Knights and Fair Maiden Academy - Homeschool Blogger

Gosh it has been awhile......

Fri, 1 Dec 2006 17:32:00 -0600

We have had a difficult time getting into the swing of school this year. Some days go smoothly, others don't. We did however go to Va for 10 days to visit a friend of mine. That was fun and much needed. Then we stopped for 2 days in Pa to see another friend in Lancaster, PA. So we saw lots of Amish horse and buggies as well as a brief stop in Valley Forge. That was really cool to see. We plan on going back to Va next year sometime in between my college semesters. Oh I forgot to mention that I'm returning back to school while homeschooling my little ones. It will be hectic to do but I'm only taking 2 classes in Jan. all in the afternoon so we will do the bulk of our schooling in the morning and finish whatever we need to in the evening.

I'm pretty excited now that the fear has worn off. Well gotta go. I need to plan next weeeks lessons.

Yesterday's hike

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 12:18:00 -0500

We went on a short hike it was only .5 miles. But there were different trees there that we collected leaves from. We saw a blue heron; that was very cool to see. He/she just stood very still while we watched. Then a bit later on we were looking towards the edge of the pond and saw three toads or frogs jump into the water. Noah and Adrien saw the eyes of one afterwards in the water. We kept looking for more but didn't find any. While we were walking I saw orange flowers and stopped to look at them. We found a white caterpillar like the one on our first hike that we took this year. We also saw a bunch of holes in the leaves that he/she had eaten. Yesterday was a beautiful day for a autumn hike. Every hike has it's own personality.

Butterfly lessons

Fri, 8 Sep 2006 16:52:00 -0500

oday, we went on a nature hike. We stopped into the nature center to get our free walking works kit for Tommy and I along with our hiking sticks for $2.00 each. There was a female naturalist just coming outside as we got there. I asked her what she was looking for and sure enough she was there to count butterflies, *this had popped in my head before I asked her*.

She was ever so sweet she caught a butterfly for me to take a picture of but it was a he and he was very scared. So she let him go and then caught another one for us to see up close. This one was also a male, but much more friendly. She showed us how to tell the male from the female butterflies. How they tag them and track them. Oh yes, she let Adrien hold him for a second and release him back up in the air. That was very cool. Noah woulnd't do it though even when offered. She also told the boys how to tell a male bumblebee from a female. Then we went inside and checked it out. It was just beautiful. So many things to see. The theme was the time frame of the reservation. They had a picture of the Underground Railroad along with a set of actual shackles. *I liked seeing them but hated the fact that they were used*

Then we went on our walk. It was a great day for one as it is warm and sunny. I'm hoping that the rain will hold off until tomorrow afternoon so that we can go on another one. 3 walks down 13 to go.

Nature Walks Year 2

Sat, 2 Sep 2006 16:58:00 -0500

Last year if you remember we went on nature hikes and then the boys got a walking stick and a shield. We did them in summit county
Well this year our county is also doing something similar to them. Cuyahoga County

We are so excited because we had such a great time last year on our hikes. We got lots of exercise, family bonding and nature studies in. We will be hiking away our fall this year. We will do at least 16 hikes from sept- nov 30. 8 of them in summit county and then 8 in cuyahoga. We hope to do 2 a week and we may do more than just the required 8 walks for each county. I will be posting lots of pictures for you to see. I hope I lose a few pounds with all this walking though. 5 # would be nice; 10# would be terrific

Better week here

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 18:30:00 -0500

Well, this week is off to a much better start. We did church yesterday and we have finished our reading books for the summer reading club at church. Today Noah did his work without having a meltdown, *such a relief* Tonight he is looking at the book Jolly Pocket Postman. I printed out some dinosaur pictures for him to color. I'm still waiting for the Big Book of Books to come in from the library.

Now I just need to integrate Adrien into school better. Caedmon aka the classroom bully *he is 14 months old now* is running a slight fever and very clingy today. I'm not sure if we will get to reading 'Red Sails to Capri' tonight, we are on chapter 6.

