School - February 2011

   

Devotional

We continued to read the New Testament and spent the month focusing on Responsibility for our value and getting into a daily routine for our habit. 

Math

Continuing with Math-U-See . . . This is one subject I worry about.  A lot.  A and N are both probably a grade behind, but we have been going slow so they can master concepts before we move on.  I keep reminding myself they will catch up as their skill level improves and their ability to work independently increases. 

 

Literature

I made a deal with A and N - they get to pick a book to read, then I pick a book for them.  A has been re-reading the Percy Jackson books and Greek Myths and listening to The Lord of the Rings series, and I picked Treasure Island for him.  N has been listening to Magic Treehouse books and I picked The Secret Garden and Heidi for her. 

We spent the week before Valentine's Day reading wonderful poetry.  We are still reading Pilgrim's Progress, Minn of the Mississippi, poetry, and books for the book clubs (A-biography of Isaac Newton, N-Kirsten Learns a Lesson, Kirsten's Surprise). 

 

History, Geography,  Art & Music Appreciation

I did a major change up with these subjects.  We started using The Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times.  This is not a resource I am a big fan of - if you read the reviews on Amazon you would get a glimpse into some of my reasons why I don't like it.  However, of the different history spines we have tried using in the past, my kids do like this series the best. They listen to this series.  They narrate this series well.  So we are using it, but we are going to supplement with a few other things to improve the quality of this subject. 

We will continue to make a timeline as we read - I made one using a permanent marker and poster, and we hung it in our school room area.  We have always used maps with our history, but we are going to do more history related mapping projects,  and not do an additional geography book (like the Holing books we have used in the past).

I found lesson plans at Satori Smiles which list hands-on activities, movie and online suggestions, and other resources for each chapter of the book.  With the first chapter we did a short Family History book and simulated an archaelogical dig in our sand box. 

We are also using Harmony Fine Art's art & music appreciation plans - Ancient Art and the Orchestra.  I have used the Outdoor Hour Challenges and other resources from Barb-Harmony Art Mom for a couple years now, and her plans are an excellent resource for expanding our learning of Ancient Times. This past week they made their own cave art on cardboard. 

The music appreciation plan focuses on learning about the orchestra.  So,  for the next year we won't be studying individual artists or composer as we have in the past.  This is different for us, but so far these changes are working out wonderfully and the kids are enjoying these subjects.  I like having the plans all laid out for me - less work!

Science - Astronomy

We continue to read from Exlporing Creation with Astronomy finishing chapters 8-Space Rocks and 9-Jupiter this month.  We spent more time this month watching NASA TV (We watched the preparation and launch of Discovery last week - very exciting!) and visiting the Nasa website.  My kids continue to add more constellation to their journals and still enjoy hearing the stories behind them. 

Nature Study

We haven't been doing these as much as I would like, but its hard to be motivated to get out in the miserable cold weather, especially with my little girls.  We did a couple this month on days with better weather and are really looking forward to spring. 

Preschool

When I remember to do activities - learning and for fun - with O and J it really makes a difference in our day.  They feel like they are getting some of my time and don't try to get my attention through more destructive means (at least not all the time).  It also means they spend their day more constructively.  

We usually start by reading books together (Mother Goose is a favorite right now) and then do an action activity - London Bridges, Ring-Around-the-Rosies, etc.  Following this its "Blanket Time" - they each pick an acitivity or toy from a closet where I keep things just for this time and they sit on their blankets and play.  Blanket time usually lasts 45 minutes to an hour with 2 or 3 activity switches which I use to work with A and N (I learned about blanket time from the Duggars book).

When J takes her nap in the afternoon I try to school acitvities for O to do.  I have her sit next to me while I work with A and N.  Her activities are printing readiness, counting manipulatives, etc. 

But as I said before, its all contingent on ME, and how prepared (or not) I am for the week. 

