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 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.

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...

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!!!!)

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)

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.

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)

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)

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)

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....

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)

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

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.

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.

August 14th, 2008

Another fairly lazy day. Coco and Lola had their community service project to finish up and their drug and alcohol awareness group ended for the summer so they went to the pizza party for a few hours. We are, however, babysitting Mimi until 7 or 8 tonight, so I squeezed some class time in after dinner.

August 14th
Fifi: Played on www.pbskids.org sorting with Curious George
Watched Singing Time ABC's on DVD
Helped make homemade pizza (okay so this time she really just watched, but she thinks she helped)

Coco and Mimi:
Math- Counting by 3s and Practice Math Facts
(Make up our own song)
(Use number board)
Lola helped them make up a cheer for the threes table. Also for math today as extra practice Mimi played on www.funbrain.com and practiced adding with regrouping and helped Fifi with a patterns game on the same site.
Social Studies- History of Alaska
(http://fairbanks-alaska.com/alaska-history.htm)
Lola also read them the Celebrate the States Alaska book while I made the pizza.
Worksheet about Eskimos from Comprehensive Curriculum the Best Skills Grade 3 book. Todd bought the book last night at Walmart of all places and I cant put it down!
Ohio History- Iroquois Indian Fact Game
(www.bigorrin.org/iroquois_kids.htm)
We looked at the site, read through it and the girls asked some questions.
Reading – Mimi has forgotten her book everyday this week. Neither girl is reading anything close to 30 minutes a day. I have to talk to Mimi's mom about this.
Spelling- Weekly Hangman
Lola has been a gift today. I have had to put together all of Nacho's curriculum for the 8th grade. Lola took the initiative to play hangman and "sparkle" with the girls while I searched Amazon for book deals. (BTW I got all 8 of his books this year for $30.86!!!) *Sparkle is a game that I am pretty sure Lola made up... I have no idea how to play or I would tell you LOL
Language Arts- Word Sort
(Using precut sentence builders sort into nouns and verbs)
Yay our white board is magnetic!! So Coco and Mimi and Fifi (who doesn't have a clue what a verb or noun are) played by pulling a word our of the jar and yelling out if it was a noun, verb or sometimes both then sticking it to the board.
Foreign Language- Starting Animals and Nature
(Kids Pocket Guide to Signing by Flodin)


August 14th
Math– Place Values, expanded form
(www.aaamath.com)
Lola got a 94% or better everyday this week. Im pretty sure she can move forward in her math.
US Geography- Read Celebrate the States Alaska to Coco and Mimi
Ohio History- Iroquois Indian Fact Game
(www.bigorrin.org/iroquois_kids.htm)
Reading- Read 1 hour
Spelling- Spelling words crossword
I am pretty confident she knows these words. She didnt want to play hangman with me because there was no one else to play with :(
(I make with vocab definitions on www.theteacherscorner.net )
Language Arts- Parts of a sentence
(www.internet4classrooms.com )
Foreign Language- Starting Animals and Nature
(Kids Pocket Guide to Signing by Flodin)
While we did start the animals and nature, they all wanted to watch the video again, we watched three of them. Then I went online and bought the whole series. LOL

All in all today went pretty well. I think my least favorite part of homeschooling is the interruption of schedules, which is odd, because most moms love the fact that they can change their schedule around without much hassle. I am thanking the Gods that the summer programs are over so we can have less interruptions.
I also wanted to mention how excited I am to be starting working with the Akron Homeschooling Meetup group. I met another mom who obviously homeschools but she is also Wiccan!! Yay me!

Taking a Day Off

August 13th
We were supposed to go on a field trip to the recycling center today but they canceled it. The man who was giving us the tour is out ill for a few more days. I rescheduled it for next week. So, with nothing scheduled for today, we took the day off. But did the learning stop NO!

