HELLO!!! This blog is a place for us to publish some of our children's work and just to journal our amazing educational journey. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:03:00 -0500 Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:03:00 -0500 Well it looks like I will probably never get around to writing an excerpt about each individual week so I will just combine the last 3 weeks of our homeschooling year into one year. Yes, we finished Core 4!!!  The last 3 weeks were really fantastic.  I know I say that every week, so you can take that with a grain of salt, but we covered so many profound topics and had some really great discussions! We covered Chicano rights and Cesar Chavez, Native American rights, more Black rights, and women's rights.  We discussed the Vietnam War, and in particular our family's perspective of it, since I was born in Saigon and left in April of 1975.  I think when the children are older, I can see if my parents will talk to them about it.  They never would talk to me much about it, but maybe now that so much time has elapsed, the memories won't be as painful.  We can at least try. We have really loved Core 4.  This Core truly had no duds, IMO.  Not that there were many duds in previous cores, but there was always a book or two that I could have done without.  Not Core 4.  We really enjoyed every book, the readers and the read alouds, and we can't wait to see what Core 5 will unveil for us!! The language arts program was great as usual, and MUS continues to work well for us.  L. finished up her Core PK 4/5 stuff and is reading so well I don't know what to do with her.  She just turned 6 but has finished the Regular readers for LA 2.  I think I will have her wait until she does LA 2 Intermediate since I want her to do the grammar that goes with that program.  So we'll see!! Okay, I think this is it for this blog piece.  I have lots more stuff to blog about but I am glad I at least got this done.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/707818/ Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:03:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/707818/ Another week covering Civil Rights.  This time we discussed Chicano rights, Native American rights, and women's rights.  When discussing Chicano rights, we learned about Cesar Chavez and his method of fasting as a non-violent protest.  We talked about whether we'd do it for something we believed in.  Both girls said emphatically no!  But we did discuss why it would be beneficial to do so, when one is making progress in a struggle for rights.  We talked about how, if someone was fighting for something important like equal rights, if that person hit a roadblock--such as a unjust law that the government is adamant about not changing--that doing something as drastic as a fast might achieve quick results.  We discussed how it might even be a win-win situation for the cause.  If the government did change policy due to one important leader's fast, then the people got what they wanted.  If the government did not change policy and the fasting leader died as a result, then the people would really turn against the government, since the leader has thus achieved martyr status and might become more powerful in death than in life, as his/her legacy would continue for years afterwards.  When discussing Native American equality, we revisited some of the tragic events that we learned about last year, about how our own US government cheated and abused Native Americans.  We had a very interesting discussion based on this question:  "White Americans sometimes say that it was not wrong white settlers to take land from the Native Americans.  They say that the Native nations 'did nothing' with the land, but the white settlers took over and built America into a great nation.  What do you think about this argument?" (The Story of the U.S.A. Book 4, by Franklin Escher, Jr., published by EPS, copyright 1993, page 51) I personally had never heard of this argument, so I thought it was a great foundation for a discussion.  To set up for the discussion, though, we had to really go over why there was such a big conflict.  We discussed the Native American belief that the land is for everyone to share and that no one should own any one piece of the land.  We contrasted that with the white settler's beliefs that every person can buy land that will then belong specifically to him/her.  That set up the basis for the huge clash in culture and belief between Native Americans and whites.  K. initially said she thought it was good for the whites to develop the land and build roads and buildings and bridges and the like, but that "they should have set aside land for the Native Americans".  I reminded her that they did sort of do that when they set aside "reservations".  We then discussed how reservation land was usually land that wasn't really profitable or fertile for the whites and how, when the whites decided they needed more land, they violated treaty after treaty and invaded even reservation land.  We then discussed another cause for the conflict and that is the Native American desire to live a simple life off the land, with no real desire to "build up a city".  