Catching you all up

Well it has been awhile since I blogged. We have been so busy that I just keep forgetting to do it. My cousin has moved in with us so we now have a 19 year old pregnant woman living with us. She is due with her first baby in December.

What we are learning-

Shelby has come a long way with her reading and grammar skills. I gave her a word list to read to me last week and she was able to read every word to me. Half of them were sight words. She is able to sit and read books in a setting. She still struggles to find books that interest her enough to read but we are working on that.

Shelby has moved on to memorizing her subtraction facts and has been introduced to multiplying and "groups" of numbers. She wants to skip addition and subtraction completely and just do that.

Matthew is improving on his reading and phonic work. He does not like to "have" to read daily but he is able to do it. We are still working on handwriting before we move to sentence and grammar work.

In Math Matthew is now able to count by 2's to 20, 5's to 100, 10's to 100 and 3's to 12. He is able to figure out addition problems in his head up to 12.

We have gone on field trips to a pumpkin patch, park to play with friends, Six Flags and a few others.

Week 3 Report

We have now ended our 15th day of school. Things are still going great. This week we added in more activities outside of the house and met lots of new friends!

This week we started AWANA on Wednesday nights and are now meeting weekly with a Meet Up group. The kids have never done AWANA and really had a great time. Shelby is in a class with two of her friends from Mothers Day Out. Matthew is in a class with a Male leader and 5 other little boys. He is in HEAVEN. They both have been working hard memorizing their bible verses for next week.

On Wednesday Shelby and I also went to her knitting class. We are working on making a hat before next weeks class.

In math Shelby worked on her number bonds and addition facts this week. She is starting to memorize several of the facts and is using her number line less.
In Language Arts she learned compound words and how to make words plural. She also completed another Spelling test and got every word correct.

Matthew learned about pennies in math and how to write the numbers 5, 6 and 7. He completed his letter "B" book. Abigail and Matthew made bee's out of recycled materials (cardboard, felt scraps and paint). Matthew completed another 5 lessons in his "Explode the Code" book and "Learn to read in 100 easy lessons". He is really picking up reading fast. He struggled a little bit this week reading the letters "R" and "J". He has a hard time making these letter sounds so he got frustrated quickly.

In bible the kids completed their "Creation" lapbook.

For science and history we learned more about Dinosaurs. We even made dino eggs that we will paint next week. They had fun choosing a baby dino to put in their balloon. Then mommy made paste out of flour and water. None of the kids wanted to actually cover the eggs with the "yucky" paste so mommy ended up doing that part mostly on her own.

We had a great time at our Meet Up group. It was the kick off for the new year and it rained. So we moved it indoors to a gym at a local church. It ended up working out perfect. We played lots of games and got to meet all our new friends. Next week we are going on a field trip to a Storehouse (food Pantry) and get to complete a Service project. We are very excited to learn about serving others.

(Feel free to click on slideshow and pictures to see them larger)

Neat Art Resources cheap on Amazon

As most people know I love to find great deals. I will be posting deals that I find related to homeschooling once or twice a week.

This past week we got these two Art items with our free Amazon Prime Trial (if you order over $25 in items you will get free shipping as well).



This book is really colorful and has some HUGE prints in it. There are a few pictures that I may not show the children for a few years. They may be a little mature for them still. I think I am just going to tack those pages together on the corner until they are ready for them. Overall though it is really a great book and the kids have already pulled it out to look at and read.



The second item above is at an incredible deal! This kit is so much fun. It has tons of info about Leonardo DaVinci and it includes a model to build a flying machine. I am planning a month of DaVinci study just so we can play with this kit!

Creation

The kids have been learning the 7 days of Creation both at Church and in Bible here at home. Their Bible verse the first week was Genesis 1:1 and the second week was Genesis 1:27 . We have done a lot of Creation activities and projects. We are also learning about the Dinosaurs and that God created the Dinosaurs the same time he created man. We will get more into Dino's and the bible at a later time, including the fact that there are a lot of theory's out there. We will have Dino lapbook coming soon!

