Saturday, November 1, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Totally Cheating
Well that is the name of our blog and our school. LOL. www.homeschoolingheathens.blogspot.com
This is what I wrote to answer questions within a few of my homeschooling groups on how I homeschool without OHVA or some other prepackaged curriculum. Forgive the format, I just cut and paste it here. I will have another blog up soon about out VERY BUSY weekend!!
I am Dani and, I homeschool my 4 ungrateful heathens. I blog about it almost weekly LOL (I forget A LOT LOL) I am not sure what to classify myself as. I use a traditional classroom setting, a truck load of worksheets, a chalk board, a kitchen, and independent study for my older two.
Fifi is my preschooler/kindergartener. She will be 5 in November and is doing Kindergarten work but is considered a Preschooler here in OH. The week she is working with Eric Carle books.(yes again for those that read my other blog). We are using the words for spelling and Spanish. We are using the pictures for art (recreation) We are working using his bugs for math with basic addition (none of the sums are more than 20) I must admit, we went to Applebee's and they were giving children these little pamphlets for Eric Carle's work so I asked for extra (I now have 10 or so) and the have mazes, puzzles, and other games. We also picked up a spider puzzle and made Mr. Carle's bugs our of playdough (noting size relationships and shapes). Last but not least, we read as many of the books as we could find in our collection and at the library.
Coco is my 3rd grader. She is 8 years old. She was diagnosed with PPD and high functioning autism but I cant see it and neither can my friends. She is shy and a bit immature for her age. She is also the most loving and considerate child I have ever known. Each week she particpates in a creative writing class, roller skating lessons, theater programs, art classes, and, girl scouts.
Lola is my 6th ot 7th grader. She is 11 years old. She particpates in cheerleading, girl scouts, theater programs, art classes, and Japanese Anime Club. She loves school and loves being in charge. I have found that letting her lead some of the younger childrens classes allows me to have some free time to cook lunch, start dinner, do laundry... You know, " mom things"This is our first week without the added child (We were homeschooling an extra child but is didn't work out)
I try to keep Coco and Lola doing similar things just at a different level as much as possible. The only differences are Science where Coco is studying Earth Science and Lola is studying Human Anatomy and Math. however, this month their Math is the same.
We are starting fractions in math. I have this great kit my mother sent us from CT called Ready to Learn Fractions and Decimals. We also use my "Bible" the Comprehensive Curriculum's Best of Grade 3 (Grade 6 for Lola). We use www.aaaspell.com and www.aaamath.com for alot of our work and practice. All of the older children use these at some point each week. Spelling every week is pretty much the same. We get our word list for www.aaaspell.com and make flashcards on Monday, Write sentences using the words in a way that makes sense on Tuesdays. I make crossword puzzles on www.theteacherscorner.net for Wednesdays and a word scramble on Thursdays. We also put our words in ABC order on Thursdays. On Fridays we talk about their parts of speech and what ways the words can be used (i.e. note is a noun and a verb but if we make it notable it is a __? What about music notes?...) We don't test for grades, we test because they want to.
Language Arts this week is Homonyms. I get alot of my worksheets from my CC book but I also use www.enchantedlearning.com. It is $20 a year but totally worth it! Lola is using her CC book as well. She is also still working with compound words, prefixes and suffixes.
Science this week is a review of landforms for Coco. We finishing up the Earth and moving on to Oceans next week. We use mostly books from the library and http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ for our worksheets and lesson ideas.Lola is working with the Human Brain. She started the Nervous System last week. Next week we will be moving on the the senses and how they work and why. I also get alot of her Science worksheets from enchantedlearning. I get some of her work from www.bogglesworldesl.com too. Some weeks we just read about the systems and I have to make my own worksheets too. This week, we got lucky and the worksheets were on www.enchantedlearning.com
Geography this week is Florida. Last week was Delaware. We are going in alphabetical order. Each week we start with reading the Celebrate the States book during lunch of the state we are starting. Lola also loves to make the state flag out of construction paper every week. Then on Tuesday we do an art project pertaining to the state. Wednesday we work with the states history. I usually make a quiz sheet on important historic facts but sometimes they find something they want to run with. (when studying CA they were hooked on Levi Strauss and the gold rush...) Thursdays is all about the wackiest facts we can find in books and online about the states. It is also the day we make our Thank You Cards for our friends in that state who sent us the information, map, magnet and list of fun facts. If you want to be one of those friends let me know LOL... Friday is the day we do our worksheet from www.abcteach.comThey color in the flag and write out in complete sentences the three most memorable facts about the state. We also use enchantedlearning.com for geography and www.nationalatlas.gov for maps and facts.
The girls are also taking sign language. They use Micky Flodin's Books and Signing Time videos. We have all of the videos and 4 of the books now. They teach themselves a few (up to 10) new words a day and on Fridays they show me what they have learned. Once a month they put on a show for the folks at the library. The third Thursday of the month is Seniors Night. They write and produce their own "shows" including costumes, music and script. We were going to take a class with other homeschoolers but it wouldn't work into our schedule. We do try ot attemd some of the field trips if not classes with the other homeschoolers in the area. Mostly for my sanity. I have made some wonderful friends within the two groups we belong to.
Coco also takes a creative writing class on Wednesday nights at the same library. We do weekly creative writing projects as well. Each month we focus on a type of writing (i.e. Legends, poetry, fables, fairy tales...) This month we are doing poetry. I have gotten the girls to write a poem a day whether it be
M-makes me breakfast
O-outstanding reader
M-makes me lunch
M-Makes me dinner
Y-Yells when I don't do my work (written by Nahco age 14)
to
Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Lola stinks
Exactly like Poo (by Coco age 8)
Nacho is my 8th or 9th grader. He is 14 years old. He has PTSD and is moody and sullen most of the time. He pretty much hates all schooling except his World Studies. He takes Japanese Anime, Cooking Classes, Boy Scouts, Fusion Classes and Guitar Lessons. Nacho is a huge help to me when it comes to almost everything not school related. He babysits, does laundry, dishes, takes care of the pets... He just hates school. He hates writing anything out.
We use alot of text books bought online for Nacho. Once a week I write out assignments on his sheet and once a week, I read what he finished. Some weeks, we redo what was done the week before.In math we are beginning Algebra. We are talking about Quadratic Equations. I use the book(s) and the white board to try to explain them. We also use www.aaamath.com and www.aaaknow.com Im science we are talking about matter. We also have a few science text books and a workbook. I love www.amazon.comThat is where I get most of my books. We also have this great book Middle School Science Experiments. Nacho loves randomly picking out an experiment and doing it.
Instead of regular old geography, Nahco is doing a World Study. Each month he focuses on a new place in the world and studies their Mythology, Religion, Foods, Languages, Herb Lore, Politics (which he hates) and History (again he hates) We cook their foods, research recipes, listen to and view their languages (www.youtube.com is excellent for this!), and attempt to discuss their politics. We also have our own version of lap-booking. Nacho Has specific binders for Herb Lore and Mythology. Each week or so he adds more pages from what he is learning. For Herb Lore he puts them in a usage category. For Mythology they are ordered by regions. This month is Japan.
Nacho also studies Wicca and takes classes monthly at a local pagan store. These are the highlight of his month! www.spiritapothecary.com The owner Matt teaches classes on incense making (this month was Samhaim incense including all of the herb lore) He also helps Nacho from home. I love this store!! Check them out. Saturday the owners held a pot luck dinner that was geared to helping me homeschool. Regional foods, regional music, regional herb lore and mythology books... even regional jewelery! I cant help but advertise for them. LOL
Nacho and Lola also take Spanish both online and with books. We use www.livemocha.com, Rosetta Stone and Ariba! This is one of their chosen independent studies.As well as Nacho's World Studies cooking, Nahco, Lola and Coco all take "home ec" This means they cook for the family two or three times a week. This is everything from muffins (from a box) to full dinners for their grandparents. I belong to a group on www.Cafemom.com called the Cooking Cafe. You can check it out for a list of what they will be making this week and recipes.
If you have found the gaps, yes, I don't make Nacho take a Language Arts. He is required to read and dissect short stories, poems, plays and what not. Its like pulling teeth from an angry croc. We do all his Language Arts work out loud, over dinner most nights.
One top of all of this, all three of the older children are required to read 30 minutes each day and log what they have read (with a summary) in their reading logs. They choose their own books for the most part. www.bookadventures.comhelped alot!
This is what I wrote to answer questions within a few of my homeschooling groups on how I homeschool without OHVA or some other prepackaged curriculum. Forgive the format, I just cut and paste it here. I will have another blog up soon about out VERY BUSY weekend!!
I am Dani and, I homeschool my 4 ungrateful heathens. I blog about it almost weekly LOL (I forget A LOT LOL) I am not sure what to classify myself as. I use a traditional classroom setting, a truck load of worksheets, a chalk board, a kitchen, and independent study for my older two.
Fifi is my preschooler/kindergartener. She will be 5 in November and is doing Kindergarten work but is considered a Preschooler here in OH. The week she is working with Eric Carle books.(yes again for those that read my other blog). We are using the words for spelling and Spanish. We are using the pictures for art (recreation) We are working using his bugs for math with basic addition (none of the sums are more than 20) I must admit, we went to Applebee's and they were giving children these little pamphlets for Eric Carle's work so I asked for extra (I now have 10 or so) and the have mazes, puzzles, and other games. We also picked up a spider puzzle and made Mr. Carle's bugs our of playdough (noting size relationships and shapes). Last but not least, we read as many of the books as we could find in our collection and at the library.
Coco is my 3rd grader. She is 8 years old. She was diagnosed with PPD and high functioning autism but I cant see it and neither can my friends. She is shy and a bit immature for her age. She is also the most loving and considerate child I have ever known. Each week she particpates in a creative writing class, roller skating lessons, theater programs, art classes, and, girl scouts.
Lola is my 6th ot 7th grader. She is 11 years old. She particpates in cheerleading, girl scouts, theater programs, art classes, and Japanese Anime Club. She loves school and loves being in charge. I have found that letting her lead some of the younger childrens classes allows me to have some free time to cook lunch, start dinner, do laundry... You know, " mom things"This is our first week without the added child (We were homeschooling an extra child but is didn't work out)
I try to keep Coco and Lola doing similar things just at a different level as much as possible. The only differences are Science where Coco is studying Earth Science and Lola is studying Human Anatomy and Math. however, this month their Math is the same.
We are starting fractions in math. I have this great kit my mother sent us from CT called Ready to Learn Fractions and Decimals. We also use my "Bible" the Comprehensive Curriculum's Best of Grade 3 (Grade 6 for Lola). We use www.aaaspell.com and www.aaamath.com for alot of our work and practice. All of the older children use these at some point each week. Spelling every week is pretty much the same. We get our word list for www.aaaspell.com and make flashcards on Monday, Write sentences using the words in a way that makes sense on Tuesdays. I make crossword puzzles on www.theteacherscorner.net for Wednesdays and a word scramble on Thursdays. We also put our words in ABC order on Thursdays. On Fridays we talk about their parts of speech and what ways the words can be used (i.e. note is a noun and a verb but if we make it notable it is a __? What about music notes?...) We don't test for grades, we test because they want to.
Language Arts this week is Homonyms. I get alot of my worksheets from my CC book but I also use www.enchantedlearning.com. It is $20 a year but totally worth it! Lola is using her CC book as well. She is also still working with compound words, prefixes and suffixes.
Science this week is a review of landforms for Coco. We finishing up the Earth and moving on to Oceans next week. We use mostly books from the library and http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ for our worksheets and lesson ideas.Lola is working with the Human Brain. She started the Nervous System last week. Next week we will be moving on the the senses and how they work and why. I also get alot of her Science worksheets from enchantedlearning. I get some of her work from www.bogglesworldesl.com too. Some weeks we just read about the systems and I have to make my own worksheets too. This week, we got lucky and the worksheets were on www.enchantedlearning.com
Geography this week is Florida. Last week was Delaware. We are going in alphabetical order. Each week we start with reading the Celebrate the States book during lunch of the state we are starting. Lola also loves to make the state flag out of construction paper every week. Then on Tuesday we do an art project pertaining to the state. Wednesday we work with the states history. I usually make a quiz sheet on important historic facts but sometimes they find something they want to run with. (when studying CA they were hooked on Levi Strauss and the gold rush...) Thursdays is all about the wackiest facts we can find in books and online about the states. It is also the day we make our Thank You Cards for our friends in that state who sent us the information, map, magnet and list of fun facts. If you want to be one of those friends let me know LOL... Friday is the day we do our worksheet from www.abcteach.comThey color in the flag and write out in complete sentences the three most memorable facts about the state. We also use enchantedlearning.com for geography and www.nationalatlas.gov for maps and facts.
The girls are also taking sign language. They use Micky Flodin's Books and Signing Time videos. We have all of the videos and 4 of the books now. They teach themselves a few (up to 10) new words a day and on Fridays they show me what they have learned. Once a month they put on a show for the folks at the library. The third Thursday of the month is Seniors Night. They write and produce their own "shows" including costumes, music and script. We were going to take a class with other homeschoolers but it wouldn't work into our schedule. We do try ot attemd some of the field trips if not classes with the other homeschoolers in the area. Mostly for my sanity. I have made some wonderful friends within the two groups we belong to.
