Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

School has been going really smoothly lately.  I have gotten a nice schedule going and it's easy for all 3 of us.  This week they have been finishing up the lessons on Jacob in the Bible and then we are finishing what they started with Joseph while we were camping.  I was going to keep reading through the Bible, but my children are having trouble being obedient lately and my husband and I have decided that maybe it's time we do a character study on obedience.  So I will be planning that one tonight to start our study after Joseph.  I don't want to get into Moses yet because that is a long story in itself. 

Math and Phonics have been going very well for both of the kids.  Kyle struggles with the letters and sounds, but he is not even supposed to be in Kindergarten yet so I'm not worried about it.  We'll just keep working until he gets it and we'll still be ahead.  I am going to find some additional phonics lessons we can do besides following the boring A Beka manual.

Reading has been really fun lately with the kids.  They are starting to get into the stories more and Kyle most of the time doesn't want me to stop!  Amanda is reading so well on her own now, it just happened like that *.  (that is a snap, lol)  When it's reading time for Kyle he picks out a book from his library pile and brings it to me.  They are usually quite long books and he wants me to read it all.  I've had to cut the really long ones down to about 10 pages at a time.  But he brings it back the next day and continues until we finish it.  I love it and will encourage reading! 

We are reading Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary right now.  She is my favorite author for kids.  They love this series so far and want to buy the 3rd book.  I can't wait to introduce them to Ramona, Beezus and Henry Higgins!!  Those were my favorite books as a kid.  The chapters in this book are pretty long and take about 20 min or so to read one chapter, but Kyle doesn't want me to stop.  Amanda is ready for me to though.  That's ok. 

In our Science lessons this week we covered all types of animals.  A Beka Science 2 doesn't get really deep into the lessons, so I was able to combine quite a few of the lessons to get them done faster.  We have one more lesson to cover tomorrow about owls, then we will start our bird study on Monday.

During our bird study and our obedience study, I will put together a different copywork folder for the kids that go along with our lessons.  They actually really enjoy doing the copywork pages and I like to have them go along with what we are learning or the month that it is.  There are 14 lessons planned for our bird study, and we'll do more if they need to finish their lapbooks for that.

I am also starting to plan our plant/flower/garden study.  I am going to spend a week on plants, a week on flowers and a week or 2 on gardens.  They are going to have some little place to plant a few seeds and take care of a tiny little garden of their own.  I am not finding any lapbook stuff that I like for this unit, besides one that costs $19.99.  I don't know if I will be able to get that one or not.  If not, I will maybe do a notebook style project with some scrapbooking supplies.

All of this planning keeps me busy but it's one of my favorite part of homeschooling!

Science Lessons for Our Bird Project

We are so excited to do some lessons on birds.  We are also going to learn about some birds that live in our yard and learn how to attract them or others.  We will be starting this project after we do our animal lessons.  There are 6 of those lessons, and if I stay on track, we'll finish them next week and can start birds the first week of May.  After our bird project we will be doing a lengthy study on plants/flowers/gardens that will go quite a bit into our summer.  I really want to start a compost pile.

1.  Learn about birds body parts and feathers, Read First Book of Birds ebook (FBB) pg 6-16
2.  Learn about birds body parts and feathers, Read FBB pg 16-25
3.  Learn about migration, Start bird-watching journal, Do Nature Journal cover, Read FBB pg 52-60
4.  Learn about mating/nesting, Read FBB pg 33-43
5.  Learn about eggs/babies, Read FBB pg 43-51
6.  Look at books with birds in Washington and choose bird to do lapbook on, Learn about bird watching, Read FBB pg 62-65, Bird Watch
7.  Research favorite foods, flowers, etc. of chosen bird, Take notes, Read Bird Watching For Beginners (BWFB) ebook pg 8-19, Bird watch
8.  Anatomy lapbook, Read BWFB pg 8-19, Bird watch
9.  Migration lapbook, Read BWFB pg 19-22, Bird watch
10.  Nest lapbook, Read BWFB pg 22-34, Bird watch
11.  Babies lapbook, Read BWFB pg 34-37, Bird watch
12.  Predators lapbook, Read BWFB pg 37-46, Bird watch
13.  Poem and Song lapbook, Read BWFB pg. 46-52, Bird Watch
14.  Observation lapbook, Transfer information from bird-watching journal, Bird watch
15.  Finish bird lapbook

