I can't believe my little one is 6!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
Weekly Wrap-up 8/24/12
Well, the first week of the school year is done, and so far it's gone great. T loves the workbox concept, and it's really gone a LONG way towards getting her to work independently. She's happy to be in second grade and to get to work on Brownie Patches. She is also loving Sonlight Core B and all the extra reading. We are finally getting to all the great books I had on my want to read list but never got to! 90% of them are scheduled in a Sonlight Core, and we just use the others to swap out for books that are too religious for our tastes. We are tweaking the Core B IG slightly, as we don't do the bible portions and we are omitting Missionary Stories with the Millers and From Abeku to Zapotec due to their heavy religious content.
Here's what she completed:
Earned the Discover Key from the Brownie Girl Scout Brownie Quest Journey
Earned the Brownie Earth & Sky try-it
Read Clara and the Bookwagon
Completed pages 1 thru 10 in MCP Math B
Completed pages 1 thru 5 in Climbing to Good English 2
Completed pages 16 thru 23 in Zaner-Bloser Handwriting 1
Completed pages 2 thru 13 in Behold and See 2 learning about Simple tools, inclined planes and levers.
Read 3 poems from Favorite Poems of Childhood : "The Land of Nod", "Hurt No Living Thing" and "The Cat of Cats"
Read the first 6 chapters of Charlotte's Web
Read the first 5 chapters of More Days Go By Pathways Reader and completed pages 1 thru 10 in the workbook
Read pages 1 thru 11 of Usborne Peoples of the World {we are using an older edition with a white cover, not the newer internet-linked edition}
Read and completed pages 20 and 21 of Rod & Staff Proper Manners and Health Habits 2
Read chapters 1 thru 3 of The Long Way to a New Land
And a little artwork for the week! This is T's drawing of Wilbur meeting Charlotte:
Here's what she completed:
Earned the Discover Key from the Brownie Girl Scout Brownie Quest Journey
Earned the Brownie Earth & Sky try-it
Read Clara and the Bookwagon
Completed pages 1 thru 10 in MCP Math B
Completed pages 1 thru 5 in Climbing to Good English 2
Completed pages 16 thru 23 in Zaner-Bloser Handwriting 1
Completed pages 2 thru 13 in Behold and See 2 learning about Simple tools, inclined planes and levers.
Read 3 poems from Favorite Poems of Childhood : "The Land of Nod", "Hurt No Living Thing" and "The Cat of Cats"
Read the first 6 chapters of Charlotte's Web
Read the first 5 chapters of More Days Go By Pathways Reader and completed pages 1 thru 10 in the workbook
Read pages 1 thru 11 of Usborne Peoples of the World {we are using an older edition with a white cover, not the newer internet-linked edition}
Read and completed pages 20 and 21 of Rod & Staff Proper Manners and Health Habits 2
Read chapters 1 thru 3 of The Long Way to a New Land
And a little artwork for the week! This is T's drawing of Wilbur meeting Charlotte:
And here are our workboxes with books inside! On the sectioned shelf below are all the rest of our books for the year, with the first section being Mama's teacher books & answer keys :). Under that shelf peeking out are our magnetic letters, some boxes that need sorted through {I've been working on cleaning the schoolroom while T works on schoolwork}, and other larger things like out cash register and electronic learning clock.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Update 3/14 - Pi Day!
It's Pi Day! For us, that means I normally make a pie to celebrate. Today I'm not so sure - we're recovering from Bronchitis and a nasty cold bug, plus I'm dealing with raising funds to keep my home as it's in pre-foreclosure {they haven't set a sale date yet}. Thankfully we have nearly enough and with a yard sale on Friday and Saturday I should have enough to keep the house. So all in all we've been pretty busy. We haven't schooled in a few weeks - we were all just too sick. Hopefully we will start back on Monday - It's spring break here and beautiful weather so we're enjoying it. Tomorrow we have plans to go to Morgan's Wonderland and see an exotic animal show.
Our plants for science are growing well mostly, and our butterflies did okay as well. 2 died after they turned into butterflies due to wing problems, but we were able to release 3 outside.
The foreclosure actually turned into a blessing - it gave me the push to declutter a lot of curriculum {and other things} I'd been holding onto without really intending to use it. Now we have space on our bookshelves and I have a better idea of where we are going homeschooling and curriculum wise. Now if I could just get the rest of the decluttered books to sell lol.