We discussed why that belief isn't wrong, and both girls thought that those who wanted to have that life should have it. So..we concluded that there were no easy answers and that this question continues to rear its head in other countries and with other cultures. Lastly, we discussed womens' rights.  We read about womens' suffrage and the fight for that, and we discussed the feminism of the 50's through today.  We hit a very sticky spot that I had failed to pre-read.  Sigh.  I thought we were just reading about women's suffrage and equality in the workplace and education.  But towards the end of the reading, there was a discussion about abortion and abortion rights.  Sigh.  I stopped reading at that point, but by that time, K was reading over my shoulder and A wanted to know why I stopped.  So I felt that I had to plunge ahead.  So I had to explain to the girls what an abortion was, and what our beliefs as Christians are wrt abortion.  We discussed the real debate between pro-choice and pro-life advocates--when life begins, and the Biblical definition of when life begins.  We then talked about what the current law is, and why some Christians continue to try to change policy wrt abortion.  I think overall the discussion went well, but I really wish I had remembered to pre-read it and prepare for it! In science, we learned about solids, liquids and gases and the effect of heating and cooling.  We also read about boiling and freezing and what affects the weather. K began The Seventeeth Swap for her reader and I started it for A's read aloud.  It is a very charming story so far.  No read aloud for K.  Taking a break! Blessings, A.H. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/690036/ Mon, 18 May 2009 01:29:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/690036/ Another week of great discussions.  It seems that we will be covering the Civil Rights Amendment in the next few weeks.  Our first lengthy discussion was about the Civil Rights Movement as it pertained to Blacks or, to be more PC, African-Americans.  Chapter 2 from The Story of the USA was about the Jim Crow laws and subsequent segregation and the long road back to integration, from Plessy to Brown v. Board.  The readings mentioned that even today, cities are not fully integrated.  This surprised K., and so we plunged into a very long discussion of the segregation in cities today.  We talked about how most cities are divided up into sections--poor areas, middle class areas, upper middle class areas and upper class areas.  In addition, some cities seem to have specific ethnicities living in their "own" specific parts of town.  While it is legal for any person to live anywhere in the city, there are still barriers such as what a person can afford for housing and where a person feels comfortable living.  We talked about, e.g., how a person who may have endured a lot of racial prejudice may feel more comfortable living with others of the same race to reduce the chance of having to endure any further prejudice.  We talked about how, because of the inequality that Blacks endured in the workplace and in academia, many Blacks could not make enough money to live in the "nicer" parts of town.  We talked about affirmative action, how many universities and colleges offer scholarships to attract qualified students of specific minorities, in an attempt to undo some of the injustices of the past.  We discussed how this can and has caused hostility with whites who feel that some schools will accept minority students who are less qualified, just to have the numbers.  Whew!  What a heavy discussion.  In fact, we realized that we had discussed it for nearly an hour and a half and had to quickly rush to Chik-Fil-A for lunch and then dash to piano lessons!  The next day we discussed in more detail what the fight for equality for Blacks involved--we discussed MLK and his method of non-violent protest, including boycotts and sit-ins.  We talked about Ms. Rosa Parks, and the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.  We ended with the assasination of Dr. King.  For our discussion questions, we talked about whether we personally would be able to use non-violent methods if we were attacked.  This is such a sticky topic.  I have taught my children that they are allowed to defend themselves if attacked.  I did discuss other things to do, like walking away from the situation and/or informing a person of authority.  But I do not want my children to lie like limp rags while someone is truly threatening their lives or safety or in any way harming them.  In fact, I will be signing up the children for karate/self defense classes this summer and A. is already in karate classes year round.  Our last heavy discussion was about JFK and his brief time as our president.  We discussed why someone might want to assassinate a president or important leader and why some people might care about the religious beliefs of the president.  We discussed JFK's actions at the Bay of Pigs and whether we thought it was the right thing to do or not.  K and A both said they thought that he was right not to really involve any US troops but that honestly, he should not have supported the exiles with weapons to begin with.  