If school goes smoothly and the baby is feeling better I might take the kids to the rainforest, if not maybe my husband will take the older 3 while I stay home with the little one. I hope he is better by thursday, I want to go to the beach.

First week was a bust

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 19:02:00 -0500

Last week was so hard on both the boys and myself, we only did part of the work. So this week we are getting more serious about our schooling and it is taking a priority.

Noah seems to have a harder time focusing with Adrien at the table . Adrien tlaks while he works and he works so slow. I thiught at times that Noah was a bit slow, Ha, not compared to Adrien.

Adrien just doesn't seem ready to learn in a structured environment yet. But he is oging to have to do a bit of it for now. I just do'nt have the time to change his curriculum right now. We use sonlight for him, so much of his work is read to him. But his phonics and math are sticking points at the moment. Even so they aren't very in depth or even too hard for him. He just seems to poke around too much.

I hope that he gets with the program soon and settles down. Camryn is listening in and learning her phonics sounds with Adrien. So I hope that next year she will do fine without so much work to teach her to read.

We will have no school tomorrow, I have a MOPS meeting and the boys were invited to a birthday party. So they will have to double up on weds and thurs. to make up for it. Or they will be doing work on saturday.

I hope our lives slow down a bit soon so that I can get us into a rhythem of homeschooling again.

The boys did well with their swim lessons this year. Adrien passed levels 1,2 and 3 the first time through. Noah passed level 4 after 2 tries which is still good. He took one session of level 5 and did fairly well but will need to repeat it sometime in the school year when I have the money.

Well, I have to round up Noah, I want to read his chapter of 'Red Sails to Capri' it is very good, but a bit long in the chapters.

More Homeschool Planning

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 20:46:00 -0500

Today I spent much of the day working on scheduling and researching latin, fun things to add in, etc etc.

I gave Adrien a pretest on which lowercase alphabets he knew. He only knew 13, but we really haven't spent that much time with him on that.

I wrote up a tentative daily schedule. A weekly schedule. Found a great history picture of Noah's history divider for his portfolio. Printed out some pages that I'm trying to decide if I need to make a planner for Noah.

Then while Tommy ate dinner (I was too hot to eat and the kids except for Noah were sleeping, so we used this time to talk without interuptions ) I showed him how I pick the kids curriculum, then how I plan out the lessons, schedules, how many days of school/vacations. He was very overwhelmed when I got done. I didn't mean to do that but wanted to show him how I do things so that if/when someone asks he is knowledgable. I felt as if I had come across as a know it all but that was not my intent just to inform him. Thank God he understood what I was trying to show him. Poor man, I don't think he realized just how much work I put into just getting ready for everyyear.

So now I feel a bit more prepared for school to start on Aug. 14th.

Session 2 of swim lessons

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:05:00 -0500

So Adrien passed level 2 the first time through.

Noah passed level 4 the second time through

The boys were just so excited. I have a friend who teaches swimming in a different city and she said that level 4 is very hard and it was great that he passed it in 2 sessions.

So next week we will be signing them up for levels 3 & 5.

They will be going to VBS next week also from 9-12pm.

I'm hoping to get the moeny to take swim lessons for me and the kids during the year at some point and time.

34 days and counting

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 07:31:00 -0500

I wrote on the dry erase board how many days until school started for the kids. The groaned and then decided to fill up their remaining summer with lots of fun.

We are in our second session of swim lessons here. In fact we will be busy every day until school starts with either swim lessons or VBS back to swim lessons. I'm tired just thinking about it.

I asked Noah if he had been having fun this summer? and his reply was "yes" So hopefully he will be ready to work hard when we start back.

I have been gathering school supplies for them. Noah wants a backpack to take on our nature hikes, to hold his sketch pad, colored pencils and a bottle of water. So I'm trying to find a good one but also a cheap one.

Nature Hike

Sat, 1 Jul 2006 21:10:00 -0500

these were taken at Brandywine Falls

and yes I took the photos. Had a great time. More later.