Our plants for science are growing well mostly, and our butterflies did okay as well. 2 died after they turned into butterflies due to wing problems, but we were able to release 3 outside.
The foreclosure actually turned into a blessing - it gave me the push to declutter a lot of curriculum {and other things} I'd been holding onto without really intending to use it. Now we have space on our bookshelves and I have a better idea of where we are going homeschooling and curriculum wise. Now if I could just get the rest of the decluttered books to sell lol.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Weekly Wrap-up 2/17/2012
This has been an interesting week - we have schooled in spurts, mostly at night. I haven't been feeling 100% all week, and it's still cold rainy, so things have just not been going according to schedule. In fact I'm not 100% sure how much we got done this week, but I'm okay with that. Next week we will try to catch up, but I have quite a bit of stuff to do so we'll see how it goes.
Math - T did either 9 or 12 pages this week {not sure as I said above} We finished on page 41 this week.
Reading - T has improved greatly and is now reading out loud for reading. We only did 2 stories this week in reading, and the 4 workbook pages that accompanied them.
Grammar - T only did 4 pages of Climbing to Good English 1 this week. We are now completed through page 17. I am still considering skipping ahead in this book.
Science - We didn't get any formal lessons done, but we did observe our caterpillars eat and grow and turn into chrysalises. So far 4 of the 5 have turned, and 1 is still eating and growing. We also observed the growth of our plants that we planted last week, and watered them daily.
Handwriting - We did 1.5 pages of handwriting this week. DD is feeling the increased writing demands and complaining her hand hurts, so we took it easy this week. We have completed through page 10 and part of page 12.
Spelling - We skipped Spelling this week - since she placed farther ahead in the book I'm okay with it.
World Geography - We have dropped the R&S World Geography book. It just wasn't working for us at all. I am considering starting the Tour the Continents I had planned for second grade now, and working through it slowly, then spreading our Tour a Country program over second and third grade.
Manners & Health - We did 1 lesson this week, the topic was respecting other's personal space.
Girl Scouts - We didn't work on anything for Girl Scouts this week - I might try to squeeze in a Journey Session tomorrow if T is willing.
Math - T did either 9 or 12 pages this week {not sure as I said above} We finished on page 41 this week.
Reading - T has improved greatly and is now reading out loud for reading. We only did 2 stories this week in reading, and the 4 workbook pages that accompanied them.
Grammar - T only did 4 pages of Climbing to Good English 1 this week. We are now completed through page 17. I am still considering skipping ahead in this book.
Science - We didn't get any formal lessons done, but we did observe our caterpillars eat and grow and turn into chrysalises. So far 4 of the 5 have turned, and 1 is still eating and growing. We also observed the growth of our plants that we planted last week, and watered them daily.
Handwriting - We did 1.5 pages of handwriting this week. DD is feeling the increased writing demands and complaining her hand hurts, so we took it easy this week. We have completed through page 10 and part of page 12.
Spelling - We skipped Spelling this week - since she placed farther ahead in the book I'm okay with it.
World Geography - We have dropped the R&S World Geography book. It just wasn't working for us at all. I am considering starting the Tour the Continents I had planned for second grade now, and working through it slowly, then spreading our Tour a Country program over second and third grade.
Manners & Health - We did 1 lesson this week, the topic was respecting other's personal space.
Girl Scouts - We didn't work on anything for Girl Scouts this week - I might try to squeeze in a Journey Session tomorrow if T is willing.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Weekly Wrap-up
Here's our Weekly Wrap-up. The week got off to a slow start and we skipped school on Monday. It was one of those cold rainy days that just makes you want to sleep all day - so we did just that.
Math:
T completed 15 pages of MCP Math A - We are now in chapter 2 and working on Addition, T's current favorite thing to do. T is now a full 2 days ahead in math {but I'm not telling her!}
Reading:
T read 4 stories from Days Go By Pathway Reader, and completed 10 workbook pages to go with the 4 stories. We are slowly working on the issue of her not wanting to read aloud for school - I have managed to get her to read up to 4 sentences aloud at a time this week, so we are gaining.
Grammar:
T completed 8 pages of Climbing to Good English 1. I am considering jumping ahead in the book - she already knows the material we are reviewing currently.
Science:
T read 3 pages of Behold and See 1, planted from roots a carrot and sweet potato in water, and planted from seeds in soil 5 types of seeds. Our butterfly caterpillars arrived Thursday, so T is observing their growth and behavior.