Coco also takes a creative writing class on Wednesday nights at the same library. We do weekly creative writing projects as well. Each month we focus on a type of writing (i.e. Legends, poetry, fables, fairy tales...) This month we are doing poetry. I have gotten the girls to write a poem a day whether it be
M-makes me breakfast
O-outstanding reader
M-makes me lunch
M-Makes me dinner
Y-Yells when I don't do my work (written by Nahco age 14)
to
Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Lola stinks
Exactly like Poo (by Coco age 8)
Nacho is my 8th or 9th grader. He is 14 years old. He has PTSD and is moody and sullen most of the time. He pretty much hates all schooling except his World Studies. He takes Japanese Anime, Cooking Classes, Boy Scouts, Fusion Classes and Guitar Lessons. Nacho is a huge help to me when it comes to almost everything not school related. He babysits, does laundry, dishes, takes care of the pets... He just hates school. He hates writing anything out.
We use alot of text books bought online for Nacho. Once a week I write out assignments on his sheet and once a week, I read what he finished. Some weeks, we redo what was done the week before.In math we are beginning Algebra. We are talking about Quadratic Equations. I use the book(s) and the white board to try to explain them. We also use www.aaamath.com and www.aaaknow.com Im science we are talking about matter. We also have a few science text books and a workbook. I love www.amazon.comThat is where I get most of my books. We also have this great book Middle School Science Experiments. Nacho loves randomly picking out an experiment and doing it.
Instead of regular old geography, Nahco is doing a World Study. Each month he focuses on a new place in the world and studies their Mythology, Religion, Foods, Languages, Herb Lore, Politics (which he hates) and History (again he hates) We cook their foods, research recipes, listen to and view their languages (www.youtube.com is excellent for this!), and attempt to discuss their politics. We also have our own version of lap-booking. Nacho Has specific binders for Herb Lore and Mythology. Each week or so he adds more pages from what he is learning. For Herb Lore he puts them in a usage category. For Mythology they are ordered by regions. This month is Japan.
Nacho also studies Wicca and takes classes monthly at a local pagan store. These are the highlight of his month! www.spiritapothecary.com The owner Matt teaches classes on incense making (this month was Samhaim incense including all of the herb lore) He also helps Nacho from home. I love this store!! Check them out. Saturday the owners held a pot luck dinner that was geared to helping me homeschool. Regional foods, regional music, regional herb lore and mythology books... even regional jewelery! I cant help but advertise for them. LOL
Nacho and Lola also take Spanish both online and with books. We use www.livemocha.com, Rosetta Stone and Ariba! This is one of their chosen independent studies.As well as Nacho's World Studies cooking, Nahco, Lola and Coco all take "home ec" This means they cook for the family two or three times a week. This is everything from muffins (from a box) to full dinners for their grandparents. I belong to a group on www.Cafemom.com called the Cooking Cafe. You can check it out for a list of what they will be making this week and recipes.
If you have found the gaps, yes, I don't make Nacho take a Language Arts. He is required to read and dissect short stories, poems, plays and what not. Its like pulling teeth from an angry croc. We do all his Language Arts work out loud, over dinner most nights.
One top of all of this, all three of the older children are required to read 30 minutes each day and log what they have read (with a summary) in their reading logs. They choose their own books for the most part. www.bookadventures.comhelped alot!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Holy Crap its Ocotber 8th!
I am a bad bad blogger. I think about you dear blog, I really do. Then my world crowds in around me and silly things like actually homeschooling my children take precedence. Seriously we have been busy. We have fought illnesses, braved making new friends, watched Gabe at his attempts with dating (which Hello he isnt allowed to date!) We have been grounded, gone on job interviews for jobs we dont want, lost a tooth, gotten haircuts... I wont promise to write more often cause I hate breaking promises. I will try to be a bit more consistent though.
Fifi:
In the past two weeks, Fifi my darling Fifi has master Addition with gummy bears, skittles, Care Bears and is now.. completely out of order, working with money. She gets it. She hasnt really ever worked with subtraction but to her money makes sense (cents LOL I am so tired I am slap happy)
Fifi is also working with more three letter spelling words. She insists on doing the same things Coco does so she is trying to write sentences, put them in ABC order and do a crossword puzzle. Umm, yeah, shes 4. She cant write sentences, ABC order requires ALOT of help and I can't make crossword puzzles with 3 lettered words. If anyone knows a site that will let me, tell me.
All three of my girls are also going to be in a play next month. Lola got one of the leads and Coco got a decent part and Fifi is grouped with all the other preschoolers in the play. We have rehearsals three to 5 days a week for the next month. I will youtube the play for those that want to see it.
Coco:
Coco is in the process of learning fractions. We have completed the math facts through the 12's table and are working on moving on to the wonderful world of fractions. My mom bought this great kit a few weeks ago and Coco was so excited to break it out. Its called Five Fun Ways to Learn Fractions and Decimals. I think she got it at the Christmas Tree Shop.
Since Mimi has stopped coming here, Coco has done so much better with her spelling and language arts. We are working with punctuation in Language Arts but in three days she was though periods and such. She is working on semi colons, commas, and quotation marks now. I am using the CC for most of it. I love our Comprehensive Curriculum guides. I bought new ones for next year and the year after for Coco and Fifi. Lola wants to go to public school next year.
In Science we are revisiting the formations of the planet. Apparently, Coco was distracted the first time. We are doing it over again as we start our chapter on lithospheres. We started working with matter but she knew it as well as I did so we went backwards for a bit.
We are finally on Delaware. The girls insisted we actually study Connecticut. They liked the easy week LOL. We made art projects of historical moments in CT history. We looked up all of our friends and family on the maps. We talked about the land forms that we had been too, the state parks, the beaches, the mountains... Now we are on Delaware.
Both of the older girls are now taking ASL as an independent study. I have provided them the books and videos and they are learning with each other. Once a week, they show me what they have learned.
Coco is also taking a new creative writing class at the library. She loves it!
Lola:
Lola has started fractions again too. We are reviewing adding and subtracting fractions from last year before we start the tough stuff.
Her spelling is damned near perfect as always. They are all still using http://www.aaaspell.com/ and http://www.theteacherscorner.net/ for most of our spelling needs. I love that aaaspell puts all of my work together for me and theteacherscorner lets me make crossword puzzles, word scrambles, word searches, math sheets and more...
We are working on the nervous system in Science now. It is not as easy as I thought it would be. I have been searching online for a body systems workbook. There are very little printable work for certain systems so we are just reading and talking about it. I have had to read the work first and make my own worksheets for her. A few of our sites have some printables like http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ and even theteacherscorner. Todd also went online and found some National Geographic specials on the human body. If anyone has any ideas on how to teach specific systems please let me know. Later this month we are starting the skeletal system, I plan to use the Hannah Montana Bone Dance song lol.
All four kids have been working with poetry this month. We worked on legends last month. The girls each wrote 2 legends and this month they have written a million poems. I have everything from
M-Makes me breakfast
O-Outstanding reader
M-Makes me lunch
M-makes me dinner
Y-Why because she love us.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Lola stinks
Just like poo
We are now reading Shel Silverstien with Fifi and Coco and Emily Dickenson with Lola. Nacho is reading Poe but not saying much about what he is reading. I would hate to ruin poetry for him but quizzing him.
Lola is also learning Spanish, ASL and Creative Writing independently. I get some great stuff from her when I don't tell her what to do. I wish that worked with all of them but alas, I have Nacho...
Nachos entire homeschooled day comes from the text books we bought online. Every Sunday I sit down and review the work he did do independently and write out his next weeks schedule. He also spends about three hours every Sunday catching up and finishing the work he didn't do. This system, as much as it drives the controlling neat freak in me crazy, works for him. He understands the work. He asks questions and is actually doing quite well. It drives me nutty that he does it all in one day but hey... whatever works right?
I know he is working on quadratic expressions, properties of matter, Vikings, Norse mythology, building an herbal remedy for eczema (which he has) and poetry. He isn't writing any but he is reading them and I honestly think that is more important.
He working on 6 to 8 Spanish verbs a week in three tenses and making sentences that make sense on weekends. He is using some of the http://www.livemocha.com/ stuff and some Rosetta Stone but not much, he doesn't like them.
All in all, we are finally making some friends here. We have been able to get out and go on a homeschool field trip with them. Nacho has a sudeo girlfriend who is also not allowed to date. Lola loves the whole play thing and being the center of attention. Coco loves her creative writing class and roller skating. When asked what her favorite part of the writing class she replied, no one else from our family is there... And Fifi loves her art projects and roller skating. She is also loving the fact that we got for her all of the Disney classics on DVD so she can watch movies that seem like old hat to us but sadly they are all new to her. She loves Robin Hood and Cinderella. Who knew she had never seen them?
Fifi:
In the past two weeks, Fifi my darling Fifi has master Addition with gummy bears, skittles, Care Bears and is now.. completely out of order, working with money. She gets it. She hasnt really ever worked with subtraction but to her money makes sense (cents LOL I am so tired I am slap happy)
Fifi is also working with more three letter spelling words. She insists on doing the same things Coco does so she is trying to write sentences, put them in ABC order and do a crossword puzzle. Umm, yeah, shes 4. She cant write sentences, ABC order requires ALOT of help and I can't make crossword puzzles with 3 lettered words. If anyone knows a site that will let me, tell me.
All three of my girls are also going to be in a play next month. Lola got one of the leads and Coco got a decent part and Fifi is grouped with all the other preschoolers in the play. We have rehearsals three to 5 days a week for the next month. I will youtube the play for those that want to see it.
Coco:
Coco is in the process of learning fractions. We have completed the math facts through the 12's table and are working on moving on to the wonderful world of fractions. My mom bought this great kit a few weeks ago and Coco was so excited to break it out. Its called Five Fun Ways to Learn Fractions and Decimals. I think she got it at the Christmas Tree Shop.
Since Mimi has stopped coming here, Coco has done so much better with her spelling and language arts. We are working with punctuation in Language Arts but in three days she was though periods and such. She is working on semi colons, commas, and quotation marks now. I am using the CC for most of it. I love our Comprehensive Curriculum guides. I bought new ones for next year and the year after for Coco and Fifi. Lola wants to go to public school next year.
In Science we are revisiting the formations of the planet. Apparently, Coco was distracted the first time. We are doing it over again as we start our chapter on lithospheres. We started working with matter but she knew it as well as I did so we went backwards for a bit.
We are finally on Delaware. The girls insisted we actually study Connecticut. They liked the easy week LOL. We made art projects of historical moments in CT history. We looked up all of our friends and family on the maps. We talked about the land forms that we had been too, the state parks, the beaches, the mountains... Now we are on Delaware.
Both of the older girls are now taking ASL as an independent study. I have provided them the books and videos and they are learning with each other. Once a week, they show me what they have learned.
Coco is also taking a new creative writing class at the library. She loves it!
Lola:
Lola has started fractions again too. We are reviewing adding and subtracting fractions from last year before we start the tough stuff.
Her spelling is damned near perfect as always. They are all still using http://www.aaaspell.com/ and http://www.theteacherscorner.net/ for most of our spelling needs. I love that aaaspell puts all of my work together for me and theteacherscorner lets me make crossword puzzles, word scrambles, word searches, math sheets and more...
We are working on the nervous system in Science now. It is not as easy as I thought it would be. I have been searching online for a body systems workbook. There are very little printable work for certain systems so we are just reading and talking about it. I have had to read the work first and make my own worksheets for her. A few of our sites have some printables like http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ and even theteacherscorner. Todd also went online and found some National Geographic specials on the human body. If anyone has any ideas on how to teach specific systems please let me know. Later this month we are starting the skeletal system, I plan to use the Hannah Montana Bone Dance song lol.
All four kids have been working with poetry this month. We worked on legends last month. The girls each wrote 2 legends and this month they have written a million poems. I have everything from
M-Makes me breakfast
O-Outstanding reader
M-Makes me lunch
M-makes me dinner
Y-Why because she love us.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Lola stinks
Just like poo
We are now reading Shel Silverstien with Fifi and Coco and Emily Dickenson with Lola. Nacho is reading Poe but not saying much about what he is reading. I would hate to ruin poetry for him but quizzing him.
Lola is also learning Spanish, ASL and Creative Writing independently. I get some great stuff from her when I don't tell her what to do. I wish that worked with all of them but alas, I have Nacho...
Nachos entire homeschooled day comes from the text books we bought online. Every Sunday I sit down and review the work he did do independently and write out his next weeks schedule. He also spends about three hours every Sunday catching up and finishing the work he didn't do. This system, as much as it drives the controlling neat freak in me crazy, works for him. He understands the work. He asks questions and is actually doing quite well. It drives me nutty that he does it all in one day but hey... whatever works right?