Homeschool Blog Hop

 Heart of the Matter {Online} has "partnered with 16 of the most inspiring, lovely, and just plain awesome bloggers in the homeschool community to bring you 10 days, 160 posts full of resources for those starting out, burned out or need new ideas." 10 Days of Homeschooling Blog Hop 10 days of socialization for mom | The Homeschool Chick
10 days of classical education | Milk & Cookies
10 days of large families | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of special needs | Special Needs Homeschooling
10 days of struggling learners | Homeschooling the Chaotic Family
10 days of homeschooling girls | Homegrown Mom
10 days of homeschool enrichment | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of building a spiritual legacy | Mommy Missions
10 days of frugal homeschooling |The Happy Housewife
10 days of Charlotte Mason | Our Journey Westward
10 days of unschooling | Homeschooling Belle
10 days of organization | Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom
10 days of getting started | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of homeschooling boys | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of homeschooling Montessori | Fruit in Season
10 days of preschool | Delightful Learning 2 days in and I am LOVING it!! 

Weeks 11 & 12

Here I am, late again, posting about our school weeks :)

Activities & Field Trips

A and N were able to attend their book club meetings. They really enjoy their groups and the other kids they participate with. We read Josephina Saves the Day for N's club, and we are reading The Declaration of Independence for A's club (taking our time, dictionary in hand, and getting a basic understanding of what is being said).

We didn't go to the latest art club meeting - it happens at 2pm when the 3 little girls are napping and I just didn't want to wake anyone up to go. Depending on day and time it is offered next semester we may not continue the class.

Our city's library opened in its new location so we have made many trips. Its sooo nice! The weather has been wonderfully warm so we have been spending late afternoons outside and soaking up the sunshine.

School

Old Testament- We read chapters 26-32, covering the stories of King Saul, David's life as a boy and king, King Solomon, and the division of the Kingdom of Isreal, completing a variety of activities in their journals, pgs. 75-88.

Habits- Still working on bathroom habits and speaking politely to each other. Oy.

Values - In October we focused on the value of Self-Discipline by using The Book of Virtues by William J. Bennet and suggestions from the Shiver Academy's Book of Virtues Project. I also use ideas from Teaching Your Children Virtues by Linda and Richard Eyre and Home Life Ministries Character Journal. For November we are focusing on Gratitude.

Writing/Grammar - One day a week A and N are to write a comic or short story. We also focus on a grammar lesson from q.

Math - Reviewed chapter 12 (adding money) and other past concepts, and completed chapter 13 (adding columns of numbers). They really had fun with chapter 13 - the problems in the book only had them adding 3 or 4 numbers at a time, but we decided to have a little fun adding as many as 20 numbers at a time, as the picture below shows:

Reading - I just realized I haven't been keeping track of what the kids have been reading. They do a lot of reading on their own so we don't focus on it during school time, but I thought I would share what they are reading. A has been reading the How to Train Your Dragon series, he is starting book 6 or 7 and he has been reading the Bionicles Hero series. N has been listening to these on CD. N has been reading a variety of picture books from the library (and I catch her figuring out bigger books when she thinks no one is watching, but I'm on to her!!!).

Science - We finished chapter 6 about the Earth and started chapter 7 on the moon. We have been trying to observe the phases of the moon, but it was time for a "new moon" and since then we've had lots of cloudy nights. Hopefully we have some clear nights during the next month.

History - We are still doing some American Revolution/Foudning Fathers history, but the focus for this month is going to be on Thanksgiving History and the Colonial period. I am using Discover the Scriptures' Give Thanks! e-book. We are reading Phoebe and the Spy (revolution) by Judith Berry Griffin.

Geography - Minn of the Mississippi is still traveling down the river :) We continue to enjoy all the predicaments she finds herself in, as well as adding to our maps.

Nature Study - We completed 2 challenges - Autumn Series #6 and Autumn Series #7, which included a field trip to Cabela's to watch the fish!

