Snyder Family School 2012-2013

Our Charlotte Mason based Curriculum:

Bible: Apologia - Who Is God? And Can I Really Know Him?

Reading: Living Books, Classic Literature, Sonlight suggested Novels

Math: MATH U SEE (Claire will accelerate quickly through Alpha, Beta, and Gamma this year)

                                    (Camdyn will move through Alpha and Beta this year)

History: Truthquest 

Science: Apologia - Exploring Creation with Astronomy

Composition: Institute for Excellence in Writing Method

Grammer: (Claire) Intermediate Language Lessons

                 (Camdyn) Primary Language Lessons

Geography: Elementary Geography by Charlotte Mason

Spelling: (Claire) Spelling Wisdom 

Copywork: (Camdyn) Various Scripture, hymns, poetry

Character: Wisdom and the Millers Series

Art Study: Michelangelo, Turner, Rembrandt, Renoir

Poetry Study: Robert Louis Stevenson, Emily Dickinson

Handicrafts: Family Chore List, Cardboard and Paper Crafts

Family Reading: Chronicles of Narnia, Lamplighter Publishing novels

Personal Development: American Heritage Girls

Extras: (Claire) Art Class

            (Camdyn) Gymnastics Class

Our first 40+ days of schooling at home have gone very well! I'm so proud of the girls and how hard they are working! I've already seen a DRAMATIC improvement in their desire to read. We read aloud, independently, and with each other ALL THE TIME! This has made all of our subjects come alive but especially history. We are also really enjoying the Chronicles of Narnia. So far we have read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and are half way through The Silver Chair!

So.....has it been hard? YES! Are there times when I lose my patience? YES! Do the girls always listen to me and everything runs smoothly with no disputing? NO! Has schooling at home exposed all of our sin in a new way? YES! And for us right now, God's grace is washing over a lot of my short comings. We desire to do this His way and follow His lead and pray daily that He will bless our time together. This precious time together is the BIGGEST blessing we've seen so far!

Below are some pictures from our first 40+ days of schooling at home:

 Claire's Alpha Certificate

 Love seeing this!

 Handicraft: Friendship bracelets

 Working on our Jamestown Fort

 Finished Jamestown Fort

 Salt dough model of Mercury

Flour/Butter mold of Volcano on Venus

Cam's version of Michelangelo's Statue of David

Beach Trip with the Finleys

We enjoyed an awesome long weekend at the beach with my sister and her precious family. So much fun! A huge thank you to Mimi and Pops for hosting the four of us and seven kiddos for the weekend!
We had a ball at the beach, going to the Citadel (where a few of us got haircuts...), watching the Olympic opening ceremony (ummm...weird...), and celebrating Uncle Jason's birthday! We love y'all are so are grateful to be able to do life with you!

4th of July Beach Trip

These pictures sum it up! Family, friends, sun, beach, pool, being together = an awesome beach trip!!!

CATS Art Camp

The last week of June the girls participated in an Art Camp at the CATS Art Studio! It came highly recommended by Thomas and Elizabeth and certainly did not disappoint! The girls LOVED it!! Friday the camp ended with an Art Show for parents and family! The girls made some beautiful pieces and had tons of fun!!!

Swim Team!

So proud of both of our girls this summer! They both swam all four strokes legally in their swim meets and both earned the Iron Man award for swimming every event at least one time during the swim season. So throughout the season both girls swam: 25M freestyle, 50M freestyle, 25M breaststroke, 25M backstroke, 25M butterfly, and the 100M Individual Medley.

I am so proud of our girls and their hard work and determination during practice and the meets!! Way to go girls!!!

Claire swims 25M freestyle. She is in lane 2 (solid blue suit and cap). (sorry for my loud mouth in the videos!!)

Camdyn swims breaststroke. She is also in lane 2 (solid blue suit and cap).

Look Who Can Ski!!

Thank you to Steve and Kristen and Dr. and Mrs. VanVoris for having us to their beautiful lake home on Sunday! Lake Greenwood is beautiful and we had smooth waters for letting the girls try out water skiing for the first time!
Coach Steve did an awesome job and both girls got up!!! YAY! So much fun!

Yay for the swim dress! We love you Lands End!

Kiddos jumping in together!

Cam skiing for the first time!

Claire skiing for the first time!