Weeks 15-17!

We started school back up after our Christmas break feeling refreshed, and ready to start some new things! So far the 3 weeks since have been quite good! Here's a rundown...

L:
Math: Continues to work on memorizing multiplication facts, and working through his math book. Took a test on Friday of week 17 and scored an A!

Spelling: Continuing to work through Spelling Wisdom...using copywork/studied dictation to learn to spell. This is working well for L and he enjoys it...so that's a plus!

Writing With Ease 2: We are almost done with this book...completed weeks 32-34. This includes narration and dictation of passages from books. He will complete this in 2 weeks.

Pictures in Cursive Primer: have moved onto copying words that are associated with the pictures. Working out well so far!

Reading: Daily reading aloud is improving his reading skills. Currently, I let him choose what he reads to me...he likes that!

Logic: Weekly logic pages...these 3 weeks the pages were covering analogies.

L has also started several new things...
Writing Tales 1: This is a curriculum that teaches writing in such a fun way! It has been a hit these past 3 weeks! Each story is presented and used for 2 weeks. During the first week, L has to rewrite the story in his own words, staying true to what happened in the original. Then during the second week, he gets to write a rough draft of the story with his own creative touches in it. Then we edit it together, and at the end of the week he writes a final copy of his own story. There are also grammar, dictionary, copywork, and spelling concepts reviewed through the 2 weeks dealing with the story. I decided to let L practice his typing skills using this book...so he is typing each story on the computer and then we can print them all out. He is really enjoying this!! A Big THUMBS UP for Writing Tales!!!!

Daily Language Review: This book is also working out well. It has 1/2 page of various grammar concepts each day...it includes editing for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes, along with many other grammar concepts. Each day is different, and it is working out wonderfully!



G:

Started Speech Therapy on Dec. 31st. She needs some help correcting the way she says the "sh," "ch," and "r" sounds. She goes once every two weeks, and we have worked on her review pages each day during her school time. She is already improving on the "sh" and "ch" sounds!

Math: Took a test on Friday of week 17 and scored 100% on it! She does well in math!!!

Phonics: She is working through the end of Explode the Code book 5. These weeks she did lessons 8-10, and she will finish this book next week! She worked on sounds like "ey" in "honey" this week.

Grammar: She worked with what makes a sentence complete, the different kinds of sentences, and Capital letters on proper nouns. This is one of G's favorite subjects...Yay for Growing with Grammar 2!

Writing: She is almost at the end of Writing with Ease book 1, as she completed weeks 32-34. This includes copywork and narration skills. She needs to work more on listening and answering questions in complete sentences, but this book is doing well for her on that.

Logic: Her logic pages also included work with analogies.

Pictures in Cursive primer: She struggles a bit more than L in cursive, but is doing ok with it.

Reading: Her reading aloud skills have improved so much! She is really starting to enjoy reading to me and choosing books!


Together:

History: We finished Story of the World book 1 (Ancients!!) This means we have learned about the fall of Rome. We are ready next week to start the Middle Ages!

D: Continues learning letter sounds, numbers, colors...plays with puzzles...enjoys painting...sings lots of songs...and loves his Thomas trains!!!!!!! He's having fun being 3!!


I feel we have been very productive these last 3 weeks, and look for that to continue! I'm so happy with the progress the kids are making, and we are getting school done in a much more timely manner than we used to! Hope it keeps getting better!

Weeks 7-14

OK, so once again, not so good at keeping up with updating this! Sorry about that! So here are some highlights for the weeks through Christmas...

G played soccer during October...kept us very very busy during each week! She really enjoyed it though, and it was great for her to break out of her shell a bit, so it was totally worth it. Both L and G started basketball in November, and that continues once a week through March. G started off not liking it, but has made a few friends and now really enjoys it.

In math, both kids kept moving forward...and scored A's on quizzes and tests to prove they are retaining it. They both continued on with grammar, writing, weekly logic pages, history, reading, etc. All this to quickly say that we remained on track and had a productive first 14 weeks!

We also started meeting with some other homeschooling friends twice a month for an art class. That has been very nice for us as well!