The kids made a Creation Mobil, colored a sign for our wall and made a Creation lapbook. Here are video's of each child showing off their project. They learned that God made us in His image ...therefore we are special and unique just like Him.

Week 2 - We added Spanish and learned to Knit

This week we got to add Spanish to our daily classes.

The kids are taking La Clase Divertida and I LOVE it. The instructor on the DVD is very good with the kids. We do a video lesson over two weeks and listen to a CD over those weeks for practice. There also is a workbook and crafts. I am very Texan and just cannot pronounce Spanish very well. I really would LOVE for my kids to become comfortable with speaking and understanding (where as I can only really understand). This week they learned their vowel sounds, colors, alphabet sounds to G (including CH). They also learned how to ask someone their name and answer when someone asks them. We practice everyday and the kids are getting very good at these things. Little Abigail even goes around singing our Vowel song. It really is helping me as well.

Shelby and I also started a knitting class with some other moms and daughters in our Meet up group. Shelby is having a hard time learning to knit with two needles but is able to finger knit with one and with her whole hand. I am HORRIBLE with craft stuff. However I have picked up a basic stitch and purl stitch. I made a pretty ugly bag to hold our yarn and needles in and am pretty proud of it. Shelby is still trying to knit with needles but we may try to get a hoop to let her try with. Matthew has learned to knit with his fingers and wants me to show him how to knit with needles so we may try it this week.

In class at home this week Shelby completed a unit in Horizons in Math, Spelling and Language Arts. She took 4 "tests" on Friday. She got everything right on her Math, Spelling and Memory Work (Genesis 1:1) and scored a 95 on Language Arts. Her LA was because she did not follow directions not because she did not know the info.

Matthew is still reading a Bob book a day and even picked up some easy readers at the library that I caught him reading on his own. He is really doing so much better than I thought he would do this year.

Shelby and Matthew have been competing with each other on Addition facts flash cards for a few minutes each day this week. Matthew SHOCKED me with how quickly he shouted out the correct answers. He beat his sister a few days in a row. Toward the end of the week Shelby started memorizing them and was able to beat her little brother. Baby Abigail even shouted out a few answers this week correctly.

In Music the kids learned that the Italian word "piano" means soft. They added a third note to what they know on the recorder and can read the music in front of them for all three notes. They still have a little problem switching between the notes but they are learning quickly.

I don't have any pictures from the week because someone hid my camera charger! Hopefully it will be found soon.

Kindergartner and first grader at last

I now have a Kindergardner and First grader in the School of Monkeys.

Matthew was so excited to start school. On the first day we sat down and went over the rules, where everything was in the classroom and decorated there binders. Matthew has not been looking forward to school but he leaned over to his sister halfway through the day and stated "I think I am going to love school this year".

The kids have done a great job with their work this week and so far we have pretty much stayed on schedule. The only thing we are behind on is History. The reason for this is that Shelby asked a question about Dinosaurs and Day 6 of Creation. This lead me on a trail of teaching Dinosaurs and the bible instead of Ancient history.

Hopefully we will get back on track on week 3. We were going to study Pre-History and dinosaurs at the end of the year anyway so it really will not take us off schedule at the end of the year.

This is what was completed this week.

Shelby read 5 stories out of her bible. "Creation" to "The Tall Tower"
In our bible workbook the kids are on day 6 of Creation. The kids really have been doing a great job with their bible journals.

We do a LOT of reading out loud. Shelby helps with the books she can and Mommy reads the rest. So far this week we have read:
"Charlotte's Web" chap 1-6
"Red Sails to Capri" chap 1-5 (we also put this on our Timeline and marked Capri on our world map)
"The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible" pg 1-23
Completed "Dinosaurs before Dark" plus these other Dino books in this picture



Shelby Completed 5 lessons in Horizons Math 1, 5 lessons in Horizons Phonics and Reading 1, Read 5 stories out of her Horizons reading Comp book and answered the questions, 5 lessons in Explode the Code 4, 5 lessons in Horizons Penmanship 1 and 3 in Singapore Math Standards 1

Matthew Completed 5 Lessons in Horizons Math K, 3 lessons in Explode the Code book 1, 5 lessons in Handwriting without tears, Read 5 Bob books, Read 5 lessons in Learn to read in 100 ez lessons.

