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Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
My Summer Vacation
I never really like this back to school writing assignment as a kid, and here I am as an adult happily writing about our summer! LOL!
Most homeschoolers I know don't really have a summer vacation. We are fortunate enough to have vacations all year round whenever we want to take them! This year, though, I took a summer vacation from school. Between a new baby, our usual summer activities, major changes in my husband's work schedule and life in general, things were just too chaotic to add formal schooling into the mix.
Of course, that didn't mean the learning stopped! Really, does it ever?
My eldest two (we'll call them Princess and Warrior since that's basically what their names mean) participated in the public library's annual summer reading program. At nearly 40 hours of combined reading time between the two, Princess took top reader award, and Warrior place 5th overall! Not bad for a little guy competing against the "big" kindergarten aged kids! In addition to doing so well with their reading, they each won perfect attendance prizes, and all participants received a prize just for signing up!
Princess also spent two weeks at Vacation Bible School. In June, she participated in our home church's program using the theme "Hometown Nazereth". What an awesome time she had learning about life for Jesus when he was a kid! The end of July brought our community wide VBS program put on by 3 different churches working together. Warrior joined her for this week and was so excited to be doing "big kid" things with his sister! They made a splash with a beach theme for the week as the two of them learned that no matter what they have a friend in Jesus, and they can always rely on Him.
Last but not least both Princess and Warrior took swim lessons at the public pool. This was such a great experience for each of them! Princess started out the summer fearful of having her face in the water. It was a real struggle for her to go under the water, but under the guidance of her wonderful teacher she made it into the big pool and started jumping off the diving board and fully submersed (even if for a second) in the deep end! I cannot tell you how proud I was of her immense bravery in conquering her fear!Warrior was a little bit different story. He is my water bug and had no problem jumping off the edge of the big pool and putting his face under the water from the very beginning. A couple of times he had Mama scared with his lack of fear of the water! It only took two days for him to be asking to go off the diving board, and he looked so tiny up there waiting to jump!
So it is with excitement that I say "hello" to a new school year and with many memories leave summer 2011 behind us.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thoughts for 2011-2012 School Year
I feel like I need to get all my ideas, thoughts, gameplan, etc down in one spot.
2nd grade
We are dropping phonics this year! I know a lot of schools and homeschooling parents continue phonics through this year, but with as well as DD is reading, I just don't see it as a neccessity for this year. I never really used the Saxon literature supplements that went along with the program. The spelling in the Saxon program I loved, but I think I may have found something to replace it!
Math: Saxon 2
Science: Apologia Botany
All other academics/Bible: Tapestry of Grace
P.E.: YMCA combo dance class
Music: Piano lessons
Preschool (Year 2)
I looked over what we accomplished this year and took into consideration DS's age and desire for school before deciding that putting off Kindergarten another year was our best option. Many preschool curriculums, though, are LESS advanced than what we did this year. :-( I did find something that looks like a good bridge between what I've done with him this year and what Saxon K (phonics and math) will cover.
Preschool: Horizons by Alpha Omega Publishers
General Thoughts
Now, I just need to get a game plan going on how to purchase these items and from where. I usually pick up things from eBay, Craigslist, or Christian Book Distributors. I know that I cannot get the Tapestry of Grace curriculum from anywhere except the publisher, so that means a much higher price for those items and much more work on my part on raising money to purchase needed items.
I need to sit down and figure out some sort of schedule for fitting in two full school schedules. I feel like I failed miserably at this last school year. I do know I want to do a 4 day school week with Fridays as "catch up" days in the even we need to take some extra time on a subject or have something come up earlier in the week.
Also a change from last year is that I won't fill out the entire plan book for the year. I'll go back to doing it weekly. I still plan on pulling all worksheets and sorting then into daily folders like I did this year, which I think greatly helped with preparations for daily tasks. It was so easy just to grab a single folder and be ready with all of DDs schoolwork for that day. I'll definitely use this method for DS's schooling. I'm torn about it for DD's, though. On a homeschooling blog I follow, she uses a workbox system. Each night she puts all her kids' (4 or 5 of them) work in an organizer with multiple drawers, arranging them one subject per drawer. When the child sits down, they merely start at the top drawer and work their way down. DD is a very independent little girl, but I don't know if she's ready for something quite like this yet. Obviously I'd be right there able to provide assistance should she need any help with her work, but this way she wouldn't have to wait on me to finish something up with her brother. She could just move on at her own pace.
Then to figure in to any scheduling and planning is the baby. Come end of Aug/beginning of Sept, he'll be 3 months old. During the school year, he'll still be nursing and hitting all those phases of wanting to play more, learning to crawl, possibly working on walking, etc. There's always the question of what to do to keep him busy but not leaving him feeling ignored while I'm focused on the two older kids.
