Grand Canyon {in little words}

I have fallen very behind in posting our learning adventures. The following Grand Canyon pics are from our Arizona trip in March.

Awaiting.

Family.

Majesty.

Awe-inspiring.

Silhouettes.

Snow-dusted.

Together,

Brave.

High altitude giggles.

Meandering.

Snuggle.

Trail of Time.

Guide.

Heroes.

Daring duo.

Real world education.

Cliff.

Wisdom.

First Day of Third Grade: Minecraft Schultute

As homeschoolers, we celebrate the first day of school a little but differently than our public-schooled peers. On the first day of first grade, we had sort of a Christmas-homeschool morning with educational gifts like a chess set and a Rubik's cube. On the first day of second grade, our family went spelunking at the Moaning Caverns in Vallecito, Ca.

This year we had another Christmas-homeschool type of morning, mostly because I'm about seven months along in my pregnancy and that's about the only physical adventure I can stand right now. But I still wanted to make his first day special. Lately, Aidyn has joined the millions of other Minecraft fans and, on most days, eats, breathes, and sleeps all things Minecraft.

The night before I made him a Minecraft schultute. A schultute is a cone-shaped holder of goodies, a first-day-of-school German tradition going back to the early 1800s. It's also fairly common in the homeschool world to give these schultutes, but this was our first time.

We filled and overflowed it with all kinds of goodies-- a Minecraft foam sword, kinetic sand, Create and Destroy Fortress Invasion clay, glue sticks, Minecraft benders, a Guardians of the Galaxy dog tag, a Minecraft creeper poster, a box of Buddy Bars, a box of Nerds...

AND a new-to-him scooter. The weekend prior, David and I found a scooter at a thrift store for $7, so we brought it home, cleaned it up, and added new handlebar grips and Minecraft stickers.

He rode it outside before we started school and during every break throughout the day. 

For breakfast, I made him a creeper pancake.

And we eventually started our day.

I regret not taking many pictures of the rest of our day, but Aidyn worked on a sheet of Minecraft Math  (addition and subtraction sheets can be found at this link) until our math curriculum comes in on Thursday. Aidyn took the placement test for Spelling Power, learned about mapping a story with our grammar book, restarted our reading program and listed things he wants to learn about in 3rd grade (most of which are underwater creatures like piranhas and sharks.

 We had a good, Miecrafty sort of first day and are looking forward to the new school year!

Here are some other first-day-of-school traditions and ideas:

First Day of School Traditions
Back to Homeschool and End-of-the-Year Celebrations on Pinterest

And if you're wanting to fit Minecraft into your learning:

Minecraft Activities, Coloring, and Worksheets Pinterest page
Learning by Playing Minecraft-- Resources for Parents and Teachers

And if you want to make your own schultute:

Make a Schultute!
Make a Schultute for Your Child's First Day of School

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3rd Grade {Sanity} Schedule

I recently posted our 3rd grade curriculum goals, and, to be honest, the long list majorly  kind of freaked me out. A few weeks ago, I outlined a new schedule for third grade given the new changes this year, most importantly our baby boy set to arrive at the end of October!

As Aidyn gets older and more mature, we're leaning more toward a classical learning style though we're still eclectic and flexible.

This year we are finishing up SOTW: Volume One and attempting to finishing SOTW: Volume Two. We'll see how that goes.

We are also continuing to work on language arts skills, especially spelling. Aidyn has become a quick and proficient little reader so I imagine his breadth of reading will expand this year. I sincerely hope he gets bit by a major reading bug.

We are introducing Latin this year with Song School Latin, and Aidyn is actually excited about learning a new language. And not just any new language, but a cool dead new language. We'll try to liven it up as much as possible.

We are also focusing on chemistry and earth science this year (our kitchen table will be a rotating experiment lab), and working on a new big book of Saxon math.

After a very recent move, we're pleased that Aidyn has some neighborhood friends and has resumed his play-all-day-until-we-force-him-back-in-at-9pm habit. After school, the outdoor play with friends will be just the break we both need.

The routine below is more for my sanity throughout the school year than anything else. In other words, it's my buoy when I've waded too far in.

First Half of Third Grade:

Normal Week:

Monday:

Math
Spelling
Grammar
Reading (SRA textbook activities)
Writing (copywork)
History
Latin
Free Reading
Outdoor play
Outside classes: CrossFit P.E. and Pre-Engineering Lego class

Tuesday:

Math
Spelling
Grammar
Reading (read-aloud)
Writing (dictation)
Chemistry experiment
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside class: Recorders (school band)

Wednesday:

Math
Spelling
Grammar
Reading (SRA)
Writing (retelling)
History
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside class: Hands-on science and (once a month) Character class

Thursday:

Math
Spelling
Grammar
Reading (read-aloud)
Writing (handwriting practice)
Earth science
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play

Friday:

library, field trip, messy activity, "catch-up" day, movie, etc.
Outside class: (once or twice a month): Study club with K-8th graders

Saturday/Sunday

Finish any read-alouds from the week
"Catch up" with Daddy
Outdoor play

FIAR week: (1x a month)

Monday:

Math
Phonics (Explode the Code)
Read FIAR book
Social Studies/Geography related to the book
Writing (copywork from the book)
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside classes: CrossFit P.E. and Pre-Engineering Lego class

Tuesday:

Math
Phonics (Explode the Code)
Read FIAR book
Language Arts related to the book
Writing (dictation from the book)
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside class: Recorders (school band)

Wednesday:

Math
Phonics (Explode the Code)
Read FIAR book
Art related to the book
Writing (retelling the book)
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside class: Hands-on science and (once a month) Character class

Thursday:

Math
Phonics (Explode the Code)
Read FIAR book
Math/Science related to the book
Writing (handwriting)
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play

Friday:

field trip, activity, movie, hike, etc.
Outside class: (once or twice a month): Study club with K-8th graders
Outdoor play