Our First 6 Weeks – A Review

Wow, what a great first 6 weeks.  The kids tackled their school work well.  Let’s see what we did.

 

We are all learning Genesis 1.  So far we are working on the first five verses.  The science curriculum is working through the days of creation, so we are memorizing the first couple chapters of Genesis.  Even little Wyatt and Rayna are getting in on this memorizing.  Kristyn and Cora are working through the science stuff while the other two listen from time to time.  So far we got through the first day of creation.

 

We’ve been continuing with our Building A Life, character study as well. Kristyn and Cora are enjoying this curriculum a little more.  They don’t like filling in the worksheets as there is a lot of writing involved.  We need to work on penmanship, but when they aren’t interested this is tough.  One day we’ll really get on that.  You can read what we did in the last six weeks in Building A Life here.  This chapter was about meekness and loyalty.

 

Both Kristyn and Cora are working through the Grade 2 Math from ACSI.  Kristyn completed pages 109-146.  Cora finished pages 63-104.  Or thereabouts.  They’ve learned a lot about money, telling time, addition and subtraction, beginning ideas being planted about multiplication, geometry, sorting.  They are learning lots!

 

All the children have been participating in our preK / K program.  The bigger girls love to color with the little ones and help them do their crafts.  We are using a combination of a couple Letter of The Week curriculums.  Confessions of a Homeschooler put together the main curriculum I am using.  I’m adding a few things from Brightly Beaming Resources as well.  We started with the vowels and then completed the six week session with the letter B.  Wyatt asks for school work every single day!  This week long break is going to be hard foe him.  Marrissa could use something a little more challenging but is not quite ready to push herself yet, so I’ve just started to add a more difficult activity here and there.

 

Our book exposure has been huge this last six weeks.  Each week I choose about 15-20 books that relate to the letter of the week.  Some of our favorites (not necessarily connected to a letter) have been: The Napping House by Audrey Wood, The Umbrella by Jan Brett, and Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.  Kristyn and Cora have also been choosing books to read.  The Magic Tree House series has been popular as has Junie B Jones (Cora).  Kristyn has discovered comic books and especially enjoyed The Adventures of TinTin.  Unfortunately our library system only has ONE book!  Marrissa is learning to read using Bob Books.  I caught her reading to Wyatt the other day.  She whipped through three or four of those little books with no trouble.

 

A few other odds and ends include movie night, poetry, dance, and choir.  Family Movie Night also corresponds around the letter of the week.  We’ve watched Prince of Egypt, The Incredibles, Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah’s Umbrella and The Bee Movie.  (I forget what the letter A was.)  The kids have really enjoyed watching movies together.  Dance and choir happen weekly for Kristyn and Cora.  They come home so excited each week!  This is a great time that I use to allow Marrissa to help out more around the house.  So often it is just easier to let the older girls do the chores, but Marrissa needs to learn these skills too!  The favorite poem by far has been Inchworm, Inchworm.

 

In addition to memorizing Genesis, we have a number of other verses we are working on.  Each week from Sunday school the children have verses to memorize.  Also each week has a verse that goes with the letter from that week.  We are using Sing the Word songs for that.  I have been programming the stereo to play just the songs we have worked on, so A, E, I, O, U and B.  That way the children learn by repetition.

 

Some of the topics discussed and learned about include:

• ants
• elephants
• inchworms
• iguanas
• octopus
• umbrellas
• butterflies
• telling time
• measuring
• being proud

 

I am excited for the next six weeks.  I’ve been planning and printing and searching for stuff on the letters C, D, F, G, H, J. The topics include (but not limited to) caterpillars, dinosaurs, fish, gumballs, hippos, jelly beans and Jesus.  I am planning the next 60 or so pages of math for the big girls.  Building A Life is all about self-control and honesty; these topics NEED to be discussed in this house.  Science will be about day two of creation.  We will memorize more Scripture and read a pile more books.  (We keep our little local library busy!)  The children are enjoying the break to do other things – mostly play outside and watch TV.

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

 

 

This is the song / story we listen to each week as part of our Letter of the Week curriculum (preK-K).  Wyatt loves it.  We have now completed 6 weeks A, E, I, O, U, B.

