Friday, February 26, 2010

Week 26: Feb 22-26

We really needed this to be another great week since co-op starts next week, and soon we'll be back into golf and baseball.

*sigh*  Once again there are no pics.  I have several to share but can't upload them right now.  One of these days I'm going to have a HUGE picture update!!  :)

Unfortunately we did not get off to a good start on Monday.  It seemed the whole day was against all of us.  Drake went to bed on Sunday with a fever, and woke up lethargic and stuffy.  A truck at Daddy's work backed into his truck.  Everything we tried to get started failed in one way or another.  *Just another manic Monday.*

We had lunch with an old friend on Tuesday at a favorite pizza place, and then we went to a fun play place with our homeschool group.  Its like a gigantic McD's playland!!  So fun!!  It was our first time to go there, and the boys LOVED it!  Nathan is over the age limit so he hung out with the teens and had a good time.  Since we had two fun activities planned for the day, the boys agreed the night before to wake up earlier than usual to get school work completed.  Both older boys completed everything but science and history!!

Wednesday was our only full day home this week.  We caught up on science and history since we skipped both on Monday and Tuesday.  The whole day went smoothly.  I love days like that!!  It was pretty nice outside, even though a bit colder than I like, so the boys played in the yard for most of the afternoon.

Nathan had a doctors appointment Thursday mid-morning.  Again I woke the boys up earlier than usual so they could get an early start.  I was determined to make the most of this last *free* week!!  :)  We took schoolwork in our backpacks to the doctor's office for the *long* wait.  It actually wasn't too bad of a wait.  Nathan finished his math and Kaleb got in a phonics lesson and one book.

We took most of the day off on Friday.  I stayed up late last night and didn't feel well this morning.  Nathan is going to his Nana's house for the night and Kaleb is going to his grandma's house.  The two littles, Daddy, and I are hanging out tonight!!  My husband got me a spa day package for Valentines Day so tomorrow is my appointment!!  I am SO excited!!  lol  A little pampering/quiet/relaxing time for mom!

Nathan.......
.....did lessons 102-106 and a test in Saxon math.
.....did not have great success with English this week.   He completed lessons 66 and 67.  We really need the time to sit together to cover each lesson and we just didn't have that much this week.
.....is reading The Bronze Bow and the second book in the Percy Jackson series.
.....didn't do any Wordly Wise this week.  I'm ready to put it away.  I've already started pulling vocab words from history and science.  I think I'll have him start his own dictionary next week with those words.  That may be more fun and he will probably get more out of that than WW.


Kaleb........
....completed lesson 82 in OPG.  I need to print some worksheets or find a game for the soft sounds of c and g.  Those kind of threw him for a loop.  He needs a bit more practice.
.....started The Cat in the Hat.  I am having trouble finding books for him to read that aren't full of sight words.  I only teach very, very few sight words.  Most can be taught phonetically and that is how I prefer him to learn.
.....got in more writing practice this week.  It is NOT a favorite activity for him.  Actually I was shocked to find out he hates something about school!!  He did do a LOT of writing though.  I had him write OPG words and then numbers from math.  I also brought out an ABC dry erase board for practice.  I tried to change it up a bit and I probably overdid it.  This is why I need a writing curriculum for him. :)  Either I have him write too much or not near enough.
....did several Saxon math lessons.  He asked me on Wednesday if I could make math a little bit harder for him.  Seriously.  He doesn't want to do more, but he does want more of a challenge.  I'm thinking of bringing out Saxon 2 and seeing how he does.  I just hate to miss something important in Saxon 1.  He is working on memorizing the math facts, already has doubles and ones down.  Maybe I can just work more with him on his math facts.  My other thought is to add fun workbook or something.  I have a fun subtraction workbook.  Maybe one on time and money?  He does pretty well with time already though and does ok with coin money.  Who knows....I know I don't have a clue.  I AM going to print off some MM worksheets for him and see if he feels a bit more challenged. 
...is working hard still on his history fair project.  We read a few books on King Tut this week.  He dictated his narrations and thoughts to me and I'll get those typed up for his board this weekend.  We printed off a bunch of pictures and just need to add some captions to those.  He is SO excited about history fair!!  I am too!!  Just over a week away!!

