And We're Off

Hard to believe that we are moving through the month of September already.  It seems as though all of our summer fun whisked by in the blink of an eye.  I've got oh so many plans for fall though, after all it IS my favorite time of year by far.
We started school this week and it feels a bit crazy; we are off and running!

I was a bit unknowingly overzealous shall we say.  I dove right in to the deep end on these poor sweet kiddos.  "oh the first few math lessons are boring review? here jump right into the hard stuff after a few months off!"  Their little heads were spinning by the time dad got home last night.  Of course being the amazing papa that he is he seemed to make it all better...a little help with math and a little chat with mama about easing into things at the beginning a bit more gently.

So of course everyone is better today.  I'm feeling like the History Odyssey is going to be a fun way to learn about the middle ages for all of us.  Greg and the kids made a wonderful time line spanning from 400-1700 that the kiddos will be adding events to throughout the year.  There are art assignments, and my favorite actual literature.  The first book up for reading is The Door In the Wall, I'm excited about this one as I don't recall reading it as a child.  I've got it downloaded to their kindles and my laptop so we can all enjoy it.
I'm finding the kindle to be a wonderful tool for homeschooling.  They have a plethora of books on them as well as Internet access for research, a dictionary, thesaurus and so much more. 
I even have their science texts on the thing!  Free no less!  I'm so thrilled to have found this resource.  I've been hearing lots of good things about CPO science and that homeschoolers are finding it to be a very interactive engaging curriculum.  Then I found out that the CA version of their middle school science series (while put together a bit differently) is available for free here!  Whoa!  add that to all the free worksheets, slides and lecture materials on CPOs website and we are in business for the cost of some lab supplies!  For a science minded mama like myself this is very exciting.  I've been perusing the Home science tools website for equipment and supplies to go with what we already have.  We'll veer off a bit here and there to follow individual interests (I've made owl pellet dissection promises this year)but for the most part be following the Middle school Life Science curriculum.  I hope to make a regular post of our experiments. 
Of course there has still been plenty of crafting going on around here.  Molly has decided to take on quilting with mama;

As usual she's rocking it like any other creative endeavour she tackles.  I can't wait to see this finished product!  I've got the quilt top finished for my king quilt, but feeling a bit overwhelmed by it's size so it's on the back burner for a few weeks while I contemplate the long arm class.

There have also been some new little gnome homes popping up throughout the house.  We have a large bin of scrap wood from a friends woodworking business and the kids have found many uses for the odd little shapes (oh how I love the imagination of a child). 
So we have been busy and I've been away from the computer for a few days...How is school starting off for you?