Literature - We read more from Little Pilgrim's Progress - they LOVE it and are always begging for more. We read Jabberwocky (and watched the latest Alice in Wonderland which is a lot more fun when you've read Lewis Carrol's original works and aren't relying on Disney's version). We also read The Nose by Iain Crichton Smith, which I can't find online but is a delightfully silly poem about a nose leaving its face and going on an adventure. Both are from The Oxford Book of Story Poems. And we have been listening to Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Artist Study - Renoir's Garden Scene in Brittany, 1886.

Composer Study - We have been listening to the Classical Kids CDs - Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart, etc.

Weeks 9 & 10

 So with little kids teething and having colds we've had to do some adjusting to have enough time to do schoolwork.  We have been relying on all the younger girls after lunch naps to get most of our stuff done.  And there have been days we just haven't been able to do all that we have wanted or needed to do.  (Its only taken me 5 days to get this posted!)

Activities & Field Trips
Because A and N are not sick they have been able to do most of their activities - scouts, activity days, Liberty Girls, and Knights of Freedom.  They weren't able to go to their art appreciation class because the family who hosts has to be careful about illnesses coming into their home so better safe than sorry.  Prior to realizing the younger girls were sick we went to a field trip at an apple mill farm - I spent the whole time in the car with 3 cranky, clingy girls, and A and N went on the tour with the group. 

School

Old Testament- Read chapters 23-25, journal pages 66-73.  These chapters are about Moses so we also watched The Prince of Egypt, and then Veggie Tales for the story of Joshua

Habits - Oh boy.  I had no idea how much progress we had made in developing good bathroom habits and speaking politely to each other.  And then we went on vacation.  And now it feels like we are starting over again.  Sigh. 

Math - We took some time to review chapter 11 and other past concepts, and then we did chapter 12.  They've also continued to work on their Sudoku puzzles.  I found some new easy level books for them to work on. 

Science - Completed the chapter on Venus, including the experiment about sonar pictured below.  We are doing less and less on the notebook journal pages.  At least we know not to get them for next years science.  Sigh (again).

History - We continue with the American Revolution.  We are reading the Landmark book - its at a higher level than we have read from in the past so its slow and steady going.  We finished the D'Aulaire's George Washington and I'm looking for a new biography to start. 

Geography - Minn of the Mississippi continues.  This is (unfortunately) one of those resources that is set aside when we need to abbreviate our schedule so we have only been doing one chapter a week instead of 2 like when we first started, but they do enjoy it so we aren't completely skipping it. 

Nature Study - We caught up on the Autumn Series 2010 challenges: 1-nature journal, 2-geese, 3-horses, 4-apples, and 5-seasonal tree study.  I really like the new emphasis on comparing and contrasting as a way of learning more about what you are studying.   

Literature - When I was going through our resrouces looking for our next read aloud, I discovered a book we didn't finish last year, A Little Pilgrim's Progress.  I don't know why we stopped reading from it because the kids LOVE it.  So we are reading it a couple days a week and poetry on the other days (Oxford Book of Story Poems - Walrus and the Carpenter, Owl and the Pussycat, Jabberwocky - we are having so much fun!). 

Artist Study - The Promenade, 1906, and Mussel Fishers at Berneval, 1879, by Renoir.  

Composer Study - Tchaikovsky:  I think we are actually ready to move on to the next composer, except that I want to get to a viewing of the Nutcracker this holiday season.  So we may or may not start a new composer right now.  Probably not yet. 

PE - working on what to do next.  Kids may be taking ice skating lessons again if we don't come up with another plan. 

Life Skills - cooking whenever they manage to talk me into it.  Oh, and of course all those chores they have to do.  Poor, picked on kids. 

Autumn Series 2010 #4 - Apples

 Outdoor Hour Challenge - Autumn Series #4 - Apples

We had a lot of fun with this challenge! I happened to read this challenge the day before going grocery shopping and was able to grab a bunch of apples.  We ended up with 7 different varieties:  5 that we have tried before- Gala, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Fuji,  and a couple unfamiliar varieties- Honey Crisp and Sweet Tango. 

 Then it was time for tasting!!

 N's favorite was the Gala, and she didn't like the Granny Smith or Red Delicious. 