*Sigh* I'm thinking a call to Michelle Duggar is needed -- STAT! LOL!
2nd grade
We are dropping phonics this year! I know a lot of schools and homeschooling parents continue phonics through this year, but with as well as DD is reading, I just don't see it as a neccessity for this year. I never really used the Saxon literature supplements that went along with the program. The spelling in the Saxon program I loved, but I think I may have found something to replace it!
Math: Saxon 2
Science: Apologia Botany
All other academics/Bible: Tapestry of Grace
P.E.: YMCA combo dance class
Music: Piano lessons
Preschool (Year 2)
I looked over what we accomplished this year and took into consideration DS's age and desire for school before deciding that putting off Kindergarten another year was our best option. Many preschool curriculums, though, are LESS advanced than what we did this year. :-( I did find something that looks like a good bridge between what I've done with him this year and what Saxon K (phonics and math) will cover.
Preschool: Horizons by Alpha Omega Publishers
General Thoughts
Now, I just need to get a game plan going on how to purchase these items and from where. I usually pick up things from eBay, Craigslist, or Christian Book Distributors. I know that I cannot get the Tapestry of Grace curriculum from anywhere except the publisher, so that means a much higher price for those items and much more work on my part on raising money to purchase needed items.
I need to sit down and figure out some sort of schedule for fitting in two full school schedules. I feel like I failed miserably at this last school year. I do know I want to do a 4 day school week with Fridays as "catch up" days in the even we need to take some extra time on a subject or have something come up earlier in the week.
Also a change from last year is that I won't fill out the entire plan book for the year. I'll go back to doing it weekly. I still plan on pulling all worksheets and sorting then into daily folders like I did this year, which I think greatly helped with preparations for daily tasks. It was so easy just to grab a single folder and be ready with all of DDs schoolwork for that day. I'll definitely use this method for DS's schooling. I'm torn about it for DD's, though. On a homeschooling blog I follow, she uses a workbox system. Each night she puts all her kids' (4 or 5 of them) work in an organizer with multiple drawers, arranging them one subject per drawer. When the child sits down, they merely start at the top drawer and work their way down. DD is a very independent little girl, but I don't know if she's ready for something quite like this yet. Obviously I'd be right there able to provide assistance should she need any help with her work, but this way she wouldn't have to wait on me to finish something up with her brother. She could just move on at her own pace.
Then to figure in to any scheduling and planning is the baby. Come end of Aug/beginning of Sept, he'll be 3 months old. During the school year, he'll still be nursing and hitting all those phases of wanting to play more, learning to crawl, possibly working on walking, etc. There's always the question of what to do to keep him busy but not leaving him feeling ignored while I'm focused on the two older kids.
*Sigh* I'm thinking a call to Michelle Duggar is needed -- STAT! LOL!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Where in the World Have I Been?
I looked back and realized I had pretty much fallen off the face of the Blogging World. :-(
Well, I have an explanation! That month I got pregnant with baby #3, and the morning sickness kicked in almost immediately continuing through the birth of our second son in June. (Yep, if you do the math, he was late.)
Now that we are into summer and looking ahead to the next school year, I hope to be blogging more. Plus, hopefully over the summer, I can get all my school stuff, pictures, and whatnot transfered over to my new computer!
Well, I have an explanation! That month I got pregnant with baby #3, and the morning sickness kicked in almost immediately continuing through the birth of our second son in June. (Yep, if you do the math, he was late.)
Now that we are into summer and looking ahead to the next school year, I hope to be blogging more. Plus, hopefully over the summer, I can get all my school stuff, pictures, and whatnot transfered over to my new computer!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
International Space Station
The ISS passed over our place on August 25 & 26, with possible additional viewing nights on August 27, 28, 29 and September 7. Tonight, it could be seen by the naked eye for approximately 4 minutes!
The video is a little shaky, but this gives you an idea of how quickly it was moving.
To see what dates and times the ISS is visible to you, check out the NASA Human Space Flight website.
The video is a little shaky, but this gives you an idea of how quickly it was moving.
To see what dates and times the ISS is visible to you, check out the NASA Human Space Flight website.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Make Some Lava
Over the last couple of weeks, we've been studying Venus in science using Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy text. Each lesson incorporates a mid-lesson activity (usually an experiment). This unit's mid-lesson activity was to make lava using some basic household supplies.
We used butter to represent rock. When heated, the rock melted into molten rock (or lava once it's spewed from a volcano). After the volcano erupts, lava rolls down the mountain, destroying everything in it's path and ultimately cools and rehardens into rock.
We used butter to represent rock. When heated, the rock melted into molten rock (or lava once it's spewed from a volcano). After the volcano erupts, lava rolls down the mountain, destroying everything in it's path and ultimately cools and rehardens into rock.
