Weekly Wrap-Up: August 21

This week we got into our full schedule, which means four days of school. It's our first year using a primarily classical approach (though we've used elements of it in the past), and Lucy loves it. We do a lot of subjects, but many involve only a small amount of work per week. I got this from the Charlotte Mason method of having short lessons in the early grades. Even if we only do, say 20 minutes a week of Church History, that adds up over time! We spend lots of time on the basics: math, language arts (grammar and spelling), reading, and writing (including handwriting, copywork, dictation and narration), and then just a bit of time on our other subjects: memory work, Latin, Bible, Music, Art, Church History, and Nature Studies. We get a lot of history too, since much of our reading and writing is history based. This week we focused on Julius Caesar.

This week I received my new science curriculum in the mail, which is Real Science 4 Kids, Chemistry Level 1. This is one of the few science curricula for younger kids that is discipline-based, that is, it involves studying Chemistry one year, Physics another, and Biology another. Most science at this level is pretty piecemeal, but I wanted something more systematic, and Lucy had asked to study Chemistry this year. I'm hoping to get started with it this coming week.

The fifth day of our week (often Fridays) is reserved for playdates, field trips, etc. This week we visited Grandma and Grandpa's house on Friday. Lucy spent much of the day sewing with grandma, while Matthew made a big huge mess with the fabrics, buttons, etc.