A's favorite was the Granny Smith, and he didn't like the Red Delicious or Fuji. 

My favorite was the Honey Crisp, but I liked them all. 

My younger girls stuck with the one we usually buy, the Gala. 

Yum! Yum! Yum!

Autumn Series 2010 #2 - Bird Study: Geese

Outdoor Hour Challenges - Autumn Series #2 - Bird Study: Geese

At home I gave A and N notebook pages for a goose and a duck from Enchanted Learning.  I spent a few minutes reading some of the differences and similarities of these two birds from the Handbook of Nature Study.  We also listened to geese and duck calls from our copy of The Backyard Birdsong Guide: Western North America. 

Then we headed to a nearby park to see if we could find any geese or ducks. 

There were 4 ducks and 1 goose.  We had lots of fun throwing them popped popcorn while we talked about the differences and similarities we could see. 

Goose on the left, duck on the right.  When we came home we tried to identify the goose.  I have almost, somewhat, possibly, maybe decided it is a Chinese Goose, but you can tell how sure I am. 

Then we went for a nature walk through the woods in search of more interesting things.

N was excited to see some Rabbitbrush blooming.  She is reading the American Girls: Josephina series and in one book the characters use rabbitbrush to make a yellow dye. 

Lots of acorns . . . at least there is plenty of evidence the squirrels and other animals are enjoying the acorns. 

And we were all excited to see TONS of deer. 

There were several groups close to the walking trail.  After our walk we went for a fall drive and saw many other groups feeding close to the road.  Its that time of year!!

Weeks 7 & 8

Vacation!!!!

We have spent the last couple weeks on vacation and recovering from vacation (something that always takes longer than I think it will).  My husband, baby, and I were in Hawaii for a week, and the 4 older kids were at Grandma and Papa's.  We all had a great vacation and got to do some really neat things. 

My kids discovered a super-park by the grandparents' house, went to the zoo, went to the river to feed the birds, and lots of other things that I don't have pictures of :(.  (Psssst, Mom, Dad, can I get a copy of all the pictures you took?)

Hubby, baby, and I lounged in the sun, visited the spa, vegged in the hotel room, had a few adventures, and ate way too much yummy food.  Lovely :)

We came home this past week and spent a few days dealing with jet lag, lots of time doing laundry, grocery shopping, and being together again. 

Sooo . . . . school this week has been pretty informal. 

A had his Knights of Freedom club meeting and a field trip to the state capital building. 

Both kids went to their art class.  They talked about Renoir's painting Madame Henriot and practiced drawing a portrait from a picture.  A did Iron Man and N did a picture from an American Girl catalog. 

We spent one morning putting together photo albums my mom gave them with pictures from their vacation.  They told me all about their adventures. 

Later that day I shared some of the neat things I learned about while I was away from them - the discovery of an earth-like planet in another galaxy, Hawaiian legends, Hawaii's state bird (Nene goose), a piece of choral and shells fossilized together, and other interesting tidbits from the local newspapers in Hawaii. 

We spent time reading from their books for their clubs - Josephina's Surprise for N and George Washington for A.  We listened to some Tchaikovsky, discussed a Renoir painting, and did a Nature Study challenge.  We watched "Mercury and Venus" from the Universe documentary series. 

They spent a lot of time working with beads to create necklaces, bracelets, and toy animal collars.  We did some planning and shopping for Halloweens costumes. 

They *happily* did a bunch of overdue housework (bathrooms! dusting! light switches! bedrooms!) to earn money to buy some toys they've had their eyes on - a new Bionicle for A and American Girl pets for N, O, and J. 

A and N had a service project for Scouts and Activity Days - weeding at a local elementary school.  O, J, S, and I tagged along (me doing the parental support bit and the little girls playing on the playground). 

While we were outside one day N and I discussed rotation and revolving as it relates to the sun, plantes, moon, asteroids, etc., and she showed me the following demonstration: 

I love it when concepts "click." 

