"Whatchadoin?" #4~ extras

The subjects that are taking me the longest to plan are our extras.  They are the ones that don't have any real grade level requirements.  Different curricula take different approaches so it is up to you, the teacher, to decide which works for you.

During our first few years homeschooling science was a tricky subject for me.  I wasn't sure if I wanted something secular or Christian, general or specific.  After discovering the "Exploring Creation" series last year I knew I had found the right fit for us.  So we will be using the next book in the series.

This year we will be learning about the swimming creatures.  The curriculum offers many hands on activities that explore not just the animals but the world around them.  For example, when learning about artic fish we learn about how salt water has to be colder than fresh water before it will freeze.  I ended up choosing specific because my daughters really liked getting into all the details and Christian because I was so disappointed how many churches act like God had no part in science.

While science was an easy choice history was not.  This is the first year I will used an actual history book and I am a little nervous.  I ended up picking "All American History" for two reasons.

The first reason is the worksheets.  They have cutting, glueing, and tracing as well as fill in the blanks.  Since my oldest prefers lap booking to work booking this set up should be good.

The second reason is it is a two year program that starts with the early explorers.  That means we will spend more time learning about the different historical events and that the time line will line up with what my younger daughter is studying.

My youngest will be making American Girl lap books, spending an entire week on each book. (6 weeks for each unit.) Since I am putting together the units myself it is a bit time consuming.  On the plus side most resource websites have materials for each of the American Girls, like the American Girl website and homeschool share so as long as I bookmark the sites they will be easy to find for the next unit.

That brings me to my final extra subject, Latin.  I took Latin in high school and have been eagerly waiting for my daughters to be interested.  Last year we tried Minimus as a family and, while it was fun, we weren't able to stay consistent.  This year we are using a more intense program, "Latin for Children."

We will be working at a slow pace so my youngest can keep up.  I hope my excitement will wear off on the kids and we stick with it this year.

So those are the extras that will keep school interesting.  With just a few more weeks before we start I am excited to see how everything is coming together.

"Insta"-replay #7, wild about wild life

This week I would have been fine sitting around being lazy but thanks to my family we were busy as ever.

The week started with a trip to the zoo.  Thanks to the reading program at the library the girls had earned free tickets they were eager to use.

It was a great day to see the animals, most were out and about.  Many came right up to the glass.  It was amazing to see them so active.

My own troop was pretty active also.  We spent a lot of time outside enjoying the weather.

A cousin's birthday gave us another excuse to be out and about.

Wednesday I only had one kid with me so she got a few special treats.  Of course first she had to sit through two fillings at the dentist.

The kids came up with their own arts and crafts outside.  They were especially proud of their stick figures that were made from actual sticks.

We also got out some packaged projects my sister had bought on clearance at Target.  She is the queen of clearance.

Next was a trip to the local Children's museum.  It was on our bucket list of Summer fun so when my sister-in-law invited us I jumped at the opportunity. 

The kids had fun learning, play and creating.

Yet another night out was spent at my Uncles retirement party.  It was a fun time and I got to meat my cousin's son for the first time.  He's super cute!

The week ended with more wild life.  Only these weren't behind glass, they were in our front yard.  Charry decided to name them after the twins in "how to train your dragon" so meet Roughnut and Toughnut.

"Whatchadoin?" #3, English

English is kinda a funny subject if you ask me.  It contains a myriad of mini-subjects that are taught at different points in the schooling spectrum.  Reading, writing, grammar, spelling, phonics, handwriting, literature, and vocabulary all show up under "English."  To add to the complexity, many of these small components have thier own curriculums or are left out of all in one curricullums.

It can be a bit tricky trying to figure out which components you want to work on for the year.  After debating with myself and weighing the options here is what we've decided to try this year.

First spelling, as a student I was awful at spelling.  Every week I dreaded the pretest, then diligently wrote out the words over and over and over... only to still miss them all on the post-test.  It was terrible!  So as a teacher I put off teaching spelling as long as I could.  When I found out about All About Spelling I was so excited.

This is our third year using the program and I love it.    The combination of using tiles and phonographs with scripted lessons has made the program easy to use and easy to understand.  We will be making a few changes as we go this year.  I want my natural speller to be able to move a bit faster and my just like me speller not to get discouraged.

Next handwriting, cursive for my 5th grader and manuscript for my 2nd grader.  We will be using daily handwriting practice workbooks from Evan-Moor.

I bought the student books this year because, honestly, I got tired of making copies.  Besides with only two students paying more now for something I might not use again doesn't make sense.

For anyone who hasn't used the daily practice books I like the format.  Just a small bit of copy work with a common theme each week.  This will be something the girls can do by themselves while I'm cooking or cleaning.

Finally writing, I found a writing program online that I used last year also.  It has a good balance of writing and grammar.  The only down side is it has to be printed out.  I had a few weeks I forgot to buy ink  last year so we had to skip writing, oops.  This year I printed it all out ahead of time.

We will be taking a break in October and November for NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month). Last year Charry had a blast and wrote a fabulous story.  This year I am more prepared with my Young Writers Guides all printed out.

We will spend October doing activities and developing the story line with the guide.  Then in November they will be on their own creating a novel.

