Posts
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Transformer Blanket Progress
Tic-Tac-Toe
Friday, February 27, 2009
Volleyball
We had a great time! The kids enjoyed playing with the other children and having their dinner (sandwiches and chips) at their own leisure. My husband and I played 3 games with 6 other people. The sand courts were all taken so we ended up on the regular court which was, unfortunately, not very well lit, so we played for as long as we could see the ball.
My forearms are sore and a bit swollen but all for a good cause! We are definitely looking forward to playing again next week.
My forearms are sore and a bit swollen but all for a good cause! We are definitely looking forward to playing again next week.
Park Day
We just got back from Park Day for the kids. It is 90 degrees out there. C'mon--it's February for goodness' sake! Yes, we're in TX. How did you know? ;)
Although it was hot, we had some good socializing. I'm really starting to dig Park Days again. We loved going in CA, but going here was a different story because we didn't have any local friends yet. We went because I knew we should go so we could make some friends. It felt so forced. Now that we're making some, seeing the same faces, developing an identity to the other attendees, it's becoming fun. I know that half the battle is just showing up. So we just kept showing up. Not necessarily consistently but at least every 2 weeks. And now we're makin' friends. :D
After we played chess this morning, which game my son won due to a silly oversight on my part, I had him help his sister with a Reader Rabbit Kindergarten software program. At first he was a bit miffed because he considered that program his. I explained that he wasn't in Kindergarten anymore, to which he had to sadly agree to turn the program over to his little sister.
As for what we accomplished today, the Transformer earned his Chess Belt Loop and is on his way to earning his Contenders Chess badge. He needs to play 9 more games for that as well as tell all of the names of the pieces (he got stuck on Bishop today) and define what a stalemate is.
We also went through and did some of the Tiger electives that we had been putting off. We've also committed to working on some other electives, some of which we will combine with field trips that we have been neglecting this year. In fact, I don't think we've done any school field trips this year. We've done other activities for other purposes but none specifically for school. Now that scouting is school, we'll get a lot more field trips in!
We're home for a break and to get dinner together, but then we are back out to play volleyball. No, not the kids. The husband and myself! We are joining a group of homeschooling parents in their weekly beach volleyball games to see if there is any longterm potential for us. I'm nervous but excited too.
Although it was hot, we had some good socializing. I'm really starting to dig Park Days again. We loved going in CA, but going here was a different story because we didn't have any local friends yet. We went because I knew we should go so we could make some friends. It felt so forced. Now that we're making some, seeing the same faces, developing an identity to the other attendees, it's becoming fun. I know that half the battle is just showing up. So we just kept showing up. Not necessarily consistently but at least every 2 weeks. And now we're makin' friends. :D
After we played chess this morning, which game my son won due to a silly oversight on my part, I had him help his sister with a Reader Rabbit Kindergarten software program. At first he was a bit miffed because he considered that program his. I explained that he wasn't in Kindergarten anymore, to which he had to sadly agree to turn the program over to his little sister.
As for what we accomplished today, the Transformer earned his Chess Belt Loop and is on his way to earning his Contenders Chess badge. He needs to play 9 more games for that as well as tell all of the names of the pieces (he got stuck on Bishop today) and define what a stalemate is.
We also went through and did some of the Tiger electives that we had been putting off. We've also committed to working on some other electives, some of which we will combine with field trips that we have been neglecting this year. In fact, I don't think we've done any school field trips this year. We've done other activities for other purposes but none specifically for school. Now that scouting is school, we'll get a lot more field trips in!
We're home for a break and to get dinner together, but then we are back out to play volleyball. No, not the kids. The husband and myself! We are joining a group of homeschooling parents in their weekly beach volleyball games to see if there is any longterm potential for us. I'm nervous but excited too.
Morning Chess
Jeanette
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Webelos II Crossing Over Ceremony
It's hard to make out what's going on here, but the highest level Cub Scouts are "crossing over" to Boy Scouts. This was part of the pack meeting tonight. The ceremony was just under an hour and had a very Native American theme to it, including the awarding to each graduate an Arrow of Light--an actual arrow. The Webelos literally crossed over a rope bridge, which was pretty cool. The ceremony ended with everyone circling up and singing.
Boating in the Pool
My boy's turn in the boat. This is actually part of their introduction to water safety at his level. After the boat tips over, they practice floating on their backs and tucking their legs to reduce body surface area, therefore heat loss.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Slow Transition into Handbook Projects
We are slowly transitioning from our established curriculum into incorporating more activities from the various handbooks. Today wasn't so different than usual. It was more of an introductory day to the KoF handbooks.
Both kids are working on Psalm 119:11 for their Scripture memory verse. This doesn't earn a badge, but it does get them back into the habit of memorizing Scripture. The KoF program awards badges for entire chapters that are memorized, so it will be awhile before I can award any. Except for knowing the books of the Bible. The Transformer has most of them down. The Kitty Cat is getting there slowly.
The Kitty Cat is working on memorizing "Jesus Loves Me," along with her brother, for a badge, as well as the Keeping Clean badge (taking charge of one's own daily hygiene) and the ABCs badge. She really wants to do Embroidery, but we still have to pick up the materials for those projects.
I started her today on a formal blend ladder schedule so that she can start sounding out CVC words. She did great! I did it partly as a test to see if I needed to order a refill of the phonics program worksheets that her brother had used in K. It costs $35, so I wanted to make sure that I needed to spend that money. Seeing as how she did, I don't think I need to do that!
Come fall, I will start her on the phonics program that the Transformer is finishing up this week. We'll do it slowly since she is still so young. And I will start her on The Reading Lesson. We don't use the CD-ROMs, just the book. My son started it about 2 years ago, then we shelved it after a few months. We got it back out about a year ago, and he has been steadily working on it. He should be wrapping up with it by summer. It brings kids up to about a 2nd grade reading level. It does not include writing, although I believe they do have writing supplements available.
Today we went to the After School Caravan, a program that our public library offers to 7-12yo kids. Although my kids are younger than that, the librarian allows them to participate if I remain available to help them as they have need. Today they got to play games with an emphasis on Australia, the current continent featured. Apparently there is a meeting tomorrow during which some budgetary decisions will be made about the library programs and their continued availability. Times may be changed, fewer programs may be offered, library hours may be shortened, and jobs may even be cut.
On another note, I have not been implementing the speech therapy activities that I had planned to. Mostly because... I forgot. :/ It's not a big thing, and she probably will grow out of some of her sound substitutions. But she may not... So I thought we'd ease into working on correcting some of her sounds. She consistently makes a "th" sound for "s" and "f" sounds for voiceless "th." She has no problems with voiced "th." She can mimic the correct pronunciation of "s" sounds but is unable to mimic the correct pronunciation of "th" sounds. So I am planning to work on the "s" correction first with her.