They both thought that he should have just granted them political asylum and told them to trust God, more or less, and to try to move on in their new country. Heavy stuff!  We finished up our excellent Bible study book, Starting Strong this week with a lesson on how a seemingly insignificant spark could light a big fire.  We read the story of Naaman and how his servant girl's advice to him helped turn this skeptical leader into a believer.  We discussed ways to be encouraged and strong for Christ, even if we think we're just one person.  We talked about how one person could make a wealth of difference.  Otherwise, K finished up Bruchko, and I finished reading A School Story to A.  K and I finished listening to Miracles on Maple Hill on audio.  We were supposed to start In Search of the Source as a read aloud, but I decided to do that book during the summer.  So we are enjoying a nice read aloud break right now, at least K and I.  LOL In science we covered musical sounds, how some animals "see" with sounds, and what things are made of (atoms and molecules). God bless!! A.H. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/690028/ Sun, 17 May 2009 01:59:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/690028/ We had some fantastic discussions this week, so instead of blogging an update on everything we have been doing, I will just hit the highlights of our discussions.  These discussions have been sparked by what we are reading in history, from our readings in The Story of the USA and Landmark. We started with readings about the Cold War, as the US and the Soviet Union emerged from WWII as the two superpowers.  So we discussed the pros and cons of a democracy and communism.  We discussed some of the pros of a socialistic or communistic society--no unemployment, and health care, food, housing, etc all provided by the government.  We discussed the type of people who might like socialism and we thought about what situation we might be in such that we might prefer socialism.  We then moved into a discussion about LBJ and his initial popularity as he carried out JFK's programs, and his subsequent slide into unpopularity as he continued and escalated the war in Vietnam.  Discussing the Vietnam War was always a touchy topic for me when I was in school.  I hated the way everyone talked about the Vietnamese people as "them".  I always felt that Vietnamese people were depicted as either small and weak, or pigheaded and cruel.  I absolutely did not ever like watching movies about the War.  No matter what angle the movie or book was, I just never felt that the essence of Vietnamese culture was captured, nor the spirit of the Vietnamese people.  Oh well.  I hope to bring some of that into our readings, as I am sure that in future years, we will be discussing this in greater length. In Starting Strong, we studied the life of Joseph.  We talked about how things that we think are "bad" sometimes end up being something "good".  We discussed how only God knows what will happen in the future, and that if we learn to trust Him in our "bad" times, we will be able to grow and see Him more clearly during the "good" years. Reading wise, K started Bruchko as her reader.  I read A School Story to A since I thought Bruchko might be too graphic for A.  We continued Miracles on Maple Hill for K's read aloud. In science, we finished up colors, and began a unit on sound.  We discussed sound waves and how we hear. L is still chugging along.  Finishing up all her kinder stuff and reading well past 2nd grade level. Ciao! A.H. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/690021/ Sun, 17 May 2009 01:58:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/690021/ I have been terrible as usual about blogging!!    But we still have been doing our Writer's Circle, though I bailed out of it weeks ago.    The kids are great writers and I hope to have a desk so I can write too.  No, I currently do not have my own desk!!!  A desk is necessary, IMO, for keeping proper order.  LOL Anyway, with no further ado, let me get onto the children's work. For week 26, K had to write one of those poems that have a shape.  She did a great job with hers, though I can't format it correctly on the blog.  I did take a picture of it, though: Here is the text of it:  The World is a growin' and children are playing here comes the balloon man so wee!! leaves are a growing and snow is a melting, here come the spring showers so wee!  I build a new playhouse while daddy is sleeping, mom bakes me some brownies so wee! I swing on the swing set here come my play fellows I"m loving the spring tiime so wee! Yes, I am her mother, but seriously, I think it is an excellent poem!!  A. had to write a description (no matter how fantastical) of her dream room: My dream room has a roller coaster in the middle.  I paint my own room teal and turquoise yellow and purple.  One color on each wall.  My room is shaped like a square.  I'm beginning to think I need to set more guidelines on A's writing.  She is such a writer and what she turns in for writing assignments, while good, does not reflect her abilities at all.  LOL For week 27, K had to design a board game, so there was no real writing.  