Fifi:
Watched the Signing Time video. She loves the theme song and can sign it and sing it!
Played Wheres Bobbo-
We made a joke yesterday that Uncle Bob seems to be in all of our newest family photos from this summer, even if it is just part of him. So we spread about 20 photos out on the table and started with wheres Uncle Bob? Wheres Grandpa Bob? Where is Aunt Julie? We made it a game having her find all of her family members within the pictures. I have to print out some pictures of my CT family for us to play this again LOL.
Fifi also helped me make Turkey Pot Pie for dinner. I have a really quick and simple recipe that was easy for us to follow.
Turkey Pot Pie:
3 cups cooked turkey (thanks Mimi's mom)
1 can turkey gravy
1 bag frozen mixed veggies (carrots, peas, corn...)
1 can diced potatoes, drained
1 easy pie crust (premade)
1 box of stuffing mix

In a large bowl mix the turkey, gravy, veggies, potatoes. Lay the pie crusts at the bottom of a 9 x 12 inch casserole pan. Cut away what you over laps. Pour in turkey filling. Make stuffing on stop top according to directions. Top filling with stuffing. Bake in oven at 350 for 35 minutes.

Simple simple simple...

Coco:
With no Mimi today, Coco seemed to be at a loss for what to do. I let her play on http://www.pbskids.org/ and http://www.webkinz.com/ Webkinz has a great game called Quizzies Corner that quizzed her on 50 environmental facts for points.
Coco also played hangman with Lola using her spelling words. She also read almost a chapter in her book. Both Fifi and Coco painted pictures with their watercolors too. They are mailing them to Miss Melinda in Alaska to help decorate her daughters bedroom. They are so sweet!

Lola:
Lola went to her Japanamie class with Nacho (my 13 year old son who isn't starting homeschooling until Spetember 7th)
Also yesterday, on her own, Lola found a few language arts websites that have grade level games for her to play doing proofreading. She played for an extra 2 hours yesterday and more today.

So today was our proof that homeschooling doesn't always have to be sitting while I teach. They don't have to write sentences, vocab words and geography fun facts everyday...

August 12, 2008

August 12th
Fifi:
Made a picture of polar bears with the big girls
Helped mom sort dvds, games and programs discs to different spindles
Played Monopoly JR and Clue with the big kids

Coco and Mimi:
Math – Counting By 2s
(http://www.aaamath.com/cnt25a1-countby2.html)
We counted by 2s and 3s with the white board and on the number board
Science – Coco wrote out her 5 sentences for the field trip to the recycling center tomorrow but the trip was rescheduled.
Social Studies- Color an animal from Alaska
We made pictures of an Alaska scene with polar bears, salmon and sadly narwhals. Yes, we know narwhals are from Greenland not Alaska but they are just really cool.
(Read letter from Melinda and look at gift bag from Alaska)
Reading - … pending how far along in book each girl is...
This reading is still slow going. I think they are both around page 10 or 12
Spelling- Write sentences using spelling words that make sense
We wrote sentences using lesson 1’s words and then we used the same sentences to identify the verbs.
Language Arts- Play Charades with Verbs only
We used our spelling words to make sentences and then picked out the verbs and nouns. Unfortunately, Mimi felt she didn’t have to finish the sentences because Coco finished her first, so she just lied to me and went upstairs to play. I explained to both her and her mother that if Mimi doesn’t want to do the work, she doesn’t need to come here and waste my time. Mom had no viable answer. Oh well, sos tomorrow. We canceled Charades because Mimi was crying and Coco was annoyed. We opted to just list as many verbs as we could orally.
Foreign Language- Signs for everyday words
(DVD First signs Everyday Sign)
We used my computer to watch to dvds this morning. ABC time and Everyday Signs. Coco loves sign language and Mimi can mimic it for a while but doesn’t retain any of it the next day. Fifi isn’t retaining any of it either.