Another thing that I keep neglecting during school is making sure that we complete all the requirements for the BSA Family Award. We've already done most of it through just living, so it's just a matter of being disciplined enough to complete the remaining areas. I also need to help the Transformer pursue completing some more of his Tiger Cub electives. We had really neglected doing his Cub Scout handbook activities while our attention was on the Pinewood Derby. His Tiger year will wrap up in May, I believe, so we have until then to complete any outstanding Tiger Cub activities. After that, and beginning with June Day Camp, all of his activities will fall under his Wolf Cub badge.
In wrapping up, I want to add that both kids got report cards from their swimming instructors last night. They both did really well. The Transformer's instructor advised me about a week ago to allow him one more month in his current level, so I have registered him for that. My daughter, although she has done very well, will probably remain in her level for a number of months until she develops enough confidence to get her head underwater. We'll see how recreational swimming goes once it's consistently warm outside, and we can join the community pool as a family.
Both kids are working on Psalm 119:11 for their Scripture memory verse. This doesn't earn a badge, but it does get them back into the habit of memorizing Scripture. The KoF program awards badges for entire chapters that are memorized, so it will be awhile before I can award any. Except for knowing the books of the Bible. The Transformer has most of them down. The Kitty Cat is getting there slowly.
The Kitty Cat is working on memorizing "Jesus Loves Me," along with her brother, for a badge, as well as the Keeping Clean badge (taking charge of one's own daily hygiene) and the ABCs badge. She really wants to do Embroidery, but we still have to pick up the materials for those projects.
I started her today on a formal blend ladder schedule so that she can start sounding out CVC words. She did great! I did it partly as a test to see if I needed to order a refill of the phonics program worksheets that her brother had used in K. It costs $35, so I wanted to make sure that I needed to spend that money. Seeing as how she did, I don't think I need to do that!
Come fall, I will start her on the phonics program that the Transformer is finishing up this week. We'll do it slowly since she is still so young. And I will start her on The Reading Lesson. We don't use the CD-ROMs, just the book. My son started it about 2 years ago, then we shelved it after a few months. We got it back out about a year ago, and he has been steadily working on it. He should be wrapping up with it by summer. It brings kids up to about a 2nd grade reading level. It does not include writing, although I believe they do have writing supplements available.
Today we went to the After School Caravan, a program that our public library offers to 7-12yo kids. Although my kids are younger than that, the librarian allows them to participate if I remain available to help them as they have need. Today they got to play games with an emphasis on Australia, the current continent featured. Apparently there is a meeting tomorrow during which some budgetary decisions will be made about the library programs and their continued availability. Times may be changed, fewer programs may be offered, library hours may be shortened, and jobs may even be cut.
On another note, I have not been implementing the speech therapy activities that I had planned to. Mostly because... I forgot. :/ It's not a big thing, and she probably will grow out of some of her sound substitutions. But she may not... So I thought we'd ease into working on correcting some of her sounds. She consistently makes a "th" sound for "s" and "f" sounds for voiceless "th." She has no problems with voiced "th." She can mimic the correct pronunciation of "s" sounds but is unable to mimic the correct pronunciation of "th" sounds. So I am planning to work on the "s" correction first with her.
Another thing that I keep neglecting during school is making sure that we complete all the requirements for the BSA Family Award. We've already done most of it through just living, so it's just a matter of being disciplined enough to complete the remaining areas. I also need to help the Transformer pursue completing some more of his Tiger Cub electives. We had really neglected doing his Cub Scout handbook activities while our attention was on the Pinewood Derby. His Tiger year will wrap up in May, I believe, so we have until then to complete any outstanding Tiger Cub activities. After that, and beginning with June Day Camp, all of his activities will fall under his Wolf Cub badge.
In wrapping up, I want to add that both kids got report cards from their swimming instructors last night. They both did really well. The Transformer's instructor advised me about a week ago to allow him one more month in his current level, so I have registered him for that. My daughter, although she has done very well, will probably remain in her level for a number of months until she develops enough confidence to get her head underwater. We'll see how recreational swimming goes once it's consistently warm outside, and we can join the community pool as a family.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Spring Class Sign-Up Madness
Jeanette
Monday, February 23, 2009
Scout Homeschool Plan
Here's what I'm thinking... Now, I'm thinking aloud so don't hold me to every letter.
I've got the Transformer in Cub Scouts--he'll be a Wolf as of June. I'll enroll him in Day Camp where he can work on his initial badges for the year. If he earns belt loops, we can dig deeper and pursue pins this time. In the meantime, I will also start him on Contenders for the Faith, primarily for the spiritual development. The handbook is really geared for 7-14yo so it is still a bit advanced for him (he'll be 7 in April and pretty much on track for his age).
I am getting the Kitty Cat started with Little Keepers at Home, which has many handicraft projects that are just her speed (geared towards 4-6yo). In the fall, I will enroll her in AHG, where she will begin as a Pathfinder, the only level geared for one age/grade (5yo/K). At this point, I am planning to lead or co-lead her squad (I think that's what they call it).
The academic areas that I will need to pull from regular curricula will be phonics, reading, writing, and math. I'm not sure if I want to add literature and history as their own curricula yet since I need to dig deeper and see what subjects are comprehensive in the scouting handbooks. We have a lot of other resources for other subjects as well, but I really want to be able to study some things in depth this year instead of hopping around everything on an introductory level. I know my kids are young, but I think they get overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of ideas that they are introduced to on a weekly basis.
The last area that I am considering is enrolling them in AWANA again. They loved doing it for the year that they did it in CA. Having missed a year throws them off the usual handbook progression, but they would really hide away a lot of Scripture in their hearts while their minds are capable of drinking in large amounts of information. I just don't know if I can volunteer to help out. Perhaps I can volunteer on a less kid-intensive basis. In the fall, both of them would be in Sparks.
On a final note for tonight, I have to confess that I am feeling quite unfaithful to Charlotte Mason's philosophy and ideals that I had been pursuing for this past year. This whole scouting as homeschool approach is very unit-study friendly, which was not an approach that CM espoused. She preferred that children make their own connections, not have the adults present them with connections. Anyway, I have her whole series and a bunch of other books by other authors about her principles so I will continue to (very, very slowly) learn about her approach and see how much of it I can apply to our scouting school. I may not have the kids do AWANA (that is more Classical Education-friendly rather than CM-friendly). I dunno. We'll see.
With enrolling the kids in different programs, including swimming, gymnastics, flag football through the YMCA, I end up not necessarily being their instructor but rather their learning opportunities coordinator, tutor, and counselor. One of the things I love about homeschooling is the variety of ways in which families can implement it!
I've got the Transformer in Cub Scouts--he'll be a Wolf as of June. I'll enroll him in Day Camp where he can work on his initial badges for the year. If he earns belt loops, we can dig deeper and pursue pins this time. In the meantime, I will also start him on Contenders for the Faith, primarily for the spiritual development. The handbook is really geared for 7-14yo so it is still a bit advanced for him (he'll be 7 in April and pretty much on track for his age).
