It's been a VERY busy Monday. Not only because it's the first day of the week for school but the house is a mess. There are dust bunnies everywhere, Lupe's tools & dirt.

This weekend I was sick and didn't do too much house cleaning. Lupe, who usually will take over in the house was pretty busy trying to get the yard leveled. When it rains a lot our yard floods. I would show a picture but we still can't upload any pics from our camera. So Lupe & the kids unloaded three truck loads of dirt.

Imagine boys+mud+shovels+rain=Big mess for mom to clean. LOL. Normally I could care less if the children get muddy but when I'm sick and we only have one way into our Apt. House (yes we only have one door to the outside) then it's no fun for mom.

Today was the day to clean up all the mud tracks, muddy clothes, muddy towels and shoes. Oh, what fun five boys, a girl and husband can bring when they are leveling the yard with lots of rain.

I was reading some of my past post and noticed that I use to write out our schedules. This may be boring to you all but it's very helpful to me, so I'm going to attempt to write our school schedule so I can print it. Here it goes;

Josh 6th Grade Week 6:

• Bible-Practice AWANA verses and daily 15 minutes of Bible. Josh is actually suppose to be studying the book of Romans but we haven't started it yet.
• Math-Math Mammoth 3B p. 25-40. He usually does 3pgs a day.
• Language Arts- We haven't started Character Quality Language Arts yet because I want him to be half way through Phonics Tutor. Phonics Tutor actually has some grammar. I didn't want to overwhelm him.
• Reading-Reading Detective Go over Blue Willow with me. Mon-pgs. 28 & 29, Tues-pgs. 32 & 33, Thur.- pgs. 34-35. We haven't started Christian Light Reading yet, because I want him to do a sememster of Reading Detective to help him read between the lines. To go deeper when answering his questions.
• Science- Christian Light. Pages in his Light Unit. A Light Unit (L.U.) is basically a workbook. Pgs. 10-14. This also consist of vocabulary and answering questions.
• Christian Light Social Studies- L.U. pgs 7-14. This consist of also reading from his textbook.
• Spelling- He is using Phonics Tutor Frequent Words cd-rom, workbook & reader. The cd-rom teaches all the sounds of the phonograms, how to spell and the rules of the phonograms. The workbook is reinforcement but it also has some grammar. The reader is a bit easy for him at least in the beginning. This program can be used for ages 7-adult. He completes one lesson a day, does his review lesson (82) three times a week and works in the workbook and reader as needed.
• Penmanship  I need to print those out. Usually about 2 a week.
• Art- one art lesson a week (starting this week.)

My academic goal with Josh, this year is to get him ready for The Bridge to the Latin Road next school year.. We are backing up a little to prepare him. I am having him concentrate on spelling & grammar this year.

Praying that Phonics Tutor will help him with his spelling, while improving his reading. It covers some grammar and then he will start Character Quality Language Arts.

Joshua, has come a long way with his reading. He is no longer 'behind'. (I don't like to use that word because I know we all learn at our own pace.) He reads a lot. I'm thankful for that, but I also picked Phonics tutor so he can review his phonics and continue to progress in reading (shhh, don't tell him that. He thinks it's only for spelling. Hee,hee.)

Annette 4th Grade Week 6 of 36:

• Bible- AWANA verses and her daily reading. She will start CLE Bible soon.
• Math-Math Mammoth 3A she does two pages a day.
• Language Arts- Time4Learning. One lesson a day. Includes grammar & reading.
• Reading-Time4Learning (T4L) includes reading but I added Christian Light 400. She only does one lesson a week. Mon. she studies the vocabulary words. Tues. she reads the story. Thurs. she completes the lesson.
• Science-she starts this next week. With the move I misplaced her science program but found it today.
• Social Studies- she uses CLE 4 and does two lessons a week.
• Spelling-Spelling Wisdom. Ex 6 & 7. Mon. she studies the passage. Tues. if ready she does dictation, if she spells all word correct she moves onto the next lesson. Wed. study words, Tues. dictation.
• Writing- Meaningful Composition. She is on Week 4 and will complete Days 1-5.
• Penmanship is done on Wed. using Presidential Penmanship Bob Jones Style.

Annette is pretty much where she should be. I think Annette, is one that would do well if she went to public school. Although her penmanship can improve. Annette, would prefer to do all her studies on the computer so she wouldn't have to write.

Some areas we are going to concentrate on this year is reading & writing. She does not like to write. I picked Meaningful Composition because it takes baby steps with learning how to write a key word outline. The program actually starts with some grammar lessons.

Annette is a good reader but I want her to dig deeper with what she reads. Give more detailed answers.  I would also like her to review her phonograms. She has never completed a complete phonics program. At age five or six she just took off with reading and we didn't continue with a second year of phonics. I don't know if this will hurt her in the future. I'm still deciding on this. Any advice welcome.

Caleb 3rd Grade week 6 of 36:

• Bible-AWANA and we are also reading Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends.
• Phonics-Spelling Road to Reading we are on week 7. This includes phonics, spelling, grammar and reading. As review Caleb also completes one lesson a day of Time4Learning. This also includes grammar & phonics. Sounds like a bit much but so far so good.
• Reading-Pathway Readers. Currently he only does a chapter a week. This includes his workbook.
• Math-Christian Light, he does one lesson a day. Currently on L.U. 302 lesson 10.
• Christian Light Social Studies & Science two lessons each a week. I usually read his social studies to all the children at lunch and have Caleb give me an oral summary of what I read.

Caleb we are zoning in on his reading. He has improved a lot.

Brent 2nd Grade Week 6 of 36:

• Bible-AWANA
• Math-Math Mammoth 2A. He completes 2pgs daily.
• Phonics is the same as Caleb.
• Reading-we haven't started a formal reading program. I do have CLE waiting for him though.
• Christian Light Social Studies & Science also the same as Caleb.

Ethan 1st Grade Week 6:

• Bible-AWANA and lots of Bible lessons in his curriculum
• Phonics- Christ-Centered Phonics B:1 pgs. 82-87. He also practices his blends on the blend ladder, sight words and some grammar. Currently for grammar he is learning about capitalization.
• Math-Math Mammoth he does between 1pg & 2pgs a day. I shoot for two but it depends on the content for that day.

Lance Pre-K:

• Working on his fine motor skills. He does one of each activity; folding, pasting, cutting, puzzles, tracing & drawing.

The first half of the year we are going to continue with the above. In Jan. I would like to add Christ Centered Phonics & Math.

All Together:

• Read Aloud-Dr. Doolittle for the younger ones and 1812 Shinnequid, Main from the book Cleared for Action, 4 Tales of the Sea for the older children.
• Making Brothers & Sisters Best Friends
• Manners Made Easy
• Art