MarinesWife - Homeschool Blogger

Co-Op

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 16:00:00 -0500

Every Thursday we have Discovery Days - a coop for homeschoolers. It runs from 2-4pm. I'm doing the nursery so I get there at 1:45 to start accepting children. Alexander and Hannah stay with me. Matthew is in the K/1st class, Samantha in the 2nd/3rd class, and Kayla in the high school class. There are 3 periods of instruction. Samantha and Matthew's ages are doing study of the stars, PE, and art. Kayla's group is doing PE, and then gourmet cooking for 2 periods. It's only 8 weeks and we all look forward to it!

Museums

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 15:52:00 -0500

Continuing on with school...

Last week was interesting. Filled with too much and not enough book work. But that's okay. Part of the joy of homeschooling is getting to enjoy fellowship with other homeschoolers during the day. :) It was a delightful week.

On Friday we went to Washington D.C. with our dear friends who are moving today. Twelve hours away. So sad. But that's for another post...another blog...like Xanga. :)

They really wanted to go to the Natural History Museum before moving. So up we went! It was a grand day!! We parked right across the street and paid our $2 into the parking meter for 2 hours. We enjoy an IMAX movie about Wild Animals. It was fantastic!!! The kids were in awe. They kept saying how they thought they could reach out and touch the animals. :)

Then we walked through the dinosaur area. And laughed with my 15 yod about the millions and millions of years signs that were everywhere. Um...cuz it's a THEORY...of course museums portray that as fact...when we know it isn't. :)

After that we had lunch in the cafe. Where Alex kept trying to run away. That kid is quick!

Then my friend ran out to the meters and put more money in for 2 more hours. LOL It's a pain but it's cheaper and easier than a parking garage or taking the metro!

Then we viewed the mammal exhibit. Lots and lots of animals. It's a great exhibit. After that we went to the Discovery Room which is fabulous!!! Oh to have a school room like that!!!

Next was the Western Civilization area where we got to see Ancient Egypt things...including a real mummy!! Fit in nicely with our studies.

After that was rocks and minerals and a view of the Hope Diamond.

And then home. Fabulous day! Fabulous!!! The little ones were getting antsy and tired but they didn't do so bad.

Literature Pockets

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 22:09:00 -0500

Matthew and I are working on a Literature Pockets book - the nursery rhyme one. IT's fun!

I make copies, he colors, we discuss, stick the stuff in the handmade pocket "book" that we put together with construction. I'll add a picture later. :)

Salt Dough

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 22:02:00 -0500

Today Samantha was going to make a salt dough map of Egypt. She got all the supplies out (bowls, mixing spoons, flour, salt, map) and then informed me we didn't have food coloring. So off to Food Lion (which is becoming BLOOM in a couple days) and we get some food coloring.

How did I spend $15.00 on food coloring???

Oh right...the vanilla ice cream to go with the apple crisp that Samantha had made. The chocolate for me. The special coffee creamer for Roy as a surprise.

Okay. Back to salt dough. :)

So she mixes it up, asks me to lend a hand to the mixing in of the color. I'm thinking...this seems so runny...but whatever. I go through the instructions with her. Everything done.

So I explain the map part. She does that. Then gets my help in putting the dough into the right spots. IT's so .... runny....doesn't stay put. I figure well, you just put the other color in and it all kind of holds together....

But then they start blending and it won't stay put. Hmm...

So, Sam finishes up with putting in the Nile River. Had fun.

She cleans everything up.

Comes and informs me that she did 1 cup of flour instead of 6.

LOL

We'll try again tomorrow.

More Work

Mon, 2 Oct 2006 17:03:00 -0500

I like to start the year off with a lighter load. Get the kids to where they're working through the curriculum at a good pace, work on any issues with the main stuff, and then I add in more. :)

Today, for Samantha, we added cursive using Classically Cursive from Veritas Press, and Bible Nurture and Reader Series 3 from Rod & Staff. I love R&S's reading program!

Gorillas

Mon, 2 Oct 2006 17:00:00 -0500

The next animal that Matthew chose was gorillas. We went to the library and got about 10 books to read. The first two were Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas and Gorilla Gorilla. The Dian Fossey book was good and was right at his age level...the reading level on the book says grades 2-3. The Gorilla Gorilla book was sad! It's about a gorilla growing up in the mountains and then he gets captured and taken to a zoo. It was very good. After we were done reading it Matthew said, "Mom, that book was really sad." I agreed.

