Good afternoon dear families. It was great to see everyone at curriculum night this week. I always enjoy myself on curriculum night. It's fun to reconnect with old friends and meet new families, plus share my vision for how we can partner to guide your wonderful children toward truth, beauty, and goodness. Now that it's behind us, though, I feel like we're officially starting the school year. The kids are used to the routines, we're into the curriculum full swing, and we're getting to know each other. I'd say we're off to a good start. Oh, on behalf of all of us, thank you to everyone who picked up a sticky note (or multiple stickies) to help us build our libraries!!!

Last night was a little reminder of what Friday nights in the fall will look like at the Maza house. My daughter will be off to CPA football games and my son will be off to Corona football games, and my husband and I can pretty much count on having an evening to ourselves. We usually like to meet up with friends or siblings and have date nights, but it sort of snuck up on us and we found ourselves just sitting at home working. We did turn on the original ER pilot episode and realized that when we started watching that show so many years ago, there was no such thing as binge watching or being able to go back and watch specific episodes. So we missed the first season, but now we're going to go back and watch it.

I've had a terrible migraine for two days now and am wondering what else I'll be able to accomplish this weekend. Probably not much. I do know that we're taking Dave's parents out tomorrow for their 63rd anniversary! That's something to celebrate, right?!

Let me tell you what the school week will look like for your kids.

Language Arts
     Philosophy - I had a parent ask me to include our philosophical discussion topic on the blog, so you guys will be able to have conversations about it at home. Great idea! Please keep in mind that sometimes the schedule may change and all the classes might not get to it at the same time. We shoot for having these seminars on Wednesdays and on the docket for this week is a conversation about perseverance. We'll relate it to our literature story and to academics and sports as well.

     Grammar - We'll have a couple lessons on pronouns (personal and demonstrative). We do have a grammar test on the calendar for next Wednesday. There will be a couple of assignments coming home late in the week to help the students prepare.

     Literature - We're reading chapters 12-16 this week and will discuss conflict/resolution and theme.

     Writing With Ease - We'll be working on Weeks 14 and 15 for the next two weeks because they tie into our chemistry unit.

     Spalding - I'll let you know when you can expect the spelling words to be coming home. For this week, still building our notebooks.

     Poetry - The students did a great job with their first poem! Yesterday, they received copies of the new poem, "The Moon", by Robert Louis Stevenson. You can also find this poem in your Harp and Laurel Wreath books page 34, if you'd like for them to be using the book at home before we have them bring it to school in January. The due date for recitations is September 6th.

Math - Super results on our first quiz! This week, we'll be learning about multiples and factors. I love these lessons, but it does bring to light the students who are still struggling with their math facts. Please, please, please, if you see "math facts" on their agendas, remind the kids that they need to be practicing those. Even if it's not written in there, if you know that they are not automatic with their multiples of 7's, 8's, and 9's, have them work on those just 5 minutes a day. It will do wonders for their success in math class.

Science - We are learning all about atoms and elements. Yesterday, the kids learned that there are only about 120 elements that are the building blocks for every single thing in the universe! This week they'll learn about molecules, compounds, and the states of matter.

History - We just have a couple more chapters in our mountains unit. We talked about animal adaptations on Friday, but this week the kids will discover that people can be adapted to live in high elevations, too.

Galileo testing is on Monday. Please make sure your child arrives on time and has a good breakfast. I think that's it. Enjoy your weekend and have a good week!