G turned 7 in October and we celebrated by going to pizza hut on her birthday. Then we had a small costume party complete with mini pumpkin pies a week later at her grandparent's house. Her big gift was a mp3 player and in I-dog.

D turned 3 in November! He had a party at each of his grandparents' houses...and was thrilled to get lots of Thomas the train and Diego stuff!

We all got sick the week before Christmas, so we only did 14 weeks of school instead of 15...no stress about it though, since we school year round!

We had a very nice Holiday...spending time with our family was wonderful! We started the new year refreshed! I'll post about the past 3 weeks in a little while!

Weeks 5 and 6!

Weeks 5 and 6 were busy, and it doesn't look like we are slowing down anytime soon! I'm just going to do a quick rundown of some highlights here, so not everything we did will be included in this report.

Math: L is working hard to memorize the x3 table. He enjoys multiplication...just takes him some time to memorize them all. G worked on facts that involve the number 11 (for example, 7+4=11, 3+8=11, 11-9=2, etc.) She finds math easy at this point. (Yay!)

Grammar: L did some work with adverbs. G learned about the subject and predicate parts of sentences. Grammar remains "fun!" for them both.

They both love the Greek Alphabet Code Cracker. Ancient history is fun. We are still reciting Ooey Gooey, while learning the next poem. For writing, G did copywork and narrations, and L did copywork, narrations, and dictations for weeks 24 and 25 in their respective books. Both of their reading and phonics work has improved dramatically since the spring...I'm so proud of how well they are both reading! Logic has been a fun once a week add on this year, and they enjoy it so far. We started reading the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, beginning with The Lightning Thief. The kids enjoy Greek myths and this series is tying right into that. We are enjoying it so far.

We met with some other homeschool friends for park day on Tuesday of week 6. That is always an enjoyable time, out in nature at the park with friends! This time though, we all went on a leaf hunt and then did leaf rubbings at the pavillion. That was a lot of fun for the kids! 2 1/2 year old D really enjoyed picking up leaves to put in his bag! L and G liked seeing how the rubbings worked on the paper. That was an enjoyable morning out!

Soccer started for G. (L's age group was cancelled due to lack of parent coach volunteers.) She has had several practices and 2 games already. The first game was in the rain. I'll share a few pictures from it. The second game was cancelled due to heavier rain on thursday...and made up yesterday. This soccer league will keep us very busy this month, but it is really good for all of us to get out even in the colder weather! We are very proud of how G has participated and given her best in the games so far...she is overcoming her shyness a bit and it is very good for her!

D's preschool hasn't officially started yet...I'm looking at starting once he turns 3 next month. He spends a lot of time learning letters, counting, drawing, putting together puzzles, playing with his trains, learning about (and acting out!) animals, etc. He's even memorizing poems with us! He's learning quite a bit without doing anything formally with him yet!

We are really off to a great school year! I hope the next 30+ weeks go as well as these first 6 have! Here are a few pictures from leaf collecting at the park and G's first soccer game in the rain! There's also one of D when he spontaneously made a "T" with 2 rulers on the floor. Enjoy!

Weeks 3 and 4!

Weeks 3 and 4 went really well! We are off to a great start for this year! Here's a peak at some of what we did:

L age 9:

Math: Began working with multiplying by 3. Worked with place value through hundred thousands. Took a test at the end of week 3 and scored 96/100! Took a quiz at the end of week 4 and scored 97/100! Used our new multiplication Learning Wrap Ups, and they are a hit!

Grammar: Worked with adjectives that tell whose or which one (this, those), adjectives that compare (bigger, tallest), and the articles (a, an, the). He continues to enjoy diagramming!

Phonics: Week 3 worked on suffixes -ous and -or (like the words marvelous and professor.) Week 4 worked on suffixes -ist and -ity (like the words organist and festivity.) I am glad we went ahead and did the last book of the Explode the Code series (book 8) this fall even though his reading is going well. It is really cementing the larger words in his mind.

Spelling: He did exercises 3-5. These included words like practice, content, everything, laborer, worthy, and hire. He is enjoying doing spelling by the "studied dictation" method, and I really like the way it incorporates words in context instead of random lists. So far so good with spelling!

