2nd day of School!

My 6 year old son working with cards of the planets at 10:20 am today

Today was the second day of school for our lower elementary class. For those of you curious, I thought I'd post both my 6 and 7 year old's journal entries today so you can compare how some things are the same and others can vary. We had another short day because of my husbands work schedule. As soon as school starts for the 3-6 class this will get better. I can't complain though! It is a blessing to have my husband's help to watch the little one's in the first place and it is a blessing that in this economy we are still getting business.

Journal entry for my 6 year old:
Wednesday September 2
9:25-9:30 am
Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance
9:30-9:40 am
Calendar and days of the week
9:40-9:45
Continued time line activity
9:45-10:05 am
Listened to creation story from the New Catholic Picture Bible pg.9 and discussed
10:05-10:20
Used colored pencils to color page 1 in Genesis 1 book
10:20-10:40 am
Worked on putting solar system cards in order of distance from the sun. Want to learn more about the solar system. Decided to check out library book on the sun for further study.
10:40-10:55
Repeated solar system card activity with matching extension.
10:55-11:10 am

Observed wasp and beetle specimens under magnifying glass.
11:10-11:15 am
Looked at World globe with magnifying glass
11:15-11:20 am
Reviewed 3-period lesson on continent globe. Will continue review of continents tomorrow.
11:20-11:25 am
Worked on daily journal
11:25-11:30
Clean up and dismissal

Journal entry for my 7 year old:
Wednesday, September 2
9:25-9:30 am
9:30-9:40 am
Calendar and days of the week
9:40-9:45 am
Continued time line activity
9:45-10:05 am
Listened to the story of creation from the New Catholic Picture Bible pg. 9 and discussed
10:05-10:20 am
Read The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons
10:20-11:05
Worked on daily journal alone and then with Mami
11:05-11:08
Looked at world globe with magnifying glass
11:10-11:20
Drew and colored picture of God creating the sky for my creation booklet
11:20-11:30
Cleanup and dismissal

The purpose of these journals is to document what the children are learning and to teach them planning, time management skills, and record keeping. I think these are great practical life skills for the elementary students! At the end of the week, we will go over the journals and set goals for the next week. Soon they will learn that they need to keep a well rounded balance of all the subjects and can plan to dedicate more time to what is needed. Given our time constraints and it being the first couple of days, it is looking pretty good so far. The daily journal is a new activity for them so we are having to adjust. The writing is taking a lot of time right now, but it is also great penmanship and spelling practice. So far, they really like being able to look at the written record of the what they've been learning and doing in the past couple of days.