She designed a cool board with pieces and her own die and we played it and had fun.  The game was called Toliver's Secret.  The objective was to smuggle the bread from the house to the person who was to deliver the message.  Of course it was based on the book of the same name.  LOL  You collected courage points during your route and the person who gets to the end and has the most courage points wins.  It was a fun game.  I cannot find A's week 27 assignment, but we did our WC on it.  I am so bummed.  It's been so long, she can't remember what it was about and neither can I.  ARRGGGG!!! For week 28, K had to write a short story.  She wrote a great one about an elephant, but I can't find it now to put it in the blog.  Boo, me!  I bet I put both K and A's week 27 and week 28 assignments somewhere together.  I'll definitely put it in the blog when I find it. Somehow I found A's week 28 assignment.  She had to write a poem about something she loves: Love drawing. My brain enjoys it. Think I will be an artist when I grow up. I also found another poem she had written earlier this year that I wanted to go ahead and put in here: The Seed Seed, quiet, like a mouse Something that goes into wood. Sounds like a tiger with a black and white tail.  A drop of rain.  Bright red on the Green grass.  But it's really something you plant. For week 29, K had to do an assignment called "respond to reading" where she had to chart some of the books she wrote and her response.  No real creative writing this week, just a good review of her stuff and what she liked. A's assignment was to write a descriptive paragraph about someone she loves.  It looks like she wrote a poem instead.  Oh well, here it is: My little brother FQ Who plays around everyday Who even does school Who isn't potty trained Who is happy and sad For week 30, K had to do an ABC book where she had to make another chart.  She would go from A to Z and put a literary element for each letter, using examples from all her books.  For example, she could choose a character whose name started with A, then choose a descriptive word starting with the letter B for any of her characters, etc.  It was really more of an exercise than a creative writing assignment so again we don't have much to blog. A's assignment was to write about one of her accomplishments: I learned to ride a bike to get places faster!  I didn't like to balance on the bike.  I had to pedal, slow down, stop and balance.  A spent week 31 doing "research" about horses (which she is incidentally allergic to).  She had to learn the difference between domesticated horses and mustangs.  K wrote an essay about what a hero is: Who is a hero?  Are you a hero?  Do you know a hero?  Is your mom a hero--or is your hero less personal? I opine that a hero is one that undertakes something others don't do.  Someone who shoves through the barriers to find a new world--a world that they themselves have the key to. But a hero can also be a personal hero, one you want to be like, or admire.  Like a mother, or a athlete you like--someone that has a distinctive place in your heart or mind.  Your hero can be anyone, depending on your interests or weaknesses.  Your hero may be someone who saved you from falling into the water or is good at the sport you love.  Or anybody.  A hero is brave, specail for sure, we love our heroes! Well, I opine that my kids are great!  LOL  I seriously have never heard her use that word before but I am really proud of her for correctly using an underused and unusual word.  So for week 32, A presented her research paper.  She left out a few details, but I really think this is more my fault than hers.  I basically leave her on her own to do these assignments, so I think she will miss stuff here and there.  My goal when she does this program again is to do better with this.  Obviously!   LOL Mustang horses are free roaming and they are brought by the Spanish and North Americans.  Domesticated horses are tame and trained.  Since mustang horses are wild you can't sit on them but on domesticated horses.  Most horse camps have tamed and trained domesticated horses.  K worked on a book review for week 32: Charlotte's Web is about a pig, not a dirty grumpy pig, but a kind, sweet pig. Wilbur was saved from being killed by Fern, the farmer's daughter.  She raised him like a baby, loving and caring for him.  When Wilbur was old enough, Fern sold him to her uncle so she could visit him whenever she wanted.  IT was there that Wilbur met Charlotte, and he also learned that the Zuckermans would eat him and he would never see snow.  But Charlotte promises that Wilbur will not die.... One morning, Mr. Zuckerman hired man, Lurvy, got up to feed Wilbur, he looked up, and there, weaved into Charlotte's web were the words SOME PIG.  Soon, everybody came to see Wulbur, he was famous.  Soon, later, it said TERRIFIC, then RADIANT.  So Mr. Zuckerman decided to take this famous pig to the fair. Naturally Charlotte went with Wilbur, though she would soon lay her eggs and die.  The last web she wove was in Wilbur's crate, it said HUMBLE, the very word for Wilbur.  