Handwriting:
T completed 5 pages of Zaner Bloser Handwriting a Way to Self Expression 1. I am finding this text works much better for her than what we were previously using. I am excited to see how her writing improves by the end of the course.
Spelling:
Finally placed her in Rod & Staff Spelling 2 at week 14 - now just waiting for the student book to arrive to begin lessons.
World Geography:
We skipped this this week - I am not really liking our Rod & Staff Our Father's World text, so I am thinking strongly of dropping this until next year when we'll use a different program that covers the same material.
Girl Scouts:
T finished up earning her Sunny petal, and is now working on earning the Mari petal. We also completed session 1 of Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Journey, and planted Purple Coneflowers for our daisy garden.
Manners & Health:
Completed Lesson 2 of Rod & Staff Manners & Health 2. The topic was good table manners.
Read Aloud:
We continued reading from Little House in the Big Woods.
Math:
T completed 15 pages of MCP Math A - We are now in chapter 2 and working on Addition, T's current favorite thing to do. T is now a full 2 days ahead in math {but I'm not telling her!}
Reading:
T read 4 stories from Days Go By Pathway Reader, and completed 10 workbook pages to go with the 4 stories. We are slowly working on the issue of her not wanting to read aloud for school - I have managed to get her to read up to 4 sentences aloud at a time this week, so we are gaining.
Grammar:
T completed 8 pages of Climbing to Good English 1. I am considering jumping ahead in the book - she already knows the material we are reviewing currently.
Science:
T read 3 pages of Behold and See 1, planted from roots a carrot and sweet potato in water, and planted from seeds in soil 5 types of seeds. Our butterfly caterpillars arrived Thursday, so T is observing their growth and behavior.
Handwriting:
T completed 5 pages of Zaner Bloser Handwriting a Way to Self Expression 1. I am finding this text works much better for her than what we were previously using. I am excited to see how her writing improves by the end of the course.
Spelling:
Finally placed her in Rod & Staff Spelling 2 at week 14 - now just waiting for the student book to arrive to begin lessons.
World Geography:
We skipped this this week - I am not really liking our Rod & Staff Our Father's World text, so I am thinking strongly of dropping this until next year when we'll use a different program that covers the same material.
Girl Scouts:
T finished up earning her Sunny petal, and is now working on earning the Mari petal. We also completed session 1 of Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Journey, and planted Purple Coneflowers for our daisy garden.
Manners & Health:
Completed Lesson 2 of Rod & Staff Manners & Health 2. The topic was good table manners.
Read Aloud:
We continued reading from Little House in the Big Woods.
Some photos from this week:
T drawing of "Mr. Carrot and Mrs. Sweet Potato"
We practiced recycling by using empty 2 liter soda bottles to plant our seeds into
Our Butterfly Caterpillars, just after arrival. In a few weeks we'll have Painted Lady Butterflies!
T's drawing of a Monarch butterfly
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Interesting last few days
It's been an interesting last few days around here. Monday we ended up not doing school at all - T just didn't want to do school, it was a cold rainy day better made for snuggling under the covers than sitting at the school table. So She agreed to do double work on Tuesday if we could have Monday off. Tuesday I had to go grocery shopping {was supposed to have gone Monday but it was too wet to go}, so we didn't get started on school until around 5 in the evening. Normally I wouldn't have even bothered, but I know we're going to miss another one and maybe two days this week as I have to be out of the house, so we needed to get some done.
So last night we were doing good - did Monday's, Tuesday's, and an extra day's Math work, Monday's English, Reading and we were starting on Science. We had a science project to do - rooting vegetables from seeds and roots. We couldn't find the seeds we needed, so I opted for just doing the root portion last night and we'll do the seed portion today {if I can find the seeds}. So we set out - got the jars, water in a pitcher, and a sweet potato and a carrot. Carrot was easy - cut the bottom half off, stick in the toothpicks, put in jar and fill with water. The problem came with the sweet potato. First off it didn't fit in our jar - so I had to go find out online if we could cut it or not. Verdict came in to cut it - so I started trying. It wouldn't cut at all - I had to go find the big meat cleaver to get it to split, and then to half one of the halves. Okay, got that done, toothpicks put in, water filled halfway up in jar.