I am getting the Kitty Cat started with Little Keepers at Home, which has many handicraft projects that are just her speed (geared towards 4-6yo). In the fall, I will enroll her in AHG, where she will begin as a Pathfinder, the only level geared for one age/grade (5yo/K). At this point, I am planning to lead or co-lead her squad (I think that's what they call it).
The academic areas that I will need to pull from regular curricula will be phonics, reading, writing, and math. I'm not sure if I want to add literature and history as their own curricula yet since I need to dig deeper and see what subjects are comprehensive in the scouting handbooks. We have a lot of other resources for other subjects as well, but I really want to be able to study some things in depth this year instead of hopping around everything on an introductory level. I know my kids are young, but I think they get overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of ideas that they are introduced to on a weekly basis.
The last area that I am considering is enrolling them in AWANA again. They loved doing it for the year that they did it in CA. Having missed a year throws them off the usual handbook progression, but they would really hide away a lot of Scripture in their hearts while their minds are capable of drinking in large amounts of information. I just don't know if I can volunteer to help out. Perhaps I can volunteer on a less kid-intensive basis. In the fall, both of them would be in Sparks.
On a final note for tonight, I have to confess that I am feeling quite unfaithful to Charlotte Mason's philosophy and ideals that I had been pursuing for this past year. This whole scouting as homeschool approach is very unit-study friendly, which was not an approach that CM espoused. She preferred that children make their own connections, not have the adults present them with connections. Anyway, I have her whole series and a bunch of other books by other authors about her principles so I will continue to (very, very slowly) learn about her approach and see how much of it I can apply to our scouting school. I may not have the kids do AWANA (that is more Classical Education-friendly rather than CM-friendly). I dunno. We'll see.
With enrolling the kids in different programs, including swimming, gymnastics, flag football through the YMCA, I end up not necessarily being their instructor but rather their learning opportunities coordinator, tutor, and counselor. One of the things I love about homeschooling is the variety of ways in which families can implement it!
Basketball Belt Loop
We went to our den's Go-See-It at the park today so the boys could work on their basketball belt loops. My daughter did not want to leave the playscape and her friends so that I could get closer to the basketball court so, unfortunately, I did not get to watch my son play.
From a distance, it looked like they were having a good game though. I made sure to ask him about what he had learned, and he did tell me a few rules that I had not known about. (I might have to double-check the accuracy of those rules!)
I also gleaned a lot of information about adults volunteering for Cub Scout Day Camp and what that entails. It seems likely that we will register the Transformer for camp and include his sister in the sibling Tot Lot on days that I would volunteer.
Stay tuned for more happenings.
From a distance, it looked like they were having a good game though. I made sure to ask him about what he had learned, and he did tell me a few rules that I had not known about. (I might have to double-check the accuracy of those rules!)
I also gleaned a lot of information about adults volunteering for Cub Scout Day Camp and what that entails. It seems likely that we will register the Transformer for camp and include his sister in the sibling Tot Lot on days that I would volunteer.
Stay tuned for more happenings.
My Passion and Hobby... Knitting
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sunday at the Park
Saturday, February 21, 2009
A Day at the Races
We are back, and I have had a long nap. Spending half of one's Saturday at a Pinewood Derby is exhausting! Since I am accustomed to going to bed late in order to study, I didn't go to bed early like I should have. Therefore, I got less sleep than I should have.
Anyway, the Transformer had a lot of fun. The kitty cat (formerly known as the princess) was patient and glad to have a friend to play with there. My children are happily cavorting about in the backyard right now with a neighbor friend. My son has a very definite idea of how he is going to design his car for next year's derby.
Each car (including scouts and siblings) ran 8 heats. 4 heats in each round. Then followed the play-offs. The Transformer came in 3rd on the video that is posted here (very first heat of the races), but after that he consistently came in 2nd. Not bad for a first-year racer! (Because he never came in first, he didn't qualify for play-offs.)
Anyway, the Transformer had a lot of fun. The kitty cat (formerly known as the princess) was patient and glad to have a friend to play with there. My children are happily cavorting about in the backyard right now with a neighbor friend. My son has a very definite idea of how he is going to design his car for next year's derby.
Each car (including scouts and siblings) ran 8 heats. 4 heats in each round. Then followed the play-offs. The Transformer came in 3rd on the video that is posted here (very first heat of the races), but after that he consistently came in 2nd. Not bad for a first-year racer! (Because he never came in first, he didn't qualify for play-offs.)
Video of 1st Heat
First heat. Car #2 came in 3rd. I apologize for the awful quality of the video. If I had taken a better quality video, you wouldn't be watching it right now! ;)
Friday, February 20, 2009
Scouting and Homeschool
Okay. I've got to get off this computer. I'm enjoying setting all of this up, but I've got to get to bed now! Pinewood Derby tomorrow for my little Tiger Cub. Registration begins at 9am. Races begin at 10am, and everything wraps up by 2pm. I will try to update from there tomorrow.
A quick note: I am planning on registering my little girl in American Heritage Girls come fall when she has turned 5yo. With both of the kids in scouting, I am planning to incorporate all of their activities into our homeschool so that we do not duplicate our educational efforts as well as duplicating the amount of time spent on academics. Therefore, we will be making a slow transition over the next few weeks and months so that scouting homeschool will be a reality by fall.
By winter, I will be (hopefully) gainfully employed so it will be critical that my time is spend wisely in pursuing our life goals.
A quick note: I am planning on registering my little girl in American Heritage Girls come fall when she has turned 5yo. With both of the kids in scouting, I am planning to incorporate all of their activities into our homeschool so that we do not duplicate our educational efforts as well as duplicating the amount of time spent on academics. Therefore, we will be making a slow transition over the next few weeks and months so that scouting homeschool will be a reality by fall.
By winter, I will be (hopefully) gainfully employed so it will be critical that my time is spend wisely in pursuing our life goals.
Cub Scout Pack Meeting
Blogging Anew
I confess. I am a blog-hopper. I am starting fresh here in hopes that I will be more consistent with my posts. Here I can update from my mobile phone! :)
I have reposted previously dated blog entries here in order to consolidate my diary. I also elected not to repost many dates of reading logs that give no other information.
Let me answer the questions: why blog (again)? why now?
My kids are growing up so fast, and we do so much worth remembering. I've tried blogging in the past but had not succeeded in the longterm because I have had to be at my keyboard in order to update. Well, that's not really the best use of my time. So I am so glad to find out that now I can update from anywhere! Not only that, but I can also update with pictures. Critical to a well-documented online journal.
I'm excited to post updates!
I have reposted previously dated blog entries here in order to consolidate my diary. I also elected not to repost many dates of reading logs that give no other information.