Wilbur did not win the blue ribbon, but he did win a medal, then Charlotte laid her egg sack and died after saying goodbye to Wilbur.  But she kept her promise, and Wilbur saw his first snow.  And not that snow, but many more, and he died the way Charlotte did.  He was grateful to her forever.  So just a few editorial things to make it better, and of course next time I should tell her that a book review should not reveal everything about the book, including the end.  LOL  This past week was week 33 for us and K had to give a speech based on her book review.  She had to make note cards and she gave it for our Writer's Circle. A had to think about some of the books she had read, and try to work out if there was a scene in any of her books that she'd like to act out or write a screenplay for.  So she decided that she'd like to play Betsey in B is for Betsey.  Here is what she says: I am writing a book on B is for Betsey.  I play Betsey, my friend is Ellen.  The most exciting part is when Ellen gets to go with Betsey all summer.  And when Betsey goes to school, because during the day, the school becomes a circus. Well, I am finally caught up on doing those!!  Again, I will vow to do better.  I hope to get a desk soon ! God bless, A.H. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/689986/ Sun, 17 May 2009 01:28:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/689986/ This week we were somewhat rushed since I was going away for the weekend and had to leave on Friday.  So we did a lot of our Friday work on Thursday.  I love how the kids can direct themselves when we have a change in plans!  We wrapped up WWII this week, and read about all the plans to recover from the war.  We also read about the beginnings of the Cold War and all the Soviet satellite countries.  We finished up both Thimble Summer and The Winged Watchman.  We started Miracles on Maple Hill for K's read aloud, on audiobook.  I still love the audiobook thing!!  Thimble Summer was nice and The Winged Watchman was touching.  Miracles is okay so far though I have to confess that K and I don't really like the readers for the audiobook.  There was only one reader for Roll of Thunder, and she was excellent.  We prefer one reader over a cast, which is how Miracles is set up. We read "listen children" by Lucille Clifton, which we really enjoyed.  The girls had to think a bit about what the poem meant.  K really likes poems written in dialect.  We read more about light this week and related topics.  Mirrors plus bending and reflecting light, in addition to how the human eye sees. The girls continued on with their math and language arts.  And of course, L. cruised on as usual.  She is nearly done with everything.  She will have a great year next year. We're getting near the end!!! A. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/687431/ Sat, 9 May 2009 23:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/687431/ We continued on with Ephesians this week, finishing up chapter 3 and going through chapter 5.  We discussed unity among Christians and living as representatives of Christ. Our Starting Strong lesson was about choosing to do what is right but unpopular versus following along in the crowd.  The scenario is an unpopular girl at school that no one wants to be friends with.  One girl, though, feels compelled to reach out to her, but worries what her friends will think.  Our study came from Luke 1: 26-38, the story of Mary carrying the Christ child and doing what she knew was right.  We discussed situations where doing the right thing might make us unpopular or might lead us to sacrifice a great deal. We continued reading about the middle years of WWII, during the wars on both the Pacific front against Japan and on the European front with Germany.  We also read about entertaining the troops and how women were managing on the home front, taking over jobs that their husbands and sons previously held.  For K's read aloud, we finished up The Winged Watchman.  A very touching ending and a very good book overall.  We also began Thimble Summer for K's reader and A's read aloud.  This is the same author of Gone Away Lake so we already were familiar with the style.  This book seems very different though.  A finished up Frindle for her reader.  I am impressed that she understood just about all of the story.  She is really getting much better. Our poetry reading was written by Sonia Sanchez and was called "To PJ (2 years old who sed write a poem for me in Portland, Oregon)".  We had a nice discussion about dialect and when and why it is used in literature. Nothing unusual for L this week.  She is cruising. More next week! A.H. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/681214/ Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:14:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/681214/ We had a very busy weekend, so our Monday was very slow.  This past weekend, K. had her dance competition (her studio did very well and one of her performances came in 4th overall) and my parents came up to visit.  They got to see some of the competition as well.  That was really nice, to see them! We finished up Ecclesiastes and started Ephesians.  We read up to chapter 3 this week.  