We are starting our new 2012-2013 school year this week with our new curriculum, My Father's World- Exploring Countries and Cultures. We will be "traveling" to 14 different countries after 2 weeks of introduction followed by a 2 week study of the United States.
We kicked off our first day with tea and cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
The girls filled out their passport applications, and their checks made payable to the "Passport Office". They addressed the envelopes and mailed them off via Mom's teacher's basket. :) They will wait 4 weeks for their applications to be "processed" and receive their passports in week 5. Just in time for us to "fly" to Mexico. We've already designated our porch as the airport where we will assemble our "plane" using the porch furniture. I love how MFW encourages using our imaginations and playing pretend as we learn. This makes it exciting and fun for the girls, and me too!
It's fun to start our new school year with a new kitten. What could be better than reading with a kitten napping in your lap?
The girls also took their Country Identification Pretest (The first day and already a pop quiz!). It was harder than it looked to identify and label countries from a blank continent map.
All three of the older girls who took the test were able to correctly identify each continent. I was impressed with that. Katie identified Australia before I did! I was still turning the page different directions wondering which side was up. Lol!
They were also able to label many US states, though that wasn't really part of the test. Without any prior studying...Emma correctly labeled 14 countries, Katie 9, and Megan 5. I encouraged them that this is just a pretest. It's purpose is to show how much we learned when we retake the test at the end of the year.
The girls had a lot of fun with it and are begging to take the test again. They don't want to wait until the end of the year! Seth said it would be good practice so he granted them permission. I have a lot of copying to do... :)
Even Dad thought the test looked fun so he took it too. After using the globe to grade his test we found he correctly labeled 49 countries! I want to take the test too, but haven't done it yet. Can I label 49 countries? Hmm...maybe I should take a few days to study. Would that be cheating? :)
Throughout the day I struggled a bit trying to find the time to squeeze everything in with the addition of new subjects and activities. I am sure the schedule will run more smoothly as we hit a groove with the new curriculum. All in all it was a great first day!
