Schole' in Practice Weeks 14-16

It's been a very blessed time at SGCA despite my blogging shortcomings.  We've had some wonderful guests for Schole' lunches.  SFC James Medina, one of our SGCA Dads, spoke with our students about his military career.  Claire Ramsey with Stories by Claire, a local professional story teller, entertained the kids with her engaging stories.  Jacey Edwards, who recently tried out for The Voice, shared her beautiful voice with the students.  I can't fail to mention the student presentations for geography that were super as well!  We continued to spend scheduled lunches with the retirement home residents, as well as our weekly visits from our 4-6 year old class. So join us as you walk visually through our last several weeks following the Holiday. 

SGCA Christmas Party 2016

Given the Nor'easter that is heading up the east coast to dump some serious March time snow, I thought I'd finally get around to posting about the Christmas party we had back in December!  

We had a wonderful Christmas party, which included a glockenspiel music recital by our students, yummy food, and a service project for the retirement home residents to brighten their doors for the Season.  Join us as we recount our Schole' Christmas party!

Weeks 9-13 Schole' In Practice

It's been quiet on Solagratiamom for the past few months.  I apologize for not keeping up with blog posts since Thanksgiving.  We have been dealing with some very difficult things in the Leonard home since then.  My Mother-in-Law unexpectedly passed away just after Thanksgiving, and we have been consumed with all that goes along with the death of a close family member.  I'm just beginning to dig out.  So here is my digest from the weeks prior to our Christmas break.

We were very blessed with some wonderful Schole' guests before our long break.  We had Author Seth Davey from The Fiction Forest, tuba player extraordinaire Rick Guptill, Author Kirstie Marx, and stroke survivor Dr. Wright from Woodland Terrace, who spoke on his passion for bees. We've also had student led Schole' lunches with geography presentations that the kids worked hard on at home.  So much to see!  Join us as I recount the highlights from weeks 9-13 at SGCA, as we put Schole' into practice...

Week 8 Schole' in Practice

This week we were blessed to have miniature horses visits SGCA!  These horses are used as therapy animals for hospitals, nursing homes, and the like.  This non-profit Horse Hugs ministry is a blessing to so many in our area.  If you are looking for a great place to make a donation, this would be one.  The kids were thrilled to see the miniature horse, and we were able to fund raise to bless them with a donation to their ministry.  We also had a chance to spend time with our four to six year olds over at the assisted living area of the retirement community we work with.  They were so excited to have the opportunity to interact with our kids.  It definitely blessed them and us.  The week was filled with beauty, truth and goodness.  Join us as we put Schole' into practice for week 8...

1st Learning Celebration! Latin Poetry Cafe' with a Beatnik Twist!

Our first Learning Celebration of the year was a great success!  We decided to focus on what our students have learned their first six weeks in the subjects of Latin and Great Books.  Students studied Roman life and culture as they worked through their Latin for Child Primer A curriculum.  They also studied literary devices in their Great Books class, writing their own poetry for each of those devices.  They chose their favorite poem from Great Books and they were each assigned an aspect of Roman life to write a poem for using their Latin vocabulary.   Join us as we celebrate our first six weeks.  Oh and you won't want to miss our surprise intermission show put on by a couple of our talented Dads...

Week 7 - Schole' in Practice - Wednesday

Week 7 started on an accelerated schedule to allow for our evening Learning Celebration!  We had students attend all five of their normal classes, however, they were condensed into 45 minute blocks.  This allowed us to do an early release at 12:45pm.  This gave students time to go home and take a little break, before returning in costume for the big night!

Week 6 - Schole' in Practice - Friday

A beautiful day for our pond study and practicing one last time before our first Learning Celebration of the year!  We were blessed to have Bedford Avenue Flutes as our Schole' lunch performer today.  These beautifully hand made instruments are unique in sound and beautiful to both listen to and look at!  Join us as we put Schole' into practice in our community...

Rehearsal Week!

This is the week before our first learning celebration of the year.  The kids have worked hard for six weeks learning literary devices in Great Books for poetry and Latin vocabulary, as well as the history of Roman life.  Today was our rehearsal for the entire campus.  You won't want to miss our first Latin Poetry Cafe' with a Twist!  We look forward to sharing it with our families and all of you too....

Week 6 -Schole' in Practice -Wednesday

Week 6 was marked by beautiful weather, fun science experiments, and our Schole' lunch up at the retirement home.  Our students ate lunch with the residents and then played Chinese jumprope as they looked on.  Join us as we put Schole' into practice in our community.

Week 5 - Schole' in Practice Friday

Illustrator, Darren Wheeling with Black Egg, a graphic design company, was our Schole' guest this week.  He brought along some of his fantastic illustrations, and explained some of the ins and outs of graphic design for illustrating a book.  He also had the kids do a fun activity at the end.  The kids folded a piece of paper in half and then he had them draw half a picture on the top.  Then they flipped it over and handed it to their neighbor to draw the other half at the bottom.  The end result was a pretty whacky and fun compilation.

Today was a bit rainy off and on, but that didn't stop us from going out on our nature walks as planned, and the 4-6 year old class still walked up to serve at the retirement home.  Join us as we put Schole' into practice in our community...

Schole' in Practice - Week 5 Wednesday

This Wednesday featured our middle school students stepping up first, to do their Around the World Geography Presentations for their Community, during Schole' lunch.  Join us as we put Schole' into practice in our Community...