You may have noticed reading and literature are not on the list there are a few reasons for that.  Mostly I haven't found a curriculum I like.  So instead I'm making an effort to read the classics at bed time.  It helps that most classics are available for free on the Kindle. 

So there are the plans, I'm not sure how they will change through out the year but I look forward to finding out.

"Insta"-replay #6, lazy summer days

This week we managed to do a bit less, I had a headache.  And I a big enough wimp to whine about it!

We started the week with music lessons! Since I've never played any instruments I am very easy to impress. My kids were pretty impressive anyways!

Also impressive, we were first in line at the library.  That meant front row seats!!  

I also managed to pack a lunch to eat at the library instead of rushing home after the show.

The rest of the week was spent eating otter pops and avoiding the heat, but I managed to get the kids out side playing for a bit.

The big accomplishment of the week was my husbands, he created a "grate pole" for taking pictures of covered culverts.  He's part of a team inventorying them along the freeway and his poles help get pictures where they can't reach.  Not bad if I do say so myself, and I do.

Even with the headache we managed to ha e another fun summer week! 

"Whatchadoin?" #2~ Mathematics

Now anyone who has known me for more than 10 minutes or so knows I LOVE math.  I watch math related videos, laugh at math jokes, read math books and dream of going back to school to study math.  So I, of corse, hoped my kids would share the love of all things mathematical.  To be honest, they don't.  Especially my oldest, math is her least favorite subject.  I will never forget the time I caught her cheating on her division workbook.

Because of that math was a tricky subject for me to plan.  I wanted to teach not just the math facts but the fun that came with them.  Luckily I discovered "Life of Fred."  I know I've mentioned these excellent books before but I can't help but want to go on and on and on about how much I love them and how happy my kids are using them!

Because my girl are eager to learn more about Fred and his adventures I don't worry about how fast they go through the books.  It makes lesson planning easy, I don't have a set amount of time for them to complete the books as long as they work on them every school day.

"Like of Fred" is not based on standardized  grade level achievement charts, i.e. They do not cover the concepts you will see on end of year tests during any given year.  Instead some "higher" concept are introduced early and some "lower" concepts are not introduced until later.  There is also a lack of stress given to test concepts.

If I lived in a non-testing state I would not worry about it, as long as the kids are prepared for the next book grade level specifics can be a bit arbitrary.  But this is a testing state so I want my girls prepared for testing.

Last year I bought simple grade level practice workbooks for them to complete at the end of the year.  Turns out a page of 50 multiplication problems was the equivalent of having to walk across hot coals for my older daughter.  There were tears, days of staring at the same page, fits and no fun for anyone.

So this year I decided to try something different, "Daily Math Practice."  Most teaching stores sell the teachers book, complete with class room copy right permission but since I was only planning to use them with one, maybe two kids I decided to order student books instead.   As a child I remember the teach handing out these short worksheets before class, I loved them!  Now I know they are part of "busy work," designed to keep kids quiet while the teacher changes subjects, then I only knew they were fun.  I'm hoping my girls will also find them fun.

Instead of the repetitive page of 50 problems, these have 5 slightly diverse problems and on Fridays just 1 harder problem.  The goal is for the girls to see and experience the types of problems they will be tested on while not overwhelming them.

When Charry first saw the workbook she defiantly groaned but when I showed her it was just a few problems a day she relaxed.  I think these will be a good compromise for us.

"Insta"replay #5, let's go to the movies

This has been a busy week full of fun summer memories!!

Grandma Kelly treated the kids to a lunch of doughnuts.

My hubby was free in the evening for a surprise trip to DQ.

Another surprise was Charry going on stage at the Library's weekly kids event!  

Charry also completed her first junior scout badge!

Merry was a lalaloopsie garden gnome, the outfit is a toddler size Halloween costume, I can't believe she can still squeeze into it.

Summer clearance meant new outdoor toys, putter in particular. 

We saw "Turbo". That snail is fast.  Cute movie, girls liked it, and we'll probably buy the DVD.

 We saw yet another movie!  "Movies in the park" was showing "Brave" out by my inlaws.  (Your welcome Aunt Katie for not plastering that "great" picture of you all over the Internet)

And finally my big accomplishment, I made my first real bento box meal!  Compleat with flower shaped food.

So that was our week, fun, full and now we're ready for the next one!

"Whatchadoin?" Week 1~ lesson plans

I am counting the weeks until school starts again.  I think there are only five or so left.  Of course that is partly do to us starting only half way through August but still I'm starting to prepare.

To be honest I love lesson planning and scheduling.  Picking out curriculum is a blast for me.  My husband rolls his eyes and groans a bit when I try to get him to read text books but he still listens to me as I compare each of them.

Right now I am mapping out the first half of our year.  I always start with each subject on their own sheet of paper.

Then I try to put them in one planner so I can see my plans at a glance.  This year I am trying something new.  Instead of waiting for the teacher books to go on sale I found really cute student planners.

My hope is that these will also take the place of checklists for the girls.  The cuteness of the planners also inspired me to make the inside look nice too.

Since I tend to plan one subject at a time, the different colors were pretty easy to use.

The different colors also helped me to keep track of when I was scheduling reading vs projects so I didn't have her doing the same thing in every subject.

So my plans are coming along, Wednesdays I will try to share what we are doing in each subject, or at least hoping to do.