Today marks two months of homeschooling and one month of Quinn being five. Both have exceeded my expectations and been a lot of fun. 

Our homeschool routine is broken into two parts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I initially had an agenda planned out for tidying up, eating breakfast, starting school early, etc. but the reality is that my two cuties wake up wanting to play for an hour before doing anything and they play so very well together first thing in the morning that I feel like it's vital to just give them this time. So, we get our "morning meeting" done before noon, so it's technically still morning. But I've relaxed the schedule. The morning meeting consists of prayer, Bible story, calendar/weather discussion, and Math lesson. Probably the most meaningful part of our day is the prayer time. We are praying with the Voice of the Martyrs prayer calendar with the map right behind us so we talk about the country and what hardships the people there might experience. Quinn also asks what words like discipleship, persecution, and church plant mean from the prayers listed. Pretty deep stuff and so satisfying to my soul to discuss this with her. For the calendar, I whipped up some laminated weather cards, a thermometer card, and a person to draw weather-appropriate clothes for each day and we're working our way through the Saxon Math Kindergarten curriculum. So far, it's honestly a bit too easy, but Archer is enjoying learning the days of the week. He joins us for morning meeting with a little white board and pen and seems to enjoy it. We do a Math lesson from Saxon too that Archer joins. The lessons have also been too easy for Quinn, but luckily I can find ways to extend and deepen the concepts. Quinn is really into graphs and fractions so I usually go that route or make a story problem. I also have Archer do a small letter of the week activity and he's remembering lots of letters.

The second part of the day happens five days a week. During Archer's nap, Quinn and I work on language arts. She just finished "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" on October 18 and her reading is progressing rapidly. When we wrapped up that book, we started "Cursive First" which will lead into "Spell to Write and Read". We spend about 15 minutes on this, then I have her read a book to me, and then 15-30 on a fun read-aloud together all cozied up. We are about to start the last book in the Little House series. 

One day a week, we are at Bible study all morning. The kids really like their classmates and are learning a lot. Another day each week we are part of a homeschool group that has been such a rich time for all of us. Both kids are singing history sentences, Latin, skip counting, and all sorts of surprising facts. 

We also make sure to fit in playdates, ballet and swimming (just graduated up another level last week), art projects, and outdoor time. 

For Quinn's fifth birthday, we had a laid back "drop-off" party. Six little five year old buddies came over to play Lego games, make Lego art, and eat a Lego cake. It was very sweet. We also had a nice family breakfast and special dinner that day. Quinn is such a bright, bubbly, capable, glittery little lady. It's been a joy to watch her discover reading and to see her excitement for learning. She is still on the petite side at 40 inches and 36 pounds and I just love her tiny, delicate hands. She has a heart for truth and goodness and so much love in her heart. We couldn't be prouder of our girlie!