I know he is working on quadratic expressions, properties of matter, Vikings, Norse mythology, building an herbal remedy for eczema (which he has) and poetry. He isn't writing any but he is reading them and I honestly think that is more important.
He working on 6 to 8 Spanish verbs a week in three tenses and making sentences that make sense on weekends. He is using some of the http://www.livemocha.com/ stuff and some Rosetta Stone but not much, he doesn't like them.
All in all, we are finally making some friends here. We have been able to get out and go on a homeschool field trip with them. Nacho has a sudeo girlfriend who is also not allowed to date. Lola loves the whole play thing and being the center of attention. Coco loves her creative writing class and roller skating. When asked what her favorite part of the writing class she replied, no one else from our family is there... And Fifi loves her art projects and roller skating. She is also loving the fact that we got for her all of the Disney classics on DVD so she can watch movies that seem like old hat to us but sadly they are all new to her. She loves Robin Hood and Cinderella. Who knew she had never seen them?
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Photo Blog from Nacho's 14th B-day
The three girls at Roller Skating lessons Saturday morning. Bushido was cancled so after we went out to breakfast for WAFFLES!! Nacho slept at his new friends house. Slept being a lose version. ALL NIGHT ROCK BAND is more like it LOL...
Doesn't Nacho look thrilled with his Cheesecake Assortment LOL... This was after the 5 hour nap to help him catch up from the night before.
The four... Its fuzzy cause the camera sucks but if you will notice, even Nacho made a point of smiling.
Nacho and I made sushi for the party! YUM! Salmon skin and California rolls.
Again, he looks like he shall burst from the joy!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Spetember 18th
Wow it has been ten days since I last blogged. Things have been a bit crazy and I have been more than a bit lazy. We have been homeschooling, as always, but Todd installed a new video game on the computer...
Nacho will be 14 Saturday. We took him shopping for his birthday and he got sneakers, a skateboard and guitar hero for the 360... Now getting him to do anything is a constant battle/bribe.
Lola is starting to get lonely with homeschooling. I have to set up some play dates for her. Tomorrow we are going out with some other homeschoolers. I hope that helps.
Coco is doing wonderfully. She started home ec and creative writing last week with the older kids and is doing really well. She has made muffins, apple cinnamon bread and helped make pork roast with sauerkraut.
Fifi cut her hair again. She now looks a bit like Mia Farrow from Rosemary's Baby LOL. She has also gotten into a Moon Sand craze. Thats all she wants to do come school time. Todd and I came up with a few ideas for incorporating Moon Sand into her lesson plan.
Last Week until today:
I am just going to combine all 10 days of homeschooling into one blog. Then hopefully but Monday I will be motivated enough to blog semi-daily again.
Fifi:
Math, we have worked on sorting, patterns, adding and subtracting with sums under 20. I like the Carebear workbooks. We have also just made a point of counting random things to improve her counting skills. We use that bead kit Todd bought daily. The hard part is keeping the older girls off of it, they want to make necklaces LOL
Science, Fifi has decided to join the 3rd grade girls in their Earth Science. She lead the class in making the moon sand/play dough models of the Earth layers. She also wanted to plant seeds with them when we started studying soil. (We are planting mums this weekend instead)
Spelling, Fifi hates spelling words. She wants the same ones as the big girls. Instead of giving her spelling words I have been giving her words of the day. She takes the words, spells it outloud, writes it, uses it in a few sentences, draws a picture...
We are still doing the letter of the week in order and trying to keep the spelling words within the letters of the week. We are on l this week.
Coco and Mimi:
Yup, Mimi is still here. I have hemmed and hawed for weeks debating on whether or not I could handle it. I finally decided I could. Plus I like knowing I am making a difference. Most of the time I dont feel like I am teaching my own children anything. There is no dawning recognition... With Mimi, shes so far behind, I get that moment almost everyday. Plus as long as she is not on her thyroid meds, she is relearning pretty quickly.
Math- We have started rounding and estimating. We have also done our math facts through the 11's table. Its odd cause the girls can round their numbers but they dont get how to do both rounding and estimating at the same time. From conversation and white board lessons, I know they can do it, but the writing it down part confuses them. We are moving on though. I rewrote it into my lesson plan in two months.
Science- We are finishing up Earth Science lessons about the actual Earth. We have learned its distance from the sun, relationship with the moon (Coco had an extra few lessons pertaining to Wicca about the moon) We have also start talking about soil layers and the seasons. Coco and I will be planting mums this weekend and celebrating Mabon on Sunday.
Geography- Last week we finished up our booklet for Miss Jenn in Arkansas. She loved it. This week, although my sister lives in California, I have quite a few friends from California, and my mother just came back from California, I have no California information. We are using the same library book series we have used for the others. I printed out map offline, no magnet, so silly facts. We are focusing on Hollywood, San Fransisco and the gold rush. Levi Straus really interested the girls as well.
Spelling- We did all the same old same old. I have gotten it so they start their spelling before I finish my first cup of coffee. We make flash cards Monday, write sentences Tuesday, alphabetize them Wednesday, a crossword and word scramble puzzles Thursday and test on Friday. Last week was a typical Mimi forgot everything week where she got a 20 on her spelling test. Coco only got a 72. the difference is Coco actually studied and works on it everyday after class time. Shes giving an awesome effort! Mimi, not so much. Her mom doesn't encourage her to read quietly at home, study her spelling words or practice her math facts. When brought up in conversation, she claimed she didn't know she was supposed to... This is why I almost quit...
Language Arts- we are still working with Adverbs. We threw in some proper nouns and pronouns to keep interested but for the most part, they have no idea... still.
ASL- We are still working on the Signing Time DVDs, the Flodin books. Lola is learning, Coco likes it and is picking it up a bit slower, Fifi ROCKS at it. She can do almost every sign she had ever seen. Nacho could care less, or maybe he couldn't and Mimi, well she tries. We have canceled the entire idea of putting on play. The younger girls wont listen to the older girl. Oye!
Creative Writing- Coco is now doing weekend creative writing projects. Last week we started a study of legends. Over the weekend the children had to write their own legend. Coco did very well. I have enrolled her in a creative writing class for the month of October.
I also have both girls writing three complete sentences daily about a lesson or whatever. I want them to know how to write a complete sentence. I want to them to improve their spelling of simple words. I think it is working, for now.
Lola:
Math- Lola is still going back and forth between aaamath and her workbooks. She whizzes right through the aaamath and has to slow down only a bit for the workbooks. She is doing addition, rounding, estimating, computation, and divisibility. Once she gets 100 on a paper, we move on. All she seems to get are 98 and 100...
Science- We have finished the muscular system. There are little or no printables online for this system... It was rough but we mostly just read books, made up our own tests and watched some videos. I love the National Geography series Inside the Body. Plus the books my mother sent are fantastic! We have moved on to the Ingementary System. Its easier for me to find the info online, plus she had some dittos from ps she is using. They were from Health class last year explaining why we sweat.
Geography- I think Lola's favorite part is making the flags. Shes more into the state facts than the fun facts. Her creative writing project this weekend is about Levi Straus.
Language Arts- We are using the CC book. She is working with compound words, prefixes, suffixes and learning new words. We are also still studying legends. Lola's legend paper last weekend was impressive. I will be posting it by itself when I am done blogging.
Spanish- Lola wanted to take Spanish with Nacho. They are both using www.livemocha.com and Rosetta Stone. They are alternating which each day. While I speak Spanish fluently, they dont want me to teach them LOL...
Home Ec- Lola has made a ton of dishes in the past few weeks. She keep calling them home ec. LOL. Banana Bread, Curried Beef and Rice, Italian Wedding Soup...
Nacho-
Math- After a week of using www.aaamath.com Nacho and I decided to go ahead and use the Algebra books and workbooks we bought on Amazon. Right now he is doing graphing and data collection (mode, median, average, mean)
Science- Our Science book finally got here last Thursday. We started Science classes Monday. We are using the book and workbook again. This week he is doing Intro to Physical Science... Exciting huh? We did however do some experiments with balloons this weekend (We went to Chuck E Cheese LOL Free Balloons) Nacho likes hands on Science. I ordered a book of Middle School Science Projects. Hopefully when it gets here I can steal a few ideas for him.
Geography/Culture- We are still doing Greece. Last week we studies Ancient Greece, and this week we are doing modern day Greece. We did get Nachos books in the mail and Todd and I are considering just using the book to follow along instead of our original plan of a new country every two weeks. We will talk more tomorrow.
Mythology- Nacho studied the Greeks these two weeks. He focused on Apollo. He had to write a few paragraphs about Apollos life and activities. That is his creative writing project due this weekend. His project last week was a disgrace...
Herbology- Nacho made Mabon oils from researching herbs and oils associated with Mabon. He he made enough for all of his Pagan friends and family. He is doing alot of this independently.
Language Arts- We are spending these two weeks reviewing our parts of speech. His books never showed up. Amazon refunded our money and we ordered new ones. They should be here in a few days
We wont be having class tomorrow as we are going to hang out with other homeschooling friends. I didnt keep the job I started last week. It was selling and I dont do selling. I think I will be working for the Obama campain starting next week. I have an interview at 9 am tomorrow. Otherwise I will be applying at Walmart and Lowes and such for part time work.
Nacho will be 14 Saturday. We took him shopping for his birthday and he got sneakers, a skateboard and guitar hero for the 360... Now getting him to do anything is a constant battle/bribe.
Lola is starting to get lonely with homeschooling. I have to set up some play dates for her. Tomorrow we are going out with some other homeschoolers. I hope that helps.
Coco is doing wonderfully. She started home ec and creative writing last week with the older kids and is doing really well. She has made muffins, apple cinnamon bread and helped make pork roast with sauerkraut.
Fifi cut her hair again. She now looks a bit like Mia Farrow from Rosemary's Baby LOL. She has also gotten into a Moon Sand craze. Thats all she wants to do come school time. Todd and I came up with a few ideas for incorporating Moon Sand into her lesson plan.
Last Week until today:
I am just going to combine all 10 days of homeschooling into one blog. Then hopefully but Monday I will be motivated enough to blog semi-daily again.
Fifi:
Math, we have worked on sorting, patterns, adding and subtracting with sums under 20. I like the Carebear workbooks. We have also just made a point of counting random things to improve her counting skills. We use that bead kit Todd bought daily. The hard part is keeping the older girls off of it, they want to make necklaces LOL
Science, Fifi has decided to join the 3rd grade girls in their Earth Science. She lead the class in making the moon sand/play dough models of the Earth layers. She also wanted to plant seeds with them when we started studying soil. (We are planting mums this weekend instead)
Spelling, Fifi hates spelling words. She wants the same ones as the big girls. Instead of giving her spelling words I have been giving her words of the day. She takes the words, spells it outloud, writes it, uses it in a few sentences, draws a picture...
We are still doing the letter of the week in order and trying to keep the spelling words within the letters of the week. We are on l this week.
Coco and Mimi:
Yup, Mimi is still here. I have hemmed and hawed for weeks debating on whether or not I could handle it. I finally decided I could. Plus I like knowing I am making a difference. Most of the time I dont feel like I am teaching my own children anything. There is no dawning recognition... With Mimi, shes so far behind, I get that moment almost everyday. Plus as long as she is not on her thyroid meds, she is relearning pretty quickly.
Math- We have started rounding and estimating. We have also done our math facts through the 11's table. Its odd cause the girls can round their numbers but they dont get how to do both rounding and estimating at the same time. From conversation and white board lessons, I know they can do it, but the writing it down part confuses them. We are moving on though. I rewrote it into my lesson plan in two months.
Science- We are finishing up Earth Science lessons about the actual Earth. We have learned its distance from the sun, relationship with the moon (Coco had an extra few lessons pertaining to Wicca about the moon) We have also start talking about soil layers and the seasons. Coco and I will be planting mums this weekend and celebrating Mabon on Sunday.
Geography- Last week we finished up our booklet for Miss Jenn in Arkansas. She loved it. This week, although my sister lives in California, I have quite a few friends from California, and my mother just came back from California, I have no California information. We are using the same library book series we have used for the others. I printed out map offline, no magnet, so silly facts. We are focusing on Hollywood, San Fransisco and the gold rush. Levi Straus really interested the girls as well.
Spelling- We did all the same old same old. I have gotten it so they start their spelling before I finish my first cup of coffee. We make flash cards Monday, write sentences Tuesday, alphabetize them Wednesday, a crossword and word scramble puzzles Thursday and test on Friday. Last week was a typical Mimi forgot everything week where she got a 20 on her spelling test. Coco only got a 72. the difference is Coco actually studied and works on it everyday after class time. Shes giving an awesome effort! Mimi, not so much. Her mom doesn't encourage her to read quietly at home, study her spelling words or practice her math facts. When brought up in conversation, she claimed she didn't know she was supposed to... This is why I almost quit...
Language Arts- we are still working with Adverbs. We threw in some proper nouns and pronouns to keep interested but for the most part, they have no idea... still.
