Still loving our curriculum

It's been awhile since I could say that. We've gotten into a good routine and it just really works for us right now. I was even able to keep school going while potty-training, although there were some days that it might have been better to take the day off. We managed.

One thing we haven't done much of this year is writing. Nothing besides handwriting, that is. I'm looking into some options and think we'll add that in January.

It really is amazing how little time it takes to do a lesson when you can just focus on one child sitting in front of you. I am also amazed at how much time it can take when said child has a really horrible attitude. They are learning, though. The work has to get done, whether they pout and whine and stretch it out to two hours or instead, set their minds to it and get it done in thirty minutes.

I'm pleased with the progress they've both made in math. I'm ecstatic over how well Tori is doing in spelling. I need to stop underestimating her. I especially love what they are learning in history. I should say, what *we* are learning in history. I didn't pay a lot of attention to history in school. This year, we are reading The Story of the World, The Middle Ages, and it's really interesting. I especially like reading about Britain. It's so interesting learning things with my kids. We all have an "a-ha!" moment on some days.

Yesterday we were reading about Alfred the Great - he was a king of England who defeated the Vikings. I remembered buying a coffee table book about Britain a few years ago because I love Ireland and Scotland and England and was into Henry the 8th and the whole Protestant/Catholic thing at that time. Plus, it had beautiful pictures and a dream of mine is to go over there some day and see it for myself. Anyways, I thought of that book and wondered if it had stuff about Alfred the Great in there. So I got it out with the kids and we found him! And they had pictures of Viking weapons and other interesting things that made it come alive for us.

Now, I don't know how much of this history my kids could recite back or how much of it is sinking in. But I think it's opening up their minds to the realization that the world is old and a lot happened before us. And I hope that when they hear these names again in the future, a light bulb will go off and they'll say, "Oh, yeah, I remember hearing about him".

They also have a map page to fill out for every chapter and a coloring page. I'm planning to put these in a binder for them (yes, I know it's December and that we've been in school for several weeks now) and hope that when they look through these, they'll remember what we read.