Let me answer the questions: why blog (again)? why now?
My kids are growing up so fast, and we do so much worth remembering. I've tried blogging in the past but had not succeeded in the longterm because I have had to be at my keyboard in order to update. Well, that's not really the best use of my time. So I am so glad to find out that now I can update from anywhere! Not only that, but I can also update with pictures. Critical to a well-documented online journal.
I'm excited to post updates!
Aug. 22, 2008: Update and Reading
I sat down about an hour ago to log our reading for tonight but have only now gotten around to it! I posted a bunch of stuff on Freecycle that we can't take on our move, and I have been fielding responses for the last hour!
Okay, our reading for tonight:
BfC: "A Hole in the Roof: Mark 2:1-12"
MFB: "Chapter 31: When the Lions Roared," about Daniel
Princess: Maps again
Transformer: The Klutz Book of Marbles, about "Ringer"
Okay, our reading for tonight:
BfC: "A Hole in the Roof: Mark 2:1-12"
MFB: "Chapter 31: When the Lions Roared," about Daniel
Princess: Maps again
Transformer: The Klutz Book of Marbles, about "Ringer"
Aug. 20, 2008: Reading and Update
We are moving next week. Finally. We've still got a lot to do, but after it is all over, it will be nice to get back to homeschooling and having a regular life!
MFB: "Chapter 30: A Fishy Story," about Jonah, of course.
BfC: "Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy: Mark 1:40-45"
Transformer: The Klutz Book of Marbles, "A Brief Introduction," "Lagging," "Tic Tac Toe," by the Editors of Klutz Press, illustrated by Ed Taber
Princess: Maps, written by Joellyn Thrall Cicciarelli, illustrated by Tuko Fujisake
My pick: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, "Chapter 4: The Secret Workers"
MFB: "Chapter 30: A Fishy Story," about Jonah, of course.
BfC: "Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy: Mark 1:40-45"
Transformer: The Klutz Book of Marbles, "A Brief Introduction," "Lagging," "Tic Tac Toe," by the Editors of Klutz Press, illustrated by Ed Taber
Princess: Maps, written by Joellyn Thrall Cicciarelli, illustrated by Tuko Fujisake
My pick: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, "Chapter 4: The Secret Workers"
Jul. 21, 2008: Reading & Homeschool Schedule
MFB: chapter 6- The Troublesome Twins. About Esau and Jacob.
BfC: We're into the New Testament now. "An Angel Visits Zechariah: Luke 1:5-25".
Transformer: Transformer
My pick: I'm a Big Brother by Joanna Cole, illustrated by Maxie Chambliss.
Princess: Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins, illustrated by Eric Gurney. This is an abridged board book that we have.
I've been updated the children's school schedule for 2008/9. I had set it up as a daily schedule which, as you might imagine, had a lot of info and was in a cumbersome database. Anyway, upon inspiration by other Ambleside Online members, I am going to go by a weekly schedule so that it doesn't require so much tweaking when our lives go off the path. Instead of having 36 worksheets in Excel now, I only have 6! :) Each worksheet lists 6 weeks at a time instead of 1 week like it did before the change.
BfC: We're into the New Testament now. "An Angel Visits Zechariah: Luke 1:5-25".
Transformer: Transformer
My pick: I'm a Big Brother by Joanna Cole, illustrated by Maxie Chambliss.
Princess: Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins, illustrated by Eric Gurney. This is an abridged board book that we have.
I've been updated the children's school schedule for 2008/9. I had set it up as a daily schedule which, as you might imagine, had a lot of info and was in a cumbersome database. Anyway, upon inspiration by other Ambleside Online members, I am going to go by a weekly schedule so that it doesn't require so much tweaking when our lives go off the path. Instead of having 36 worksheets in Excel now, I only have 6! :) Each worksheet lists 6 weeks at a time instead of 1 week like it did before the change.
Jul. 20, 2008: Homeschool Move Update and Reading
First for the update. We are finally PACKING!! Actually putting things into boxes and moving them into the garage. It is starting to empty out, and we might even finish packing everything up within 2 weeks (if we have enough boxes, that is!). I sorted all of our homeschool stuff today. Well, I had already boxed up some additional homeschool books yesterday which we will put on the truck. However, I was sorting through all the homeschool stuff that will go with us in our car. We have 3 huge, heavy boxes + a crate + a small, light box with manipulatives. My husband will not be thrilled about all of the weight and space taken up by them, but my thought is that I don't want ANYTHING to happen to those materials so that we can start homeschooling in September with no delay.
Along with those items in the car, I will have the kids (of course!), our luggage, MY schoolbooks and materials, and our computers. That car will be packed and HEAVY! Kirk will have his car with the dogs and whatever he wants in there. Oh, I forgot to add that my Maxillaria (orchid) will be in my car too.
Okay, onto our reading for tonight:
MFB: chapter 5- Rebecca's Wedding
BfC: "Jonah Preaches at Ninevah: Jonah 3-4"
Princess: Ten Little Sleepyheads by Elizabeth Provost, illustrated by Donald Saaf. A countdown book starring bugs who are falling asleep one by one. The illustrations were not great, although the story itself was cute.
My pick: I picked my own tonight. A Diller A Dollar: Rhymes and Sayings for the Ten O'clock Scholar compiled by Lillian Morrison, illustrated by Marj Bauernschmidt. I read several pages from each of the sections (i.e. Arithmetic, Spelling, English, Social Studies, Short Stories, Conduct of Life, Teacher, Teacher). I really like this book. I may have read too much in one sitting, though, as the kids were getting antsy. My son complained but then enjoyed several readings afterwards.
Transformer: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Movie Storybook. Self-explanatory.
Along with those items in the car, I will have the kids (of course!), our luggage, MY schoolbooks and materials, and our computers. That car will be packed and HEAVY! Kirk will have his car with the dogs and whatever he wants in there. Oh, I forgot to add that my Maxillaria (orchid) will be in my car too.
Okay, onto our reading for tonight:
MFB: chapter 5- Rebecca's Wedding
BfC: "Jonah Preaches at Ninevah: Jonah 3-4"
Princess: Ten Little Sleepyheads by Elizabeth Provost, illustrated by Donald Saaf. A countdown book starring bugs who are falling asleep one by one. The illustrations were not great, although the story itself was cute.
My pick: I picked my own tonight. A Diller A Dollar: Rhymes and Sayings for the Ten O'clock Scholar compiled by Lillian Morrison, illustrated by Marj Bauernschmidt. I read several pages from each of the sections (i.e. Arithmetic, Spelling, English, Social Studies, Short Stories, Conduct of Life, Teacher, Teacher). I really like this book. I may have read too much in one sitting, though, as the kids were getting antsy. My son complained but then enjoyed several readings afterwards.
Transformer: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Movie Storybook. Self-explanatory.