Our Starting Strong lesson was about making difficult choices that may either make you unpopular or leave you on the outside of the crowd.  Our Bible study came from Exodus 2: 1-10.  I am so grateful for this book.  The scenarios presented are very much like the scenarios our children will face in life and it is great to discuss these things with our children.  It is just great to discuss the Biblical way to handle tough spots, like the one we read about this week, where a girl is invited to a slumber party along with all of the other girls in the class, but she is unable to go because her parents won't let her.  Last year's slumber party resulted in some wild behavior and this girl's parents won't let her go because of that--she ends up being the only girl in class who is not going. This week in history, we covered the biggest tragedy of WWII, that is, the concentration camps and Hitler's attempt at genocide.  We also covered the turning of the tide in the war, with American involvement, and the Allies beginning to strike back.  Reading about the Holocaust is always such a sobering thing, but it really needs to be done.  We continue to be amazed at how many people carried out Hitler's orders and how many higher ranking officers remained loyal to him, even though his orders led them to sure death.  We finished up In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson and highly recommend it!  Very delightful!  A. finished up A Llama in the Family and began Frindle.  Like all Andrew Clements' books, this one is quite enjoyable.  A. has to narrate this one too but did a fine job.  K. had to find alternative reading material since she finished the Jackie Robinson book last week.  We read The Winged Watchman for her read aloud.  Such brave people to take such risks to hide Jews and fight the Germans in the Underground Resistance.  It always leads me to ask myself what I'd do in such a situation. For science, we learned about floating and sinking, pressure, simple machines, and engines.  Once again, L. had a good week, just humming along with her programs.  That is it for this week!!! A.H. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/681213/ Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:51:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/681213/ We continued reading through Ecclesiastes this week.  The girls seem to understand well what it means to "chase the wind" and when things are "meaningless, meaningless!".  LOL We started up with Starting Strong again.  Our first lesson was about valuing God's opinion of us over others' opinions of us.  We studied 1 Sam 16: 1-13, the story of how God chose David to be the next king.  David was an unlikely choice, since he was the youngest of Jesse's sons, but we learned that what God values (our hearts) isn't necessarily what people value.  We continued studying about WWII in our book, The World Wars.  We covered quite a bit this week, going from the Battle of Britain, and the German invasion of Eastern Europe, through the war in N. Africa and Hitler's betrayal and invasion of the Soviet Union, to Pearl Harbor and the war in the Pacific and the involvement of the US.  We were very impressed with the Russian people.  We read about their resistance to Germany, even when they were attacked unawares, and their grit and spiritual strength during the Siege of Leningrad.  Up until now, we haven't read much about Russia and of course, growing up as I did in the public school system in the 1970's and 1980's, we weren't taught much about Russia at all.  I was near tears during some of our readings this week. For K's reader and A's read aloud, we began a very pleasant book called In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson.  What fun!  We have enjoyed this book so far with its mix of humorous and poignant stories.  K could not help herself and read the whole book the first day.  I also realized that A. had no idea how to play baseball or any rules of the game.  I had to take the time out to explain that to her.  It made me think--I had not thought much of "teaching" my kids Physical Education because they are in dance, gym, yoga, tennis, etc. and are physically very active.  But I remembered that PE in schools also taught kids how to play many different games, games that are important to our culture like baseball, football, soccer and basketball.  So I'm considering doing something about that..but not sure what. Anyway, for K's read aloud, we read The Winged Watchman which has good adventure and spirit so far.  A. is reading A Llama in the Family and enjoying it.  She is narrating it to me since we don't have the comprehension questions for it.  It was added to the curriculum after we bought the instructor's guide and I'm too cheap to buy the new IG.  LOL They are also moving along fine in math.  A. does need more practice problems than what MUS gives us.  MUS does offer a package for "extra practice sheets" so I believe next year when we order her next level, we will get these.  I am no good at making up math problems and I frequently find the free online worksheets to be lacking.  For science, we continued reading from The Usborne Science Encyclopedia.  