ASL- We are still working on the Signing Time DVDs, the Flodin books. Lola is learning, Coco likes it and is picking it up a bit slower, Fifi ROCKS at it. She can do almost every sign she had ever seen. Nacho could care less, or maybe he couldn't and Mimi, well she tries. We have canceled the entire idea of putting on play. The younger girls wont listen to the older girl. Oye!
Creative Writing- Coco is now doing weekend creative writing projects. Last week we started a study of legends. Over the weekend the children had to write their own legend. Coco did very well. I have enrolled her in a creative writing class for the month of October.
I also have both girls writing three complete sentences daily about a lesson or whatever. I want them to know how to write a complete sentence. I want to them to improve their spelling of simple words. I think it is working, for now.
Lola:
Math- Lola is still going back and forth between aaamath and her workbooks. She whizzes right through the aaamath and has to slow down only a bit for the workbooks. She is doing addition, rounding, estimating, computation, and divisibility. Once she gets 100 on a paper, we move on. All she seems to get are 98 and 100...
Science- We have finished the muscular system. There are little or no printables online for this system... It was rough but we mostly just read books, made up our own tests and watched some videos. I love the National Geography series Inside the Body. Plus the books my mother sent are fantastic! We have moved on to the Ingementary System. Its easier for me to find the info online, plus she had some dittos from ps she is using. They were from Health class last year explaining why we sweat.
Geography- I think Lola's favorite part is making the flags. Shes more into the state facts than the fun facts. Her creative writing project this weekend is about Levi Straus.
Language Arts- We are using the CC book. She is working with compound words, prefixes, suffixes and learning new words. We are also still studying legends. Lola's legend paper last weekend was impressive. I will be posting it by itself when I am done blogging.
Spanish- Lola wanted to take Spanish with Nacho. They are both using www.livemocha.com and Rosetta Stone. They are alternating which each day. While I speak Spanish fluently, they dont want me to teach them LOL...
Home Ec- Lola has made a ton of dishes in the past few weeks. She keep calling them home ec. LOL. Banana Bread, Curried Beef and Rice, Italian Wedding Soup...
Nacho-
Math- After a week of using www.aaamath.com Nacho and I decided to go ahead and use the Algebra books and workbooks we bought on Amazon. Right now he is doing graphing and data collection (mode, median, average, mean)
Science- Our Science book finally got here last Thursday. We started Science classes Monday. We are using the book and workbook again. This week he is doing Intro to Physical Science... Exciting huh? We did however do some experiments with balloons this weekend (We went to Chuck E Cheese LOL Free Balloons) Nacho likes hands on Science. I ordered a book of Middle School Science Projects. Hopefully when it gets here I can steal a few ideas for him.
Geography/Culture- We are still doing Greece. Last week we studies Ancient Greece, and this week we are doing modern day Greece. We did get Nachos books in the mail and Todd and I are considering just using the book to follow along instead of our original plan of a new country every two weeks. We will talk more tomorrow.
Mythology- Nacho studied the Greeks these two weeks. He focused on Apollo. He had to write a few paragraphs about Apollos life and activities. That is his creative writing project due this weekend. His project last week was a disgrace...
Herbology- Nacho made Mabon oils from researching herbs and oils associated with Mabon. He he made enough for all of his Pagan friends and family. He is doing alot of this independently.
Language Arts- We are spending these two weeks reviewing our parts of speech. His books never showed up. Amazon refunded our money and we ordered new ones. They should be here in a few days
We wont be having class tomorrow as we are going to hang out with other homeschooling friends. I didnt keep the job I started last week. It was selling and I dont do selling. I think I will be working for the Obama campain starting next week. I have an interview at 9 am tomorrow. Otherwise I will be applying at Walmart and Lowes and such for part time work.
Monday, September 8, 2008
September 8th- DUH Today!
As I blogged about last week, I totally skipped today. So I shall tell you what we are starting this week and then I probably wont blog until Wednesday or Thursday (I start my new job Thursday!)
Fifi- Today she worked on sorting like colors and shapes. Over the weekend we bought her a huge bag of assorted beads and a bead sorter. She sorted about 300 hundred beads before she decided she was bored. She also wrote her spelling words on flashcards, and helped us make our Arkansas booklets for Jenn. Her Home Ec was making lunch with Lola.
Coco-
Because I didn't feel well on Saturday and Sunday, worse on Sunday, Mimi didn't come today. With Nacho and Lola's assistance Coco still did her schoolwork.
Math- She reviewed her 7's and 8's tables. She also did a subtraction with regrouping word problem paper from CC. She also got to use her new math game her Mimi sent her last week.
Science- We read some books about the Earth and its layers while laying on the couch.
Geography- She made some pictures that we will put words to about the wild life and agriculture of Arkansas.
Spelling- She made her flashcards for her spelling words with their definitions on the back.
Language Arts-I wouldn't let them have her start pronouns with Mimi so she did some random adverb worksheet. Turns out to be a good thing. She still needs help with identifying adverbs.
Creative Writing- She started her legends project and we read a few legends on the couch.
We skipped ASL today. Lola needs a new book and Nacho accidentally returned our videos to the library.
Lola:
Math- Lola is back on www.aaamath.com for subtraction. This should be her last day with it.
Science-We used the new books my mother (Mima <-- actual name LOL) sent and another book Todd bought at the huge book sale this weekend at our library and went over the Muscular System together.
Geography- Lola drew the pictures we will put words to tomorrow for the Arkansas booklet. She is doing famous people from Arkansas, Silly Named Cities in AR and Arkansas state facts.
Language Arts- She did another page from the CC on learning new words from words you know. (By adding a suffix or a prefix)
Creative Writing- While she still hasn't finished her original project, she is also starting her legends project today.
Spelling- She put her spelling words on flashcards with the definitions.
Nacho:
Math- www.aaamath.com Since he completed the first four lessons last week, this week he is just picking up where he left off.
Science- We blew off Science today. His Science books still aren't here yet.
Geography- We started reading about Ancient Greece from one of the other books Todd found the book sale.
Spelling- He read over his list of words, looked them all up for pronunciation and definitions.
Language Arts- Since that book is not here yet either, we talked about legends and myths (Hes also taking Mythology) and he did an adjective vs adverb worksheet from Sierra's CC
Mythology- He read the introduction to his Comprehensive Classical Mythology book. He also talked about Prometheus and his role in the last book he read.
Herbology- After last Saturdays class at Spirit Apothecary www.spiritapothecary.com Nacho cant stop talking about herbs and natural medicine. Last night he helped me make Omega 3 loaded bread fro Todd and Rosemary Omelets also fro Todd. He explained that Rosemary promotes blood to the head. He also began reading his Cunningham book on herbs.
Spanish- Nacho logged onto www.livemocha.com and started Spanish 101. He also dug out one of the old books I used to use and went over some of the simpler verbs. He wants me to find him a copy of a 10 year old workbook... Sounds like fun...
Fifi- Today she worked on sorting like colors and shapes. Over the weekend we bought her a huge bag of assorted beads and a bead sorter. She sorted about 300 hundred beads before she decided she was bored. She also wrote her spelling words on flashcards, and helped us make our Arkansas booklets for Jenn. Her Home Ec was making lunch with Lola.
Coco-
Because I didn't feel well on Saturday and Sunday, worse on Sunday, Mimi didn't come today. With Nacho and Lola's assistance Coco still did her schoolwork.
Math- She reviewed her 7's and 8's tables. She also did a subtraction with regrouping word problem paper from CC. She also got to use her new math game her Mimi sent her last week.
Science- We read some books about the Earth and its layers while laying on the couch.
Geography- She made some pictures that we will put words to about the wild life and agriculture of Arkansas.
Spelling- She made her flashcards for her spelling words with their definitions on the back.
Language Arts-I wouldn't let them have her start pronouns with Mimi so she did some random adverb worksheet. Turns out to be a good thing. She still needs help with identifying adverbs.
Creative Writing- She started her legends project and we read a few legends on the couch.
We skipped ASL today. Lola needs a new book and Nacho accidentally returned our videos to the library.
Lola:
Math- Lola is back on www.aaamath.com for subtraction. This should be her last day with it.
Science-We used the new books my mother (Mima <-- actual name LOL) sent and another book Todd bought at the huge book sale this weekend at our library and went over the Muscular System together.
Geography- Lola drew the pictures we will put words to tomorrow for the Arkansas booklet. She is doing famous people from Arkansas, Silly Named Cities in AR and Arkansas state facts.
Language Arts- She did another page from the CC on learning new words from words you know. (By adding a suffix or a prefix)
Creative Writing- While she still hasn't finished her original project, she is also starting her legends project today.
Spelling- She put her spelling words on flashcards with the definitions.
Nacho:
Math- www.aaamath.com Since he completed the first four lessons last week, this week he is just picking up where he left off.
Science- We blew off Science today. His Science books still aren't here yet.
Geography- We started reading about Ancient Greece from one of the other books Todd found the book sale.
Spelling- He read over his list of words, looked them all up for pronunciation and definitions.
Language Arts- Since that book is not here yet either, we talked about legends and myths (Hes also taking Mythology) and he did an adjective vs adverb worksheet from Sierra's CC
Mythology- He read the introduction to his Comprehensive Classical Mythology book. He also talked about Prometheus and his role in the last book he read.
Herbology- After last Saturdays class at Spirit Apothecary www.spiritapothecary.com Nacho cant stop talking about herbs and natural medicine. Last night he helped me make Omega 3 loaded bread fro Todd and Rosemary Omelets also fro Todd. He explained that Rosemary promotes blood to the head. He also began reading his Cunningham book on herbs.
Spanish- Nacho logged onto www.livemocha.com and started Spanish 101. He also dug out one of the old books I used to use and went over some of the simpler verbs. He wants me to find him a copy of a 10 year old workbook... Sounds like fun...
September 8th
I'm sorry I haven't posted in a week. My hand has hurt more than it did when I first broke it. I had also made some new friends in the area that I was pretty excited about meeting. Turns out not so much... Either way. Last week went fairly smoothly. With Todd here on Monday, Coco sick on Wednesday and no class on Friday for a homeschooling group picnic...
Fifi:
For math we did some pattern work with Skittles, added Matchbox cars and then counted how many wheels. This is a good foundation for multiplication. "If I have 6 cars, with 4 wheels each how many wheel are there all together?" The older girls played with us too.
For Spelling we spoke out our sentences using our words, made them with our foam piece puzzle. Todd bought two more kits so we can make words like hill and have both l's LOL.
We are focusing on Eric Carle's work this month so we read The very Hungry Caterpillar and then watched the DVD. Shes so funny, she tried to read along with the movie LOL. We picked up more puzzles at the library and worked with those too.
Fifi has watched Episodes 1 through 5 of Signing Time with Alex and Leah a few hundred times in the past 6 weeks. She wants to watch them everyday and she can do all of the signs on command, YAY!
Coco:
For Math last week we learned our 7's and 8's table. We also started working on Rounding and Estimating Numbers. I let Coco play on www.aaamath.com with the rounding. I think by today she may be getting it.
For Science we worked on the Earth and its relevance to the sun and moon and other planets. Todd has been teaching after school all last week.
For Geography we have been working with Arkansas. My wonderful friend Jenn lives there and she sent us our Arkansas magnet, a booklet, and a postcard with a map on it. We filled in our own maps, did a crossword, learned about the silly named cities in Arkansas... (let me tell ya..WOW) and we learned the basics of the state. Since Jenn is my friend, we will be making her a booklet like we did for Melinda.
For Language Arts we have focused on Adverbs. We are also starting our study on types of writing. All of the children (Lola, Nacho, Fifi and Coco) are learning about Legends this month and have to do a creative writing project weekly.
For ASL, Lola has taken over the teaching. She has three or four books and she surfs the web for ideas on how to teach. Mimi has repeatedly express that she doesn't want to learn Sign Language so we are now doing it after dinner. Coco has also expressed an interest in learning about Braille so Todd (who is blind-ish) is teaching her.
For Home Ec, she made puddings and whipped cream for dessert.
Lola:
For Math, we have been doing addition and subtraction with regrouping of 6 and 7 digit numbers. That is what aaamath had set up for her so I went on www.theteacherscorner.net and made my own sheets.
For Science, we have had the worst time finding printable worksheets on the Muscular System. So we made our own together (Lola and I) She has read quite a few books on the Muscular System as well. Her Mima in Connecticut also sent us some books on Anatomy. We love them!!
For Language Arts, we are used our CC book more last week. We looked at Learning New Words , which is making compound words and exploring suffixes and prefixes. Lola is also doing legends. She also completed Geography with the younger girls.
Lola is still writing her original Creative Writing project about Homecoming and Dicey's Song. My philosophy is as long as shes writing and thinking about it, there doesn't need to be a deadline. Why rush her?
Lola also head up the art projects this week. My hand hurt alot and I had to cook and bake for two picnics and a pot luck supper. Oye. She helped the girls make Grandparents Day cards and birthday cards for my friend who turned 40 Saturday (yup I said it YOU'RE 40 LOL)
Home Ec for Lola was Sausage and Ziti Bake, but she also helped with the Orange Cranberry Coffee Cakes and the Pork Roast with Sauerkraut.