Jul. 10, 2008: She can write! My 3yo can write!
My princess just wrote "MoM"!!! She got a piece of paper that she wanted to draw on for her friends and started writing her name. Except for one extraneous letter, she wrote her name! Although we have reviewed how to write each letter of her name, we've never done any drills. Other than her name, she has never learned to write from me. All of it is self-taught. I had heard of these things happening. I'm sure it helps to have an older sibling whose lessons you can overhear.
Then she said she wanted the Transformer to put his name down. As he finished writing his name, she said, "You're very good at writing your name." He said, "Thank you." ;) They can be so cute!
Then she said the drawing would also be from me. So she just wrote out "Mom." aaahhhhh!!! Her m's are missing the initial line down but otherwise, she did a great job. Now, remember, her 4th birthday is still 2 months away. Her brother is 6yo.
Then she said she wanted the Transformer to put his name down. As he finished writing his name, she said, "You're very good at writing your name." He said, "Thank you." ;) They can be so cute!
Then she said the drawing would also be from me. So she just wrote out "Mom." aaahhhhh!!! Her m's are missing the initial line down but otherwise, she did a great job. Now, remember, her 4th birthday is still 2 months away. Her brother is 6yo.
Jul. 9, 2008: Lizard! and Bedtime Reading
Okay. So somehow, some way, a lizard ended up in our house. Far from any obvious entry point. And then it went into our closet to get away from us trying to trap it. (quite fearfully, I might add!). It wasn't a huge lizard but it wasn't teeny either. It was about 8-9" from nose to tail.
I do not love reptiles. At all. And when it bent its body in half sideways, ugh. :( Okay, huge chills and squirminess on my part. Lots of screaming. I want to be braver. But I'm not.
Anyway, long story short, we created a pathway for it to exit the front door after trying to trap it unsuccessfully. Eventually, it walked its own way out! YAY!!!
Back to our reading...
The One Year Book of Devotions for Preschoolers by Crystal Bowman (Illustrated by Elena Kucharik): "More than the Birds" Your heavenly Father feeds the birds. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds. Matthew 6:26, ICB.
The One Year Bible for Children: Daily Bible readings for a growing faith by V. Gilbert Beers: "God Calls Isaiah: Isaiah 6".
Transformer: Transformer comic book.
Princess: The Tree: A First Discovery Book by Scholastic. This is one of those square-shaped books that has the painted clear pages over regular glossy illustrations, kind of like a peek-a-boo type book. My kids have borrowed a lot of these from the library over time. The Transformer in particular was drawn to these books. Anyway, this one was on sale at a Friends of the Library table so we bought it some time ago and shelved it. I think this is the first time we've read it. One of the books that I pulled off the main bookshelf to encourage choosing it. Informative, well-written, and nicely illustrated, as all of the books in this series are.
Mine: Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! by Dr. Seuss. This is also from our bookshelf, picked up from a library sale, I'm sure. We may have read it once before. Anyway, it is about exploring our imaginations. Not one of my favorite Seuss books but still worth reading.
I do not love reptiles. At all. And when it bent its body in half sideways, ugh. :( Okay, huge chills and squirminess on my part. Lots of screaming. I want to be braver. But I'm not.
Anyway, long story short, we created a pathway for it to exit the front door after trying to trap it unsuccessfully. Eventually, it walked its own way out! YAY!!!
Back to our reading...
The One Year Book of Devotions for Preschoolers by Crystal Bowman (Illustrated by Elena Kucharik): "More than the Birds" Your heavenly Father feeds the birds. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds. Matthew 6:26, ICB.
The One Year Bible for Children: Daily Bible readings for a growing faith by V. Gilbert Beers: "God Calls Isaiah: Isaiah 6".
Transformer: Transformer comic book.
Princess: The Tree: A First Discovery Book by Scholastic. This is one of those square-shaped books that has the painted clear pages over regular glossy illustrations, kind of like a peek-a-boo type book. My kids have borrowed a lot of these from the library over time. The Transformer in particular was drawn to these books. Anyway, this one was on sale at a Friends of the Library table so we bought it some time ago and shelved it. I think this is the first time we've read it. One of the books that I pulled off the main bookshelf to encourage choosing it. Informative, well-written, and nicely illustrated, as all of the books in this series are.
Mine: Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! by Dr. Seuss. This is also from our bookshelf, picked up from a library sale, I'm sure. We may have read it once before. Anyway, it is about exploring our imaginations. Not one of my favorite Seuss books but still worth reading.
Jun. 20, 2008: Celebrating Summer
and 102 degrees! After spending the morning at the park doing water play (water guns, cups, sponges, rags, squirting fish, fishing with rods for magnetic mouth fish) with some friends, we came home, had lunch, and then immediately set up the kiddie pool in the backyard. I joined them! Isn't water wonderful?
Jun. 18, 2008: Has the whole year gone by already?!
I can't believe that I abandoned this blog for so long. The year has been crazy. The kids are older and wiser, I think. I am now a student so my days (and nights) have been cut into smaller and smaller pieces with which to accomplish each thing.
The pirate finished up K in about February or so. So we have basically been treading water (3Rs and Bible study) since then. I don't want to start him in 1st grade until this fall. Speaking of which, we are moving from CA to TX this summer. This house is a mess! There is so much to do! Since the move has been established, I have to admit that we haven't done much in the way of homeschooling. :(
However, we are READY for 1st grade. We have adopted Ambleside Online's Charlotte Mason curriculum, and I have all of the books (hardcopy, online, or ebooks) all ready to go. We've gotten two math programs, Ray's Arithmetic and Miquon Math to bounce between as well. My little girl will be doing Sonlight PreK4, Charlotte Mason-style. And we will continue with Bible Study Guide for All Ages. The princess has joined us on that one, doing the level that the pirate was up to, while her brother has been promoted to the next level.
Oh, btw, the "pirate" is now a misnomer. He has done away with that and is all about Transformers and Speed Racer now. But I can't keep changing the name of the blog, can I? Can I? I'll have to look into that. ;)
Well, I hope to be more consistent going forward. The problem with me is that I set up too many journals to tend to at once and then I stop doing all of them. I will have to discipline myself.
The pirate finished up K in about February or so. So we have basically been treading water (3Rs and Bible study) since then. I don't want to start him in 1st grade until this fall. Speaking of which, we are moving from CA to TX this summer. This house is a mess! There is so much to do! Since the move has been established, I have to admit that we haven't done much in the way of homeschooling. :(
However, we are READY for 1st grade. We have adopted Ambleside Online's Charlotte Mason curriculum, and I have all of the books (hardcopy, online, or ebooks) all ready to go. We've gotten two math programs, Ray's Arithmetic and Miquon Math to bounce between as well. My little girl will be doing Sonlight PreK4, Charlotte Mason-style. And we will continue with Bible Study Guide for All Ages. The princess has joined us on that one, doing the level that the pirate was up to, while her brother has been promoted to the next level.