Both.........
......completed lesson 13 in Apologia Astronomy!!  Just one more lesson to go!!  We'll finish that up next week and start Botany the following week.  I think I am going to follow the suggested two days a week schedule in the notebook journal.  We have been doing science (and history) every day, but I think I'd like to cut that down.  That would put us finishing it up around the end of August/beginning of September which would be perfect.  Nathan could then start Apologia Gen Science and the little would start GtG (not sure how much science is in it yet though).   Kaleb also asked to do unit studies on dinosaurs and the human body.  I think following Nathan's science schedule will make planning a bit easier.
.....completed Ch 17 in SOTW.  We didn't do any of the activities in the AG because of all the other activities we did, but both boys enjoyed the chapter.


Have a good weekend everyone!!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Week 25: Feb 15-19

Same song, different week.  Life is good and work is getting done!!

We have flown through this week and accomplished a lot.  The highlights of the week are tomorrow when we go to a postponed Valentine skating party with a bunch of local homeschoolers and Saturday when we go to the World of Pharaohs exhibition in Little Rock, Arkansas.  FUN!  I'll have to share those pictures next week.

Kaleb....
.....is still doing great in OPG.  He completed through lesson 77.  We are doing a lot of extra review of previous words, and he is doing very well.  I have him pick a few each day from the word ring to write.  However I think I'm going to add the current lesson's words to the list too.  He needs more writing practice.

.....finished up ETC 2 and began ETC 2 1/2.  I heard from other parents about the fun extra activities in the 1/2 books so I thought we would check it out.  He doesn't need the extra review, but he is flying so fast through the books and LOVES doing them so I don't think it will hurt.

....continues to fly through Saxon 1.  We are doing a few extra fun math things on the side still.  He enjoys Saxon but it is not challenging at all.

Nathan....
....continues to do well in Saxon math.  He finished up lesson 101.  I am SO glad that he is doing so well!!
....working through MM Fractions and doing well there also.
....has come to a point in English that is pretty easy--pronouns.  He finished through lesson 55 plus lessons 61-64.  We do English four days a week.  However two of those days we do two lessons a day.  One lesson in the current chapter and one in the next chapter.  He asked to do this so he can finish early and as long as he is doing so well, I'll continue to let him.  He also likes to have some variety in his lessons so doing weeks of one part of speech is kind of boring (for me too).  When he comes to a writing assignment, he only does that lesson since writing isn't so easy for him.
....trudging along in WW.  We are dropping WW next year.  I'm tempted to just drop now.  We'll see.  I can easily pull vocab words from history and science.  Plus when we get into the Famous Men series, there are vocab words listed for each chapter.

Both....
....are excited to finish Astronomy.  We should already be finished but we've taken some time off here and there, especially during those snow days when we put off astronomy for nature.  However we are just a couple of weeks away.  I have pictures of the boys' Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus drawings, but I'll have to upload them next week with Pluto.
....love SOTW much better than MOH.  Go figure.  LOVE the AG and all those suggestions, ideas, and student pages.

Gabriel and Drake.....
.....have been playing and playing and playing.  I have had a hard time getting back to the letter of the week stuff.  We have been singing songs and playing games though.  Gabriel already knows the alphabet and most of the sounds.  He can sound out words, and even spell a few cvc words, thanks to Teacher Kaleb.  Because of that, I'm thinking of scrapping the letter of the week.  We can spend our time doing other fun activities and just work on letter sounds and the few letters that he doesn't recognize right off.  I don't know.  Still thinking.  Any ideas?

We all are very excited about tomorrow's valentine skating party and the trip to Little Rock on Saturday!  We have some valentine boxes to make tonight!!  Fun weekend ahead!!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Week 22-24: Jan 25-Feb 12

We have spent the last three weeks working hard, and I haven't taken many pictures. 

The boys have been working hard.  Nathan and Kaleb both are doing very well in math.  MM was the perfect addition to Nathan's math program.  He has been so much better with Saxon since we added MM.  Those two math programs really compliment each other!  Kaleb has been flying through Saxon 1.  I am thinking about adding MM 1 for him just because he is going so fast through Saxon.  I want to make sure he is retaining.  He has the majority of addition facts memorized already.  Seriously, he is blowing me away with his math ability!

