Happy At Home - Homeschool Blogger

The New Year

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 14:48:00 -0600

Well I am planning our new year which start January the 8th. Here is what I have so far.

Prima Latina on Mon, Tues, and Friday

Story of the World and Mystery of History Mon, Tues and Friday

And thats it! I have dont the lesson plans for these. I will be working on getting our Science together this week. Im thinking I will follow the Well Trained Mind suggestion for 1st year Science. I will also have some art and music for fun thrown in on alternate days.

My girls are moving right along in their studies. Karly just finished First Language Lessons so I will be getting her Rod and Staff English 3 to work on in January. She will also be transitioning to cursive in the next few weeks.

Kelsie is doing great in all of her 1st grade subjects.

Well thats all the time I have now.

WHY does HSB keep double spacing everything? Hmm..have to check that out!

I forgot...

Mon, 4 Dec 2006 21:45:00 -0600

To post a link here to the blog with pics of my kids...here it is...Im trying to update it more often.

Preschool Pages

Mon, 4 Dec 2006 21:14:00 -0600

We started a "formal" program with Adrian (3.5) and Tamara (newly 5) I am using the prep program for ages 2-4 at the Letter of the Week website. Its a great program. We are learning about cows, the letter A, the square and the number 1 this week. They loved it. I want to get through this by the beginning of January, move onto the Letter of the week program for ages 2-5 and be ready to start Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading by the end of Febuary. Once we get through that we will do Saxon Phonics K and from there we just focus on reading a lot combined with First Language Lessons and Spelling Workout A. I hope to be through Saxon Phonics K by this time next year. Im keeping these two children together as much as possible. Adrian picks things up a little quicker and Tamara likes to take her time learning new things. I think personally they meet right in the middle.

My older girls Kelsie (6.5) and Karly (9.5) are moving right along in their 1st and 3rd grade books, respectively.
Kelsie works on:

A Reason For Handwritting A

First Language Lessons for the first grade year

Spelling Workout A

Saxon Math 1

and

Go For the Code book C (starting in January)

She is also reading Dr. Suess books right now. Starting in January I will pull books off of the Ambleside Online reading list for her to read through.

Karly works on:

A Reason For Handwriting Transition book

First Language Lessons (she is finishing up the 2nd grade year)

Spelling Workout C

Saxon Math 3

and

Explode the Code book 4

She is reading through the Little House on The Prairie the Caroline years book series.

Im getting geared up for our new school year which officially starts in January so I will post what we I am planning in a few days. Still lining everything up.

We are taking two weeks off at Christmas and we have cut back our schedule to two days a week for the rest of the month.

Ambleside Online

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 16:48:00 -0600

Anybody using this? Im looking into it for some parts of our schooling. Any suggestions, tips or advice?

Focus child! FOCUS!

Fri, 3 Nov 2006 10:15:00 -0600

So my nine year old has some serious problems focusing on the task at hand. The other day it took her one hour to correct two math worksheets. At one point she handed it back to me twice with the same answer for one of the problems. Now maybe Im a big meanie but if it is something we have been doing for months such as borrowing in subtraction I dont help her. If its something we just learned I will guide her down the right road, but I tell her Im not doing the work for her, which is what she really wants. She then proceeded to take another hour on her spelling which should take between 15-30m. MAinly because she gets distracted and does not focus.

Here is my husbands suggestion. He wants me to let her pick out a piece of candy before she starts the lesson. If she finishes in the allotted time she gets the candy, if not she does not.

My thought is using her breaks as incentives. Give her computer time, karaoke time, drawing time, part of a video, or something else she enjoys doing during her breaks. If she does not complete the assignment on time then she has to finish it during break time. She loves her breaks so Im really thinking that she might miss one or two before she takes the hint.

Any other ideas?

School days, School days...

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 20:24:00 -0600

School has been going well lately. Check out my other blog to see all the healthy changes we are making. Healthy changes means more energy for mom. YAY! We are actually almost on the right day for schooling. Im used to being up to a week behind. We did miss a day last week, because I was sick but we are back and going strong. I just dont understand how my younger daughter is all caught up but my oldest daughter stays a day behind. Something to research for the next few weeks I guess. We will not take as much time off in November as I wanted, because we are not where I wanted us to be. However I just discovered if we stay the course my oldest daughter is going to finish her Saxon 3 ahead of schedule next year. She starts Saxon 3 in two weeks. She needs to be at least half way through it by May when we have testing. She is doing great and should be ahead of target by May. My 1st grader will finish Saxon Phonics K this week and will start Spelling Workout A and First Language Lessons the week after that.

Im so very impressed with their reading abilities. They have both taken off. We have them read some from an assigned book every night before Bible time and they are doing great.

I will start my 3 and 5 year old on Saxon Math K and Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading in January. We are also doing letter of the week and reading a lot. I am working on keeping these two together for as long as possible. He is excelling in simple math excercises and letter recognition already so I think it will be safe to at least start them together.