Oh, btw, the "pirate" is now a misnomer. He has done away with that and is all about Transformers and Speed Racer now. But I can't keep changing the name of the blog, can I? Can I? I'll have to look into that. ;)
Well, I hope to be more consistent going forward. The problem with me is that I set up too many journals to tend to at once and then I stop doing all of them. I will have to discipline myself.
Oct. 23, 2007: Long Overdue Update
It's been a long while since I've posted. We've had a bug travel through here and back again. :( The Pirate has been coughing for a few days now but it never seems to affect his energy level! He had requested that we expedite his MFW studies so that he can get to the unit studies that he wants to do so we are now on Butterfly and Frog lessons. We skipped Rock and Jewel because the Painted Lady Butterfly caterpillars that we had sent for arrived! Our lessons had gotten delayed so the estimated time when we would need the caterpillars was a bit early. Anyway, they are in their chrysalises now (5 of them). We've probably got less than a week before they emerge as butterflies! Should be pretty exciting.
The Princess is done with the Farm Unit and now onto the Pond Unit which we never got to with the Pirate before switching to MFW. It's exciting for me too not to have to do all of the same stuff over again - especially after just having done them the year before. (I don't think I could be a schoolteacher! For various reasons, but also because of the tedium of teaching the same things over and over again.)
For field trips, we had gone to the Lombardi Ranch in Saugus for the pumpkin patch. Got a nice pie pumpkin there which we transformed into pumpkin pies (first try with real pumpkins!) last night. We'll get to try them today after lunch. :)
The Pirate's ceramics class has been going well. His teacher has been doing well with giving the kids themes to work on for their clay creations. So he's got a lot of food items (i.e. spaghetti and meatballs, sushi!, oatmeal) as well as some other things like dinosaur footprints, a bug, and a fish. (I have got to start putting pictures on this site!) I think there are 3 more classes scheduled.
AWANA is going well. The kids are doing great learning their verses - I've been quite impressed. I've been learning them too but haven't tested myself as of yet. :/
We have a Harvest Party coming up with our homeschool group but I'm wondering if the current wildfires all around the southland will affect it over the next few days. Last year we had a great time and I know the kids are looking forward to it. Their dad is supposed to make this one which should make them very happy.
I've been getting so many links lately to free unit studies, esp. for Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons that I'm getting anxious about doing them! We are going to take some detours from their current curricula to do these studies but I haven't marked much time for Thanksgiving since we will be traveling for a week afterwards. If we take too much of a detour, the Princess won't finish her curriculum until July (which I can envision will probably just be aborted as things get crazy for summer).
The Pirate should be done with MFW by the end of January. We got a used copy of Explorabook: A Kids' Science Museum in a Book by Klutz Press. Expect for some agar packets, I think we have everything to do the activities in each chapter. This book would make a great science unit study - lots of hands-on. He still wants to study pirates, of course. His other picks (as of a month ago) are Robots and Machines, Inside the Human Body, Film, TV, Media Production & DVD/CD Recording, and Food Processing and Production. Of course these are all titles that I gave to paragraph long descriptions of each topic.
Depending on his interest level at the appropriate times, I've also added Rocks (and other collections), Gardening, Superheroes, and Trains to the consideration line-up. That's a lot of topics to cover from February through June (5 months)! So that might work out to about 2 weeks per topic. We'll see how it goes.
The Princess is done with the Farm Unit and now onto the Pond Unit which we never got to with the Pirate before switching to MFW. It's exciting for me too not to have to do all of the same stuff over again - especially after just having done them the year before. (I don't think I could be a schoolteacher! For various reasons, but also because of the tedium of teaching the same things over and over again.)
For field trips, we had gone to the Lombardi Ranch in Saugus for the pumpkin patch. Got a nice pie pumpkin there which we transformed into pumpkin pies (first try with real pumpkins!) last night. We'll get to try them today after lunch. :)
The Pirate's ceramics class has been going well. His teacher has been doing well with giving the kids themes to work on for their clay creations. So he's got a lot of food items (i.e. spaghetti and meatballs, sushi!, oatmeal) as well as some other things like dinosaur footprints, a bug, and a fish. (I have got to start putting pictures on this site!) I think there are 3 more classes scheduled.
AWANA is going well. The kids are doing great learning their verses - I've been quite impressed. I've been learning them too but haven't tested myself as of yet. :/
We have a Harvest Party coming up with our homeschool group but I'm wondering if the current wildfires all around the southland will affect it over the next few days. Last year we had a great time and I know the kids are looking forward to it. Their dad is supposed to make this one which should make them very happy.
I've been getting so many links lately to free unit studies, esp. for Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons that I'm getting anxious about doing them! We are going to take some detours from their current curricula to do these studies but I haven't marked much time for Thanksgiving since we will be traveling for a week afterwards. If we take too much of a detour, the Princess won't finish her curriculum until July (which I can envision will probably just be aborted as things get crazy for summer).
The Pirate should be done with MFW by the end of January. We got a used copy of Explorabook: A Kids' Science Museum in a Book by Klutz Press. Expect for some agar packets, I think we have everything to do the activities in each chapter. This book would make a great science unit study - lots of hands-on. He still wants to study pirates, of course. His other picks (as of a month ago) are Robots and Machines, Inside the Human Body, Film, TV, Media Production & DVD/CD Recording, and Food Processing and Production. Of course these are all titles that I gave to paragraph long descriptions of each topic.
Depending on his interest level at the appropriate times, I've also added Rocks (and other collections), Gardening, Superheroes, and Trains to the consideration line-up. That's a lot of topics to cover from February through June (5 months)! So that might work out to about 2 weeks per topic. We'll see how it goes.
Aug. 29, 2007: Isn't it fall yet?
It's been a few weeks since I've updated. Things have been going pretty well here. The kids' curricula happened to converge on the same subject (horses, farm animals) for about a week so that was pretty cool.
We finished up by going to Griffith Park for pony rides. The Princess got scared of the idea of riding so she got a pony-pulled wagon ride instead, but the Pirate got his first trotting experience and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the employees at the pony rides needed morale boosts or something. :(
The Pirate had been getting anxious to start his customized unit studes (which I hadn't planned on until the new year, after we finished MFW around Nov-Dec). I told him that we had to finish up this curricula first and so he demanded to do 3 letters/units at a time! :)
That would be really hard and confusing to pull off so I compromised and we're trying to do 2 letters/units at a time. We'll see how the next two weeks go. If it goes well, we will continue to do 2 letters/units at a time and will finish up MFW in another 2 months.
We will still be doing our BSGFAA as well as Singapore Math and the Homeschool Family Fitness book. And we will be doing the WP LA PreK/K and resuming The Reading Lesson as well.