Writing: He completed weeks 22 and 23 in Writing With Ease 2. These included copywork, narration, and dictation from selections like "The Hare That Ran Away" and "Little Women."

Free Reading: He read aloud to his siblings at night before bed. They got through chapter 8 of Time Warp Trio's Knights of the Kitchen Table.



G age 6 1/2:
Math: She is working on telling time, counting money, and a lot of addition and subtraction. Some new facts included 11-8=3 and 7+4=11. She took a test at the end of week 3 and scored 95/100! She took a quiz at the end of week 4 and scored 98/100! She particularly has enjoyed the new addition and subtraction Learning Wrap Ups and they give great extra practice on the facts!

Grammar: She finished the 1st grade level of Growing with Grammar at the end of week 4 and is ready to move on to the 2nd grade level! She did work with adjectives also during these two weeks. Grammar is a favorite of G's!

Phonics: She did lessons 8 and 9 in book 4 of Explode the Code. Lesson 8 was about dividing words that have a consonant between 2 vowels after the consonant (vc/v.) Lesson 9 covered words that end in y (sounding like a long e.)

Reading: We are working through Phonics Pathways and her reading is going well. I have been just setting the timer for her and reading as far as we get in the time set. It is working well.

Writing: She also completed weeks 23 and 24 but in Writing With Ease book 1. She did copywork and narration from selections of "The Velveteen Rabbit" and "How to Eat Fried Worms."


Both L and G Together:

Cursive: They both started working through the primer book of Pictures in Cursive. Each day they work on 2 letters in cusive right now. During weeks 3 and 4 they did through lesson 9 which included all 5 vowels, and consonants through P. L especially enjoys learning cursive.

Poetry: We started poetry memorization in week 4. We are using IEW's (Institute for Excellence in Writing) Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization. We memorized poem 1 in week 4. I want to share it because the kids think it is great! Even 2 year old D started memorizing it!

Ooey Gooey, by Unknown Author
Ooey Gooey was a worm,
A mighty worm was he;
He stepped upon the railroad tracks,
The train he did not see!
Oooooey Goooooey!


Greek: We started the Greek Alphabet Code Cracker in week 4 also. This is a huge hit so far! We are decoding Greek letters into English to solve the mystery of who took the Urn from the museum. It is great so far and I am enjoying it right along with them!

History: We learned about Ancient India, life along the Ganges River, and Buddha.

Logic: Both did 2 lessons in their logic books about Relationships between words. For example...give a word that fits in with this group...torch, lamp, candle...and G said "flashlight." Or this one...blue jay, robin, hawk...and L said "woodpecker."


D age 2 1/2:
He is continuing to learn his letter sounds (thanks Leapfrog!!!) and enjoys being read to. The Duty Box continues to be a hit, although I need to get some more activities to put in it now to keep it from getting too repetitive.

We instituted "Monday Funday" in week 4 and will continue it for a while. We did the daily subjects of cursive and math, and then spent the afternoon on poetry, Greek, and whatever fun things come up!

Our homeschool is off to a terrific year! Looking forward to many adventures in our learning!

Weeks 1 and 2!

Weeks 1 and 2 are now completed and we are off to a great start! Here is what we accomplished.

Week 1 began on Monday August 31, 2009. For this week we focused on Math, History, and getting used to the new "D" Duty box.

In Math, both L and G did a lesson each day. On Monday it was obvious that they hadn't done any flashcards for a month, but by Friday I could tell they were getting back into the groove! That was my biggest goal for the first week (we actually started a week earlier than I had planned for the purpose of making up for a month of no math.) Speed drills continue to be a huge hit for math...each of the kids checking to compare how they did on previous days! What a great motivator that is turning out to be for them!

For History, we learned a bit about Ancient Rome. We all really enjoy listening to the Story of the World on CD (read by Jim Weiss.) We also did the map work and coloring page from our activity guide. We have also been listening to Jim Weiss' audiorecording of Greek Myths. L in particular is fascinated by the Greek Myths and it makes way for a lot of discussion, which has been wonderful.

