My Full Heart: Homeschool Highlights

I have been incredibly busy these past few weeks which is why I haven't hosted the Homeschool Highlights Link Up! I'm sorry I've missed a few weeks, and I'll try not to let that happen again! Let me share what I've been up to.

I started a cottage school type group called The Modern One Room School House. It was laid on my heart to begin something like this about a month ago. Rod and I talked and he shared that he had a location on his heart for years that he wanted to do something with. About a mile from our house, there is an old church that hasn't been used in 12 years or so. Rod said he had been thinking about that church for years, wanting to fix it up and use it for something. We decided to pray about it and find out who owned it and if they would let us rent it. I got into contact with a lady from the family that owns the building and land, and she was more than excited to let me use it for free as long as I wanted to!

We went to the church to check it out and realized we would have to replace nearly all of the windows, fix some plumbing, and do a massive amount of cleaning! We got to work right away. I got the electricity and water back on. The kids and I started cleaning while Rod fixed a few water leaks and killed about ten million wasps that had built nest all around the outside. Thankfully there were only a few inside!

I started buying tables, shelves, books, supplies, and have had a few people donate money or supplies to help me out. I still need lots of things, but I am trusting God to provide everything in His time and in His way!

We have 14 students, counting my three. We started on Monday. The school runs Monday through Wednesday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. I cover math, gentle grammar, reading, history, and science as well as a few fun things like art and STEM. I have a Kindergartner, three 2nd graders, a 3rd grader, two 4th graders, four 5th graders, a 6th grader, a 7th grader, and an 8th grader! I have broken them into two groups - K through 2nd, and 3rd through 6th. (The 7th grader is Mercie and the 8th grader is my nephew, Bryton. They do their own work together on their own.) Mikaela is helping me with the younger group and doing a great job!

I'm super excited about this new adventure, and I will be sharing more about the things we do in my Homeschool Highlights post each week. Thursday and Friday, my kids still have school. I started reading "The American Story" and "The Answers Book" to them each morning along with the Bible. Then Mercie does her schoolwork, while Titus and Silas have math, extra language arts, handwriting, devotions, and occasionally we will have an extra project.

This first week went better than expected! I have a few things to tweak a bit, but the first week was spent getting to know the kids and assessing their academic levels and abilities. All of the kids get along great! They loved the first week. I started reading "Centerburg Tales" to them each day, and was surprised that the majority of them had never had an adult read aloud to them other than when they were young. We have reading time every day and a puzzle table, and I encourage them to work with the "table mates" on their assignments. They were most excited they could talk amongst themselves, go the bathroom when they wanted to, and help each other out with work! The only thing they would change was having more snacks!

On a personal note, I've lost 15 pounds since July 14! I started counting my calories and staying at or below 1000 a day. I also started light exercise and moving more. I feel so much better. My clothes fit so good, I don't feel bloated, and I have more energy. I don't crave sweets anymore and I don't get as hungry. I have about 20 more I'd like to lose, hopefully by Christmas.

Zeke has also been weaned for almost two weeks! He finally started sleeping through the night, although he had a struggle falling asleep for naps and bed without nursing for a while. The past few days have been easier, so I'm hoping it keeps getting better!

We still do our Tot Trays! Here are a few we've done the past two weeks.