School and Classical Conversations. . .

School has been awesome recently. Home school, I mean. I haven't written much about it since originally "coming out" and admitting that we were going to give it a shot. Well, the first semester was such a time of learning and I felt kind of lost and helpless at times. It wasn't that it was super-difficult (I mean, it's Kindergarten. . .), but there's an insane amount of information out there and even though I had a curriculum, I just felt like I didn't know what I was doing. I'd look around and wonder if I was doing enough or too much and I'd wonder if she was retaining anything I was teaching. Hearing that that's normal wasn't helpful. Hearing people say, "Relax," wasn't helpful either. We've both come a long way since that first week of school in August!! Now we have 10 weeks left and I feel like we've been working so well together this semester. Learning has been fun and I think we're starting to really figure each other out!! We have a great routine to our days and I try to keep to that. Some people are more relaxed and take advantage of the freedom that homeschooling allows. I like order. I like schedules. I like routines. I'm not rigid, but I want to teach Emma how to respect time - her time and the time of others. One day she'll have a job or a family or she'll be in school and she'll have to respect the hands on the clock.
Since January, we've started a class called Classical Conversations. We have to drive about 20 minutes to the location, but it's been totally worth the effort. Every Monday, we meet with several other families from 9am-12pm for classical education. Emma has been memorizing facts in Latin, History, History Timeline, English grammar, Science, Geography, and Math. She's learning about famous artists and composers. She gets to do a science project every week and she also has to prepare a presentation for her class. Her public speaking skills are already way ahead of mine!! I love that she's getting some classroom experience with other kids and her teacher is awesome! I could write so much more about our CC experience, but I'll just finish by sharing some pics:
Here she was learning the area of a square and how to measure inches:

I stay in the classroom with Emma for most of the time, so I'm actually learning alongside her. Adri is gradually spending more time in the nursery which is great for her and for me!!

For the first six weeks, the students learned about famous Renaissance artists. After learning about the artist, the students tried their hands at creating art with similar techniques to the artist. This was one of Emma's favorite weeks: 

I couldn't get the picture to turn, but it's a house with a sun next to it. She used small cardboard pieces to make a design. Then she covered the design with aluminum foil. She pressed the foil down around the design and then an adult sprayed the design with black spray paint. After shining it, the design was more clear. Quick, fun art project. We both loved it!

Here's part of the group learning about one of the artists.

The kids were learning about the parts of the earth and how certain land features are formed. The experiment they did helped them to understand how a little more.

One week, Emma gave a short presentation on Leonardo da Vinci. She's pointing to the Mona Lisa. Apparently, there's a naked woman on the next page and I didn't notice it when we marked that page for her presentation! Ha! Good thing she and the other kids didn't notice!!

We found a book that showed many of da Vinci's work. We made some of his designs by using toothpicks and small marshmallows. Kevin helped her make the designs and then she showed the students the octahedron and icosahedron. Yes, I'm learning things, too!!

This is Gallon Guy. He's now taped to our wall and Emma has all the facts memorized. 2 cups = 1 pint. 2 pints = 1 quart. 4 quarts = 1 gallon. Pretty handy tool!!



These pictures are such a small bit of what Emma's been learning this year. Recently, I started going through some of her work and I was just floored at how much she's learned. From writing sentences correctly to memorizing verses and songs, to learning history facts and painting jars and playing catch and finding animals in the wild, I feel like I could go on and on about how much she's learning. She really is amazing me! Even though the first semester was a bit challenging, this year has been fun for me and I think it's been fun for her. She told me last week that she's going to live with us forever and never leave home. I'm glad I haven't ruined her, but I had to gently tell her that she'll probably change her mind sometime in the future! If she doesn't, I might change it for her:)