Then my hand started itching - I didn't really think much of it, went and washed with soap and it got better. Unfortunately then my lips started swelling - apparently I'm allergic to raw sweet potato. I knew I never liked them - but I've eaten sweet potato pie and not had a problem so I am thinking it is just the raw ones. So after a double dose of benedryl and school being finished up early {we skipped Girl scout projects and geography} I crashed and slept like a rock.
Hopefully today will be better....I don't want to see worse!
So last night we were doing good - did Monday's, Tuesday's, and an extra day's Math work, Monday's English, Reading and we were starting on Science. We had a science project to do - rooting vegetables from seeds and roots. We couldn't find the seeds we needed, so I opted for just doing the root portion last night and we'll do the seed portion today {if I can find the seeds}. So we set out - got the jars, water in a pitcher, and a sweet potato and a carrot. Carrot was easy - cut the bottom half off, stick in the toothpicks, put in jar and fill with water. The problem came with the sweet potato. First off it didn't fit in our jar - so I had to go find out online if we could cut it or not. Verdict came in to cut it - so I started trying. It wouldn't cut at all - I had to go find the big meat cleaver to get it to split, and then to half one of the halves. Okay, got that done, toothpicks put in, water filled halfway up in jar.
Then my hand started itching - I didn't really think much of it, went and washed with soap and it got better. Unfortunately then my lips started swelling - apparently I'm allergic to raw sweet potato. I knew I never liked them - but I've eaten sweet potato pie and not had a problem so I am thinking it is just the raw ones. So after a double dose of benedryl and school being finished up early {we skipped Girl scout projects and geography} I crashed and slept like a rock.
Hopefully today will be better....I don't want to see worse!
Friday, February 3, 2012
Weekly Wrap-up 2/3/1012
Today finishes our first week back to school, even if it only was a half-week. We decided last night to postpone the yard sale until next weekend - with the rain and I wasn't feeling well I thought it best to not push it. So we're schooling instead today.
So far this week DD finished:
Math - 7 pages of MCP Math A. We are doing number review for the most part, with an emphasis on writing numbers correctly.
Reading - the 1st three stories from Days Go By Pathway Reader, with accompanying 6 workbook pages.
Grammar / English - 6 pages from Climbing to Good English 1. These focused on short vowel sounds in words.
Science - 4 pages from Behold and See 1, including a project classifying seeds as monocots or dicots. We gathered materials today for our project on Monday, planting seeds, carrots from tops, and sweet potatoes from tops.
Handwriting - 3 pages from Handwriting a Way to Self Expression 1.
Spelling - still trying to place her - she has spelled correctly all but about 5 words of the R&S Speller 2 up to week 14 so far. I plan on testing her on the rest tonight. I suspect she will move to the 3rd grade book soon.
Manners & Health - Finished lesson 1 of R&S Manners / Health 2. This weeks lesson was on using kind words like please, thank you, excuse me, you are welcome, and I am sorry.
World Geography - Read 1.5 pages of lesson 1 R&S Our Fathers World 2. I'm not as happy with this text as I thought I'd be - DD finds it boring. I am going to give it another week, if she and I are still unhappy with it we will drop the subject for this year.
Girl Scouts - Worked on Sunny Petal {friendly and helpful}, will complete projects over the weekend to earn petal.
Not too bad for a 3 day school week.
I also ordered our butterflies from Insect Lore - so in a week or so we will start a new project raising butterflies in addition to our other science projects. I hope to get to ladybugs, worms, and tadpoles this year as well - T loves animals and enjoys seeing them up close.
So far this week DD finished:
Math - 7 pages of MCP Math A. We are doing number review for the most part, with an emphasis on writing numbers correctly.
Reading - the 1st three stories from Days Go By Pathway Reader, with accompanying 6 workbook pages.
Grammar / English - 6 pages from Climbing to Good English 1. These focused on short vowel sounds in words.
Science - 4 pages from Behold and See 1, including a project classifying seeds as monocots or dicots. We gathered materials today for our project on Monday, planting seeds, carrots from tops, and sweet potatoes from tops.
Handwriting - 3 pages from Handwriting a Way to Self Expression 1.
Spelling - still trying to place her - she has spelled correctly all but about 5 words of the R&S Speller 2 up to week 14 so far. I plan on testing her on the rest tonight. I suspect she will move to the 3rd grade book soon.
Manners & Health - Finished lesson 1 of R&S Manners / Health 2. This weeks lesson was on using kind words like please, thank you, excuse me, you are welcome, and I am sorry.