Inchworm, Inchworm

Here's the poem we've been learning.  Marrissa just loves it.

Inchworm
by Katrina Lybbert
 
Inchworm, inchworm on the ground,
Crawling slowly, not a sound,
Do you wonder what you'll see,
When you pass beyond that tree?

Careful now, my little friend,
A bird is just around the bend,
Better hide inside that tree,
Where you will be safe and free!



Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

We made igloos.

So we did it. K made the icing with very little help and after supper we made our dessert. We will eat these creations tomorrow because we want to be able to sleep tonight. Here are some pictures and the "recipe".

 Having trouble figuring out the new editor, so there are no captions or explanations.  Sorry.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Letter of the Week - Letter Ii

I've gotten back into doing Letter of the Week with M and W.  Mostly M though.  Once the big girls have their school work done they will be working on some of these activities too.  This week (and maybe next week) we will be doing the Letter Ii.  I ordered a few of the books listed on the LOTW Ii page from our library and we are waiting for them to arrive.  While we wait, we will be doing the following activities.  Although most of these activities are for the younger two, we will for sure be doing the igloo out of marshmallows as a group.  I might add some hot cocoa to the mix and have a little party. 

a color, cut and paste activity
a list of activities about ice cream - July is Ice Cream Month.
a Word Search puzzle
ice cream dot to dot
printing / cursive practice
Ii Crafts
Ii Template
Coloring pages / posters

If you are following closely enough, you will notice that I did not blog about Gg and Hh.  That was not intentional; it is just the way life goes - life before blogging about life.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Homeschool Plans For This Year

Ok, I've been bombarded with questions like: What are you teaching this year? When are you starting? What extras are you planning on using? Are you doing anything different this year? When are you starting? My homeschool groups are talking about planning and curriculum. And it's not like I don't have any plan, I just don't have a set plan. It is still summer. I don't really want to sit down and think about it yet.

So, here's what I've got so far: (subject to change at whim - mine or theirs)

• ACSI MATH grade 1 and grade 2. We hope to be done grade one math by Christmas and start grade two in January. Currently we are working at a level of 2 pages per day, five days a week.
• Letter of the Week. However, we always take longer than a week on each letter. When we stopped in the spring, the girls really missed it; we are picking up at the letter Gg. I've got the pages printed; we are waiting for a rainy day, or a day we have to be inside. This letter of the week is directed at age three, but we stretch it for the older ones; I like to use Enchanted Learning.
  
• Beestar.org. While doing a search for What Your Second Grader Needs To Know, I read in a couple of reviews the recommendation of using this site for math help. So, the two girls are signed up there and the fall semester starts on the 16th.
• BOB Books as well as other level appropriate books (from the library) for reading. CJ is reading so well. K seems to be struggling, but it could be that she's just not ready yet to share what she knows. It might be a lack of confidence.
• board games and puzzles. We had started a Family Game Night on Monday nights. We'll have to continue that again when summer settles into fall.
• Rosette Stone Spanish. I bought this program last fall to use up my homeschool funding. Yes, I had almost 700 dollars left at the end of last year.
• Dance. This will just be a short 2 week thing in August. I guess if they really really take a liking to it, we may continue it through the year, but I'm not ready for that.
• Piano. I'm teaching and learning at the same time. Even J wants to learn. I still need to buy the books. I'm leaning toward these ones here or these ones. I just have to get to a store to buy them.
• Baking and cooking. The girls have asked to learn to do this more; I'm not complaining.
• Various arts and crafts.
• Various copywork and notebooking and lapbooks.
• Canada, My Country. I had planned for this last year and we didn't even look at it.
• How To Teach Science, the Periodic Table. Again, I'd planned for this in the past, but there was just no interest.
• Draw, Write, Now. K loves these and often pulls them out just for fun.
• The Human Body. I need to look at this book more as it does seem to be an interest that the kids have.
• Last year we started the year with an All About Me lapbook. I think I'm going to start with that again this year. (I was going to link to the pictures of the last one we did, but I couldn't find it.) I am getting the the lapbook from Live & Learn Press. I think instead of a lapbook, we'll put it into a duotang or a small binder with sheet protectors so that we can add to it as we go through the year. I'll share links as I find ones I love.
• When I went looking for the ACSI Math books, I saw that ACSI has a character studies course available too. I wish I could have a hands-on copy to look at. However, I went on the word of my best friend with the math, and we are loving it. I just don't know whether to get the teachers' book or not. I guess I could order the student book and if I just can't do it without the teachers' manual I could get it at a later date. (Just thinking out loud here.)
  