We are finishing up Apologia Astronomy and have Botany waiting on us.  I bought the Botany Notebooking Journal to go with the book.  I don't like Apologia's free notebooking printables.  They are too plain.  Nathan needs a little bit of guidance to his notebooking/lapbooking.  For Astronomy, I printed the free lapbook pieces from a yahoo group, but  there isn't a free Botany lapbook.  After looking at the samples on the Apologia's website, I just decided to go with the journal.  I can't wait to see it!  We are all really excited to get started with Botany, and what perfect timing!!  Spring is just around the corner.

R&S English is still just as boring as always, but still working so well for us!  I see all these posts on forum boards about fun, exciting, easy English programs, but I just can't take R&S away!  It is working so well.  I don't think Nathan will ever develop my love of grammar, but at least I know he will understand it.  My only complaint is that I don't think there is enough diagramming instruction.  I think I may just get a diagramming book for over the summer to cement what he has learned already before moving on.

OPGTR is amazing as always.  Kaleb is doing so well.  We are covering long vowel sounds so this is pretty easy for him since he has the LeapFrog videos.  When the lessons are short, we do two a day.  It is just about time to pull our my own kindergarten reading books for him to read.  I have been patiently waiting until he make it through long vowel sounds before getting them out.  I LOVE having these old books for my boys.  I can still actually remember reading them myself.

Kaleb moved into ETC 2 a while back and is about finished with it.  I decided to get the 1/2 books for him.  He does so well with ETC, and I heard that the 1/2 books weren't just about having extra practice but had some fun activities that the whole books don't.  We'll see how it goes.

I have spent quite a bit of time collecting materials and planning for my spring co-op class and next school year.   I am so excited about the class and next year's schedule!!  It seems every year we homeschool gets better and better. 

For our spring co-op that starts on the first Friday of March, I am teaching a K-2 geography class.  I hadn't planned on teaching a class since I'm also co-director, but we were in need of another K-2 class.  I've had a lot of fun planning it and can't wait for co-op to start!!  I looked and looked for a program that would fit the class requirements.  I love Galloping the Globe, and purchased it for my homeschool next school year.  However I don't think it will work with my class.  After a bit  more searching, I decided to make my own curriculum for the class and it is working out wonderfully.  I am making the children's books and my teacher's manual myself, and they are looking great!  I can't wait to have it all printed!!

I also have next school year just about planned.   We are keeping everything except WW, R&S Spelling, MEP and MOH.  Nathan and I are both bored out of our minds with WW.  I am currently looking for a new vocab program.  I may just skip it this year since I'm supplementing our history with the Famous Men series.  I noticed last night that each chapter includes a vocab list!  R&S Spelling wasn't getting done.  Plus I plan to use vocab words as spelling.  We dropped MEP earlier this school year and added Math Mammoth.  We just recently dropped MOH in favor of using SOTW as our main history spine now.  I added SOTW AG's and will add GtG and foreign language for next year.  As per Nathan's request, we are going to add an art/drawing class.  Also I would love to {finally} add the CM composer/artist schedule to our homeschool.  I tried earlier this school year but gave up due to our out of the home schedule.  This time around I would like to get it established before that busy fall/sports season.

I know I'm forgetting something, but this is long enough for now.  If you've hung with me this far, please take a look at our snowy pictures below.  We don't usually get snow like this around here so we have had a fun couple of weeks!  I have to say though I am ready for Spring and warmer weather.  There is a reason I live in the south....I'm a hot weather fan!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

love tree

I saw this super fun and easy-peasy Valentines Craft on teach mama.  So cute!!

I thought our special people deserved to be held by a very special vase so I used a vase that Bo and I received as a wedding gift almost 10 years ago.  I stuck a piece of construction paper inside to give it a little color.

The boys LOVED this craft!!  They had a blast making it!  I told them when it was all finished that not only are these people our most loved, but they (my boys) are most loved by these people.  Kaleb said "wow!  A bunch of people love me!"  :)