What's Coming Up Soon and Going on Now?

I thought it would be good to give you an update on what is coming in the next few weeks here on the blog, and just a bit about where we are at in our classroom right now. So consider this just a sit down chat from me to you! :)

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UPCOMING NEWS

This week, there will be TWO reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew going LIVE on the blog.

*Creating a Masterpiece is an online art program that the boys and I have been doing over the last few weeks. We've been using new mediums (for us), and bravely tackling some projects with rather cool results. So I look forward to sharing that either Monday or Tuesday. And the day after I share it, I will be continuing my new extra of a LIVE video review of the product. I will keep you up to date on that--or you can just follow me on my Farm Fresh Adventures Facebook page to see when it's going to happen.

*Bessie's Pillow from Strong Learning, Inc. is a new book, based on a true story of a young 18 year old Jewish girl from Lithuania who escapes to America during the turbulent times in Europe in 1906. I am going to be sharing my review of this book and its study guide either Tuesday or Wednesday.

I have at least two book reviews coming up this week as well.

*Child of the River by Irma Joubert is one of the books I read recently. You might remember that I was incredibly impressed with her first book The Girl from the Train, which I reviewed last year. I was eager to dive into this one.

*The Loyal Heart and An Uncommon Protector by Shelley Shepard Gray are the first two books in her new A Lone Star Hero's Love Story series. I will be sharing my review on both of these books this week as well. Psssst. You will want to find them to enjoy yourself!

Looking ahead to mid-April, there will be another one of the very popular 5 Days of Homeschool... hosted by the Homeschool Review Crew! This year, I plan on sharing about 5 Days of Homeschool Teaching Methods, where I explore five different styles of homeschooling, what it looks like in "real life", and the curriculum which is enjoyed by families in each style. I am tapping into many of my homeschooling friends experiences to help me and I am looking forward to what will be shared. You can check out my posts from the previous 5 Days of Homeschool... blog hops too. They remain some of my most popular!

I also have the Great Homeschooling Convention in Cincinnati coming up at the end of April! I am so incredibly excited about this year's convention! I have many things to be checking out and THIS year, I am even considering going LIVE a few times while at the convention to share first hand what I am experiencing for those who cannot make it.

IN THE CLASSROOM

As for school, we are doing well! Both boys are right where I hoped they would be at this point--and in some areas they are even ahead. We are looking forward to the weather improving so we can spend more time outside--especially for our PE classes.

*We are continuing to use Apologia for our Science studies and just LOVE the second edition of the Astronomy book. We are starting our study on Uranus this week.

*My youngest continues to use the Eclectic Foundations Level B curriculum for his language arts--something we discovered is just what he needs.

*My oldest son is working through Notgrass's America the Beautiful history course, and we've added in the literature portion now. He is working through the award winning novel Amos Fortune: Free Man and I'm using NotebookingPages.com to let him share what he's reading.

*We are also still using Phonetic Zoo Level A for my oldest's spelling--working through Lesson 43 this week. When we are done, we will move back to the beginning--but working through Level B this time. My youngest is five lessons into All About Spelling Level 2 which he loves.

*Math continues to come along nicely--my youngest is going to be finishing Singapore Primary Mathematics Level 2A soon which is shocking. LOL. Meanwhile my oldest continues to be going through the Grade 5 math curriculum from CTCmath. Both boys are supplementing with the Life of Fred series.

*Using the Student Writing Intensive course by Institute for Excellence in Writing has continued to pay off for my oldest. He's almost done with his final draft of a 3 page report he completed on John Deere, after reading a biography on him. I am tickled pink with his progress and love that the curriculum really breaks the writing process down into such smaller pieces. Perfect for a reluctant writer. Baby Britches is in the middle of working through the IEW writing portion of the Primary Art of Language Writing curriculum. We are on one of our 3rd stories and are currently turning our outline into paragraphs. He does well--but it's not quite his style as it is for Little Britches--so I might seek out something different for him in regards to writing. But I will give it a bit longer before making that decision.

*We also continue to use the Poetry Memorization Course from IEW as well. They nearly have "My Shadow" by Robert Louis Stevenson learned and I'm quite proud of them. They both actually really enjoy reciting the poetry, so I am glad we have this to work through.

We have other oddball things we are working on too, but I just wanted to touch on more of the major subjects. We are also getting ready to take our Spring break! I just remembered that it was coming up. LOL. So two more weeks of school, and then we get a two week break to regroup and relax before finishing out our year.

I hope that you enjoyed this little bit into what's going on and what's ahead. Remember that if you want a more up to date look at what's going on--come find me on Facebook at my Farm Fresh Adventures page!