Our Safari cards has a gorilla card. So we read the card, then used the flip chart to figure out where to place the card on our wall. Under Mammals!! :)

Next is flamingos!

Paper Dolls

Sat, 30 Sep 2006 22:15:00 -0500

My 8-year-old has informed me that she had never gotten to do paper dolls before. :) This was after she had spent hours working on her paper dolls from the Milly-Molly-Mandy Comprehension Guide from Veritas Press. She's really enjoying the book and is even okay with doing only one chapter at a time because "it's fun to see what project I get to do in the guide."

She then asked me if I did paper dolls when I was her age and I said yes. She asked me how we made them and I told her we cut them out just like she was doing. Then she says, "You had scissors way back then?"

Geocaching

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 07:19:00 -0500

Geocaching is a fun treasure hunting type thing that uses a gps system. We used to do it as a family all the time but it's been a couple years. We recently got the GPS out and have all sorts of hunts planned for today and tomorrow.

To learn more, check out www.geocaching.com. It's a GREAT family activity.

Training Daughters to Cook

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 07:16:00 -0500

Since HSB highlighted one of my entries from a year ago I thought I should give an update in the area of daughters cooking. :)

One of the reasons that Kayla did all that last October was because I was pregnant and so sick! All that she did paid off though. After I had Hannah in May, Kayla did so much cooking! It was incredible.

Currently, Kayla, age 15 1/2, does lunch on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays and Samantha, age 8, does lunch on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays. Kayla mixes things up but Samantha's usually consists of Top Ramen, grilled cheese, egg salad, or some other sandwich.

They each also do 2 or 3 dinners in a 2 week period. Plus all the baking they like to do. Rarely a day goes by that I don't hear, "Can I make some cookies?" :) It's wonderful having daughters that like to cook and they (like me) love to try new recipes.

Thank you!!!

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 07:15:00 -0500

Thank you HSB for choosing me as Blogger of the Week. That just made my day! :)

Animals

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:37:00 -0500

We used our Safari Search system for the first time today. Matthew, age 5, thinks it's great! First we hung up the 7 classifications on a door. Then I explained to him that as we learn about different animals we'll use our SS system to determine what TYPE of animal it is. Then we'll cut out a picture of the animal and hang it below its card.

Because we had learned about the state of Virginia we did a Red Cardinal today. First we read 2 books about birds to get to know more about birds in general. We read DK's Look Closer Birds (A close-up look at our feathered friends) and Eyewitness Juniors' Amazing Birds. Then we printed out a picture of a Red Cardinal from the internet and hung it underneat the "bird" card.

I don't think Matthew understands the whole state bird thing but that's okay. :)

Latina Prima

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 15:50:00 -0500

Samantha is also doing Latin 2 days a week. I bought the DVD's that go with Prima Latina. Then I kept hearing about how boring they were and that it was a waste of my money.

They are great! Sam likes them!! She listens, does the lesson, repeats after the teacher. Overall, she just thinks it's great fun to do a "tv" class. :)

She just did lesson 3 and it's going great. She practices using her words whenever she can. The lesson today was wonderful...threw in some "English" instruction along with it. Sam got to see how some of our English words come from certain Latin words! She kept saying, "Wow!" :)

Definitely getting the DVD's for the next book.

Veritas Press

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 15:43:00 -0500

Wow!!!! I have to say I just love history this year!!!!!!!!!

Veritas Press is the BEST!!!!

We've used Sonlight, Bob Jones, Mystery of History, and Rod & Staff.

This is the first year that I have loved it! Samantha is doing wonderfully!! She just loves this program. We're using the Old Testament/Ancient Egypt set. On the first day she reads the story disc paper, colors 2 discs, glues one to the paper and one to the map, reads the card, and answers the questions on the worksheet.

The second day she does one of the projects. Sometimes I let her choose, sometimes I'll be telling her what I want her to do. Today she made an ARK. It's cute. :)

The following day she reads various resources on the topic at hand, using the suggestions on the back of the cards and/or from the catalog.

In the future, on the 4th day there is a test to take. For now, we're skipping the written test and I'm just asking her questions on day 3.

The following day she starts again with the next card! I was only going to do history 3 days a week. She wants to do 5. We made a deal that history would come last on the other 2 days IF she finishes all her other work. So far so good! She can't wait to get to it! Definitely her favorite subject right now. :)

Animal Classification!!!