Week 4 - Schole' in Practice - Fridays

This was an exciting week at SGCA.  We were so thankful to have had an authentic medieval knight visit us for Schole' lunch!  Eric with the European Medieval Arts of Arms was our special visitor today.  He teaches sword fighting classes at the Holly Springs Parks and Rec for anyone interested in learning this medieval form of weaponry.  He was great with the students and clearly is passionate about this time period of history. You can visit  Classes for more information or to sign up.  Join us as we recount our week of putting Schole' into practice…

Obstacles to finding Schole'

This is our second year putting Schole' into practice in our community.  As a director I get a chance to talk to many families and see the curtain pulled back on the inside of their homeschooling life.  I find that the obstacles to Schole' often fall into the same general categories.  I have struggled with some of these too in the beginning, and I have had to prayerfully find my place of Schole' within our homeschool.  I wanted to share some of my observations in the hope that these insights will help you to find a more restful place of educating your children and putting Schole' into practice.

Week 4 - Schole' in Practice -Wednesday

This was our first Wednesday of student led Schole' lunches.  We had three students who brought their talents to share with our student body.  It's all part of our effort to continue to encourage leadership skills in our upper elementary and middle schoolers.  Join us as we recount our Schole' moments from Wednesday…

Week 3 - Schole in Practice Friday

Fridays are busy days on campus with lots of activity and kids.  This week we had two special Schole' guests!  One was our special guest for lunch on our main campus from Ten Thousand Villages located right here in Cary, NC.  Our lower, upper and middle school students learned all about what fair trade is and then were able to participate in a little fundraiser through the purchase of keychains made from Haiti and Thailand that were available for sale.  All monies raised went to their non-profit organization to benefit the families of fair trade.  Our second special Schole' guest was a children's author named Miss Tiggle Wiggle .  She came dressed in character to read her books to the young and old alike at the retirement home campus next door to us.  Everyone had a wonderful time listening to her!  

Join us as we recall our Schole' moments for week 3...

Week 3 - Schole' in Practice - Wednesday

One of the ways we put Schole' into practice this week was by having lunch with the retirement home residents located next door to our campus.  We've formed a partnership with this facility.  Every third Wednesday students walk-up to spend their Schole' lunch eating with the residents and playing games. Such a blessing for our students and their residents.  We also had our first field trip to the Bayer Bee Center in RTP.  We had three groups that toured the Bee Center together on various days this past week.

Join us as we put Schole' into practice this week...

Week 2 - Schole' in Practice - Fridays

Join us for our second week of embodied learning in fine arts, math, logic, music theory, Latin, and nature study.  We also had our 4-6 years olds engaged in our Primer program focused on music, sign language, read aloud books, nature study, crafts, and playing with the residents of our local retirement home.   Our virtue discussion was on the importance of virtues in character development.  We built a "character house" and discussed the importance of putting boards on your character house (virtuous acts/good habit formation) verses taking them off (vices/bad habits).  

Our featured Schole' lunch guest was from Graceful Expressions Dance Education studio located here in Cary.  Graceful Expressions is a unique ballet studio featuring creative dance with a modest, Christ centered, excellence focused, curriculum.  They stopped by to share the history of ballet with our students.  Props in hand from the various periods of ballet history. The kids tried on tutus and even tried a few dance moves!  

Stop by and see our week of putting Schole' into practice...

Week 2 -Schole' in Practice

Our Wednesdays on campus are for our upper elementary and middle school students only.  This day is when we tackle English Grammar, Writing & Rhetoric, Science Experimentation, Around the World Geography, and Great Books.  Schole' lunches are geared towards helping our students develop servant hearted leadership skills.

This week's Schole' guest was from Woodland Terrace, which is a retirement facility that has residents ranging from independent to full care.  The Director explained to the students what life can be like for the elderly.  

This week we also had our first get together for our monthly Schole' Sisters events!

Join us as we seek to put Schole' into practice in our community...

Schole' in Practice -Friday, Week 1

Our new adventure continued with a full day on Friday - all grades on campus from 4 years old to middle school!  It was certainly more dynamic than Wednesday, but very blessed.  

We have started a new program in partnership with a local retirement community that is located next door to our campus.  Our new 4-6 year old class is scheduled to spend their afternoons up at their facility playing, singing, reading and interacting with the residents.  The smiles and laughter on both sides was amazing!  I saw first hand how this ministered to young and old alike. I give praise to God for His good plans, as I watched months of prayers and planning come to fruition through His faithful servants (our Academic Mentors) facilitating all this joy.  

Our special Schole' guest featured this week was Ms. Jill Johnson, author and creator of Kindermonkey!  Jill did a great job engaging students both young and old with her fantastic books and of course, her playful monkey!  Join us as we put Schole' into practice in our community…

Schole' in Practice - Wednesday, Week 1

We had a wonderful start to our new school year! We are truly thankful for God's provisions in it all.  Much work has gone into the planning of this year, and it was so good to see it all come to fruition this past week.  The photographic journey below is from Wednesday, when we only have our upper elementary and middle school students on campus.  Friday, we have all six classes on campus (4-6 year olds through middle school) and that will be a separate post each week.  Join us for a visual journey as we put Schole' into practice in our community…