Update

What did we do this week, month, last 2 months?

OK, so I have meant to do weekly reports but I have not posted in almost 2 months!  So I guess the big question is how is school going and what have the kids been doing.

A-6 is working through OPGTR at a steady pace.  He is finally more interested in print and not just pictures.  He is wanting to sound out everything he sees.  That is a very exciting step for me. 

We have just started All About Spelling this week.  I have heard lots of good things about it and am excited to use it.

 We have also been working on Pizza Hut Book It.  Our goal for October was for me or Dad to read-aloud for 20 minutes a day to them.  They love this time and did great at it (not a surprise).

In math, we have started adding 2 numbers.  He seems to do well with it.  He loves counting, reading the digital clock, and doing oral story problems. 

We have been listening to SOTW and talking about what we have heard.  We have not been recording this in anyway. 

We have also been looking at books and the Internet about cave animals and ocean animals.  We have not been recording this either.

A-1 had a chance to go to Mammoth Cave with his grandparents.  We have also been to the pumpkin patch and to the National Zoo in Washington, DC. 

We have also read to them all lots.

A-5 and L-3 have been learning right along with A-6 but nothing formal.  A-5 did start Girl Scouts and L-3 does Story Hour at the library.

JD is now walking and into EVERYTHING!

Memory Monday

One of the things that I believe is very important for our school time is Memory Work.  I looked into Classical Conversations this year because of their emphasis on Memory Work but the expense and the distance were too much for us right now.  So when I saw that Miss Moe does Memory Monday as a meme, I jumped on it!!  Check it out at http://missmoe-thesearethedaysofmylife.blogspot.com/

We started today with our Memory work so this is our plan for the year.

Each morning during our Morning Basket time, we will focus on 2 things to memorize.  Before lunch we will read through all Current Memory Work.  Afternoon snack time we will review all Previously Memorized Works.

Our Morning Schedule will be:
Monday - Psalm and Math Fact
Tuesday - Hymn and History Fact
Wednesday - Poem and Spanish Vocabulary
Thursday - Other Scripture and Science Fact
Friday -  Folk song and Nursery Rhyme

First we will be doing:
Psalm 150
Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

Ephesians 6:1-3
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

Hymn
Blessed Assurance

Folk Song
Simple Gifts

Poem
The Caterpillar by Rosetti from FLL

Math Fact
Skip count 1s and 2s to 12

History Fact
7 Days of Creation
1 - Day and Night
2 - Heavens
3 - Earth, Plants and Seas
4 - Sun, Moon and Stars
5 - Fish and Birds
6 - Animal and Man
7 - God Rested

Science Fact

Nursery Rhyme
One, Two Buckle My Shoe

Spanish Vocabulary
madre - mother
padre - father
ablulo - grandfather
abula - grandmother
hermana - sister
hermano - brother
tia - aunt
tio - uncle

I expect they will master some of these faster than others!  We will "test" on Friday.  After A-1 and A-K have mastered the material, we will move it to our .Previously Memorized Works.

What do you think is important to memorize?

Weekly Report Aug. 29 - Sept. 2, 2011

Group time with all 4 (or at least 3)We read about Noah from Genesis in the Bible, daily Psalms, daily from A Child's Garden of Verse, in our Morning Basket time.

We listened to the whole first disk (Chapter 1-7) of The Story of the World because they did NOT want to turn it off.  We then talked about the concepts in the first chapter - fertile crescent, the wall of Jericho, nomads to farmers, where the lived,  and more.

The grandparents were here this week and so we did not do as much as I would have liked but it was good to spend some time with them.  The kids got to do some woodworking projects from Home Depot with Granddad.  They got to ask about their dad's history as well as their grandparents history.

We also took a day trip and met some friends at the park in Staunton, VA.  This meant lots of time in the car to talk about everything from caves to the golden rule and then great chances to practice the golden rule especially.

We started working on our memory work which will come in a later post.


A-1 individual timeWe did lessons 2 and 3 in First Language Lessons.  We started seeing what words from the 100 most used words list A-1 can read without sounding them out.