So the customized unit studies on superheroes, trains, pirates, machines, engines, etc. will only make up a small portion of the schoolday. But they will determine our field trips and science projects as well as some arts and crafts.
Additionally, I am planning to sign them up for a class somewhere... gymnastics maybe?
The Princess is going steadily along and really enjoys arts and crafts the best. :) She LOVES to color and will not let me move her to the next project until she is finished with all the final touches. Here is her Beach Story dictated to me yesterday:
Well, today will be the last week of summer for those around us, I think. Next week will be the first week that Park Days are back for the school year as well as beginning the various places that I will be volunteering for including church childcare, AWANA, and bible study childcare.
Then the vacuum suction of holiday events and celebrations will pull us along until we land in next summer!
We finished up by going to Griffith Park for pony rides. The Princess got scared of the idea of riding so she got a pony-pulled wagon ride instead, but the Pirate got his first trotting experience and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the employees at the pony rides needed morale boosts or something. :(
The Pirate had been getting anxious to start his customized unit studes (which I hadn't planned on until the new year, after we finished MFW around Nov-Dec). I told him that we had to finish up this curricula first and so he demanded to do 3 letters/units at a time! :)
That would be really hard and confusing to pull off so I compromised and we're trying to do 2 letters/units at a time. We'll see how the next two weeks go. If it goes well, we will continue to do 2 letters/units at a time and will finish up MFW in another 2 months.
We will still be doing our BSGFAA as well as Singapore Math and the Homeschool Family Fitness book. And we will be doing the WP LA PreK/K and resuming The Reading Lesson as well.
So the customized unit studies on superheroes, trains, pirates, machines, engines, etc. will only make up a small portion of the schoolday. But they will determine our field trips and science projects as well as some arts and crafts.
Additionally, I am planning to sign them up for a class somewhere... gymnastics maybe?
The Princess is going steadily along and really enjoys arts and crafts the best. :) She LOVES to color and will not let me move her to the next project until she is finished with all the final touches. Here is her Beach Story dictated to me yesterday:
The beach has trees and it has sand and it has water, waves and it has people. And it has umbrellas and it has wind. We played, and we played withAnd then it is illustrated below with sweeps of purple, blue, green, and splotches of orange, purple, yellow, and green. (One of these days, I will be organized and will take pictures and post them.)and . Nuffin else.
Well, today will be the last week of summer for those around us, I think. Next week will be the first week that Park Days are back for the school year as well as beginning the various places that I will be volunteering for including church childcare, AWANA, and bible study childcare.
Then the vacuum suction of holiday events and celebrations will pull us along until we land in next summer!
Aug. 11, 2007: Great First Week of Tandem Schooling!
So the first week of combining both PreK3 and K was a success! It went so well - better than I imagined and I didn't stress out or fuss over creating a "schedule" that would combine both curricula. :)
We just kind of tag-teamed through each child's lessons. The Pirate's first comment on Monday when I called him for Bible study was, "Finally!". He enjoyed getting to participate in some of his sister's crafts for her schoolwork. Of course, he had already done most of them before but he wanted to do them again!
The Pirate and the Princess each get to tell Dad about all their schoolwork that is posted on their respective walls when he is home in the evenings. Does that get noisy!
We took a day off on Wednesday to go see a free movie "Open Season". That was our official end to goofing off during the school week. :) Now that we're officially underway, I'm going to start us back on our Park Days to round out the school schedule. Once we've gotten into that rhythm, then I'll look into maybe signing the kids up for classes somewhere. We still have a community membership at the Y so I want to take advantage of that before it expires so perhaps it will be gymnastics. The Pirate refuses to take swimming lessons. Oh, well. We still have next year.
We just kind of tag-teamed through each child's lessons. The Pirate's first comment on Monday when I called him for Bible study was, "Finally!". He enjoyed getting to participate in some of his sister's crafts for her schoolwork. Of course, he had already done most of them before but he wanted to do them again!
The Pirate and the Princess each get to tell Dad about all their schoolwork that is posted on their respective walls when he is home in the evenings. Does that get noisy!
We took a day off on Wednesday to go see a free movie "Open Season". That was our official end to goofing off during the school week. :) Now that we're officially underway, I'm going to start us back on our Park Days to round out the school schedule. Once we've gotten into that rhythm, then I'll look into maybe signing the kids up for classes somewhere. We still have a community membership at the Y so I want to take advantage of that before it expires so perhaps it will be gymnastics. The Pirate refuses to take swimming lessons. Oh, well. We still have next year.
Aug. 3, 2007: First Week of PreK Report!
So we just finished up our first week of preschool with the Princess. She really enjoyed herself, as did I. Today we did science by going on a nature hike at Eaton Canyon Nature Area while the Pirate was at VBS.
We looked for colors that matched her crayon colors and then she colored a page in her nature notebook with the colors that we observed. Then we listened for different sounds and heard birds chirping, birds hopping under the bushes, the breeze blowing through the plants, and the crunching sounds of leaves being stepped on by animals. (We also heard a lot of cars and trucks zooming by and people talking loudly!)
Then we sniffed the air but couldn't identify any specific smells other than that of dirt. :) We also observed red ants scurrying rapidly to and from their "anthill" which was level with the path we were on. She didn't enjoy watching the insects so much. The Pirate would have loved it!
We also touched different surfaces - although we were careful because I knew there was poison oak and stinging nettles around and figured there would be other similar plants to beware of.
We had split up the subjects for the week as follows:
Monday - Pre-reading activities and Bible
Tuesday - Arts & crafts and theme activities (Farm)
Wednesday - Math and Bible
Thursday - no school
Friday - Science
Each day includes a page from the Devotions for Preschoolers book.
She is so happy to have her own wall for hanging up the week's activities.
The Pirate, on the other hand, is sad that VBS is over. He's been a bit bellicose lately. Yesterday, he kicked a boy during rehearsal for today's program. Today, I spotted him during the program punching wildly at a (who I assume is the same) boy. The boy was backing away but none of the teachers seemed to notice so I went up and interrupted and made the Pirate stop. :(
His teacher seemed convinced that his misbehavior was due to lack of socialization from being homeschooled. I was pretty irritated by that comment yesterday but thought I had gotten over it last night. When the topic came up again today, I firmly stated that homeschooling was not the issue. That this occasional behavior was pre-existing from when he was 2 years old. She seemed to be under the illusion that the Pirate was being kept in some solitary existence being schooled by himself with no social contact with other kids. I said not to misunderstand what homeschooling was. I said that he has lots of exposure to other children regularly via church, support groups, park days, and playdates. I also said that if he were enrolled in school, I would most likely be in frequent parent-teacher conferences addressing this behavior.