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 08:29:00 -0500

I read http:www.homeschoolblogger/emptynestmom blog. It's great. She gives reviews on all kinds of products. Way back when she reviewed Safari Search and I was very intrigued. I was placing an order with Rainbow and remembered it! They sell it. It came Saturday and I LOVE it!!!

There's a flip card thing that you open it. It asks questions and then tells you where to turn. For example, the first card says Do I have a backbone? Yes, I am a vertebrate. I have a backbone. Turn the page. OR No, I am an invertebrate. I do not have a backbone. Turn to page 7.

So if you say yes and turn the page it then says Do I have hair or fur? Yes, I am a mammal. No, turn the page.

And so on!

It also comes with full-color cards with various animals on them. It gives information about the animal but does not tell you what classification it is. So as you go through the cards you use the flip chart to figure out it's class.

Then there are the cards that say mammal, birds, fish, etc. So you could hang them up or play a game with them putting the other cards under the card they fit with.

I'm doing animals with Matthew and we'll do this classifying with every animal we learn about and make a chart on the wall. I also bought the Kingfisher Animal Encyclopedia so as we learn each animal (that he chooses) we'll make a copy and put it on the wall!!!!!!!! I'm really excited about this. :)

The 2nd Week

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:22:00 -0500

The 2nd week isn't going quite as well as the first. Why do I allow dr's appts to mess up a whole day?? Oh well. We're still on track, I just feel out of sorts with the scheduling of it all. Need to get the kids moving in the morning and stay on track! :)

This week started out with a project for Card 2 from Old Testament/Ancient Egypt from Veritas. It was to make a serpent. Here's a picture of Samantha's:

They were fun to make! Matthew and I made one also.

Samantha started diagramming in English this week. She's a little frustrated with all the figuring out of subjects and predicates but she's getting it. I, on the other hand, love diagramming and so I'm enjoying teaching it to her. HOpefully she'll learn to love it also.

Matthew has suddenly decided that he likes his handwriting book (Reason for Handwriting) and is doing 2 or more pages a day. LOL His fine motor skills are improving rapidly and today his "d's" looked terrific!!

I haven't mentioned much about Kayla. We're using a correspondence school with her. There were many factors involved and that was how the decision played out. She started her freshman year in October and had 1 year to complete the work. We had a slow start what with figuring it all out...how to plan it..an so forth. Because of that she's just now in the last class (science) for her freshman year and it needs to be finished this month. She's doing great!!! She's been doing a test every other day and really studying a lot. I'm so proud of her for making it happen.

The Week is Over

Fri, 8 Sep 2006 21:11:00 -0500

One week down...many more to go! :)

It all went really well! Samantha loves her history so much that she moved into the 2nd weeks work already. I told her she was welcome to work ahead AFTER she was done with her other assignments.

Today we did subjects/predictes in English. It was fun to hear her explanation for why this was a sentence: A great crowd of people. "Because the people were crowding." :) So .... after we finished talking about why that is ONLY a "subject" we moved onto other fun sentences. I still love Rod & Staff. Such a great program and easy for me to teach.

I heard Samantha outside greeting her friends: "Salvete!" (A greeting in Latin.) :)

For Matthew it was review day of the letters P, B, and M. Oh boy. I was really starting to get frustrated and I could see him really starting to lose it. So I reigned myself in and started over. Really had to apply a huge amount of patience. We made it through the lesson with no tears (from either of us!) and in the end he was having a great time.

Teaching children to read is not the most exciting thing in the world to me...ranks right up there with potty training....but when I put the letters b and a in front of Matthew and he blended them immediately...wow! Makes me know it's all worth it. :) Course then he right on to blending the p and m also. :)

Alex...my wonderful 2 year old. He doesn't talk in real words yet. Lots of weird sounds. A while back we started watching the Signing Time DVDs. They are wonderful. Alex's sign language has really taken off. He does it all the time now and there is so much less frustration on his part. We had done some words from the beginning...we've done that with all the children....but he signs lots of things now. We've been renting them from the library but I'm always having to return them and then request again. Roy wants to just buy the whole set. We're all learning a lot.

The Second Day

Wed, 6 Sep 2006 22:45:00 -0500

Another good day!! Even if we did do math after dinner! I was determined that we WOULD get the whole schedule done! :)

Today Samantha made a mobile about the 7 days of creation. Then we hung up a bulletin board set with all the planets on our dining room wall. Currently that includes Pluto. When we get to that chapter in the Astronomy book we'll learn about why Pluto is no longer considered a planet! For now, Samantha still thinks it is.