World Geography - Read 1.5 pages of lesson 1 R&S Our Fathers World 2. I'm not as happy with this text as I thought I'd be - DD finds it boring. I am going to give it another week, if she and I are still unhappy with it we will drop the subject for this year.
Girl Scouts - Worked on Sunny Petal {friendly and helpful}, will complete projects over the weekend to earn petal.
Not too bad for a 3 day school week.
I also ordered our butterflies from Insect Lore - so in a week or so we will start a new project raising butterflies in addition to our other science projects. I hope to get to ladybugs, worms, and tadpoles this year as well - T loves animals and enjoys seeing them up close.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Day 2 of 1st grade & weekly recap
Well, today went a lot smoother. DD actually read just a little bit {not much} on her own, and school didn't take quite as long today. Tomorrow will probably be a school holiday on account of us having a yard sale, but we will have to see the weather in the morning to know for sure.
First day back at school
Well, we managed to get our first day back to school done yesterday with only a few minor hiccups. T is still not wanting to write or to read out loud, so we are doing a lot of assignments orally rather than writing. So far everything we are using seems to be working for us, so I'm thrilled with that. I do still need to find an art program for T - she is very good at art but entirely self-taught from books and TV shows, and I'd like her to have a little more instruction in it.
T working on the workbook pages to go with Days Go By Pathway Reader
The rose T drew and colored after we finished school. You can't see it in the photo, but she had drawn pencil lines inside the red portion to look like rose petals.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Week in review
Not much to post here as we aren't doing formal schooling this week, but I thought I'd post anyways. T has been doing lots of unschooling using Jumpstart 1st grade, Jumpstart Music and Arthur's Reading Games on her PC. And doing lots of drawings too of rainbows and such.
On my end, I've just about nailed down our lesson plans, with the exception of the items I'm still waiting on to come in the mail. We will start back to formal lessons on Monday hopefully, but next week is looking pretty busy as I have labwork to do, a Dr. appointment, a trip to the homeschool center, and we're having a yard sale on Friday and Saturday. So it's entirely possible that it might be delayed a week. But I'm okay with that.
On my end, I've just about nailed down our lesson plans, with the exception of the items I'm still waiting on to come in the mail. We will start back to formal lessons on Monday hopefully, but next week is looking pretty busy as I have labwork to do, a Dr. appointment, a trip to the homeschool center, and we're having a yard sale on Friday and Saturday. So it's entirely possible that it might be delayed a week. But I'm okay with that.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Waiting is such agony.....
Don't you hate waiting? I know I do - and right now we're in the limbo of waiting for things to come in the mail. I ordered the last of DD's textbooks last week, and went ahead and put in a request to The Book Samaritan for her second grade items, and now I'm in the limbo of WAITING for the packages to come in the mail. I have somewhere around 12-15 packages all somewhere in the mail system, the majority of which are for use this year. With the recent decrease in mail speed, the waiting has become even longer.
I have Amazon gift cards burning a hole in my pocket, and I can't order because I don't know what will be filled from my request to the Book Samaritan.
Guess I should get back to my school room cleaning and organizing - it will keep my mind off the waiting.
I have Amazon gift cards burning a hole in my pocket, and I can't order because I don't know what will be filled from my request to the Book Samaritan.
Guess I should get back to my school room cleaning and organizing - it will keep my mind off the waiting.
Reviving my old blog
We're reviving our school year, and with it I decided to revive my old blog. A lot has changed since I started this blog - we've changed home school programs, I'm no longer Catholic as I've converted to Islam, and T is now 5.5 instead of not quite 4. She's learned a lot over the past year, and I've had to tweak my educational choices to keep up with her.
Here's what we're using now for 1st grade:
Here's what we're using now for 1st grade:
MCP math A
Climbing to Good English 1
Pathway readers grade 1 & 2 with workbooks
Behold & See 1 from CHC
Inquisikids science dvds
Zaner Bloser Handwriting A Way to Self Expression 1
R&S spelling 2
R&S Manners & Health 2
R&S Our Father's World 2
We'll also be working our way through history - I am spreading world history over 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades. I haven't found a textbook for this yet that I like, so we're going to use lapbooks and books from the library for this one.
We'll also be working our way through history - I am spreading world history over 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades. I haven't found a textbook for this yet that I like, so we're going to use lapbooks and books from the library for this one.
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