Nacho:
Nacho didn't so much have a schedule last week but he officially got bored with summer so he jumped onto aaamath and started with a few assignments from there. He also read The Fire Thief by Terry Deary and started reading the Comprehensive Guide to Classical Mythology. Hey, I take what I can get!
Nachos Home Ec was making homemade pizza and wings on Sunday for the whole family while we watched Nim's Island.
We ended up only going to one picnic and one pot luck dinner. We attended an herbology class at www.spiritapothecary.com which was FANTASTIC. Matt Stewart is a genius.
Fifi:
For math we did some pattern work with Skittles, added Matchbox cars and then counted how many wheels. This is a good foundation for multiplication. "If I have 6 cars, with 4 wheels each how many wheel are there all together?" The older girls played with us too.
For Spelling we spoke out our sentences using our words, made them with our foam piece puzzle. Todd bought two more kits so we can make words like hill and have both l's LOL.
We are focusing on Eric Carle's work this month so we read The very Hungry Caterpillar and then watched the DVD. Shes so funny, she tried to read along with the movie LOL. We picked up more puzzles at the library and worked with those too.
Fifi has watched Episodes 1 through 5 of Signing Time with Alex and Leah a few hundred times in the past 6 weeks. She wants to watch them everyday and she can do all of the signs on command, YAY!
Coco:
For Math last week we learned our 7's and 8's table. We also started working on Rounding and Estimating Numbers. I let Coco play on www.aaamath.com with the rounding. I think by today she may be getting it.
For Science we worked on the Earth and its relevance to the sun and moon and other planets. Todd has been teaching after school all last week.
For Geography we have been working with Arkansas. My wonderful friend Jenn lives there and she sent us our Arkansas magnet, a booklet, and a postcard with a map on it. We filled in our own maps, did a crossword, learned about the silly named cities in Arkansas... (let me tell ya..WOW) and we learned the basics of the state. Since Jenn is my friend, we will be making her a booklet like we did for Melinda.
For Language Arts we have focused on Adverbs. We are also starting our study on types of writing. All of the children (Lola, Nacho, Fifi and Coco) are learning about Legends this month and have to do a creative writing project weekly.
For ASL, Lola has taken over the teaching. She has three or four books and she surfs the web for ideas on how to teach. Mimi has repeatedly express that she doesn't want to learn Sign Language so we are now doing it after dinner. Coco has also expressed an interest in learning about Braille so Todd (who is blind-ish) is teaching her.
For Home Ec, she made puddings and whipped cream for dessert.
Lola:
For Math, we have been doing addition and subtraction with regrouping of 6 and 7 digit numbers. That is what aaamath had set up for her so I went on www.theteacherscorner.net and made my own sheets.
For Science, we have had the worst time finding printable worksheets on the Muscular System. So we made our own together (Lola and I) She has read quite a few books on the Muscular System as well. Her Mima in Connecticut also sent us some books on Anatomy. We love them!!
For Language Arts, we are used our CC book more last week. We looked at Learning New Words , which is making compound words and exploring suffixes and prefixes. Lola is also doing legends. She also completed Geography with the younger girls.
Lola is still writing her original Creative Writing project about Homecoming and Dicey's Song. My philosophy is as long as shes writing and thinking about it, there doesn't need to be a deadline. Why rush her?
Lola also head up the art projects this week. My hand hurt alot and I had to cook and bake for two picnics and a pot luck supper. Oye. She helped the girls make Grandparents Day cards and birthday cards for my friend who turned 40 Saturday (yup I said it YOU'RE 40 LOL)
Home Ec for Lola was Sausage and Ziti Bake, but she also helped with the Orange Cranberry Coffee Cakes and the Pork Roast with Sauerkraut.
Nacho:
Nacho didn't so much have a schedule last week but he officially got bored with summer so he jumped onto aaamath and started with a few assignments from there. He also read The Fire Thief by Terry Deary and started reading the Comprehensive Guide to Classical Mythology. Hey, I take what I can get!
Nachos Home Ec was making homemade pizza and wings on Sunday for the whole family while we watched Nim's Island.
We ended up only going to one picnic and one pot luck dinner. We attended an herbology class at www.spiritapothecary.com which was FANTASTIC. Matt Stewart is a genius.
Monday, September 1, 2008
September 1st ~ Labor Day
Oh the joys of having your significant other home for the holiday! Joy upon joys I chose to have school on Labor Day. We really don't do much to celebrate it and I stupidly thought it would be fun to have Todd watch me teach. THAT MAN IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!
Fifi:
September is starting Eric Carle month. I am not big into unit themes but I love Eric Carle and our local library is doing a theme month of his work. Applebes is giving away small booklets with games and puzzles with an Eric Carle theme too! It seems like a coincidence. Oh well, Eric Carle it is. We picked up a few of his books at the library, grabbed a few booklets from Applebes and designed the month lesson plan around site words from his books.
September is starting Eric Carle month. I am not big into unit themes but I love Eric Carle and our local library is doing a theme month of his work. Applebes is giving away small booklets with games and puzzles with an Eric Carle theme too! It seems like a coincidence. Oh well, Eric Carle it is. We picked up a few of his books at the library, grabbed a few booklets from Applebes and designed the month lesson plan around site words from his books.
Spelling words- mat, map, mop, me, my, mom, milk, make
Todd worked on her spelling words with her having her describe each words letters, sounds and meanings. She also made flashcards with her words.
We also started the letter M and m. We had bought her a new workbook this weekend at Walmart and she wrote about 25 Ms and 25 ms on a page.
ASL- Of course we watched the same Signing Time video we do everyday LOL...
Coco and Mimi:
Math- we started 7s table and did some more work with words problems. They remembers the steps to word problems over the weekend which helped alot.
Language Arts- We began working with adverbs did two worksheets from the CC.
Todd also decided to help by writing out who? what? and how? on the white board. We gave them random sentences and they identified the subject (without knowing it was the subject) the verb and the adverb. For the most part, they got it.
Science- We are starting Earth Science as Environmental Science wasn't holding their attention. Today's lesson was about the earths rotation and its correlation with the sun and moon. Todd taught the class while I blogged LOL. He used a globe, a softball and a flashlight. I think he did pretty well and it got him out of my face.
Geography- We started Arkansas today. We talked about the postcards from Miss Jenn, the magnets and we used our fun fact booklet.
Spelling- we made our spelling flashcards with our definitions. I have a problem with Mimi though. She knew these words Thursday. I was making the worksheets and she read the words to me. Today she cant read or sound out any of them. She cant read the definitions or write sentences that make sense. I am also getting the crying jags again. I talked to her mom, we'll see.
ASL- Lola wrote actual lines for the play that they have to learn this week.
Writing- I started a new lesson this month. We will be writing three complete sentences everyday on a different topic. Today they are writing sentences about Todd's Earth lesson.
Lola:
Math- We are beginning addition of 4 digit numbers as a refresher. We used a worksheet from CC.
Science- Beginning muscular system. I couldn't find any worksheets or printables so we made our own. I also have the poster from her doctor on the complete muscular system. All she did today was some note taking from her notes.
Geography- Lola hadn't finished her Arizona workpage last week, so today she did the last of Arizona and started Arkansas with the younger girls.
Spelling- She wrote out her flashcards and thought out her definitions from the possibilities. (http://www.aaaspell.com/ gives you like 4 to 8 definitions for each word. we break them down on Mondays so that we have more manageable definitions)
Language Arts- We have ditched the Language Arts book in favor of the CC. Today Lola learned more about compound words and looking words she doesn't know up in the dictionary.
ASL- Lola wrote actual lines for the play this weekend, now she has to teach the younger girls in time for next Monday.
Writing- Lola needs to finish up her creative writing project. It was due today but she asked for an extension until Thursday.
Nacho:
Nacho has started school!
Math- http://www.aaamath.com/ lesson 1 Introduction and lesson 2 Comparing Numbers
Geography- Beginning Greek cultures. Modern day Greece.
We ordered Nachos books online three weeks ago. They are not here yet. Nacho and I are pretty much winging it. We went online, googled Greece and spent some time looking at the map. we identified the capital, major cities, bodies of water...
Mythology- We started Greek Mythology. Nacho is reading The Fire Thief which is about Prometheus. Nacho loved Greek Mythology so this is fun for him.
Language Arts- Parts of Speech worksheet. I wanted to know where he was so I gave him a quick quiz from http://www.internet4classrooms.com/
Spanish- We enrolled him on http://www.livemocha.com/ so he can take their interactive Spanish course. We chose Spanish even though he speaks it very well, because he cannot read or write in Spanish. LOL
We are not doing a spelling lesson this week as Nacho still has classes for his video game writing and his Japanese Anime club. That and both of our picnics this weekend...
Herbology- Nacho chose this for his curriculum. He loves this stuff. We found a website that has an alphabetical listing of herbs for Wiccan use and we ordered him three of Cunningham's books. This week he is doing Sage. www.wicca.com/celtic/herbal/magickal0.htm
Also I wanted to include that each of my 4 children will be having home ec which included cooking, laundry, cleaning product making, sewing, ironing, home finances, and gardening. They love the cooking parts so this weekend, instead of going to the over crowded Stark Country Fair, we made our own fair foods and stayed home watching Supernatural (Season 3 on DVD WOO HOOO)
I included pictures of the Chocolate Covered Berries and Bananas but we also made homemade Corn Dogs, Funnels Cakes and Crab Meat Lo Mien (okay that was for me LOL) I made fresh lemonade and we missed nothing but crowds and sunburn!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
August 28th 2008
More insomnia has affected my desire to blog. Please wait silently for the rain of frogs...
August 28th,
Fifi:
Math- we worked with patterns both in her Strawberry Shortcake workbook and on the kitchen table with plastic beads. She can do up to a five step repeating pattern now. Yay!
Phonics- we did another workbook page focusing on the letter k. We also watched Leap Frog Letter Factory like a million times in two days. Hey I was tired and it kept her in one room. LOL
ASL- we have now mastered the letter K. We also watched the Signing Time videos. Shes really good at one word at a time. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to move on the sentences?
Spelling- She read her words to me, out of order from a paper. 8 more down, 200,000 to go LOL
ABC's/Writing- we started big Ks and little ks. She is pretty convinced they are Rs.
Coco and Mimi:
Math- We were scheduled to start the 7s table today but I changed my plan and we started word problems. We make a wall list of the 6 steps of a word problem and did some work on the board. Then we did a worksheet from Math SkillBuilders Grade 3.
Science- Since we are using Endangered Animals in our ASL project, we had to look up where 10 different animals live to learn how to sign those. We also had to make our costumes for the ASL project. (Is this an art project, science project or ASL project hmmm)
Geography- We drew a picture of what it would look like looking out our living room windows if we lived in Arizona. Lots of cacti LOL
Spelling- We alphabetized our spelling words. Mimi did a great job, Coco did too but still managed to spell the words wrong LOL
Language Arts-We made soup. No really. They had to describe each vegetable and ingredient with two words and put it into the soup pot. Now I have soup for the weekend and they are getting better at describing. Mimi hate this for some reason. Since the law was passed in our home that "I dont know" isnt an answer (Honestly, I would rather get a wrong answer than nothing) She is forced to abandon her standing favorite answer and actually speak to me.
ASL- With Lola in charge the girls have had to change their play. It is now much more like a play and less like a really long cheer. There are now costumes, lines and umm sadly still no plot LOL. My classroom is looking more like a rain forest each day (I will post pics later I promise) and the girls are looking up words on their own to write their lines. This is exactly what I wanted!
Lola:
Math- www.aaamath.com has started her on comparing integers. For those that remember what this is... its greater than and less than. She actually thanked me and asked me if we could just do this all year. Sadly, she cannot.
Science- She did a Respiratory Cloze from www.bogglesworldesl.com
Geography- Since she had gotten bored a few days ago and made the Arizona flag, she relaxed a bit today and just drew a picture with the younger girls. Her landscaped included Mexican gardeners rolling out an artificial lawn. Nice.
Spelling- After having gotten 115% on her spelling pretest (Thanks Grama for cherub) she did her crossword puzzle today knowing there is no test tomorrow.
Language Arts- We are still working on different types of subjects, Lola hates this and I am pretty sure I am going to backtrack her LA next week. New month, less complaining...
Extras- Lola said she needed an extension on her creative writing project. She has gotten so caught up in reading Homecoming and now Dicey's Song, she hasn't been writing consistently. She now has until the 4th. She has also been writing cheers to help the younger girls remember their multiplication tables. I would be lost without her.
We are dropping Ohio State History from our curriculum. We don't like it, turns out it is not required (for certain grades) and we honestly don't have time to squeeze in the 30 minutes a week. End of story.
Also, as I know I have a few readers from Ohio Lore and Happy Homeschoolers. I wanted to say hi and thank you for your support!
August 28th,
Fifi:
Math- we worked with patterns both in her Strawberry Shortcake workbook and on the kitchen table with plastic beads. She can do up to a five step repeating pattern now. Yay!