Matthew is learning the sound of the letter P. Plus we reviewed all the other sounds he's learned. HE's doing great. We had done some of this before Hannah was born and he was really driving me nuts with attention span. Amazing how a few months can make such a difference! Both days he's done great and he gets all his lessons done and is begging for more!

Samantha did her first lesson in Latin today. We're using Latina Prima. Then the rest of the day she was walking around say Salvete! to everyone. :)

First Day

Tue, 5 Sep 2006 16:42:00 -0500

Our first day of school went great! There was only one problem and that got dealt with quickly. :)

Not all subjects were done today but the core ones were done:

Samantha:

- Read Card 1, did the worksheet, and put the story disc on the map for Veritas Press' Old Testament/Ancient Egypt

- Rod & Staff English 1, Lesson 1

- Saxon Math, Lesson 1

- Exploring Creation with Astronomy, Read Lesson 1

With Saxon Math, there is what is called "meeting time" at the beginning of the lesson. For different ages it covers different things...with Sam (Saxon 3) there is number patterns, temperature, a word problem, etc. For Matthew (Saxon 1) there is the date, shape patterns, number line.

So I got this idea to put their meeting time stuff on the chalkboard. I did it last night and it was waiting for them. They loved starting school time off like that. They did everything on the chalkboard! Fun!

Matthew:

- Lesson 18 of Phonics Museum, Veritas Press (the letter P!!)

- Lesson 30 of Saxon Math 1

- Handwriting page - A Reason for Handwriting

We're also going to work our way through the 50 states. We've done capitals and mapping in general but have not done each state specifically. This week we're doing Virginia. They have notebooks with tabs for each state. For each state there is a map of the state, a map of the US, crossword puzzles, state facts fill in sheet, biography fill in sheet, tree detective, flower detective, bird paper.

Yesterday, for fun, :) we started with the map. We marked on the Virginia map where the Blue Ridge Mts are, the capital, Chesapeake Bay, Williamsburg, etc. Then on the state map they colored in the state of Virginia and identified all the states around it.

Today we used the tourist book we got in the mail (I've been requesting stuff from each state) and they made collages for their notebooks.

Then for Matthew's "science" we identified the state tree, American Dogwood. Found it in our tree book and then used a worksheet called "tree detective" to learn more about the leaves, bark, etc. about the tree.

Then we read a book called "George Did It" as a biography read about George Washington! It was a good book!!

Tomorrow's the Big Day

Mon, 4 Sep 2006 22:31:00 -0500

First day of school!!!!! :)

This week I'll take all the kids to WalMart and get portraits done. It's fun to see the changes each year. Everyone's getting TALL!

Today I printed out the assignment sheets for tomorrow. Went through each subject to make sure everything was there. Got new chore cards ready.

I'm getting up early tomorrow. I want to exercise, shower, and eat before they all get up. I also want to spend some time in prayer and stillness before the Lord. Roy and I really want this year, our time homeschooling, to be glorifying to the Lord. In the past I've not prayed about our studies specifically. They were just something we did. But this year will be different. This year I want to start our day knowing that I've put myself at the feet of God and presented myself in such a way that I can allow the Holy Spirit to work in me all day long.

And I pray hugely that I can have that meek and quiet spirit that God has called me to have! When I have achieved that .... well, it makes for a much smoother day with the children. :)

Library

Sat, 2 Sep 2006 18:16:00 -0500

The girls and I went to the library today. Had to clear up fines..ugh...pick up holds..yeah...and browse. :)

While I was there I remembered that we're doing one state a week We're just doing a brief overview. Something to expose the children to all the states. While we're doing the states I'm using each state's tree, flower, & bird to science with Matthew.

This first week we're doing Virginia - where we live! So I picked up a few Virginia books, a couple on Geoge Washington, a bird book, a tree book, and just some other fun things to read.

I needed 160 more tab dividers for our notebooks. I checked Amazon - $.08 for a pack of 5!!! Wow!!! Flat fee shipping of $5.95. There are some great deals to be found online. Those came yesterday so tonight I'm going to finish getting the notebooks ready for Tuesday. Monday I'll do the first week's assignments (pulling from my lesson plans that are already in Homeschool Tracker - kudos to HST!!!) and make sure I really do have everything I need.

Chalk! I need chalk. :)