she had a fab 1st day[8th grade homeschool co-op]

{ok so 8th grade means i only took minimal non-embarassing pix. i only stuck around for the brief 10-15 minute teacher/class introduction. then i left my girl to her business for the day. i did good!)  

i keep mentioning that we have a lot of changes in our little homeschool this year. yesterday was the beginning of one of them. the oldest brownsugar K started 8th grade homeschool co-op! my girl had a fab 1st day, but 8th grade...kinda makes me sad!

 

without going into alot of details all 3 girls are now under the same charter (much easier on me)& are starting a new co-op this year organized (for the most part) by one of our fave teachers from our old charter.

 

this co-op is different than one we were in last year in that it is more classroom like & taught by teachers who teach/taught as a profession. our other co-op was so much fun last year & we still love it & hope to still be a part of it this year but this new co-op is more of what we needed at this age. last year K was in workshop classes at her old charter campus & this year lots of her friends, others from our homeschooling network & her old teachers are in her co-op classes again, so it's a pretty comfortable transition.

 

the classes K is signed up for are:

General Science (Apologia text & lots of hands on labs)

Literature/Writing

Photography

*Spanish

 

aside from playing soccer & her guitar, K is really into her photography. at this point, she really wants to do something along the lines of graphics design with an emphasis on photography as a career, so we are super excited about this opportunity for her.

 

the Spanish class is on a different day...our beloved beach day of course! our beach is day is super sacred to us so i'm still having trouble committing (have to by today YIKES!). living in So Cal especially, Spanish is a definite must & the girls REALLY want to learn it (& i really want to re-learn it).

i'm just really going to miss my beach days!

 

the science & writing classes are a HUGE relief to me.

even though i love science, having 3 different ability levels were starting to become more obvious at these ages. with the majority of our little classroom still in the elementary years, starting last year it was becoming clear that Ms. 8th grader was ready for more & more of a challenge.

 

the same thing with the writing & lit classes. 

with those subjects being taught i'm really only teaching (more on each of these later):

History (collectively)

Math (individually) 

a little bit of Grammar (individually for K & collectively for the younger 2 but at their own levels)

*this year is a crazy busy one, the girls also have extracurricular activities that i will also save for another post.

 

the two younger brownsugars have their 1st day of co-op next week & we all can not wait to see how it goes.



this {past} week

{a few little tidbits from last week...that were supposed to post on Saturday}

 

one of our fave days of the week is our coffee shop date. the brownsugars & i usually bring schoolwork or reading books to our local coffee shop, but this week we brought our art supplies.

we all really enjoyed it & trying yummy new drinks!

 

we did some fun science experiments using a new weather kit to finish up the weather unit we began at the end of last year. we started recording our weekly temps at set hours that we will graph. we also did a barometer experiment & an evaporation chamber experiment. we still have a few more experiments left. 

 

K has gotten REALLY good on her guitar. she is super passionate & equally as self motivated about her guitar playing. i LOVE LOVE LOVE listening to this girl practice & play. i'm also loving watching her artistic growth (all around) & the fact that she has enough time to pursue & develop them.

 

beach day is, of course our other favorite day of the week! we took beach study & our bible study books along for some beach schooling & family worship before going in the water. it was a perfect day for it. it was hot! after we finished with the books & our picnic, we hit the water for the rest of the evening. 

(yes! i actually had on a swimming suit!)

 

this past week was definitely an "i'm sooo happy to be homeschooling" week. i'm loving the blessing of being able to watch my brownsugars grow into themselves right before my eyes & being able to be here to facilitate if necessary. there are so many things, subtleties even, that i would have never know about each one of these girls if we were not homeschooling

& none of which i want to miss. 

thrifty bargain{i love this everything}

i love:

this girl & her own little style.

this cute & easy summer play dress

($1 Gap Kids that i dont worry any about her playing in or ruining).

this everything!



a pretty natural transition

the brownsugars & i have been having a pretty natural transition back into homeschooling this year (eventhough we still dont want to give up our summer!). this is the 1st of many work sample posts of this year (a quick one since the mama taxi is rushing out the door again to horse ranch for miss M's lessons)

the 1st pic is one of my fave changes in our homeschool this year

(more in another post).

OUR NEW GADGET BASKET!!!

during homeschool time (& bible study,family worship etc...)

our beloved distracting & addicting little gadgets go in the basket.

yes including mine (with the exception of playing "school" music Pandora, audio books & important calls).

yesterday was the test & we all passed!

we had a fun game of bananagrams to brush up on our spelling, vocab & prob solving skills. dope was all me BTW! *mama is pidush a word? what about digity? tine? what does bail mean? is this the correct way to spell golf? is there a letter y in the word mini? oh. then how many letter i's etc...

we listened to our story of the world history lesson on CD (another change that i am so super grateful for!) while i did laundry & the brownsugars had to make the GF pizza crusts for dinner...all by themselves. we had 2 different types, the one in the pic is BBQ chicken. they did such a good job with the reading, following directions, measuring, problem solving, predicting, investigating (yeast) & team work etc...they were just as proud of themselves as i was of them because dinner turned out DELISH!  

it has been unseasonably warm for the last few days...

"it has been unseasonably warm for the last few days...and today again, a romantic sunrise, clouds edged in crimson just before the sun rose between two banks of soft gray. now at half past nine the sea is that ineffably calm satin blue and the clouds have vanished. purity and peace." may sarton the house by the sea

i needed a break from reading book after book about the same subject matter(the south, slavery, hatred, violence, oppression, etc...).

the title of this autobiography caught my eye at the used bookstore & for 25 cents i figured why not? it is a journal of the author's east coast move from her inland new hampshire home to a house on the seacoast of maine. thru this journey of solitude & self discovery she re-awakens her creative passion & spirit.  

a light summer read, some of my fave subjects

& i miss the east coast (that i love!).

i'm enjoying it so far.

the beginning of this quote is especially true in that it has been crazy hot the last couple of weeks.

the brownsugars & i have started transitioning into our new homeschool year & we are off to a great start so far.

but there is still quite a bit of summer left in us that we just cannot let go of yet ;)

farm notes {summer in our backyard}

wed we got so brain-fried with next years planning, impossible (over)scheduling, e-mails, deadlines, commitments...blah blah blah. so, the brownsugars & i decided to take our tent, books, art supplies, pillows & snugglies & move out of the house for the rest of summer! 

our summer weather here in socal has been so pleasant that it much nicer to be out in it than inside anyway.

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

*btw- yard sales & estate sales are a great places to get outdoor/camping gear already in kid-friendly condition. i bought this tent & the checkered sleeping bag from a neighbors yard sale for $5 about 3-4 years ago. at that price i could care less about the spills & stains, the dirt, the torn screens etc from my tomboys & dogs...no worries.

{one & vintage love}

at one time this skirt & this bike were both new.
don't think i would have loved them as much then.

i'm attempting a couple of photo challenges on Instagram for the month of august. today's prompt was one.

vintage wrap skirt $1 at my fave thrift store.
vintage bike $5 at local estate sale.
brownsugarhoney on IG.

*not liking the IG to blogger size formatting, but still fun!