I think that about covers it. Of course, one thing will lead to another and we will cover all sorts of topics and learning. And some of this may never come to be. I will be trying to report what we are doing in our homeschooling either Friday or Saturday each week.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

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Homeschool Review; What We've Been Doing

Reading. Lots of reading.

Visited the dentist.

Bought a treat with our own money.

Some math workbooks.

Weather changes.

Lots of crafts.

Learning to ride a two-wheeler.

Learning how a calendar works; how to tell the passage of time.

Cooking - burgers, mac and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, oatmeal, cookies and brownies. They make lunch most days.

A budget is a tool.

And that's just the short list.

Learning About the Letter Ff

Learning about the Letter Ff.

It takes forever these days to learn about a specific letter. This is not because we just do nothing, but because we are doing LOTS of other things too. Like enjoying spring that finally arrived!

The curriculum: Letter of the Week

Other online resources: Enchanted Learning, DLTK, Handwriting for Kids.

Books: Fritzi Fox Flew in from Flordia, A Fish Out of Water, Forest, Feathers Like a Rainbow, The Foot Book, a folkstory about the Firebird,

What we talked about: forest giraffe (Okapi), fly (housefly), firetruck, fireman.

Learning About The Letter Ee

We've been working on the letter Ee for a while now. Life seems to get in the way, but J and I are working on getting a routine in place for the two of us and that in turn will organize the homeschooling.

The curriculum: Letter of the Week

Other online resources: Enchanted Learning, Crayola Canada, DLTK, Handwriting for Kids.

Books: The Little Engine That Could, The Empty Pot, Emma's Eggs, Eggday.

What we talked about: enthusiasm, elephants, electric eels vs true eels, Moray Eel, Elmo.

• enthusiasm is doing our duty with excitement and energy.
  

Learning About the Letter Dd

Sorry, no picture this week.

We've been working on the letter Dd for three weeks now. Ugh. LOL. We will be moving on to the letter Ee.

The curriculum: Letter of the Week

Other online resources: Enchanted Learning, Crayola Canada, DLTK, Handwriting for Kids, Google (to search for pics of a platypus).

Books: Danny and the Dinosaur, Duncan the Dancing Duck, Duck's Truck, My "d" Book, Go, Dog, Go, Ducks Disappearing, One Duck Stuck, Doodle Dog.

What we talked about: Dr. Seuss (his birthday was March 2), diligence, duck-billed platypus.

Learning About the Letter Cc

The curriculum: Letter of the Week

Other online resources: Enchanted Learning, Crayola Canada, DLTK, Handwriting for Kids.

Books: Calico Cows, Cars Cars Cars, The Bernstein Bears C Book,

What we talked about: Clown fish, coral, cats, cerulean, carrots

Learning About The Letter Bb

The curriculum: Letter of the Week

Other online resources: Enchanted Learning, Crayola Canada, DLTK, Handwriting for Kids.

Books: My "b" Book, Two Brave Firemen from Volume 1 of Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, B is for Books (with Elmo, just for W)

What we talked about: bears, balls, books, bananas,

A poem: Baa Baa Black Sheep, My Bed is a Boat.

The Letter Bb has spilled over into three weeks. We are currently doing the Letter Cc but still reading some Letter Bb books that have come into our library (that I had ordered).

Learning About The Letter Aa

The curriculum: Letter of the Week

Other online resources: Enchanted Learning, Crayola Canada, DLTK. (And maybe more, just not remembering them all.)

Books: "Love Unlimited" from Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories Volume 1, My "a" book, A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes.

What we talked about: Apples, Alligators, Aa.

A poem we memorized: A Little Red Apple