Posted in Homeschool

We are on Spring Break this week.  But, I am beginning to plan next week's lessons.  We will be finishing up stars for Astronomy.  We will finish exploring North America and head to South America (and the rainforest) for geography.  The Wild One will begin reading Neil Armstrong, and The Princess and I will read The Tale of Peter Rabbit.  I will read aloud Capyboppy and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as we move to the South American rainforests.  I will make a North America review game for the kids, and I may make one to review the planets.  That all depends upon how productive I am this week...

Posted in Homeschool

We had a pretty light week last week.  We had a late start day (which turned in to a no school day).  We had to cut out a few group lessons one afternoon when The Princess fell asleep during her quiet time.    So, this week we are getting back on track. 

We're moving steadily through our math books.  The Wild One will be working on fractions (multiplying them, finding equivalent ones, and changing improper ones to mixed numbers).  The Princess will be working on counting by 2's/3's and counting change.  She'll also continue working on her subtraction facts and figuring perimeter. 

We'll continue working through our Iditarod/Alaska unit.  The kids are so excited about this unit. 

Last week, I introduced The Wild One to dictation, and it is sooooo not his favorite thing.  This week I will continue this with him.  We are currently using passages from The Year of Miss Agnes.  The Princess is going to take a break from copywork to finish the last few pages from her handwriting workbook (purchased before I decided to do copywork). 

For science, we will be visiting Pluto.  While there, we will discuss freezing, and we'll make ziploc ice-cream.  I'll be sure to post pics (and kid reviews) of this activity! 

We're in Canada this week for Geography.  This week we will be finishing some workbook pages we started last week and doing a salmon lapbook.  Friday, we will head to the USA as we continue our study of North America.  We will start our study with learning about our flag, Betsy Ross, and reviewing the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Last week we started a new spelling program in our quest to make it "click" for The Wild One.  We started using All About Spelling.  I am really impressed so far with how they start out the program teaching ALL sounds that each letter makes.  It's been great.  I think it's really clicking, finally.  This week, we will continue working through level one.  The Princess is at step 5 and The Wild One's at step 9. 

The Wild One is working on a 3 paragraph memory selection from Intermediate Language Lessons this week.  We'll also work on abbreviations and letter writing.

The Princess has asked to lapbook Lentil this week.  I've still got to look at the FIAR lesson book for plans.  The Wild One will contine reading The Year of Miss Agnes (a book set in Alaska - like the Iditarod).

Posted in Homeschool

After posting about our schedule, I thought I would explain a bit about what our subject matter looks like. 

Warm-up:  The Princess adds the calendar number to our wall calendar.  Then we work on our Bible memory things.  I am working my way through Charlotte Mason's suggested Bible memory list.  For our read-aloud/unit study I choose a book to read-aloud to the kids.  Every other book I read has a lapbook/unit study to go along with it.  I choose our books from Sonlight's read-aloud schedule.

Handwriting ~ The Wild One is using A Reason for Handwriting.  He has a short handwriting lesson 3 days a week.  On the fourth day, he writes his handwriting passage on bordered paper.  This will be his last year for a traditional handwriting program.     The Princess is also using A Reason for Handwriting.  She practices writing a different letter each day.  Then on the back side of the page is a color sheet.  Next year we will be switching to Draw Write Now.

Math ~ The Wild One is using Saxon 65.  I absolutely love this math curriculum.  Each day (excluding test day), he does a bit of memory work, a timed test, writes notes in his notebook, and then completes his lesson.       The Princess is using Alpha Omega Horizon Math.  She also does a math journal.  In her journal, she fills in the date, updates her weather graph, does tally marks for the days in the month, and counts how many days we've been in school.  Then she adds a journal entry (for example, I see two apples and 3 bananas.  How many pieces of fruit do I see?)  Then, I help her complete her math workbook page. 

Science ~ We just started using the elementary Apologia books this year.  We love them.  This year we are doing Astronomy.  I am amazed with how much the kids have been able to retain.  I do a read-aloud each day pertaining to the topic.  These books are anything from Magic School Bus to Seymour Simon books.  Whatever I can find at the library.  Then I read the lesson from our text aloud to the kids.  After I read the lesson, the kids fill in their lapbook pieces.  At the end of each unit, there are a few activities/projects that we do together.  The Wild One can't wait for the Anatomy book to be written and released in time for next year!

Geography - We are Galloping the Globe.  We study roughly one country per week.  I read-aloud each day here, too.  I try to have a "pattern" to how we study the country.  Day One is fact day.  We map it, talk about the flag, and do some lapbook pieces from www.homeschoolshare.com.  Day Two we study a famous person.  It may be a scientist (like Louis Pasteur/France) or an artist (like Michelangelo) or a king/queen/explorer, etc.  Day Three is our animal study day.  Each of the children is assigned an animal to study.  They will complete lapbook pieces or a short animal report.  Then they will add an animal card to the animal classification board.  Day Four is a miscellaneous day.  We study another famous person, if necessary.  If there is a picture book with a lapbook that goes with it for the country we are studying, we may do part of that on this day.  We then add that person to our timeline.  On Day Five, we finish up any facts we didn't cover on Day One.  We review what we have learned.  And, I try to cook something from that country. 

English ~ The Wild One is working his way through Bob Jones English.  I like that writing is incorporated into this curriculum.  Every other chapter is grammar, and the others are writing. 

Phonics ~ The Princess is working quickly through Saxon Phonics K.  She is a good reader, but I want her to have the phonics foundation to be able to sound out bigger words and spell them.  We are also using online sight words lessons (carl's corner).  In these activities, she is learning to use words in context with fill-in-the-blank activities.  She also reads a little paragraph and answers comprehension questions.  She enjoys these.

Spelling ~ The Wild One is using A Reason for...  In addition to the daily worksheet/activity, he writes his spelling words 5x each.  He really struggles with spelling so we are trying the 5x each thing for a while.  I want to see if he is able to retain the spelling of these words after the review lessons.  The Princess has asked to do spelling like her brother, so she has 5 words each week.  I figure this just gets her in the routine for later on.

Reading ~ I require my kids to read silently in their rooms for 30 minutes most days.  These are books that they choose themselves.  They do not have to be "theme"-related.  In addition to this, I also teach reading.  The Wild One is reading chapter books that have lapbooking/notebooking pages that go along with them.  This allows me to check his reading comprehenison.  The Princess uses a combination of Five in a Row and Homeschool Shares units.  Her books either relate to the country we are studying in Geography or to the season. 

Posted in Homeschool

Olympus Mons... homeschool style!!  The kids had SO much fun making this volcano today.  We just finished up our unit on Mars.  While studying Mars, we learned that Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the entire solar system.  With a combination of salt dough, baking soda, and vinegar we erupted a volcano right in the kitchen.  They couldn't wait until Dad got home so they could show him, as well. 

Posted in Homeschool

The kids had so much fun today.  We decided to go on a walk and gather nature items.  You'll see that we don't have much variety in the neighborhood so next time we'll go to the park.  However, the kids were able to gather up enough items to have fun.  They brought their nature things home and used them to make faces on the driveway.  The princess (ever the perfectionist) made one, while The Wild One made the rest.  I was so surprised that HE was the one who got into the project. 

Afterwards, The Wild One decided to make an "all-natural" robot with his leftovers.  Then, the Princess had to make a "Princess" with hers.  Would you expect any less? 

Here are some pics of their creations...