Lola:
August 12th
Math– Place Values
(www.aaamath.com)
Another 98 % on the online game of place values! I'm debating on if we should stick to the plan or move on to the next chapter?
Science- Fill in the blanks, the body
(www.lessontutor.com/jm_thebody.html)
No problems or concerns. The only problem we ran across is this was a premade lesson from www.theteacherscorner.net and two of the answers didn't make sense, Lola and I did figure it out though LOL
US Geography-Make Flag of Alaska
(Paper, colored pencils, map from AAA)
Reading- Read 1 hour
Spelling- Write Spelling sentences
We wrote out our sentences getting double "points" for using two in the same sentence.
Language Arts- Proofreading Lesson
(www.willoughby-eastlake.k12.oh.us/classroom/technology/6th_grade_language_arts.htm)
Foreign Language- Signs for everyday words
(DVD First signs Everyday Sign) Lola's retention is pretty much the same as Fifi's. Shes more interested in instructing the younger girls than learning it enough to keep it.

August 11th

August 11th

Fifi:

We sorted Skittles into baking papers by color. Then we counted by twos as we ate them.

We did a color by numbers picture.

We added Care Bears up to a sum of 5.

We played on http://www.pbskids.org/ with Cailliou.

Coco and Mimi:
Math- Counting by Numbers Other Than Ones
(Counting by 2s to 100) Both girls knew how to do this. We used Skittles to prove that counting by numbers other than 1 make counting go faster
Best Ever Activities Multiplication Workbook by Scholastic

We did some addition with regrouping. Just when I think they both know it, Mimi got all but three wrong, and those three were a fluke. I retaught it on the white board and I was able to see where she was heading. I think I caught it in time.

Science-Recycling DVD - I hate our big stupid expensive dvd player!!! Watch the $30 piece of junk out perform it! We couldn’t watch our dvds because that overpriced piece of crap in the living room wont play educational dvds. Nice huh?

Social Studies- Alaska – capitals, major cities
(http://www.aaawhere.com/)

We started Alaska today. We took notes from our fun fact books, admired our magnet and I had the girls find Juneau and Anchorage on the map. We also started talking about the Native Americans still living in Alaska.

Reading – Comprehension Quiz on Matilda
(I made it based on first 5 chapters)

HA! First five chapters!! We talked about the first 10 pages while we walked to the library for story time. Mimi’s mom tried some random reading exercise with her last night. I don’t have any idea what it was or how it worked, just that she ended up reading the book to Mimi and Mimi didn’t have to read at all this weekend. Fantastic. Coco has read 28 pages and is sitting engrossed in the book now.

Spelling- Lesson 1 from AAASpell
(Write words out)
We will be using the same words from last week. We put the words in alphabetical order. We also talked about alphabetical order and why its good to know. We talked about libraries and how they organize their books.

Language Arts – Begin Verbs – Identifying Verbs
(http://printables.familyeducation.com/tv/printables/LU-2.pdf)

I am confident the girls can identify their basic verbs, I am going to up the ante and give them some trickier verbs tomorrow.

Foreign Language – Finger spelling Game
(Kids Pocket Guide to Signing by Flodin)

Lola:

August 11th-
Math- Introduction on AAAmath
(Do both sections)

Science- Intro to Body Systems
(Make flash cards with definitions) Instead of making flash cards we just wrote notes into her notebook. We identified the main body systems

US Geography- Alaska – Capital, major cities
(http://www.aaawhere.com/)
Lola read Celebrate the States by Rebecca Stefoff

Reading- Read 1 hour Lola is on page 70 of Homecoming by Cynthia Voight

Spelling- Start lesson one in spelling and vocab.
(http://www.aaaspell.com/ for spelling list and vocab)
(Write out words and definitions)
Lola like the girls flash cards so she made her own. She also took the 2 to 8 definitions provided by vocab maker and created her own for her cards.

Language Arts- Kinds of Sentences
(From text book. Pgs L7)
(Workbook pages 1 and 2)
Lola read about types of sentences. She said she had done this last year in May. We are going to use this chapter of the book as a refresher. She also did the workbook pages identifying the appropriate punctuation for each type of sentence. She really does know this.

Foreign Language- Finger spelling Game
(Kids Pocket Guide to Signing by Flodin)

I'm also going to include some new pictures of our classroom!! I am so excited its mostly done. All we have to do now is set the other computers up and bring in the Internet.