Tomorrow's forecast - back to our regularly scheduled programming!!

Weeks 5 & 6

After reflecting on the last couple weeks I am amazed at the amount of school we managed to accomplish with everything else going on- doctor appointments, extended family visiting, and the biggest interruption was a fire that started not far from us on a National Guard base and we almost had to evacuate our home! Whew!

Field Trips & Activities

Thanksgiving Point: Farm Days- This is a favorite place for my younger girls so we go all the time.  They love riding on the ponies and feeding the ducks.  While we were there I also had A work on passing off some requirements for Bear Scouts. 

Liberty Girls/Knights of Freedom- A and N both had their book clubs.  A finished reading Benjamin Franklin by the D'Aulaire's and started the Landmark Books' Meet George Washington.  N and I finished reading Josephina Learns a Lesson.  My friend who is the leader for N's Liberty Girls group needed some extra help so all the kids came along - we learned how to card wool and got to see and touch all the tools used, and the girls made a fabric cover for a memory book. 

Scouts & Activity Days- A is getting new leaders in his scout den so he hasn't had any den meetings for a couple weeks and pack meeting was cancelled because half the cub scouts were still evacuated from the fire zone.  They are all back home now so it should be rescheduled soon.  And I completely forgot about Nyah's Activity Days after reminding myself about it a half an hour before it started.  Oy. 

Art Class- It was also my turn to volunteer at the kids' art class.  They studied The Seine at Asnieres (The Skiff) by Renoir and did a color mixing project.  And all the kids wanted to paint when we came home so we did.  Mess mess mess :).

Thanksgiving Point: Star Party- A, N, and I went to a star gazing party hosted at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens.  We saw Venus, Jupiter, and identified several constellations- Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Summer Triangle, Cassiopeia.  Mostly we had a lot of fun.  And hot fudge sundaes on the way home :).

 School

Old Testament- We read chapters 18-21, and the kids completed pages 57-64 in their journals. 

Habit Training- Still working on making "good bathroom habits" habits.  (Its best to spend 6 weeks or more cementing a habit before focusing on the next habit. Slow and steady . . . )

Math- We completed chapter 10 and worked on chapter 11.  They need some more practice with the chapter 11 concepts (estimating, adding, and regrouping 100's) before we move on.  We are also doing a schedule change with math.  We were doing it as one of the first things, but we tend to have a lot of interruptions from the little girls during this time, so I'm moving it to nap time in the afternoon.  And to mix things up (and have fun) I showed the kids how to play Sudoku.  They love it. 

Science- Finished chapter 3 on Mercury.  And went back to our basic format of me reading and the kids narrating back to me instead of trying to follow the lesson plans in the notebooking journals.  No more busy work.  They enjoyed the activity suggestion - dropping objects of different sizes and weights into flour to make craters. 

History- I decided I wanted to keep our history in the Revolutionary War/Founding Fathers time period for now.  We started reading Landmark Books' The American Revolution and continued reading George Washington by the D'Aulaires. 

Geography- Minn of the Mississippi is moving down the Mississippi.  We read 2 more chapters and filled in more states and capitals, and the Minnesota River on our maps. 

Nature Study- Finished up the challenges we were working on and started a couple more.  Raccoons and Skunks will be fast because its unlikely we'll be able to observe any (even though we have spotted a skunk in our neighborhood before).  We did a challenge on the signs of Autumn and will be starting the other Autumn challenges soon. 

 Literature - We read The Nutcracker and Swan Lake from the book of ballet stories.  And lots of library books. 

Artist Study- A picked Apple Vendor (La Marchande de pommes), 1890 for our fridge this week.  We read a couple library books about Renoir:  Renoir and the Boy with the Long Hair by Wendy Wax and Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Painting That Smile by True Kelley. 

Composer Study- Listening to The Story of Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky Discovers America, and Naxos CDs. 

P.E.- Swimming while the weather is still wonderful!!



Weeks 3 & 4

The last couple weeks have really centered around a number of field trips we have been taking, and not so much at our sit down school work, which is one thing I love about homeschooling.