The change in chemical properties were what was being presented as well as giving the kids a visual of what happens when a volcano erupts. Our volcano erupted the butter, which ran into our dirt (flour) destroying/displacing all the dirt in its path and rehardened leaving lava trails in the dirt.
My daughter really enjoyed this activity and was very excited to build her own volcano!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Getting (Back) Into the Groove
So, I'm back after nearly a month of traveling and excitement!
We are back on track with school now this week, and I'm rather excited about it! Our school days have been looking a bit like this after our "little" break.
Bible - 1 worksheet and memory verse work
Phonics - 1 worksheet after boardwork
Grammar - practice sentences
Literature - 1 chapter of "Farmer Boy"
Science - continued study of Venus
To ease back into things, we've done 2 hours per day this week, and next week, it will be back to our regular 3-4 hour schedule!
And because no post can be complete without a pic, here ya go:
We are back on track with school now this week, and I'm rather excited about it! Our school days have been looking a bit like this after our "little" break.
Bible - 1 worksheet and memory verse work
Phonics - 1 worksheet after boardwork
Grammar - practice sentences
Literature - 1 chapter of "Farmer Boy"
Science - continued study of Venus
To ease back into things, we've done 2 hours per day this week, and next week, it will be back to our regular 3-4 hour schedule!
And because no post can be complete without a pic, here ya go:
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Big Announcement from Apologia
Apologia just announced that it will be expanding it's Exploring Creation elementary science series! Now included is anatomy and physiology, one of my favorite subjects of all time!
Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology
This is human anatomy for elementary school! This text covers everything from head to toe plus a history of medicine, nutrition, and health. Notebooking assignments and awesome labs (blood typing anyone?) accompany the text for a well-rounded, multi-sensory approach to learning about the body.
I am now more excited than ever about using Apologia's products!
This is human anatomy for elementary school! This text covers everything from head to toe plus a history of medicine, nutrition, and health. Notebooking assignments and awesome labs (blood typing anyone?) accompany the text for a well-rounded, multi-sensory approach to learning about the body.
I am now more excited than ever about using Apologia's products!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Lapbook Giveaway
I just wanted to let my readers know about a giveaway on a blog I follow...http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/. Check it out!!
Here's the direct link to the giveaway:
http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/07/liberty-lapbook-giveaway.html
Here's the direct link to the giveaway:
http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/07/liberty-lapbook-giveaway.html
Curriculum Review - Bendon Books
Let me preface this by saying that these books were actually meant to be supplement materials, not a full curriculum.
The Bendon Pusblishing activity boks made a wonderful advanced preschool option for us! Plus, since they are available in a variety of characters, the motivation for school is built in. Characters available include:
- Sesame Street
- Disney: Princess, Fairies, Little Einsteins, Cars, Tigger and Pooh
- Mickey Mouse Club
- Handy Manny
- Hello Kitty
- Word World
- Littlest Pet Shop
- Marvel Heroes
- NASCAR
- Veggietales
This is no where near a complete list of what they have!
The particular book I used was the Disney Princess Alphabet. By the time we got to this book, we had worked our way through 4 Step Ahead books (see previous entry). This is NOT a book you want to start with, as it just jumps right in with the writing of letters on actual lines.
The book actually starts out with blank lined pages. The first thing I did was skip those and came back to them once she learned all the letters. The rest of the pages look a little something like this one.
I had her practice the uppercase and lowercase simultaneously. I know most curriculums and teachers prefer to do them separately starting with lowercase, but I find doing them together helps with letter recognition and lessens confusion when it's time to use the uppercase letters. Plus, I love that each page gives the student a word with that letter they've just practiced. The main thing I loved was that my daughter ask for "Princess School" every morning!
The Bendon Pusblishing activity boks made a wonderful advanced preschool option for us! Plus, since they are available in a variety of characters, the motivation for school is built in. Characters available include:
- Sesame Street
- Disney: Princess, Fairies, Little Einsteins, Cars, Tigger and Pooh
- Mickey Mouse Club
- Handy Manny
- Hello Kitty
- Word World
- Littlest Pet Shop
- Marvel Heroes
- NASCAR
- Veggietales
This is no where near a complete list of what they have!
The particular book I used was the Disney Princess Alphabet. By the time we got to this book, we had worked our way through 4 Step Ahead books (see previous entry). This is NOT a book you want to start with, as it just jumps right in with the writing of letters on actual lines.
The book actually starts out with blank lined pages. The first thing I did was skip those and came back to them once she learned all the letters. The rest of the pages look a little something like this one.
I had her practice the uppercase and lowercase simultaneously. I know most curriculums and teachers prefer to do them separately starting with lowercase, but I find doing them together helps with letter recognition and lessens confusion when it's time to use the uppercase letters. Plus, I love that each page gives the student a word with that letter they've just practiced. The main thing I loved was that my daughter ask for "Princess School" every morning!
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