editor in Chief (grammar) and Character Based Writing lessons.  We are looking forward to a great year! 

It's that time again!

Well, it's hard to believe summer vacation is over.  =(  Our official school year will start on Monday, August 11.  I can't say that either one of us is really excited.  This weekend I worked on getting the school room back in shape and organized Justin's portfolio binders.  We'll start off kind of slow next week and introduce subjects slowly into our schedule.  We should be running on all cylinders by Monday, August 18.  At least, that's the plan. 

Week 35,36,37

We're done!!  Yay!!  Now it's time to figure out what we are going to do with ourselves all summer long!!  We'll continue with math in some form, but other than that we have no set plans.  I've been working on plans for 8th grade and trying to look toward the future.  I'm not sure what these next five years will look like.

Week 34

Justin completed pre-algebra this week!!  Yay!!  We'll spend some time reviewing this summer before starting Algebra I in the fall.  We've finished up the majority of our curriculum,  but still have about 13 days left of school.  Today we went to the State Museum.  I don't know what I was thinking.  Not only was it USC commencement, but Vice President Joe Biden was the speaker.  We made it to the museum just fine, but when it was time to leave the entire downtown area was blocked off.  I some how managed to make it to I26, so we could get home.  It kind of messed up my plans of stopping by Target on the way home.  Oh well!  Here are some pictures of our trip.

Week 32 & 33

Justin celebrated his 14th birthday on April 26.  He was so excited about his new Wii U!  We spent the day at home, so Justin could enjoy his gifts.

We only have 19 more days of 7th grade left!  I can't believe next year is 8th grade.  High school is quickly becoming a reality!

Week 31

Two weeks ago, we enjoyed a few days at Hilton Head Island visiting with Aunt Mary.  Here are a few pictures from our trip.

The view from our room.

Justin chillin' in the room.

jellyfish

sunrise

Justin had the pool to himself!  It was COLD!!

 

Last week, Justin finished reading The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank.   We also watched the movie on Netflix.  Now that many of our subjects are completed, our days are a little shorter.  At the end of this week, we can add science to the list of completed curriculum!  Yay!  Only six more weeks to go.  The end is in sight!! 

Week 28, 29 & 30

One more day until our vacation!!  We are looking forward to spending some time with Aunt Mary in Hilton Head.  Justin completed his magazine that he has been working on all year!

Tomorrow we will complete the last chapter in history!!  When we return from vacation, we will only have 7 more weeks of school.  Let the count down begin! 

Today for science we tested pH.  We used soda and magnesia.  We had to see how many drops of magnesia it took to make the soda neutral.  It took about 5 drops.

Gathering our materials.

 

Our test strip.  During the lesson, Justin learned that people who have acidic urine are more susceptible to getting yeast infections, SO, he wanted to test his urine. LOL  We tested it and he was happy to find out that his urine was not acidic!  HaHa!  Boys! 

Week 26 & 27

Not much to tell about the past two weeks.  We have been diligent in our work.  We are "keeping our eyes on the prize."  LOL  Justin is still on track to finish up his history and writing curriculum in the next few weeks.  Justin had his first orthodontist appointment after starting his invisalign treatment and received a great report.  He has been wearing them for about 7 weeks. 

Week 25

We enjoyed our week off...mostly.  Unfortunately, a few days were wasted by me being sick!!  Anyway, that's over now and we had a very productive school week.  This week we managed to complete everything scheduled!!  We have a lot to accomplish the next 5 weeks.  If we stay on track, Justin will complete his history and writing curriculum by our next break.  This will free up some time to do some other things that keep getting pushed to the side, like Logic and Latin.  =)

Week 24

Wow!  I have never been so excited to have a week over!  School was just fine this week, the weather, not so much!  I'm just about done with winter!!  Things were moving along smoothly until we hit Wednesday.  Our power went out about midnight Wednesday.  It was a long night watching the sky light up with transformers blowing and listening to tree branches falling.  Thursday was a long day.  The roads were icy and we were stuck at home with no power, heat or internet.  When night fell Thursday, we had had enough.  The house was cold and we were just DONE!  Friday morning didn't look any better.  We received bad news that the power may not be restored until 11:45pm Sunday!!!  At about 7am, we sat in the car to warm up and made the decision to give up and head to Grandma and Papa's.  I loaded up the car with our clothes, blankets and what little bit of food I had saved from the freezer/refrigerator.  On the way there, I ran into a neighbor who talked to the power company and gave us a glimmer of hope.  "We are next!", he said.  We were afraid to get too excited, but it gave us hope.  Thankfully, our power was restored by 9:30am Friday morning!!! Yay!!  We are looking forward to a great week of sunny weather and no school!!

Here are a few pictures of our week.

Week 23

Another week done!  Yay!!  We have one more week to go until our break.  Nothing really interesting happened this week.  Justin started his second set of invisaligns without a problem.  School is going fine.  We're on track to finish most, if not all of the curriculum, by the end of May.  Most of it will be finished early.  We'll use any remaining days for review. 

Week 22

This was the longest week ever!  I think it was because of the impending weather that was less than impressive.  We spent a day waiting for snow that never really happened.  Well, it did happen, but not as much as expected.  Through it all we still managed to get school work done all 5 days.  We are counting down to our break in February.  Here are a few pictures of the 2014 Blizzard.  LOL

Week 21

Justin received his Invisalign braces this week!!  He is doing a great job with them!  His mouth is a little sore and his tongue is a bit irritated, but other than that he is doing well.  If everything goes as planned, he may only have to wear them for about 46 weeks, which is less than a year!!  I took a picture, but you can't see anything, so no sense in posting it.  LOL 

We're back in the groove with school.  We are enjoying our schedule this year of 6 weeks on and 1 week off.  It gives us something to look forward to.  We have 3 weeks until our next break.  =) 

Week 20

Here are some pictures of our week.

We made some molecules in science on Wednesday.

 

On Friday, we went on a field trip with our homeschool group to "Bee City" in Cottageville, SC.  Funny thing is, we didn't see many bees!  LOL  We saw a lot of other animals though and had a great time.

 

This is the only bee hive we saw in the classroom!

Llamas!

Emu

Deer

Turkeys and peacocks

my baby!

prairie dog

rare white bees?

haha!

Woohoo!  I got Justin on a horse!  LOL