First Week of School

We're rolling (somewhat) merrily along. We are mainly getting warmed up to the 3 Rs again and tackling the 50 states. Which has been very fun! From state websites to library books to youtube and national geographic videos, we've been exploring our United States. This has definitely been the fun part. I remember learning the states in third grade. We learned the names and the nicknames and we all loved learning each state's nickname. So for the Heart of Dixie we watched a video of scenic pictures, learned state symbols (I'm using this site for every state) and listened to the state song, then, of course, we ended with "Sweet Home Alabama". For the Last Frontier, we learned about the aurora borealis (and here), watched a Ntl Geographic video about Denali National Park, and Ethan read about Balto (again). And for the Grand Canyon state, we read a storybook history of the desert and founding of Phoenix, as well as a book and videos of the Grand Canyon. We also have workbooks from last year's Target dollar bins that have a half page of activities and info on each state, as well as placemat maps. I also have a Chick-Fil-A card game and cool board game. I think we're going to attempt to collect postcards from all fifty states - just tio make sure the overkill is complete.

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I decided today to start a one-year Bible reading program with the kids. It said 15 minutes a day, but with our many questions and discussions, it took us 30. I like the check boxes and undated format. We just dove in.

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Oh, and I got a kick out of this. The kids were filling out a first day "about me" page and Ethan listed "Starlight" by Muse as his new favorite song. It was my favorite song two weeks ago. I love being a good influence.

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So have you started school yet? (I know some of you have) How's it going?