Our 2012 school year is off to a great start!



We began our first day of school August 6, 2012.  Our first two days have gone well.  We created a banner for our homeschool this year.  Each of the kids had a word from our homeschool name.  "Kolbe Academy of Louisville" was decorated and the 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit listed throughout the pieces.  If we can focus on these, we will surely have a wonderful year.





 The boys and I took a walk yesterday to prepare for Tuesday's Art project. They are working with water color paints to share their interpretation of our neighborhood. Samuel's picture includes McDonald's and Jonathan decided to paint our home. We also took photos of various landmarks on our walk and may use these for a collage later in the year.





Samuel's Masterpiece



Jonathan's masterpiece



Alaina is working with water color pencils. She was to observe something outside and then draw it from memory. She colored it with water color pencils and then "painted" lightly over each color with water. This is a branch on one of the bushes by our front porch. Her piece is very beautiful.



 



Alaina's masterpiece

                                                                      



Benjamin's masterpiece

     

 This is what a little guy does when he has not yet started preschool and he finds himself tired of waiting for the others to finish.  My plan was to start Benjamin sometime in September.  I think he does not like that plan and has something else in mind.  He came to me this afternoon and handed me an open (and empty!) three-hole punch.  Then he proceeded to show me where all the "holes" were.  I guess I should be thankful that it was just paper and not glitter.  As many of my family and friends know, we had a glitter incident several years ago with the other two boys.  Boys love messes!

I hope to share more of our work on this blog throughout the school year.  I really did not do much with it last year and found myself giving up on it because I felt I had fallen too far behind.  As we begin a new school year, I think it is important to try again and share some of these moments with our family and friends.  These moments are part of what homeschooling is all about for our family.  Maybe I can find a better blog service before I get too far into this year or maybe I will learn how to use this one more effectively.  I find this particular service to be very challenging to use.  If others have suggestions for me, please let me know.  I would like it to be a bit more user friendly.



February First Friday

We put decorated and passed out tissue boxes to the residents at a local nursing home.  These once a month trips offer so much to the children.  They are able to attend mass with the residents, have lunch with the other children, learn about a particular topic, and create a craft (that they often give to the residents).  This is also an opportunity for me to get some social time with other moms.  The support for the residents, the children, and the mothers is priceless.

After delivering the tissue boxes to the residents, we decorated Valentine cookies.  Part of the topic included a discussion about storing treasure in heaven.  The cookies represented a treasure on earth.