We did math drills 1's, 2's and 3's addition as well as a short worksheet.

During Quiet Time A-1 is listening the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
A-K and L-PA-K and L-P worked through lesson 3 of OPG.  They also spent time coloring and drawing and doing verbal math facts. 
Next week we need to add science, nature walk (in a more formal way), artist and music.

In an effort to not spend to much time blogging my goal is to spend less than 30 minutes start to finish on any post.
Post time:  Start - 9:25
                 End - 9:57
                 Total -  32 minutes

What are we reading? Aug. 22-31, 2011

Working on -
Paddle to the Sea

Finished -
from Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
     The Elephant's Child 
Around the Clock with Harriet by Betsy and Giulio Moestro
Respect and Take Care of Things by Cheri J. Meiners
Only One Woof by James Herriot
Several kid picks by Darlin (Grandma)
Bedtime books by Dad


A-1 read
The Little Red Hen

First Week 9/22-26/11

This is our first week of school this year, as well as our first review.  As I said before we have A-1, A-K, L-P and JD (baby).  This is our first official year according to the state.

Group time with all 4 (or at least 3)
We read Genisis 1-4 from the Bible, daily Pslams, Only One Woof, The Elephant Child, daily from A Child's Garden of Verse, in our Morning Basket time.

We listened to the Intro of The Story of the World and talked about archeology and our family and their history. 

We talked about earthquakes and other natural disasters after the east coast earthquake on Tuesday.
The kids spent lots of time outside since the weather was cooler. 

A-1 individual time
A-1 read The Little Red Hen to me.  We did the first lesson in First Language Lessons and worked on a review lesson in Ordinary Parents Guide.  The lesson in OPG did not go well, not sure why.  We started a book for the grandparents that A-1 is drawing and writing the words for.  He drew and narrated from The Elephant Child

We did math drills 1's and 2's addition as well as a short worksheet.

During Quiet Time A-1 is listening the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

A-K and L-P
A-K and L-P worked through lessons 1 and 2 of OPG.  They also spent time coloring and drawing and doing verbal math facts.  L-P is drawn to math as well as coloring.

A-K remembered the story of The Fall from Genesis from Cubbies a year ago.  She was able to answer all of the questions correctly without hearing the story again.  When we got done she said "I know who Adam and Eve's kids were."  I asked her who were they and she said "The daughters were Susan and umm ...  Luccy and the boys were Peter and I don't remember the other ones name."  We had to explain to her that was in the book (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) and by that they really meant that all humans were grandchildren of Adam and Eve.

In an effort to not spend to much time blogging my goal is to spend less than 30 minutes start to finish on any post.
Post time:  Start - 12:50
                 End - 1:30
                 Total - 40 minutes (While all kids were not cooperation with the whole Quite Time thing :)

Welcome

I am a homeschool mom to 4 kids.  Our oldest (A-1) is 6 and in the first grade.  Our second (A-K) is 5 and in Kinder.  Our third (L-P) is 3 and in Preschool.  Our forth (JD) is 7 months and into EVERYTHING!

I have set up this blog to be a record of our homeschool adventure.  A portfolio of sorts.

Public school starts here on Monday.  That is when we will start as well.  Last year we did quite a bit of school but it did not FEEL like school.  This year we had to submit paperwork to the School Board for A-1 so it already feels more real.

The "bare bones" plan that we submitted to the Board for A-1 is

Reading - Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading.  We will be finishing this with him as well as other books just to read.

Language - First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind

Math - Modern Primary Arithmetic

Science - Library books about animals, the human body, plants and key scientists

Social Studies - The Story of the World

As well as What Your First Grader Needs to Know

In addition to this I plan to include Bible, Habit Training, Nature Walks, Living Books, Memory Work, Composer Study and Artist Study.  We will use notebooking, lapbooking and a mix of workboxes and scheduling cards.

In an effort to not spend to much time blogging my goal is to spend less than 30 minutes start to finish on any post.