August 8th, Our First Week

August 8th
Math- Finish place value lesson with addition problems with regrouping
Math Skillbuilder worksheet
Coco picked it up right away. Lola sat with Mimi until she started crying that it was too hard and we aren’t fair to her. 6 + 5 is not too hard for an 8 year old unless she chooses not to do the work. I explained to her that there are a few people here who will help her if she asks, but we will not do the work for her. I also explained that if she is going to fight me every time I ask her to write a sentence, think independently or do anything she considers hard work, I can’t be her teacher. Half of this is testing me and laziness. The other half is work I am willing to put into it, if she is.
Science- Recycling Crossword Puzzle
We also did an oral quiz on the environment on http://www.webkinz.com/ LOL
Reading – Continue Matilda
Spelling – Spelling Test
Mimi got three right, I don’t understand her mistakes. I have to look at it more and see if I can find a common pattern. Coco got 8 right, which sadly is one less than the pretest the other day. Her pattern was forgetting “r” in most of her words. She also has a hard time telling between o and a phonetically. We will be doing the same words next week to practice new ways to learn spelling words.
Language Arts – Proper Noun Identification worksheet
Finished Noun collage. Lola helped finding words and the girls had to use the word in a sentence, outloud to win the word. Fifi also did another collage. Both Coco and Mimi did the worksheet with Lola's help while I made empanadas for Mimi's moms party.
Foreign Language – Numbers in ASL, Practice ABCs We also inadvertently learned "My name is", "What is your name?" and "How can I help you?" from the videos on http://www.youtube.com/. We reread Moses Goes To School to kill some time before our field trip.
Extra- Field Trip to the North Canton Roller Rink 12:30 pm to 4 pm

August 6th and 7th

August 6th
Math- Place Values out loud
Identifying place values to the hundreds place
Worksheet from Math Skillbuilders
Once again the girls love these worksheets. Coco needs to pay more attention to details and I am hoping Mimi can find the confidence to work more independently. They both received a 90% on both sheets.
Science- Write 5 sentences explaining why we recycle
Like pulling teeth from an angry croc! Neither girl wanted to write complete sentences. At some point I felt the need to just take what I could get.
Social Studies - History of Alabama
(http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108176.html)
The girls both seem really drawn to the Civil Rights Movement. We talked about cotton and peanuts as jobs, exports and versatility
Celebrate the States: Alabama by Shirley
Reading- Go to library to pick up our books! The girls went on the computers at the library and they choose to play on www.eekoworld.com!
Spelling- Spelling pretest
I was right to be a bit worried. Coco got 4 wrong but it was very messy, Mimi didn’t get any right but the few letters each word that she wrote were neater than I write. Oddly she felt none of the words needed vowels, her letters were backwards and, I can't tell if its laziness or a learning disability. Each girl has to write the words they got wrong 5 times. They were also reminded to use their flashcards when they are not “at school” to practice their words.
Language Arts – Noun Collage and Noun Worksheet
(www.abcteach.com)
Day One, we will be continuing these all week. Mimi is a very detailed oriented artist and I don’t want to rush her. When it comes to art, Coco is taking her cues from Mimi. They also completed another Noun worksheet. We explored when nouns become adjectives by their placement in the sentence. Fifi also joined in the the collage making with an all red letter "A" collage.
Foreign Language- Finger spelling our Names At the girls request we also watched the Signing Time with Leah video again.

