Day 2!!

My favorite part today?  hmmmmmmmmmm.....maybe that Eli slept until 11 and we schooled about 3 1/2 without him? :-)

I guess I better say Writing.  Handwriting is an area that I have miserably failed the boys.  But this year I wanted to grab that bull by the horns and straighten it out.  So back in June I went to the CHEK homeschool conference in Louisville and met Iris Hatfield.  She has written New American Cursive  Penmanship Program published by Memoria Press.  Actually I had purchased the books before I met her...but once I met her and she gently talked me through the program...I felt empowered.  Thanks Iris!  It is our second day and the boys are loving it and begging for more than 10 minutes on writing :-)

She also introduced me to Twist 'n Write pencils...so we are off to a fun start on our writing.

Day 1 of School!!

Our Latin lesson for the day:

to one of you: Salve!

to all of you:  Salvete!

"Hello"

It was a lovely day of school!  I over slept.  And the boys woke up so they purposely let me sleep in...how quick they learn. :-)

 None the less...we got started and had a successful day.  Ben started his third grade studies, Nate first grade and Eli is following along with the boys Science, History, Christian Studies, and Latin...but for him we will still do Montessori activities along with follow the Highlands Latin Schools 2 day a week Jr. Kindergarten.  In a short while we will begin learning the memory work for Classical Conversations and attending the Friday school.

Here is a picture of Nate starting his History notebook for Story of the World Vol.One....I am sooooo excited about a history that has hands on projects all along.  This is going to be a fun year.  I feel a little guilty about getting to learn along and enjoy the experiences with the boys.

word strips

The school year is winding down but I wanted to share this really inexpensive and fun phonics tool.

Paint chips!!
{{{thanks Walmart!!}}}

Magic Traveling Suitcase!!

Mrs. Wizzle may have a magic traveling school bus...but she is a cartoon charactor and I cam a real, breathing, likes to eat cold cereal mom! And the other day I found a beautiful leather suitcase at a yardsale for 50 cents...it came home with me and it is going to "travel" all the land of Imagination ;-)


I packed the suitcase with secret supplies....


We took our "school" outside to the nearest cool shady spot...

---yeah someone is wearing their pjs...hope you like their uniform!!

Then we climbed up in the learning tree to read the story of Madelines Rescue


Back to the desk...so that we would still be in school...we learned about France where Medeline lives...we enjoyed some french food...koolaid(wine) and cheese(cheese sticks).


Thus began our lapbook about Madeline and our study of France:




travel courtesy of Magic Leather Yardsale Suitcase and Imagination Voyages

Lego Master

Nates favorite subject is Legos...seriously!  It is part of his daily work...and why not?  So many lessons to be learned from Legos...and so creative.

Mortician

Soft focus...but such a funny story.....
Mine and Nates conversation yester day:
Nate: Look at me mom I am a mortician!
Me: A what?!
Nate: A mortician!
Me: What are you doing that makes you a mortician?
Nate: Magic tricks.

Candy Corn!!

So I am preparing to do a study in Autumn this week with Ben. I bought the Autumn Treasures by Amanda Bennett and I found this amazing video...all you will ever need to know about Candy Corn!!  Check back soon to see the lapbook that we make!!

First Day --of Homeschool Co-op

so Thursday was our first day of Enrichment classes with one of our homeschool groups.  Ben and Nate were both excited to get new backpacks and attend classes and hopefully make new friends.

Eli got to go too...he just used Nates backpack from last year.  All he had to take was a pull-up, wipes and a snack.

Homeschool Product Review: Learning Pallette

I am in love with the Learning Palette from Learning Wrap Ups!  This game can be expanded by adding new card packets.  It is so much more than "busy" work...The student even check and corrects his project as part of the whole process.  I purchased one base and card kits for each of the boys.  Even my four year old can learn with it and check himself while I work with my six year old.  I purchased my first set from a store but then found that I could save $$$$$ by purchasing the card kits directly from  Learning Wrap ups.

DAY 38!

37 lessons and one field trip so far!  And here is basically our schedule that we try to maintain:

Wipe off board that I got at the dollar spot in Target!!

My pocket chart (also from Targets dollar spot) and the cards made from blank sentence strips from the Dollar Tree.  Here you see an exercise to determine when to use which "k" ending sound.

Crayola wipe off chart for spelling practice.

http://www.starfall.com/

For computer center time.  Great FREE early elementary language arts study.

Nates Alpabet cards---from the Dollar Tree!!

Totally awesome BINGO games...first grade level from Targets Dollar Spot.

Nate working on his coloring.

Great find at KSS this week....there are so many projects that we can do with this in our Science Center.  Also...if you have more than on student...buy an extra magnetic wand.

The boys try different items to make a magnetic maze on cookie sheets.

Ben reading...leisurely.

Keeping schooling fun.

Measure of Success

Nate is loving not going to preschool this year.  In fact now when he is misbehaving we will ask him if he wants to be good or we can call the school and send him back....he immediately begs to learn at home.