Field Trips & Activities-
Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum has a NASA exhibit about exploring light and outer space. We had so much fun experimenting with all the exhibits.

Hogle Zoo - for Labor Day we went to the zoo, enjoyed all the animals who were out, rode the carousel and train, and had a fabulous time together.

Hikes - in addition to a few nature walks close to home, we ventured further away to attempt to hike Ensign Peak. We didn't make it very far but certainly had an adventure.

Ice Skating - A and N had the last couple of lessons and passed level 3. Our whole family goes during their lessons and skates, walks on the track, or plays on the bleachers.

Art Class - The kids had their first art appreciation class - it was simple and short and they loved it.

Book Clubs - N and I finished reading Meet Josephina just in time for her Liberty Girl club activity. They went to one of the leader's homestead and had lots of fun washing clothes, seeing goats and other animals, made a wrap, climbed trees - N came home beaming! She also did a short presentation on the book. A's Kinghts of Freedom club meeting went great - he was elected President/King and did a short presentation about a lego masterpiece he was working on.

Baby S's 2 month check up - on this day things just worked out so I needed to take everyone with me to S's doctor appointment. Oh it is amazing how exhausting and long an hour can be!! But they helped me answer the doctor's questions, asked him plenty of their own questions, and skedaddled to the waiting room when it was time for immunizations.

Boys Scouts & Activity Days - in addition to passing off a few things at home, A was able to attend the cub-o-ree for our area and had a great time rock climbing and passing off more things. He is halfway to earning his Bear. N played basketball with the girls in her Activity days group.

School-

Old Testament - We read 4 more chapters from the scripture stories and the kids completed pages 44 -56 in their Discover the Old Testament journals.

Habit Training - Continued with bathroom habits, repentance, and speaking politely. Sometimes it feels like we aren't progressing or even back sliding some, but then somone will astound me and I know we are headed in the right direction.

Math - Completed chapters 8 and 9, and worked on math facts review. These chapters were a lot simpler than the few before it so we were able to keep moving forward and review for N.

Science - We finished chapter 2 on the Sun. Exploring Creation with Astronomy has started to feel horribly like a textbook, which it is, and the journals are getting a little too busy-work for me and the kids, which sometimes they are. Trying to decide how we will continue.

History - We finished watching the Liberty Kids episodes, wrapped up our timeline and history journals as well. We have been reading George Washington by the D'Aulaires and will finish it soon. We will probably jump back into The Story of the World where we left off last year (not sure where that is off the top of my head).

Geography - We read 2 chapters of Minn of the Mississippi and added more information to our maps. We also pulled out the maps a couple times during other subjects such as History, Composer Study and Artist Study.

Nature Study - We have been working on 3 Outdoor Hour Challenges, but haven't found any live examples to study in the wild - frogs, crickets, grasshoppers, katydids, and moths. So we will probably just wrap these up and we will be armed with the information when we come across these creatures in the future.

Literature - Tyger Tyger became a little too much for all of us. Yeah. We will probably revisit it and finish it in the future, but for now we've turned it into the library. To fill in while we wait for the next audiobook we've requested we are reading The Random House Book of Stories from the Ballet stories Tchaikovsky composed music for - Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty.

Artist Study - After finishing Van Gogh we had a week before our art appreciation classes started so we revisited Monet to have A and N copy one of his paintings. We forgot to do this at the end of our Money study. The second week we started Renoir - we did Mademoiselle Jeanne Durand-Ruel, 1876 - picked by N for the fridge and On the Terrace at art class.

Composer Study - We have been listening to Tchaikovsky Discovers America, The Story of Swan Lake, and several Naxos CD selections. I love easy subjects.

Preschool - I failed to include this in our last post, mostly because we don't do any specific curriculum for preschool. I alternate my time between my older kids and younger kids. When I'm with the younger kids we do things like getting dress and brushing hair, making beds, playing and cleaning up, reading books, riding bikes outside, etc. Living life!!