Phonics- we did another workbook page focusing on the letter k. We also watched Leap Frog Letter Factory like a million times in two days. Hey I was tired and it kept her in one room. LOL
ASL- we have now mastered the letter K. We also watched the Signing Time videos. Shes really good at one word at a time. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to move on the sentences?
Spelling- She read her words to me, out of order from a paper. 8 more down, 200,000 to go LOL
ABC's/Writing- we started big Ks and little ks. She is pretty convinced they are Rs.
Coco and Mimi:
Math- We were scheduled to start the 7s table today but I changed my plan and we started word problems. We make a wall list of the 6 steps of a word problem and did some work on the board. Then we did a worksheet from Math SkillBuilders Grade 3.
Science- Since we are using Endangered Animals in our ASL project, we had to look up where 10 different animals live to learn how to sign those. We also had to make our costumes for the ASL project. (Is this an art project, science project or ASL project hmmm)
Geography- We drew a picture of what it would look like looking out our living room windows if we lived in Arizona. Lots of cacti LOL
Spelling- We alphabetized our spelling words. Mimi did a great job, Coco did too but still managed to spell the words wrong LOL
Language Arts-We made soup. No really. They had to describe each vegetable and ingredient with two words and put it into the soup pot. Now I have soup for the weekend and they are getting better at describing. Mimi hate this for some reason. Since the law was passed in our home that "I dont know" isnt an answer (Honestly, I would rather get a wrong answer than nothing) She is forced to abandon her standing favorite answer and actually speak to me.
ASL- With Lola in charge the girls have had to change their play. It is now much more like a play and less like a really long cheer. There are now costumes, lines and umm sadly still no plot LOL. My classroom is looking more like a rain forest each day (I will post pics later I promise) and the girls are looking up words on their own to write their lines. This is exactly what I wanted!
Lola:
Math- www.aaamath.com has started her on comparing integers. For those that remember what this is... its greater than and less than. She actually thanked me and asked me if we could just do this all year. Sadly, she cannot.
Science- She did a Respiratory Cloze from www.bogglesworldesl.com
Geography- Since she had gotten bored a few days ago and made the Arizona flag, she relaxed a bit today and just drew a picture with the younger girls. Her landscaped included Mexican gardeners rolling out an artificial lawn. Nice.
Spelling- After having gotten 115% on her spelling pretest (Thanks Grama for cherub) she did her crossword puzzle today knowing there is no test tomorrow.
Language Arts- We are still working on different types of subjects, Lola hates this and I am pretty sure I am going to backtrack her LA next week. New month, less complaining...
Extras- Lola said she needed an extension on her creative writing project. She has gotten so caught up in reading Homecoming and now Dicey's Song, she hasn't been writing consistently. She now has until the 4th. She has also been writing cheers to help the younger girls remember their multiplication tables. I would be lost without her.
We are dropping Ohio State History from our curriculum. We don't like it, turns out it is not required (for certain grades) and we honestly don't have time to squeeze in the 30 minutes a week. End of story.
Also, as I know I have a few readers from Ohio Lore and Happy Homeschoolers. I wanted to say hi and thank you for your support!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
August 26th 2008
This is Lola helping Fifi spell out her spelling words with foam tile puzzle pieces.August 25th 2008
A Brand New Week!
We have to new computers in the classroom up and running thanks to our geek husbands! Mimi's stepfather and my hubby installed two new computers in the classroom with Internet so I can have my computer during the day. YAY!
We did have class on Friday the 22nd, but I didn't blog. I suffer from insomnia and allergies (skin allergies) and I hadn't slept in more than 48 hours. While we didn't so much take the day off. We didn't learn any new material. The girls did reviews, creative writing and worksheets. Lola and Tiki did alot of the instruction for me while I sat and zoned LOL. Nacho helped with lunch and alot of the housekeeping. Lets be completely honest. He helped because we brought him to see his long distance girlfriend of a year for her birthday Saturday. Suki is Tiki's older sister and Nacho was hoping to catch a ride. We did bring Tiki home on Saturday and, I was able to go to the school supply store in Parma. I went a bit nuts and now I have to find a use for all the stuff I bought LOL.
Aug 25th
Fifi:
Math- practice adding with sums up to 15
We used gummy bears and also got to practice writing our numbers up to 20
Science-Read Endangered Animals book with older girls.
Phonics- Workbook page from Strawberry shortcake. We are working on the sound "j" this week.
ASL- We focused on the letter J
Spelling- this weeks spelling words are:
jam jar, key, kite, joke, joy, kill, ice
We wrote out our words on raised lined paper
Sensory- We painted our end tables a beautiful rust color. Fifi got to help me!
Coco and Mimi:
Math- start 6s table
We forgot to buy beads this weekend so we counted out the 6s table just on the number board. We also did a worksheet showing counting by 5s to 500. I had a leftover Eskimo sheet LOL
Science- We read a the Big Book of Endangered Animals
Geography- Begin Arizona
We read a bit about Arizona and talked about some of the fun facts.
Spelling- Lesson 3 www.aaaspell.com
I decided to put Mimi back up with Coco. She did so well last week that I along with Mimi's mother am convinced it was the supplement she was taking the was clouding her skills. She can read and write pretty well when she can think clearly.
Language Arts- Adjective worksheet
We did an adjective worksheet from CC. You would think after the adjective scavenger hunts, adjective games we played during our sleepover Friday night and as many times as they have told me what an adjective is, that they would be able to come up with 6 adjectives to describe someone. We will be working on adjectives all week.
ASL- practice sign show.
This should be interesting. They have written and choreographed a dance and song but no actual play. I have heard a million times that Mimi is an amazing actress and very used to the theater. Not so much here. She wants Lola to do most of the work and follows her with a bit of hero worship.
Lola:
Math- Comparing Fractions and Decimals
www.aaamath.com Lola got an 82% on 50. Finally something mathy that I can work with her on. I finally received my copy of Comprehensive Curriculum Grade 6 and I have lots of new ideas.
Science- Respiratory System
Label diagram from www.enchantedlearning.com
Mr Todd finally paid for my subscription to Enchanted Learning! Now I don't have to steal their stuffs, they give it to me for free! (okay so $20 a year, but its better than nothing LOL)
Spelling- Start lesson 3 from www.aaaspell.com
Write words on flashcards
Language Arts- Page 24 and 25 of text book
Read and discuss incomplete sentences
I also found a lot more appropriate material in the CC book. We are going to back track a bit and work our way back to the sentence structure. Lola didn't do very well on her Language Arts test Friday. I promised her I wouldn't blog the grade.
Extra- Lola has decided to write silly math cheers for the girls to help them memorize their multiplication tables. She is working on the cheers on her own after she finishes her classwork.
We have to new computers in the classroom up and running thanks to our geek husbands! Mimi's stepfather and my hubby installed two new computers in the classroom with Internet so I can have my computer during the day. YAY!
We did have class on Friday the 22nd, but I didn't blog. I suffer from insomnia and allergies (skin allergies) and I hadn't slept in more than 48 hours. While we didn't so much take the day off. We didn't learn any new material. The girls did reviews, creative writing and worksheets. Lola and Tiki did alot of the instruction for me while I sat and zoned LOL. Nacho helped with lunch and alot of the housekeeping. Lets be completely honest. He helped because we brought him to see his long distance girlfriend of a year for her birthday Saturday. Suki is Tiki's older sister and Nacho was hoping to catch a ride. We did bring Tiki home on Saturday and, I was able to go to the school supply store in Parma. I went a bit nuts and now I have to find a use for all the stuff I bought LOL.
Aug 25th
Fifi:
Math- practice adding with sums up to 15
We used gummy bears and also got to practice writing our numbers up to 20
Science-Read Endangered Animals book with older girls.
Phonics- Workbook page from Strawberry shortcake. We are working on the sound "j" this week.
ASL- We focused on the letter J
Spelling- this weeks spelling words are:
jam jar, key, kite, joke, joy, kill, ice
We wrote out our words on raised lined paper
Sensory- We painted our end tables a beautiful rust color. Fifi got to help me!
Coco and Mimi:
Math- start 6s table
We forgot to buy beads this weekend so we counted out the 6s table just on the number board. We also did a worksheet showing counting by 5s to 500. I had a leftover Eskimo sheet LOL
Science- We read a the Big Book of Endangered Animals
Geography- Begin Arizona
We read a bit about Arizona and talked about some of the fun facts.
Spelling- Lesson 3 www.aaaspell.com
I decided to put Mimi back up with Coco. She did so well last week that I along with Mimi's mother am convinced it was the supplement she was taking the was clouding her skills. She can read and write pretty well when she can think clearly.
Language Arts- Adjective worksheet
We did an adjective worksheet from CC. You would think after the adjective scavenger hunts, adjective games we played during our sleepover Friday night and as many times as they have told me what an adjective is, that they would be able to come up with 6 adjectives to describe someone. We will be working on adjectives all week.
ASL- practice sign show.
This should be interesting. They have written and choreographed a dance and song but no actual play. I have heard a million times that Mimi is an amazing actress and very used to the theater. Not so much here. She wants Lola to do most of the work and follows her with a bit of hero worship.
Lola:
Math- Comparing Fractions and Decimals
www.aaamath.com Lola got an 82% on 50. Finally something mathy that I can work with her on. I finally received my copy of Comprehensive Curriculum Grade 6 and I have lots of new ideas.
Science- Respiratory System
Label diagram from www.enchantedlearning.com
Mr Todd finally paid for my subscription to Enchanted Learning! Now I don't have to steal their stuffs, they give it to me for free! (okay so $20 a year, but its better than nothing LOL)
Spelling- Start lesson 3 from www.aaaspell.com
Write words on flashcards
Language Arts- Page 24 and 25 of text book
Read and discuss incomplete sentences
I also found a lot more appropriate material in the CC book. We are going to back track a bit and work our way back to the sentence structure. Lola didn't do very well on her Language Arts test Friday. I promised her I wouldn't blog the grade.
Extra- Lola has decided to write silly math cheers for the girls to help them memorize their multiplication tables. She is working on the cheers on her own after she finishes her classwork.
Friday, August 22, 2008
August 21st 2008- bad bad zucchini bread
Fifi:
Ummm, yeah Fifi did nothing. She watched TV, colored a picture of the moon and took a 3 hour nap. She wanted nothing to do with school LOL. So be it, she has time.
Coco & Mimi:
Math- Subtraction with Regrouping worksheet. They flew through the worksheet. There were some sloppy mistakes but nothing that couldn't be solved by slowing down. We also counted to 500 using nickles. Thanks be to Todd for providing us with 100 nickles when I asked for 20.
Science-Coco read a book about Endangered Animals to Mimi and Fifi. We will each be picking an Endangered Animal for next week's project. I am going to have the girls work separately on that project and see how the do.
Geography- We are making a booklet all about what we have learned about Alaska for Miss Melinda. We are mailing our project to Alaska after I take a few hundred pictures of their work. We are drawing or making a picture on one page and writing a description of the next page. What we have done so far is 20 pages long. We covered indigenous peoples and animals, culture, land formations, weather, famous people from Alaska, a few of the fun facts we uncovered in our 2 week quest for knowledge.
Ohio History- We went online and looked at some of the Iroquois Languages. We also looked at the map to see where they lived, where they hunted, the migration patterns. The girls aren't very interested and I may have to find something less utterly boring to teach for Ohio State History.
Spelling- We did our crossword puzzle and established we had no need to take a test on Friday. The girls definitely know these words. Now I have to decide if Mimi will be using the same words as Coco this coming week, or if she will stay at the 2nd grade level....
Language Arts-We are working on Irregular Verbs this week. We did a worksheet from Comprehensive Curriculum. They are ready to move on to adjectives this week. Yay!
ASL- They were supposed to be writing their sign language play today, instead they played with Barbies and ran around like monkeys on an acid trip. I think still having Tiki here is distracting for more than Lola.
Lola-Ordering 7 Digit Numbers on www.aaamath.com. She got a 94%. She will have her first Math Test tomorrow.
Science- Instead of a vocab quiz on the Digestive System, we talked about it and watched a DVD. It was Magic School Bus Digestive System (yes shes 11 but it was informative and cute LOL)
Geography- Lola helped us make the booklet for Miss Melinda. She choose to do the pages on famous Alaskan, mostly so she could look up pictures of Jewel on the Internet. She also helped Fifi decide to draw a sun and moon picture for her page. Tiki made an Alaskan flag for the booklet too.
Ohio History- Yup, she looked a website and told me how boring this is... Yay!
Spelling- Lola did her crossword puzzle and Tiki did one too. Lola didn't get any wrong on her pretest so there is no test tomorrow.
Language Arts- Lola did pages 21 and 22 in her text book. Tiki and Lola also played on the Power Proofreader website for a hours proofreading all of the stories. Now I have to find another proofreading site for 6th graders... The had fun though.