August7th
Math- Specific Place Values on AAAMath
(www.aaamath.com)
(worksheet from Math Skillbuilders)
We worked on place values in correlation with addition. Mimi lead the class all the way! She knows this material. We did a numbers crossword puzzle and we did so me work on the white board to show place values. After seeing what she can do with Math, I am even more concerned with her writing and reading...
Science – World About Us Recycling. Coco had to read the book to Mimi and Fifi while I made lunch, then we talked about landfills and how they hurt the earth and the animals. Coco brought up what will happen when we run out of places to bury our trash. I think this is really sinking in. Sadly, I received a 20 minute lecture from an 8 year old when I served lunch on foam plates. LOL
Social Studies- Fun facts about Alabama
(http://www.50states.com/alabama.htm )
We filled in our fun facts sheets using 4 fun facts and colored our Alabama state flags.)
Ohio History- Intro to the Iroquois
www.www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=597
I read the web page to the girls an we talked about what it should have been like to be a Native American. I cant hide my feelings about this subject. I hadn't planned on teaching Ohio History this year but it turned out to be required. I could have planned better with more than 2 days notice. Now I just resent it!
Reading- Start Matilda! Finally! Each girl was asked to read 10 pages while I prepped and made some herbal eye health tea for my honey. Coco read ten and stopped with 20 minutes to spare. Shes so literal sometimes. Mimi read 3 pages and chose to play with Fifi and her baby dolls.
Spelling- Hangman and Crossword Puzzle
After our pretest yesterday, we wrote our misspelled words 5 times each and only Coco did the crossword puzzle. We also used the words in our language arts lesson. We may have to continue these words a few extra days. I am less concerned with their grades on the quizzes than I am with them actually knowing the words and I am less concerned with them learning these odd words than I am with how they learn them and what method will work best. (I.E. fodder, sordid, copper, comma, organ, ponder...)
Language Arts- Silly Noun Worksheet
We did a noun work sheets identifying which nouns were a person, a place or a thing. We also used our spelling words on the white board asking if which type of noun they were. I threw in an oral pop quiz about the difference in a noun, proper noun and pronoun. Again we had some issues with Mimi not wanting to write out the notes from the blackboard. I also noticed that she doesn't seem to write out the notes as they are written. Its almost as if she has some random version of shorthand that only she understands. Where are all the vowels?
Foreign Language- Begin Numbers in ASL
(Kids Pocket Guide to Signing by Flodin)
(Moses Goes to School by Millman)
The girls begged to watch the Signing Time ABC video again LOL We also found some great videos on signing on www.youtube.com I was careful to remind the girls that they cannot use this site without an adult but thanks to a new feature, I can set up a playlist of videos and they can watch them while I cleaned up the classroom and got ready to go to Mimi's house.

Day 2 August 5th

August 5th
Math – Place Values to the Hundreds Place
(www.aaamath.com)
Worksheet from Math Skillbuilders (<-- I love this workbook and want one for Yule! I am borrowing it from the library right now and copying pages... is that legal?)
Today was a huge improvement over yesterday. The girls whipped right through sheet the greater than and less then worksheet and the hundred place worksheet.
Science- www.eekoworld.com Coco found this website yesterday at the library. It features lots of games and activities promoting recycling… Does that mean she was paying attention? Its from PBS and it lets you create an animal and walk through your "house" learning about conserving and recycling and reusing. I even played on it for 15 minutes!
Social Studies – 5 sentences or statements about what we learned. We read through our fun fact booklet and the text book during lunch. The girls really liked learning about the civil rights movement and Mimi was fascinated by Helen Keller. When Lola got home from cheerleading camp, I had the younger girls tell her what we had learned about Alabama. It was great to see when they had actually retained. Lola then wrote out her sentences with much more detail.
Reading – the books were not at the library yesterday. After class time, Coco and Mimi took turns reading stories to Fifi.
Spelling- Write spelling words with definitions We did so much better on time. Each girl wrote their spelling words and a simple definition while I made lunch. We did our spelling sentences for the week outloud. Mimi seems to retain more outloud vs when she has to write something out. Lola wants to play secretary next week so she can write down some of the wacky sentences we came up with.
Language Arts – Noun vs. Adjective Worksheet
(http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/adjectives/ornoun/) We used the white board to talk about 6 parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjective, adverbs, pronouns, and proper nouns. We took notes in our notebooks and did a worksheet identifying nouns. This was the bulk of our time for the morning. We talked alot about how nouns can be turned into adjectives by where they are in the sentences. Their silly sentence of the day ~ Lola's sad numbers sat quietly while she colored.
Foreign Language- ABCs in sign
(DVD- Signing Time ABC) The girls both enjoyed the video. Even though it is made for preschoolers on PBS, they sang along!
Extra- Write Thank You Notes for Melinda and Jenn!!
After yesterday, I figured starting the day with an art like project would help relieve some of the tension. I think it worked! We love our packages from both women. I am so grateful for my friends!