We read about friction, gravity, moving in a straight line, and appropriately enough, moving in curves, or bending. L. continues to do very well with her stuff.  She is so far ahead in reading that I don't really know what to do.  She has cruised through SL's 2nd grade "regular" readers, which are, actually, pretty easy for her to read.  I believe she actually reads at 3rd grade level, and she has great spelling skills and can probably spell at first grade level, if not 2nd grade.  However, she has not had any grammar (she's only 5!) so next year we will do the grammar pages from SL's LA 1.  However, I am stumped as what to offer her for reading.  I considered doing Core K using the 4 day program, and letting her read the books left over for her readers.  We'll see.  At any rate....she's just a gem to teach. FQ is really enjoying all of his preschool readers.  He will start SL's Core PK 3/4 next year and I believe he will do fine.  He is getting his letters and numbers down.  He is also just a cute kid.  Oh, I almost forgot--our poetry readings were by J. Kennedy--"One Winter Night in August" and Mary Ann Hoberman--"The Folk who live in Backward town".  A. has developed a real love for poetry.  She makes sure we read all of our poetry readings for the week. That concludes week 27!!  We are nearing the end... A.H. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/681212/ Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:04:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/681212/ So we finally arrived at our awesome resort, called FDR.  This is our second time staying here--we were here about 4 years ago.  Two years ago, we stayed at their sister resort, Pebbles.  While both resorts are really nice, I definitely have a preference for the original resort.  I think the food is better at FDR and also the adult activities.  The children's activities seem pretty good at both resorts, though since FDR is larger, they seem to offer more activities.  The best thing about both resorts is that they are all inclusive, and that included in your all-inclusive price is a vacation nanny.  One nanny per family.  We have enjoyed our nannies in the past and the one we got this time was no exception.  I will admit that they aren't super animated, but they do a good job of escorting the kids around and playing with them and getting them food and drinks.  And of course, F, and I loved having the free time to do our things.  The great thing about both resorts is that they cater strictly to families, and they are fairly small.  Since they are family and locally owned, they carry a distinctive local flavor that one wouldn't get at chain resorts like Beaches or Sandals or what not.  Here are the girls with our vacation nanny, Sherika: The kids filled their days taking tennis lessons, playing on the beach, playing at the pools, going down the super slide, and doing lots of arts and crafts.  We all ate breakfast and lunch together.  There was a separate kids' dinner buffet, which the kids really enjoyed with their nanny, while F and I had dinner at the big restaurant in the evenings.  Here is K. eating birthday cake--someone had a birthday during his vacation so everyone got to celebrate! And more pics of the kids just enjoying the beach and the pool: The food was really good!  We had good Jamaican food every day for most of the meals--bammy, ackee and saltfish, curried goat, rice and peas, jerk chicken, and a lot more that I can't remember.  I love the way Jamaicans cook veggies.  Just nice and simple with a little butter and slight salt.  You can just taste the great flavors of the veggies since they are not cooked to mush.  LOL Here is FQ enjoying a Jamaican treat, a beef patty: I enjoyed using the fitness center, taking the biking tour, and taking the yoga and aquaerobics classes. The fitness pro there was the same one from 4 years ago and he makes his classes tough!  Yoga was a new thing this time, so I took full advantage of it.  Again, the classes were good and challenging.  I was really impressed because I have taken classes at resorts and on cruise ships and they are usually geared for beginners, since I guess they don't want anyone to pass out during their workouts.  LOL  They also had daily beach volleyball games for the men and yes.  They were competitive, even though they all pretended to be on vacation and relaxing.  LOL  Of course we spent a lot of time on the beach, just reading, lazing around, swimming and snorkeling.  Right before my yoga class: And F playing volleyball: And here we are, taking a stroll on the beautiful beach: Perhaps the best thing is that F's brother, who still lives in Jamaica, came to visit!  Here is F, Aunt T. and all the kids: Just the big "kids" and little JJ, the baby: Well, as you can see, we had a great time and will certainly be returning again.  This resort really tops the list for family friendly.  I would not recommend it for couples or singles at all, LOL.  But for families that want a good locally owned and operated Jamaican resort, this is it!!! Thanks for reading and sharing! A.H. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/676661/ Mon, 6 Apr 2009 21:36:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/amazed246/676661/