Home Ec- Yeah, I know this is just my way of getting the kids to cook for me. Lola and Tiki decided to make more of that fantastic zucchini bread we made last weekend. Well, this is exactly why they are taking "home ec" instead of 1/4 teaspoon of salt they used 1/4 tablespoon... It was inedible... Tomorrow Coco's "home ec" involves making chocolate with me. Nacho's "home ec" for today is making pizza and wings for lunch.
Creative Writing- Tiki decided to help Lola with her creative writing story. There was alot of giggling, now I am scared...
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
August 20th
Fifi:
Math- wrote out the numbers 1 to 20 on raised lined paper
Science- read air pollution book with us. We also went on a field trip to the library to pick out our books on Endangered Animals.
Phonics- using phonics tiles, wrote out spelling words.
ABCs- Spelt out our spelling words in ASL, emphasising the letter H
Sensory- Made chocolate lollipops from scratch with double boiler and chocolate molds with Lola (and me)
Coco and Mimi:
Math- Reviewed the 5s table which they both knew without a number board. Also did a clue finder subtraction with regrouping worksheet.
Science- We read another book about Air Pollution and then we went to the library to pick out our new books on Endangered Animals. I used this trip to also help the girls with their first lesson on finding books at the library. We have been working on sequencing and ordering numbers. So we went on the online card catalog, looked up the kind of books we wanted, choose 4, wrote down the numbers, and then, each girl want through the children's section looking for their books. All in all it took 25 minutes, but they did it themselves!
Geography- The girls started their booklets to Melinda about Alaska. So far we have some polar bears, Eskimos and oh yeah, whalicorns... (narwhals which are STILL FROM GREENLAND!) I plan on the booklets being about 10 pages long with all the info we have gathered on Alaska. I will post a picture when we have them.
Spelling- pretest... HUGE improvement over the last weeks test!! Coco got them all correct and doesn't have to take the spelling test Friday. Mimi only got two wrong and for anyone who remembers... HUGE HUGE IMPROVEMENT!
Language Arts- Of course we did a worksheet, I love worksheets. But we also played verb scavenger hunt. While walking to the library each girl had to find someone walking, talking, eating, running, driving, crossing, working, buying, laughing, flying (birds) and them for a bonus they had to find one verb that wasn't included in the cards. Fifi got it with.... telling... they were telling me their answers!!! LOL!
Lola:
Math- Ordering through One Million on http://www.aaamath.com/. She got a 95%. I am so not worried about her math.
Science- Digestive System Cloze (fill in the word worksheet) from http://www.bogglesworldesl.com/
Geography- Worked with Coco and Mimi and Fifi (when Fifi wasn't watching Diego's Underwater Adventure) on the booklet for Miss Melinda.
Spelling- Lola not only got 100 on her pretest, she got 2 out of 3 of her bonus words. Curriculum, Language, and Laundry right, so we had to pick up her friend Tiki in Brook Park for the rest of the week. Tiki goes to public school but she is Lolas best friend and Brook Park is 90 minutes away. We now have her until Saturday when Big Man can bring her home.
Language Arts- Simple Subjects and Predicates again. We are, at this point, just following the book but this seems so easy for her... Suggestions?
As of October 1st all three of my girls and possibly Mimi are in girl scouts. I may or may not be a leader this year. I don't think I have time though. I have the Revitalization of Canton Committee, The Akron/Canton Homeschool Meetup (I volunteered to be a moderator), Ohio Lore meetup (I am grateful there are so many activities!! I cant wait!) the MDS Center teaching Spanish two days a week and Coco is now doing roller skating lessons on Saturdays.... Not to mention Lola's cheerleading, Coco's 4H and art classes Nacho's Japanese Anime group, guitar lessons and library group. All with no car and a house that I am slowly remodeling so we can move on to the others.
We are buying the three abandoned houses surrounding us and fixing them back up to livable conditions so we can then rent them to the Salvation Army as Women and Children's Shelters. Right now unless you are a victim of domestic violence or a drug addict, there is very little help available to women and children if they become homeless. We are hoping to change that here in Canton. There is pretty high homeless population but at the same time, there are a ridiculous number of empty houses here too...
August 19th and Cream of Vegetable Soup
Fifi:
Math- adding Carebears workbook page. Adding up to the sum of 10. We used Carebears and Carebear fruit snacks.
Science- Fif attempted to do a worksheet puzzle from the 8 year old girls. It was to say the least interesting. LOL
Phonics- We sang HAHAHA practicing the "H" sound. We also rewrote our spelling words and spoke sentences with them outloud.
ABC's- Fifi traced the letter H and h and copied them into our raised lined paper.
Spelling- She spelt out spelling words with our foam letters
ASL- ABCs and fingerspelling our spelling words
Coco and Mimi:
Math- We started Subtraction with Regrouping. Coco wasn't as eager to start something new as Mimi was. We wrote out our first worksheet from Comprehensive Curriculum on the white board. Mimi seemed to be much more focused than last week!!
Science- We started Air Pollution. We read Air Pollution Effects by Clayton Trapp. This also led to a discussion about as consumers we can help reduce air pollution by 1) buying cars that produce lower emissions 2) buy products from companies than commit air friend practices and 3) REUSING our trash so that less things need to be made. I swear to the Goddess, the two 8 year old girls came up with these on their own!!! I am soooo proud!
Geography- at the end of our Alaska study we did an Alaska word search. (While I made lunch... the recipe to follow YUM!)
Spelling- The girls wrote spelling sentences and I have to tell you, Mimi actually wrote 11 sentences, knew what the words meant and DID NOT CRY!! Coco wrote hers and doesnt seem to be trying as hard this week. She has also had more meltdowns this week. I am putting her to bed at 7:30 every night for the next week. I hope its just sleep derivation. However, my mother in law is coming for dinner tonight from Tennessee so...
Language Arts- The girls finishing up Verbs this week. They know them and we need to move onto something they dont know. We did a worksheet filling in the blanks and talked about the different ways to say each verb. In English each verb has three ways to say it, past, present and future. In Spanish, each verb has 44...
ASL- We are supposed to be writing our play for our family dinner on the 29th, however, we ended up doing the silly chicken dance again. What impressed me, the girls remembered all 40 animals they had learned the day before!
Mimi's mom and I talked and we agreed, We scraped Matilda. The girls werent getting into it and my normally eager reader could have cared less about this book. We switched to the Magic Tree House series.
Lola:
At 9:48 am Lola received a phone call asking her if she was coming to cheerleading practice. Please bear in mind, cheerleading had ended for the summer on the 14th. Small blonde girl ran around the house and out the door in less than 15 minutes only to return 2 hours later upset. They are holding another parade on Saturday which would require her to attend extra cheerleading practices everyday this week for 6 hours a day and a parade in Cleveland OH (1 and a half hours a way on Saturday morning at 8am OYE) Lola is mad because it would cause her to miss another week of school and the parade is for the African American Culture Festival. I gave Lola the choice of whether or not she wanted to attend at all and as much as she loves cheerleading she choose to stay home and homeschool vs cheerleading this week. I am grateful for her decision.
Math- Ordering 6 digit numbers on www.aaamath.com. She got a 92%.
Science- Read about the digestive system on a printout from www.enhantedlearning.com
Geography- Alaska Wordsearch and Lola came up with the idea to make a booklet about Alaksa of which we will mail a copy back to Melinda in Alaksa.
Spelling- Spelling sentences. The only word that gave her a hard time is plush, not spelling it but its meaning. She was saying it plooo sh and the definition from the site was a textile fabric... hmmmm LOL
Language Arts- Simple Subjects and Simple Predicates I love the fact that I found a 6th grade language arts text book and coordinating workbook at the library's dollar sale. It makes this easy. She did the work straight from the book with a bit of explanation.
ASL- More chicken dance style cheerleading...
Cream of Vegetable and Chicken Soup
1/2 cup diced onions
2 Tbsp butter
2 cans diced potatoes
1 bag mixed frozen veggie (broc, cauliflower, carrots, squashes, peppers...)
1 can chicken broth
2 cans water
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
thyme, salt, pepper and nutmeg
In large stock pot add butter and onion. Cook until onions are opaque. Add potatoes, veggies, broth and water. Cook until bubbling and frozen veggies are thawed. Split batch into halves, blending one half in blender. Return blended half to pot with unblended half. Add cream and spices. Bring to light rolling boil and removed from heat.
(* THIS IS LOLA'S RECIPE!!!!)
Math- adding Carebears workbook page. Adding up to the sum of 10. We used Carebears and Carebear fruit snacks.
Science- Fif attempted to do a worksheet puzzle from the 8 year old girls. It was to say the least interesting. LOL
Phonics- We sang HAHAHA practicing the "H" sound. We also rewrote our spelling words and spoke sentences with them outloud.
ABC's- Fifi traced the letter H and h and copied them into our raised lined paper.
Spelling- She spelt out spelling words with our foam letters
ASL- ABCs and fingerspelling our spelling words
Coco and Mimi:
Math- We started Subtraction with Regrouping. Coco wasn't as eager to start something new as Mimi was. We wrote out our first worksheet from Comprehensive Curriculum on the white board. Mimi seemed to be much more focused than last week!!
Science- We started Air Pollution. We read Air Pollution Effects by Clayton Trapp. This also led to a discussion about as consumers we can help reduce air pollution by 1) buying cars that produce lower emissions 2) buy products from companies than commit air friend practices and 3) REUSING our trash so that less things need to be made. I swear to the Goddess, the two 8 year old girls came up with these on their own!!! I am soooo proud!
Geography- at the end of our Alaska study we did an Alaska word search. (While I made lunch... the recipe to follow YUM!)
Spelling- The girls wrote spelling sentences and I have to tell you, Mimi actually wrote 11 sentences, knew what the words meant and DID NOT CRY!! Coco wrote hers and doesnt seem to be trying as hard this week. She has also had more meltdowns this week. I am putting her to bed at 7:30 every night for the next week. I hope its just sleep derivation. However, my mother in law is coming for dinner tonight from Tennessee so...
Language Arts- The girls finishing up Verbs this week. They know them and we need to move onto something they dont know. We did a worksheet filling in the blanks and talked about the different ways to say each verb. In English each verb has three ways to say it, past, present and future. In Spanish, each verb has 44...
ASL- We are supposed to be writing our play for our family dinner on the 29th, however, we ended up doing the silly chicken dance again. What impressed me, the girls remembered all 40 animals they had learned the day before!
Mimi's mom and I talked and we agreed, We scraped Matilda. The girls werent getting into it and my normally eager reader could have cared less about this book. We switched to the Magic Tree House series.
Lola:
At 9:48 am Lola received a phone call asking her if she was coming to cheerleading practice. Please bear in mind, cheerleading had ended for the summer on the 14th. Small blonde girl ran around the house and out the door in less than 15 minutes only to return 2 hours later upset. They are holding another parade on Saturday which would require her to attend extra cheerleading practices everyday this week for 6 hours a day and a parade in Cleveland OH (1 and a half hours a way on Saturday morning at 8am OYE) Lola is mad because it would cause her to miss another week of school and the parade is for the African American Culture Festival. I gave Lola the choice of whether or not she wanted to attend at all and as much as she loves cheerleading she choose to stay home and homeschool vs cheerleading this week. I am grateful for her decision.
Math- Ordering 6 digit numbers on www.aaamath.com. She got a 92%.
Science- Read about the digestive system on a printout from www.enhantedlearning.com
Geography- Alaska Wordsearch and Lola came up with the idea to make a booklet about Alaksa of which we will mail a copy back to Melinda in Alaksa.
Spelling- Spelling sentences. The only word that gave her a hard time is plush, not spelling it but its meaning. She was saying it plooo sh and the definition from the site was a textile fabric... hmmmm LOL
Language Arts- Simple Subjects and Simple Predicates I love the fact that I found a 6th grade language arts text book and coordinating workbook at the library's dollar sale. It makes this easy. She did the work straight from the book with a bit of explanation.
ASL- More chicken dance style cheerleading...
Cream of Vegetable and Chicken Soup
1/2 cup diced onions
2 Tbsp butter
2 cans diced potatoes
1 bag mixed frozen veggie (broc, cauliflower, carrots, squashes, peppers...)
1 can chicken broth
2 cans water
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
thyme, salt, pepper and nutmeg
In large stock pot add butter and onion. Cook until onions are opaque. Add potatoes, veggies, broth and water. Cook until bubbling and frozen veggies are thawed. Split batch into halves, blending one half in blender. Return blended half to pot with unblended half. Add cream and spices. Bring to light rolling boil and removed from heat.
(* THIS IS LOLA'S RECIPE!!!!)
Monday, August 18, 2008
August 18th and zucchini bread
August 18th
Fifi-
Math- adding with sums up to 10 with Carebears (wkbk)
Science- The Lorax
I read the book to all of the girls and, we talked about deforestation
Phonics- Strawberry Shortcake Workbook page A-Z
ASL- nature and animals
Lola made up a cheer/dance for all of the girls to learn and, they learned over 40 animals in one afternoon!!
ABC's- the letter H
We wrote a few Hs and hs on the raised lines paper
Spelling- We made flashcards of our new weeks spelling words. She can read on site the words from last week, so I added new ones.