Follow Friday-April 23, 2010

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Schedule For April 12-18

Last night I got all of the schedule done for this school week.  I find it much easier for myself to plan each week.  I usually have an outline of what I want to do, then I start to plan.  
So since I have decided to make this easier on myself, and Kyle wants to do most of the school work that Amanda is doing, so I have combined everything for them except Math, Reading and Phonics.  For some of the projects and studies we do, Kyle isn't expected to do the same work as Amanda, but he is learning the same subjects.  So to clarify, Amanda's subjects are labeled with a 1 for first grade and Kyle's is labeled with a K for Kindergarten.
The Bible that I read to the kids is one that I had when I was little.  It's called My Picture Story Bible by Dena Korfker.  I want my kids to learn King James version of the Bible, but these stories are perfect for the kids to understand what is going on.  So for our Bible study, I read out of this children's Bible.  When we memorize verses they memorize KJV verses.  And of course, everything at church is KJV.  This Bible tells the story at a great level for children to understand and not in nonsense ways.  

MONDAY:
Read Jacob Runs Away in Bible
Read Dinosaurs Before Dark ch 5
Practice AWANA verses
Math 1/K
Phonics 1/K
Reading 1
Science Lesson 12
Copywork

TUESDAY:
Read Jacob Wrestles with God
Read Dinosaurs Before Dark ch6
Practice AWANA verses
Math 1/K
Phonics 1/K
Reading 1
Science Lesson 13
Copywork

WEDNESDAY:
Read Jacob Keeps His Promise in Bible
Read Dinosaurs Before Dark ch 7
Practice AWANA verses
Math 1/K
Phonics 1/K
Reading 1
Science Lesson 14
Copywork

THURSDAY:
Read Joseph the Dreamer in Bible
Draw picture of Josephs coat of many colors on worksheet
Read Dinosaurs Before Dark ch 8
Practice AWANA verses
Math 1/K
Phonics 1/K
Reading 1
Read Berenstain Bears Science Book (goes with what we are learning in science)
Copywork

FRIDAY:
Read Joseph Sold by His Brothers in Bible
Draw picture of Joseph being sold
Read Dinosaurs Before Dark ch 9
Practice AWANA verses
Math 1/K
Phonics 1/K
Reading 1
Copywork

SATURDAY:
Read Joseph Goes to Prison
Fill out Bio sheet of Joseph
Read Dinosaurs before Dark ch 10


SUNDAY:
Read The Butler and the Baker


Thursday we are leaving for our vacation.  We are going camping by Lake Chelan.  I guess it's above the lake in the mountains.  The Bible lessons that we do at camp will involve the other kids.  I took them to Vacation Bible School with us last year and David, same age as Amanda, got saved.  Now they haven't been going to Sunday school or church all year.  But I want to teach them about God and Jesus as much as I can.  I already asked their mom if she minded if they did the lessons with us, and she was glad about it.  So I made sure to have some activities to do with the lessons.  Shawna is older.  I think she is in 2nd or 3rd grade.  Not totally sure.  
So there is my agenda for the week.  Have a great week friends!

 

Not going so well at the moment

We have been so sidetracked that school has been mostly a hit and miss lately.  Between having to get rid of the dog, then our cat disappeared, then he reappeared but he was injured, then yesterday we had to put him to sleep, to me being sick and tired from all of the stress it causes me.....we've been having a hard time.
I am so excited to use the materials that I have bought for our new school ways, but I can hardly get the motivation to do anything.  I have been trying to rotate school with house....but not getting far on either.
The sad thing is I really can't say what I have been doing.  I have hardly been on Facebook for the last 2 weeks.  I check it on and off, but I am not on it all day long like I was before.  I guess I have just been existing.
Anyways, we are studying how things move and work in Science.  The focus of this study is on toys.  That appeals to children I suppose.
We started reading Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne and they love this.  The chapters are only about 3-4 pages and it's large print for children, so a chapter goes by fast.  They have wanted me to read more than one chapter each time.  I love that!
We will finish this book this week and I will decide what we will read next.  I have the next 3 of that series, but I don't want to read them all at once.  So I may space them out a bit.  I might start a book about birds since that is our next study in Science.
I have ditched A Beka's plan for reading along with the math and Science.  I am still using the A Beka guidelines and books, just at a different pace.  I am not using their suggestions for homework reading either, I am adding our own books for her to read.  I like this a lot better.  It is more fuller and enriching.  The next things that I am going to disect is Kyle's lesson plans.  Either that, or all this summer, just get him onto the same level as Amanda, this Kindergarten A Beka math is kinds silly I think.   
Anyhow, hopefully next week we can actually get a full week of school done, despite leaving for a vacation on Thursday.  It's about a 6-7 hour drive to our destination, so I am thinking that we can do some school work in the car.  Then I heard that the other children that will be there will be having homework to do since they are missing school, so I figure we might as well plan to do some of our schoolwork there.