Anyway, I was a bit frustrated, as you can probably tell. As we were driving home and discussing what was going on with him, it became apparent that he was a bit stressed out from all the activity and the fact that his sister has been homeschooling all week, as well as being emotional about VBS ending. He kept begging me to homeschool him today and then elevated his pleas to threats. I told him that he would start on Monday but he got pretty hysterical about it. Well, fast forward to now, he is working on an old math workbook that he had started some time ago but never finished because we had started with Singapore Math. He's happy as a clam.
Next week, we will be working out the kinks in homeschooling two kids on different curricula. Additionally, we will start going again to regular park days that we had been missing due to the heat over the summer.
We looked for colors that matched her crayon colors and then she colored a page in her nature notebook with the colors that we observed. Then we listened for different sounds and heard birds chirping, birds hopping under the bushes, the breeze blowing through the plants, and the crunching sounds of leaves being stepped on by animals. (We also heard a lot of cars and trucks zooming by and people talking loudly!)
Then we sniffed the air but couldn't identify any specific smells other than that of dirt. :) We also observed red ants scurrying rapidly to and from their "anthill" which was level with the path we were on. She didn't enjoy watching the insects so much. The Pirate would have loved it!
We also touched different surfaces - although we were careful because I knew there was poison oak and stinging nettles around and figured there would be other similar plants to beware of.
We had split up the subjects for the week as follows:
Monday - Pre-reading activities and Bible
Tuesday - Arts & crafts and theme activities (Farm)
Wednesday - Math and Bible
Thursday - no school
Friday - Science
Each day includes a page from the Devotions for Preschoolers book.
She is so happy to have her own wall for hanging up the week's activities.
The Pirate, on the other hand, is sad that VBS is over. He's been a bit bellicose lately. Yesterday, he kicked a boy during rehearsal for today's program. Today, I spotted him during the program punching wildly at a (who I assume is the same) boy. The boy was backing away but none of the teachers seemed to notice so I went up and interrupted and made the Pirate stop. :(
His teacher seemed convinced that his misbehavior was due to lack of socialization from being homeschooled. I was pretty irritated by that comment yesterday but thought I had gotten over it last night. When the topic came up again today, I firmly stated that homeschooling was not the issue. That this occasional behavior was pre-existing from when he was 2 years old. She seemed to be under the illusion that the Pirate was being kept in some solitary existence being schooled by himself with no social contact with other kids. I said not to misunderstand what homeschooling was. I said that he has lots of exposure to other children regularly via church, support groups, park days, and playdates. I also said that if he were enrolled in school, I would most likely be in frequent parent-teacher conferences addressing this behavior.
Anyway, I was a bit frustrated, as you can probably tell. As we were driving home and discussing what was going on with him, it became apparent that he was a bit stressed out from all the activity and the fact that his sister has been homeschooling all week, as well as being emotional about VBS ending. He kept begging me to homeschool him today and then elevated his pleas to threats. I told him that he would start on Monday but he got pretty hysterical about it. Well, fast forward to now, he is working on an old math workbook that he had started some time ago but never finished because we had started with Singapore Math. He's happy as a clam.
Next week, we will be working out the kinks in homeschooling two kids on different curricula. Additionally, we will start going again to regular park days that we had been missing due to the heat over the summer.
Jul. 31, 2007: Two Days In...
and she is loving it! Although I have to admit that she is antsy during the reading segments and wants to get her hands on the crafts. "When do we do craft, Mom? Can I cut this? I'm going to color here. Let me write on that!"
The personal attention that she is getting from me, as well as the crafting, really seems to be doing a lot for her. I'm so glad. She really has not gotten her "fair" share of attention, being second-born. It's unfortunate that I can't continue giving her that private attention after this week, but we will have gotten one week more than we would have otherwise!
The personal attention that she is getting from me, as well as the crafting, really seems to be doing a lot for her. I'm so glad. She really has not gotten her "fair" share of attention, being second-born. It's unfortunate that I can't continue giving her that private attention after this week, but we will have gotten one week more than we would have otherwise!
Jul. 26, 2007: Our journey so far
has been a great experience. We just started last fall with a PreK4 Pirate so we've had lots of room for error. 
We had gone through 3 different curricula last year, all Christian-based. The one we're using right now, My Father's World K is working pretty well. Since we had some adjustments to make, we didn't start the program until January, so it will take us into Christmas. Then we'll finish out my son's official Kindergarten year with unit studies and lapbooks. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of that. There are so many great materials out there that it is hard to pass on some of them.
We had gone through 3 different curricula last year, all Christian-based. The one we're using right now, My Father's World K is working pretty well. Since we had some adjustments to make, we didn't start the program until January, so it will take us into Christmas. Then we'll finish out my son's official Kindergarten year with unit studies and lapbooks. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of that. There are so many great materials out there that it is hard to pass on some of them.I have gotten a lot wiser about what we're looking for now though so I will be even MORE selective going forward. There's nothing like browsing through the Sonlight catalogue to entice you to go their route. Winterpromise has come out with a Children Around the World program that seems really great too!
My daughter, the Princess, is starting PreK3 on Monday! We have Winterpromise PreK from last year for my son. It turned out to be a bit remedial for him, especially with the math subjects. We were using Singapore Math anyway but it seemed like the WP was a bit too crafty and not as challenging academically for him. But it will be perfect for the Princess since she's a year younger than he was last year and she loves animals! The Pirate was done with animals before we finished the first of the four units (Farm Unit, Pond Unit, Zoo Unit, In the Garden Unit - all about animals in each area). We never made it to the Pond Unit. That's when we switched to MFWK.
The Pirate will be in VBS next week so that will be perfect for the Princess and I to start school so that I can focus completely on her and see how it goes. The following week, the Pirate will join us for schooltime and then my new job as teacher of two will begin in earnest!
The Pirate is reading so well now! He's only learned the primary sounds of the letters (no long vowels yet technically) but he is working his way through a lot of words at a pretty good clip. I am so impressed with him! :) MFW will take him through the rest of the alphabet that we haven't covered yet (with this curriculum). When we're done with that, we will pick up with Winterpromise's Language Arts PreK/K pack. We had gotten that last year along with the WP PreK "I'm Ready to Learn" program but it was a lot of work (i.e. writing on small guidelines) for him at that time. Anyway, since we had switched to MFW which incorporates its own phonics program, we put the WP on hold. We'll review the letters we had already covered when we were doing the WP LA , and go forward from where we left off. It gets pretty intense by the end of it for a first year phonics program. It's a vertical phonics program so it covers all sounds of each letter the first time the letter is introduced to the student.
Anyway, I'm going on and on - reason being that I've been mulling things over in my head as we get close to our first day of school. I'm pretty excited. So is the Pirate! Tonight, he said that he really wanted to do homeschool now. :D I told him that he would be busy with VBS next week and not have time until the following week.
I asked the Princess if she was ready to start school and she was amenable. ha ha ha! We'll see what she thinks next week.
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