Sensory Work- 24 piece puzzle
Coco and Mimi
Math- Counting by 4s
(Using Number Board and showing how…
4x1=4, 4x2=8 4x3=12 and so on)
Math- Counting by 4s
(Using Number Board and showing how…
4x1=4, 4x2=8 4x3=12 and so on)
I hope this made sense to them. They seem to get it. I also gave them a worksheet with math facts up to the 5s table.
Science- read Dr. Suess The Lorax
Social Studies – Polar Bears Not Narwhals!! We talked about what animals are native to Alaska. We read a fun fact page about polar bears. The girls also colored a fun page with the state flag, fish and flower.
Science- read Dr. Suess The Lorax
Social Studies – Polar Bears Not Narwhals!! We talked about what animals are native to Alaska. We read a fun fact page about polar bears. The girls also colored a fun page with the state flag, fish and flower.
Reading- WE may have to just find another book. Neither girls gives a crap about this story.
Spelling – Lesson 2 from AAASpell for Coco and Lesson 1 (2nd grade) for Mimi
(Write out words and definitions)
(Make flash cards with definitions)
Spelling – Lesson 2 from AAASpell for Coco and Lesson 1 (2nd grade) for Mimi
(Write out words and definitions)
(Make flash cards with definitions)
We have changed Mimi's word to 2nd grade words from http://www.aaaspell.com/ She cant seem to learn the words from 3rd grade and I dont want Coco to get bored with what she has. Mimi seemed to be more comfortable with the words and was at least familiar with them.
Language Arts- Nouns and Verbs Worksheet
(Using the Lorax they will identify the adjectives in the story)
We not only read the Lorax for Science, we used the book to identify verbs in the book. We also did a worksheet showing that some words can be nouns and verbs.
Foreign Language- Animals and Nature from book
(Kids Pocket Guide to Signing by Flodin)
Language Arts- Nouns and Verbs Worksheet
(Using the Lorax they will identify the adjectives in the story)
We not only read the Lorax for Science, we used the book to identify verbs in the book. We also did a worksheet showing that some words can be nouns and verbs.
Foreign Language- Animals and Nature from book
(Kids Pocket Guide to Signing by Flodin)
Lola wrote a cheer/dance song for the girls to learn over 40 animal signs in one day. It is actually to the tune of the chicken dance but it is hysterical!
Lola:
Math- Comparing 6 Digit Numbers
(Worksheet – Sixth Grade Math Skills)
(http://www.webkinz.com/ Quizzie’s corner)
Math- Comparing 6 Digit Numbers
(Worksheet – Sixth Grade Math Skills)
(http://www.webkinz.com/ Quizzie’s corner)
Lola was pretty excited to find out that she got to go on Webkinz to play a math game. She has been working so hard. She practiced math phrases and facts while earning points for her pet.
Science- Digestive System
(Identify parts on worksheet, write and label parts in notebook.)
(http://www.lessontutor.com/)
Social Studies – Alaska continues....
Science- Digestive System
(Identify parts on worksheet, write and label parts in notebook.)
(http://www.lessontutor.com/)
Social Studies – Alaska continues....
Reading- We are loving Homecoming by Cynthia Voight. Lola is actually doing a creative writing project at the same time as reading... As soon as it is done I will post it.
Spelling – Lesson 2 from AAASpell
(Write out words and definitions)
Language Arts- Simple Subjects
(Text Book pages L12 through L14)
(Workbook page 7 only)
Foreign Language- Continue Animals and Nature from book
(Kids Pocket Guide to Signing by Flodin)
(Write out words and definitions)
Language Arts- Simple Subjects
(Text Book pages L12 through L14)
(Workbook page 7 only)
Foreign Language- Continue Animals and Nature from book
(Kids Pocket Guide to Signing by Flodin)
Lola also made the most awesome zucchini bread this weekend. Coco had brought home an 8 lb zucchini from 4H. We made 4 loaves and still had plenty leftover for dinner.
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cups brown sugar
3/4 cups vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 cups finely chopped zucchini
3/4 cups walnut pieces
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combine sugars, oil, and eggs and mix. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add to sugar/oil/egg mixture to moisten. Carefully fold in zucchini, chocolate chips, and nuts. Divide mixture into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake for 55 minutes or until done.
Friday, August 15, 2008
August 15th, 2008
Wow, I survived week two!!
Fifi: We practiced our "spelling words" using foam letters and a site word list.
Her words are:
at an and all ant
bat bar big bag bug
cat cart can car
Then she wrote them out on her raised line paper.
She also participated in Coco and Mimi's Science lesson. She is learning alot about recycling!
We watched the Signing Time video #2 today a few times LOL. We also played Memory with the ASL alphabet cards I printed off the internet.
Coco and Mimi
Math- Counting by 3s and Practice Math Facts
We practiced our new cheer of the threes table. We also did another worksheet of addition with regrouping. I am hoping that Monday I can move on to subtraction.
Science: Worksheet and Writing 5 Sentences
We did a recycling worksheet from the Comprehensive Curriculum book I was fawning all over yesterday. We also had to write out sentences about how we can reduce, reuse and recycle. I had wanted to use those sentences for Language Arts but no such luck. The girls will be rewriting them Monday so I can use them then. We also played Recycled Bowling to fill in the time I needed to give the outside dog a bath.
We said "See ya Later" to Eddie as he went back home with Mimi. He had gotten a nasty cut in our yard from his new run (and I mean NASTY) and Mimi's mom talked her husband into letting the dog come home. I gave him a bath, cleaned the wound and applied antibacterial ointment to it. I had to shave part of his fur too (Hes a chow/sheppard mix) In many ways I am sad he got hurt but grateful to have our yard back. One less dog to feed, bath and care for. We can pretend the girls learned first aid for dogs, but mostly they learned not to touch the dogs cut and to stay out of my light while I am cleaning an open gaping wound...
Social Studies- Read Alaska Book, set up Alaska fun fact sheet with flag
Alaska Hello USA by Lerner. We talked about the animals in Alaska, the seasons and the Native Americans. We did another worksheet about Eskimos (I love that book!) We also looked up the state song online and watched it.
Reading – Coco is on page 25 and Mimi is on page 9. They both promised to read over the weekend.
Spelling- I did not give them a spelling test. We are starting lesson 2 next week. Coco knows all of her words. Mimi does not. Mimi will be starting different words than Coco next Monday.
Language Arts- Coco wrote a story called A Day With Pinky. It is about spending the day with her Webkinz pet. She wants to finish writing it all weekend and said I could post it online Sunday. I suggested to Mimi's mom that she do the same or similar project but it is up to her.
I have had to beat my head into this giant wall, I didn't want to give up teaching Mimi but her level difference is so different from Coco's. I have conceded to give her second grade work, (yes I rewrote her curriculum) and keep her here part time. Its up to her mother to make sure she meets her hours and testing requirements. I am not signing her notification as her teacher but as an aide. Her mother had to sign it. I did submit my curriculum though. If her mother doesn't follow her part, it is again, not my problem.
Foreign Language- Animals and Nature
(Kids Pocket Guide to Signing by Flodin)
We finally started the animals but Mimi and Coco both pointed out the we don't know any verbs to make the sentences make sense. So we watched a few of the Signing Time videos, a youtube video and, I printed off a worksheet on play time.
Lola
Ohio History- Iroquois Indian Fact Game
(www.bigorrin.org/iroquois_kids.htm)
Math– Identifying Place Values
(www.aaamath.com)
Social Studies- Read a Book about Alaska and fill out Alaska info card
Lola read the book with us and filled in her info card with more details than the little girls. She also watched the video of the state song and wrote a paragraph about Alaska including the info about its purchase, territorihood, evacuation and statehood. I was actually very impressed with her paper. I corrected her spelling and when it is done, I will post it here (Sunday)
Reading- Read 1 hour, Comprehension Test
(I wrote)
Lola knows this book backwards and forwards. Her creative writing project for this weekend is to write what she thinks would happen if she were in the same situation as the main character. For those of you who don't remember, she is reading Homecoming by Cynthia Voight. In the story the four children wake up in a car to find out there mother never came back. They then have to walk 120 miles to Bridgeport CT to their aunts house. They have $3 and the oldest child is 14. I read this book when I was 11 and again when I was 14. Lola loves it as much as I do.
Spelling-Spelling Test
Lola knows her words, she got 100%.
Language Arts- Subjects and Predicates
(Text book page L10 – L12)
(Workbook page 5)
Foreign Language- Practice Words
Lola is also trying to convince me that playing Roller Coaster Tycoon is school-like work LOL. She has to manage her money, figure out how to build a roller coaster correctly and manage her park safety standards... She made a pretty convincing argument. So I have to run now so she can play for an hour.
Fifi: We practiced our "spelling words" using foam letters and a site word list.
Her words are:
at an and all ant
bat bar big bag bug
cat cart can car
Then she wrote them out on her raised line paper.
She also participated in Coco and Mimi's Science lesson. She is learning alot about recycling!
We watched the Signing Time video #2 today a few times LOL. We also played Memory with the ASL alphabet cards I printed off the internet.
Coco and Mimi
Math- Counting by 3s and Practice Math Facts
We practiced our new cheer of the threes table. We also did another worksheet of addition with regrouping. I am hoping that Monday I can move on to subtraction.
Science: Worksheet and Writing 5 Sentences
We did a recycling worksheet from the Comprehensive Curriculum book I was fawning all over yesterday. We also had to write out sentences about how we can reduce, reuse and recycle. I had wanted to use those sentences for Language Arts but no such luck. The girls will be rewriting them Monday so I can use them then. We also played Recycled Bowling to fill in the time I needed to give the outside dog a bath.
We said "See ya Later" to Eddie as he went back home with Mimi. He had gotten a nasty cut in our yard from his new run (and I mean NASTY) and Mimi's mom talked her husband into letting the dog come home. I gave him a bath, cleaned the wound and applied antibacterial ointment to it. I had to shave part of his fur too (Hes a chow/sheppard mix) In many ways I am sad he got hurt but grateful to have our yard back. One less dog to feed, bath and care for. We can pretend the girls learned first aid for dogs, but mostly they learned not to touch the dogs cut and to stay out of my light while I am cleaning an open gaping wound...
Social Studies- Read Alaska Book, set up Alaska fun fact sheet with flag
Alaska Hello USA by Lerner. We talked about the animals in Alaska, the seasons and the Native Americans. We did another worksheet about Eskimos (I love that book!) We also looked up the state song online and watched it.
Reading – Coco is on page 25 and Mimi is on page 9. They both promised to read over the weekend.
Spelling- I did not give them a spelling test. We are starting lesson 2 next week. Coco knows all of her words. Mimi does not. Mimi will be starting different words than Coco next Monday.
Language Arts- Coco wrote a story called A Day With Pinky. It is about spending the day with her Webkinz pet. She wants to finish writing it all weekend and said I could post it online Sunday. I suggested to Mimi's mom that she do the same or similar project but it is up to her.
I have had to beat my head into this giant wall, I didn't want to give up teaching Mimi but her level difference is so different from Coco's. I have conceded to give her second grade work, (yes I rewrote her curriculum) and keep her here part time. Its up to her mother to make sure she meets her hours and testing requirements. I am not signing her notification as her teacher but as an aide. Her mother had to sign it. I did submit my curriculum though. If her mother doesn't follow her part, it is again, not my problem.
Foreign Language- Animals and Nature
(Kids Pocket Guide to Signing by Flodin)
We finally started the animals but Mimi and Coco both pointed out the we don't know any verbs to make the sentences make sense. So we watched a few of the Signing Time videos, a youtube video and, I printed off a worksheet on play time.
Lola
Ohio History- Iroquois Indian Fact Game
(www.bigorrin.org/iroquois_kids.htm)
Math– Identifying Place Values
(www.aaamath.com)
Social Studies- Read a Book about Alaska and fill out Alaska info card
Lola read the book with us and filled in her info card with more details than the little girls. She also watched the video of the state song and wrote a paragraph about Alaska including the info about its purchase, territorihood, evacuation and statehood. I was actually very impressed with her paper. I corrected her spelling and when it is done, I will post it here (Sunday)
Reading- Read 1 hour, Comprehension Test
(I wrote)
Lola knows this book backwards and forwards. Her creative writing project for this weekend is to write what she thinks would happen if she were in the same situation as the main character. For those of you who don't remember, she is reading Homecoming by Cynthia Voight. In the story the four children wake up in a car to find out there mother never came back. They then have to walk 120 miles to Bridgeport CT to their aunts house. They have $3 and the oldest child is 14. I read this book when I was 11 and again when I was 14. Lola loves it as much as I do.
Spelling-Spelling Test
Lola knows her words, she got 100%.
Language Arts- Subjects and Predicates
(Text book page L10 – L12)
(Workbook page 5)
Foreign Language- Practice Words
Lola is also trying to convince me that playing Roller Coaster Tycoon is school-like work LOL. She has to manage her money, figure out how to build a roller coaster correctly and manage her park safety standards... She made a pretty convincing argument. So I have to run now so she can play for an hour.
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