Mohaus Schoolhouse Week 10

I posted last week about our tenth week of homeschool, but I was wrong. This past week was Week 10. I have to be honest and say we are really struggling through our days right now.

Homeschool mamas who have been in the trenches longer, please share some encouragement for this weary mama.

We have really good parts of our days but are struggling through other parts. We started listening to the Young Ben Franklin podcast — which is fantastic and has peaked our curiosity — but other things like language arts have become a battle ground. 

I am finding creative ways to combat it like coming up with fantastical stories in the car but getting them put to paper is almost impossible and spelling is an uphill battle. 

Our hike this week was good but we aren’t fitting in all that I feel like we need to. 

And while Jack is able to recite a handful of lines from a Midsummer Night’s Dream, our days are far from perfect and I want to be real here and share snippets of the good and bad. 

 We ended our week by camping at Montgomery Bell State Park and attending my sister-in-laws wedding, and Jack seems to have picked up a viral infection that includes headaches and a fever at night. Maybe that is why our days have been hard... 

What Our Homeschool Looked Like in October:
Week 7 (Sept. 30-Oct. 6)
Week 8 (Oct. 7-13)
Week 9 (Oct. 14-20)
Week 10 (Oct. 21-27)
Week 11 (Oct. 28-Nov. 3)

Mohaus Schoolhouse Week 9

Last week we completed the 10th 9th week of the school year and it was a busy one. 

Monday we worked on several Boy Scout projects including taking a mini nature hike and making a bird house. That night the Boy Scout meeting included a trebuchet to chunk pumpkins and also a chance to carve pumpkins. It rained but we still had a blast. 

Tuesday Jack and I did several science experiments involving straws while Isaac was at preschool.

Wednesday was our weekly hike and we did a new (to us) trail at McCoy Farms. The leaves aren’t fully changing yet but we still enjoyed checking out the variety of trees there.

While hiking we discussed the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Less Taken” and also a scene we had read in “Little House in the Big Woods.”

For our studies, we finished listening to “The Wizard of Oz” and started listening to a new podcast, One Third Stories, that is an excellent resource for beginning to learn Spanish. 

Thursday was Jack’s enrichment day at the Y. 

We began a new math program and really like it, but it is challenging and there was some frustration over the lessons. But we persevered and I think Beast Academy will be a great fit for Jack. 

Then Friday was a field trip to pick apples at a local orchard with friends. 

Friday afternoon Jack and Daniel went trail riding with another father-son that we are good friends with.

And Saturday both boys competed in the Youth Trials event at the Tennessee Trials Training Center where Jack picked up his second first place trophy.

I’m still trying to get a handle on what our days should look like this year. I tend to want to push through as much material as possible but am trying to remind myself that Jack is just in first grade and the main goal is to instill a love of learning.

What Our Homeschool Looked Like in October:
Week 7 (Sept. 30-Oct. 6)
Week 8 (Oct. 7-13)
Week 9 (Oct. 14-20)
Week 10 (Oct. 21-27)
Week 11 (Oct. 28-Nov. 3)

Mohaus Schoolhouse Week 8

Last week was Fall Break for our local public schools so a lot of our friends were off. We ended up doing a blend of playing with friends, school work, and field trips. 

Monday was Columbus Day/Canadian Thanksgiving so the boys and I followed my tradition of baking a homemade pumpkin pie. 

Our field trips included a morning at a park and a trip to Old McDonalds farm with friends. 

<Mom Fail: We waited in line to go on a hayride to get pumpkins today. I carried the pumpkins back to the car and set them on the bumper. And promptly put the kids in the car and drove off without the pumpkins.>>

To end the week, our family went camping in the North Georgia mountains where we visited Hillcrest Orchards...

and Burt’s Pumpkin Farm. 

The boys competed in an STRA youth trials event on Saturday where Jack got first place in his division...

and we also hiked at Tallulah Falls.

All these visits to farms and orchards meant we got to go on three different hayrides. On the last one, Jack was observing the tractor and asked us what would happen if the coupler broke. Daniel said he was wondering the same thing and a discussion ensued on what would happen.

Last week Jack wrapped up his Singapore Math (first grade course) from last year and we will get started on Beast Academy (second grade) this week. I’m interested in discovering how he does with the new style of curriculum. 

We are really enjoying The Same Page podcast. We start with it the first thing in the morning as it briefly covers scripture, excerpts from Shakespeare, a poem, and facts about presidents. Jack told me that the excerpt from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was his favorite. It was mine too.

We are about halfway through “Little House in the Big Woods” and the “The Mysterious Howling.” We have also been listening to an audio of “The Wizard of Oz” and Jack informed me that the scarecrow was actually pretty smart and the lion wasn’t that scared. I love seeing him draw these conclusions on his own. 

We also started reading a book called “What If?” This books answers ridiculous questions like “What would happen if all the people in the world stood shoulder to shoulder and jumped up and landed at the same time?”

Last week was our second full week since our trip out west and we are still finding our groove (and it still wasn’t a typical week). This week will probably be a little more on the normal side for us.

What Our Homeschool Looked Like in October:
Week 7 (Sept. 30-Oct. 6)
Week 8 (Oct. 7-13)
Week 9 (Oct. 14-20)
Week 10 (Oct. 21-27)
Week 11 (Oct. 28-Nov. 3)