The baby is being read to often. We are also starting Baby Signs with him. We are not expecting much but its fun and the older kids enjoy learning signs and showing them to him. I like to sing counting songs to him, like the duckies and the Indians. He likes those and will laugh while you sing them. Right now we are doing "more", "eat", "drink", and occasionally "sleep". He watches us so intently I know his little brain is just a working to proccess the information. He has learned what "no" means. Its so funny to see him think about something when you tell him "no". He sits there hand in mid air looking at you, his hand, and the object he so wants to touch. Then he either decides to touch earning a rebuke or not to touch earning a big smile and lots of praise. I also like to see him test his theory by touching something and being rebuked a few times. Then he smiles at you and wanders on to the next job. He is just amazing to me.

Well hubby and I are off to snuggle on the couch with Braveheart. Neither one of us has seen it and he really wanted to so here we go.

Has it really been a month???

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 19:20:00 -0500

Wow! I really am planning on keeping this blog up. As for pictures, my camara is acting up. I am trying REALLY! Also homeschoolblogger is not sending me emails about comments so I did not know I had any from the last post. Im sorry for not responding. Hubby was given a centimeter ruler with his company logo on it, so Im not worried about that anymore.

I love Saxon math. I love the memorization and the review. For my troops its the best.

I joined a homeschool group. They have monthly outings and fieldtrips. Today was park day and we missed it because it was rainy and Im coming down with a cold. I thought sitting in the rain would not be conducive to my health. LOL. I did have a million errands to run though so we spent a lot of time in the car. GRRRRRR I hate days like that. Next week we are going to a sink hole. Its out of town but not too far away. Should be interesting.

I was looking at the Sonlight curriculum today. It made my eyes glaze over, but also brought out some I wishes! I think I will stick to my mix match curriculum even though it takes time to plan and implement.

I do need a better schedule, but the Lord is working on me in that area.

Ok the kids are ready for bed so I better go. I promise to try to update weekly. :)

Homeschooling around the house...

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:42:00 -0500

Well my school room is almost all set up. Still need to organize the cabinet and bookshelf and hang up the maps. We are still schooling in the dining room because I have to wait until October to get a new table. For now Im just going to go with a big table. I will have pics posted on my other blog by Friday, I hope.

This week we hit a math lesson in Saxon 2 that requires a Centimeter ruler. I have milimeter and inches, but I dont have a centimeter ruler. Im a little perplexed by this as I looked at Walmart and Target and neither had a centimeter ruler. We have skipped the lesson, but now we are on a lesson that requires the ruler to find the perimeter. This is kind of an important lesson so I cant skip it. *Sigh*

Kelsie started her Saxon 1 math book last week. I appreciate the review that Saxon offers and the repititvness of it, but Im afraid that I will go insane teaching it over and over and over and over and over and maybe a few more times. Im truly hoping to keep Tamara and Adrian on the same track. They are about a year and a half apart in age but Im thinking that if I tone down just a bit I can work this and have them in the same books for the most part. He picks up things pretty quick..when he wants to. He can count to 30 with help, recognize a few letters, and sort things by shape and color. Tamara can do all of that as well, but she needs a little more help than he does. She is a bit more mature though so that could be a factor.

Karly started Spelling Workout C last week. She likes it, though she is not really happy that I am making her copy down the spelling rules this time around. I have decided not to go with a formal phonics program with her so we are using these rules along with a lot of reading to get her ahead. She is reading wonderfully now. Im so impressed. Though I still have to make her read. She is quiet content to grab a picture book and just look at the pictures. We are working our way up from there.

Well thats all the homeschooling news that is fit to print. We went to the museum last week with a new homeschool group. I forgot my camara so I dont have any pics from there.

Oh well, next time.

Suggestions needed.

Fri, 8 Sep 2006 15:19:00 -0500

I have really missed doing school this week. But I am so excited that we will be starting again next week with a whole new look about us. I do have a question for the pros. I am looking at these tables here as individual school tables for the two older children. Any thoughts? I also have the option of getting another big table. A large rectangular one that we can all sit at. If I get the individual tables I will get a smaller table to do group work and arts and crafts. So any suggestions? Right now I have the 6 year old and the 9 year old. I am doing preschool with the 3 year old and the almost 5 year old. Oh they are getting a small table for thier use.

Also Im back at my other blog full time. For those who have asked its keepersathome.blogspot.com I am going to post pics of my new school room there next week. I will let you know when I do.

I am keeping this blog and updating at least weekly. With homeschool thoughts, questions and happenings. :)

Could you do this...edited

Tue, 5 Sep 2006 22:45:00 -0500

Dr. Phil is looking for homeschoolers. I'd be so nervous. What if I looked like an idiot? Although hubby said he is secretly going to fill out the application. Does he realize he would be sitting up there with me?

I should edit this to add. I dont want to do this. I think some one with a strong view and logical thinking should be the one to do this. I get waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to passionate and defensive about what I believe in to get up there. I would make a fool of us all. I believe my hubby was joking when he said he would sign me up for this. I was just wondering what you all thought. LOL