He could do his little workbooks with lots of direction but was not enjoying them ---just enduring them.  I decided that even though this is Preschool we both needed more structure and direction.  So I found the World Book scope and sequence for every grade on line.  The list looks easy enough to complete.

I felt that Nate would also be more apt to do his lessons the more successful that he felt.  So I ordered a{pre}preschool set of books from Christian Light Publications.

These books are very,very basic in skills and concepts.  So far Nate is enjoying them.  The only thing that we are having a problem with using these books is that they are based on an Anabaptist lifestyle....seems in my eyes{outsider looking in}  to be between Amish and Mennonite.  So in an activity where it would have objects that the student had to match to the activity Nate is not always familiar with these.  {sewing machine, needle,etc}  and in one exercise he has to distinguish male and female clothing--I do always wear skirts but I{nor anyone else he knows} wears a dress with a cape.  Otherwise the books are a great spring board to early education.  I understand that these books were written for the Anabaptist people and I am thankful that they are sharing their work with us.

In addition to this stage of Preschool we are doing rote counting, tactile letter studies and traditional children's literature.  During the study of literature we are practicing:

• speech
• comprehension
• sequencing

For literature we are doing nursery rhymes and traditional fairy tales.

After the Basic Skills series I plan to move on to the ABC Readiness Series by CLP and probably stay with that curriculum until Nate's first grade then move him to ABEKA.

Week Four!!

So here we are in our fourth week of homeschooling!  We schooled 15 days this month--which is really great seeing that we had a holiday and out of town guests!  The deal was that I could home school the month of July as a trial run and if it wasn't working out then the children would attend government school.  Things are going great and everyone is learning!  Praise God!  On Sunday an old college roommate --that works in Taiwan as a missionary called me and was coming on Monday!!  So we schooled Monday and cleaned like the President (well maybe not)  was visiting.

Jen and I...I tried to find a picture of us from the early 90s  but our hair was too big to get in the picture!!

We tried a little bit of "Charlotte Mason" home school technique and took a picnic to a local park....made leaf rubbings and just enjoyed being out in nature...may try this again in the fall when it isn't 96 degrees in the shade.

rubbing from the end of a bleacher set.

Massive leaf...glad that I don't have any of these trees to rake :)

Ever wonder wonder how things look at a child's eye level? {note to self: keep the camera put away!!}

So next week public schools start back.  we start @ lesson #16 & study more on our Australia unit study.

Almost our third week!!

So everyone is asking...are you sure you are going to homeschool?  Uh yeah...we have bought all of this stuff and joined a co-op....and been schooling everyday :)  I haven't got to blog our activities because I have been so busy tying up my last weddings. 

Anyway here is my latest Target Dollar Spot find...a pocket chart!!!!  Loving it!  And getting way more than a dollars worth of use out of it!

Today we began an unit study on Australia.  In a few weeks we will be doing a field trip to Kentucky Down Under.  So today we learned  where Australia is on the world map in relation to where we are.  We also talked about boomerangs, dingos, kangaroos, and other animals that are found there. 

Monday I found this counting chart at KSS and look it has a kangaroo on it!!

Me and little bud...he is forever trying to do school too! He does the phonic sounds along with us--he may accidentally learn to read!

I have been giving the boys their "Smart Bucks" during class...then after class I punch their cards the number of SBs they earn.  A completed card is worth $3.  {price of a Happy Meal :)}

So summer is going along great...busy, hot and successful.

I have so much to be thankful for and I am.

Our first "Lapbooks"

Here is the cover of Ben's first "lap book" study.  In the afternoon he and Nate are listening to Curious George Stories and studying about monkeys.  I have a set of Stampin Up monkey stamps so I let the boys decorate their folders with the stamps.  Later I will add a title to it.

Inside of Ben's folder. {their folders will vary some due to the different levels that they are working at.}

The paper puppets at the top is from a unit study book that we bought about Curious George.  The "Globe Book--Mapping with Monkeys" is from www.homeschoolshare.com

Since the student is at the beginning of first grade we are doing a very basic study.  So our flip book just consist of the largest, smallest, and loudest monkeys.  Monkey pics from Homeschool Share.

The label bike is from the Curious George Unit Book.

I have plans to make a flap later to add a back drop for the storytelling with these puppets.  See inside of the globe book....from Homeschool Share.

I printed the bananas onto yellow cardstock and we stamped a library pocket.  The bananas each have a food that monkeys eat.  Banana template...Homeschool Share.

"ART"  I cut a 5 1/2", 2- 2", and a 1" circle from dark brown cardstock.  A small flower from dark brown {monkey hair} 4" inch oval from tan. 1-3", 2-1 1/2"circles and helped the boys make a monkey for the back of their lapbooks.

Nate's Monkey Math game.  I cut 2 1/2"squares from scrap cardstock and rounded the corners with a corner rounder.  On one side I wrote numbers 1-20. On the other side I stamped multiples of images 1-10.  The numbers can be used for arranging in order.  Also I made a board to set the cards on to practice simple addition.