We started a new thing this week also for our Preschooler D (he'll be 3 in November, so we are calling him a Preschooler now, which he thinks is really cool!) L and G worked together to decorate a shoe box which we now call the "D" Duty box (we use his full name in place of the D.) It became the hit of the week! Each day during math time for L, G has "D" duty. She takes the box in to the living room with D and together they do whatever I put in the box for them to do! It's basically semi-structured play/learning time for them to do together. Then when L is finished with math, they switch places, with new items in the box. Some things that they've found to do so far are puzzles, reading books, playing a matching Thomas the Train game, rolling a soft ball through two cones, and putting stickers on paper. D loves the "Duty Box" and it gives each of the kids 1 on 1 time with him. It also gives them less distractable time for math, which is very important. So far, it's a hit!

On Tuesday of Week 1, we also had Park Day with our homeschool group. This is always a great time to get together with friends, socialize, and play for a couple hours twice a month. We are going to miss park day when the weather gets cold (but it may be replaced with bowling day then!)

So that was Week 1.

This week was Week 2. It was a 4 day week because of Labor Day. We added in most of our Language Arts classes this week to the Math and History. I'll just give a quick overview.

Math: daily practice is going well, flashcards and speed drills are well loved by both L and G...working on getting the facts down solid! L's favorite is multiplication, and G's favorite is addition.

Grammar: G worked with rhyming words this week. L started the chapter on adjectives.

Writing: Both did week 21 in their respective books...this includes copywork and narrations for G and copywork, narrations, and dictations for L.

Phonics: L did week 1 of book 8 for Explode the Code. This week it was about suffixes -ness and -less. This is the final book of the series, and he continues to enjoy it. G is in the middle of book 4 and covered dividing v/cv words into syllables like ho-tel and ti-ger. She also is working hard on her reading using a new book called Phonics Pathways. This week we set the timer for 15 minutes each day and read until it beeped!

Bible reading: each day the kids read aloud to me from their own Bibles and then we discussed what the days' passage was about.

Spelling: L started a new book titled Spelling Wisdom. It incorporates spelling into usage of the words in sentences instead of just word lists. He did the first 2 passages this week and declared that he really likes spelling! For now we are using the book this way...
day 1: copy the passage, spell each word aloud, practice any word that is unfamiliar both aloud and writing it. later in the day be prepared for mom to ask for the spelling of any of the words at any time.
day 2: review the passage. Write it while mom dictates it line by line. If it is all correctly spelled, move on to the next passage on day 3. If anything is missed, review again, and do the dictation again the next day.
As the passages get longer with more unknown words, I expect that we may need more days to go from copying it to studying the words to being able to take dictation on them. L especially enjoyed showing me that he could spell the word "ought" in exercise 1 this week!

History: This week we learned a bit about Hannibal and the Punic Wars. Again, we all are enjoying learning about history!

Science: We took an informal field trip of sorts to a friends house today to buy some fresh farm chicken eggs. They raise chickens and sell the eggs, and we wanted to try the fresh eggs! So it became a short play date and mini field trip as the kids got to see, pet, and feed the chickens! They really enjoyed that (Thanks again K!!) and we would love to visit their home again to play and see the chickens!

We also turned in our registration today for soccer for both L and G. They are both excited to play soccer again and can't wait for practices to start! Basketball starts in November, also, and they are excited about that as well!

G also lost her 4th tooth...leaving a large hole on the top of her mouth! It's too cute, but makes it difficult sometimes for her to eat!

We have gotten off to a great start! Next week we will add in cursive writing practice and earth science. And D will start Heart of Dakota's Little Hands To Heaven preschool curriculum for ages 2-5. I hope he enjoys having some school time with mom along with his "D" Duty Box time with his brother and sister! Looking forward to a wonderful year! Here are a few pictures! Enjoy.

New School Year!

Well, the 2009-2010 school year has begun! I just wanted to take a minute and share the curriculum we will be using this year.




L is now in 4th grade.

Math: Christian Light Education (CLE) Math

Writing: Writing With Ease (finish level 2 in the fall), then Writing Tales 1 (start in January)

Grammar: finish Growing With Grammar level 3, then Mad Libs, Daily Language Review grade 4 (Evan Moor), and maybe Punctuation Puzzlers.