For Science we learned about what is living and Not living. The kids collected living items outside including our new pet snail. We have learned that snails need to stay wet so we leave a little bit of water in it's cage. Shelby has left lettuce and canteloup for the snail to eat. There is also lots of wet dirt, leaves and grass in there.

We went swimming in our pool 3 times this week and they are learning how to tie their shoes.

The kids are also working on basic skills like cutting and grip for writing.

On our last day this week the kids created their own dinosaur. We learned that scientists only have the bones to go by when deciding what they look like. Nobody actually knows the color of a dinosaur or exactly what each one looks like since they have not seen it. They each made their own and put "tracks" in a clay ground.

We did not do any of our Spanish this week but will start next week.

Music this year is being done with the ebook "Poco a Poco". I LOVE this curriculum. It is fun and easy to teach. The kids learned what a quarter note is, musical staff, treble cleff and a measure. They also learned both a b and a note on their recorder and was able to read a piece of music to play these notes (all quarter notes and rests). It only had 4 measures but they did it. We have started learning the keys on the piano but the keyboard we were going to use broke. Now I have to either A) get a piano or B) get another keyboard so that they can learn. We are doing the best we can without anything for now.

In art we discussed Picasso and created our own Picasso picture. We put Picasso on our Time line as well.

Overall we had a great week and I believe we will have a really good school year.

2010-2011 plan

I have completed my lesson plan for the WHOLE 2010-2011 year. I have a week by week plan with every day written out. I even have the materials I will need and books I will need to get at the library. I have pulled apart all workbooks and made copies (those that I am legally allowed to make) and put them in the weekly file folders. Shelby and Matthew have a file holder with all of their weeks in it.

Rules of our School

Example of our Activities on the September Schedule

Week 1 Schedule (pg 1 & 2 for both kids)

page 3 schedule

Shelby's file folder

Library/games/puzzles

Milk Crates that hold binders/supplies (blue Matthew and Pink Shelby)

Teacher books/guides for all subjects plus read out louds

WHAT WE WILL USE

Most of the books I bought used on ebay, through the Well Trained Mind Forums or got off of Paperback swap/Swap Tree. I also hit up Half Price Books with Coupons several times this year to collect the books I knew we would need. Some I scored for $1! Those that I bought new I bought on Amazon (love their 4 for 3 deal), Exodus Books and Rainbow Resources. There are a few listed below that I still need that I hope to find used soon.

We do go to the library but I love having the books I know I need for school on hand to use when needed. I can then resell them at the end of the school year or save them for the next child to use them.

History/Bible- Both kids
History



Bible






Still need to buy or will try to borrow


Geography
We are using a complete book of Map Skills. I got this at half price books and could not find it online.

Still need or will borrow
This one for end of year and next year


Weekly Read Out Louds


Read Out Louds


Still need to buy or will borrow


Readers (Shelby)
She is reading a story out of her bible every day plus the following.




Borrow or still need to buy



Readers (Matthew)


Language Arts- Shelby






Language Arts- Matthew


Science


Still need or will borrow


Math/Logic- Shelby





Math/Logic- Matthew


Spanish-


Music-
We also are learning the Recorder but I could not find the book we are using.

LOVE this Music program. It is so simple and easy to teach and the kids learn so much.



Art-



Activities
Awana starting September 1st (weekly)
Homegrown Learners Meet-up group (1x a week starting Sept 3)
Knitting class for 3 weeks (Shelby starting Aug 25)
Austin Sports arena Wed 1 -2 x a month (for skating, soccer, dodgeball, floorball)
Kickball 1x a week twice a month (hopefully) with another homeschool group.

We still are looking for a new keyboard or used piano. I have a keyboard they are using but it does not have all of the keys a piano has.