Friday, December 2, 2011

Home Schooling Highlights - November 2011


Wow! November came and went. At the time of this post, we are WELL into December now and officially on our school break. We started early in August, took fewer planned days off through the fall, including over Thanksgiving, so we've taken 3 full weeks off in December and will start fresh a few days into the New Year. Plus I need to order more curriculum for the boys because they are WAY ahead of schedule in a few subjects. Max is a whole semester ahead of schedule in Math for example.

Overall we had a good, but challenging month. I had a couple days when i was seriously ready to throw in the towel. It didn't help that a good friend who started HS when we did, decided it was not the best fit for her family at this time. Though I completely respect their decision, it still made me a bit sad, and lonelier - but even more convinced that this is right for US. I am looking forward to regrouping after Christmas and setting some fresh goals now that we've been at it for a few months now.

On top of lots of schoolwork we had many field trips which made for a busy month...

Early November - Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

We packed up with some fellow HSchoolers and set off for Toronto. The visit was fun for everyone on the way there and the day was a lot of fun too. One of the best parts of the day was the dog show and the petting area.


The kids also took advantage of the kids play zone and free face painting. We watched a great magic show and walked around the many educational displays as well as one that included milking an artificial cow. *note -my batteries died on my camera so I c&p some pics from the web and only got this one of Carter on my phone.


November 11th - Remembrance Day

After completing some special seatwork and crafts in honour of Remembrance Day. We bundled up and met Daddy downtown at the Cenotaph to pay our respects.



Firestation Trip

Our good friends who are not homeschoolers had a day time birthday party and took advantage of having a tour of the firestation as part of the festivities. Amazing IDEA! We had never been to this station and it was great. So much to see and do.

Exploring the trucks...

Watching a Sparky the Firedog Video
Even checking out the ladders and lifts...





November also had 2 gym days, a few impromptu hikes, a NHEA parents night, finding skates for the boys for skating in December and registering them for Basketball. We also spent a week decorating the house for Christmas and prepping for Carter's 4th Birthday party and then hosting it. So much fun!

As I mentioned before, we're officially done school for the semester, but we are not done learning as we've got many activities this month that will both be fun and educational. Since I'm posting this so late, the next one will be really soon :) see you then!

Mama T