Day One, The School Year Begins

This is our first year with everyone homeschooling. Last year it was just the teenage boy, but this year he is the only one who wants to go to public school... Go figure.
So we begin. Our daughters are 11 (Lola), 8 (Coco) and 4 (Fifi). We are also helping out a friend with her daughter while she is working, I have named her Mimi and she is also 8. Clearly, these are made up names LOL.
The state of Ohio, which we just moved back to in June, has very little in the way of restrictions for homeschooling. Their guidelines, however, are exact. We have a few more days to submit our curriculum and a mock lesson plan to the superintendent of schools for approval. Me, being the procrastinator that I am, finished them today during our first classes. We have to be teaching, language, reading, writing, spelling, math, science, history of the US and Ohio history, fine arts PE and health. They also want us to include first aid and fire safety during the course of our school year.
So far this year I have:
Math- 6th and 4rd graders are doing the same thing at the same time in different levels. Lola is not very strong in math, so we should be okay. Today Coco and Mimi took a Welcome Back multiplication quiz where they both got less than 75%. Clearly we will be redoing our math facts throughout the first quarter. For those interested I am using http://www.aaamath.com/ and math worksheets I get at the library. Canton OH has a fantastic homeschooling section of their library.
Science- Lola will be doing Human Anatomy while Coco and Mimi are doing Earth Sciences. Today we started our course with Recycling. They seemed to love it. Lola missed her first day of most of her classes because her cheerleading summer program doesn't end until next week.
Social Studies- We are doing US Geography in alphabetical order. We started today with Alabama. All three of the older girls filled in an outlined map of the state showing its major cities and land formations. Since I belong to a website called Cafemom, I have been able to make friends all over the country who were able to send up refrigerator magnets and postcards and even booklets about their states. The girls have loved getting mail from all over, knowing it was for school.
Ohio History- This was just thrown at me yesterday. I probably should have read the statutes before then... I did mention my likelihood of procrastination?... We will be studying the 8 major tribes that were either from or moved through Ohio. We are only doing Ohio History on Thursdays. We will be starting with the Iroquois.
Reading- Coco and Mimi are reading Matilda by Ronald Dahl. Lola is reading The Little Princess by Burnett. I have yet to gage how fast or slow Coco and Mimi can or will read, but they are both required 30 minutes a day. I made up test for their comprehension. Lola has already read the first 2 chapters today.
Spelling- I found the really great site. At first I was just using it for its math games but then I found it has spelling resources as well as vocabulary resources. http://www.aaaspell.com/ Today we took their 13 words for lesson one and wrote them out, making flash cards with the definitions on the back. They separate them by grade level so Lola has different words than the other two girls.
Language Arts- Coco and Mimi are starting the parts of speech. Today we discuss, mostly as a refresher, what a noun is. Lola will be starting sentence structure next Monday when I can have her undivided attention.
Foreign Language- Our household speaks Spanish. Mimi speaks French. When choosing a foreign language we decided to go with American Sign Language. That way we are all starting from the same place. Today we learned the alphabet. We found these great wall borders online and I printed them on photo paper and hung them around our classroom.
For Health and PE, my girls (Coco, Lola and Fifi) all belong to the Multi Diversity Center in Canton. I teach Spanish there two days a week. They take cheerleading, arts and crafts, 4H, and play league soccer. The program is funded by grants to help with drug and alcohol abuse prevention. For every 90 minute program the also participate in a 30 minute A & D abuse prevention class. I think Mimi's mother may have her join the program as well.
Well, this was out first day... Wish us luck!