Spelling: Spelling Wisdom

Phonics: Finish the Explode the Code series with book 8

Reading: Unsure...looking at Mosdos Press' new 4th grade book "Ruby"

Cursive: Pictures in Cursive Primer, book 1, and book 2

Greek: Greek Alphabet Code Cracker (we may go on to the Hey Andrew! series or Greek for Children if he is interested.)

Latin: We may put this off, or we may start in January... The Great Latin Adventure book 1

History: Finish Story of the World 1 (ancients) and then move onto Story of the World 2 (middle ages)

Science: A Child's Geography (earth science)

Poetry Memorization: IEW's Developing Linguistic Patterns Through Poetry Memorization

Bible: read the Day By Day Kid's Bible

Logic: Logic Countdown, and Logic Safari 2

Music: Piano and theory using several resources

Computers: Web Design for Kids (...and Curious Grown-Ups!) http://www.webdesignforkids.net/

PE: Fall Soccer
Basketball (November through March)






G is now in 2nd grade.

Math: Christian Light Education (CLE) Math

Writing: Writing With Ease (finish level 1 in the fall, then on to level 2)

Grammar: Growing With Grammar 2

Phonics: Explode the Code books 4-7

Reading: Phonics Pathways

Cursive: Pictures in Cursive Primer, book 1, and book 2

Greek: Greek Alphabet Code Cracker (we may go on to the Hey Andrew! series or Greek for Children if she is interested.)

Latin: We may put this off, or we may start in January... The Great Latin Adventure book 1--VOCABULARY ONLY for her!

History: Finish Story of the World 1 (ancients) and then move onto Story of the World 2 (middle ages)

Science: A Child's Geography (earth science)

Poetry Memorization: IEW's Developing Linguistic Patterns Through Poetry Memorization

Bible: read the Day By Day Begin-To-Read Bible

Logic: Primarily Logic, and Logic Safari 1

Music: Piano and theory using several resources

PE: Fall Soccer
Basketball (November through March)






D will be 3 in November (Preschool!):

Heart of Dakota's Little Hands To Heaven Preschool curriculum

Lots of games and manipulative toys!

Structured daily play time with each of the other kids during their math hour.



Praying for a wonderful year!

It's June now!

So I haven't been very good at updating my blog again. I think I need to pencil in one evening a week after the kids are in bed to devote to putting up a weekly report!

We have started our 2nd week of our 10 week summer term of schooling. It is going very well. I tried a different way of scheduling and so far it is working well. I made a chart and we have little boxes to check off as we do each subject every day. We like the satisfaction of checking off the box!

We have started a new math curriculum and finally found a winner! It includes flashcards and a one minute timed drill every day...who would have thought that L would like timed drills! I'm so happy we have finally found a math book that he looks forward to instead of dreads!

We are working through Writing With Ease, and both kids enjoy it. Growing With Grammar continues to be G's favorite subject, along with Song School Latin. And L still really enjoys learning cursive writing. We are working through ancient history and having a great time with it.

Most of our subjects for the summer are based on 3 or 4 days a week (except for math, which we do every day.) So today, we decided to do math and then focus the rest of the time on History. We had a big History day! We had a lot of fun learning about the baby Moses, the Exodus from Egypt, the Phoenicians in Carthage, Ashurbanipal conquering many cities around him to build up the Assyrian Empire, and Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians taking revenge on Ninevah and the Assyrians. The kids particularly enjoyed hearing why The Hanging Gardens of Babylon where built and remain one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. It's amazing how much I am learning right along with them! They enjoy the stories, color related pictures, answer questions, and mark appropriate maps for each chapter. History is a favorite subject for us all right now!

Our science has been reading library books, and planting a garden, starting with seeds. It's the first time we have started a garden with seeds, and we aren't sure how it is going to turn out, but it has been a great learning experience for us all!

We also are busy right now with our 4H projects, especially L who will be judged for the first time as a 4H member on Monday June 15. His project is on First Aid. He's already a bit excited and nervous about being judged!

Well, I just wanted to share a quick update. I hope to really become more regular with this! Have a great rest of the week!