Week 6 (just a little late)

Time is flying by here with the Heathens! With our theater troup starting back up, we have been very very busy here.

During Week 6 we hosted a playgroup in our home. It has been great having some of the younger children in our homeschooling group come over and just play. Fifi has made some wonderful new friends around her age! (finally) We also hosted a Tween Movie Night, which brought tweens all the way from Painsville to watch the Harry Potter movies! I think my friend Willow was more excited about these then the tweens lol. Lola is excited that these events have such a great turn out. Lastly, Nacho taught an art class to the group. Five families can and learned how to draw cartoon characters step by step. I love the idea of student led classes because they not only allow the teens in our group a chance to teach, but it gives the moms in the group a chance to sit and chat. We also went to our theater troup's read though. Our schedules are getting busier but we love it!

In week 6 Coco worked with:
Spelling- we wrote the words 3 times each, wrote sentences, wrote a newspaper article using at least 8 words and did a word search I made on www.theteacherscorner.net.
Language Arts- we worked with determiners. We worked with her Language Arts text book, her Scholastic Success workbook and her Comprehensive Curriculum workbook.
Math- we started working with Rounding and Estimating numbers. We used worksheets from www.abcteach.com, our Comprehensive Curriculum workbook and worksheets I made.
Science- we worked with measurements in Science. We used our Comprehensive Curriculum workbook and our Physical Science text book.
Social Studies- we are learning about Vikings as explorers. Being that we are Normandic Wiccans, we have tons and tons of information about Vikings. We also used print outs from www.enchantedlearning.com.
Journaling- we are working on writing longer journal entries. I am correcting them at the end of the day so she is now able to see the spelling and grammar errors. We are covering topics like - "What would you do if you had $100?", "What is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?", and "If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?"
We also made Personality Spirals, these are a spiral of construction paper cut with cut outs from different magazine of pictures of things that they think represents them. We then hung them up in our classroom. I will post pictures of them tomorrow.

In week 6 Fifi worked with:
Spelling- we learned the color words. We did color by numbers, wrote each word twice, and completed workbook pages from our Comprehensive Curriculum . We also played a game where we put a bunch of crayons in a bag and she had to pull a crayon and then put the right color on a poster board with the words spelt out on it.
Language Arts- we worked with complete sentences and what they are comprised of. We worked in our Scholastic Success workbooks, our Comprehensive Curriculum workbooks and with pages printed from www.instructorweb.com
Phonics, we are still working in our Hooked On Phonics workbook for Grade 1. We learned more rhyming words and to sound out the difference between Bs and Vs at the beginning of the words.
Math- we are working on counting by 2s. We used our Scholastic Success workbook and played games (hop scotch and made up cheerleading cheers)
Science- we started learning about giraffes. We read stories about them and worked with the printout pages from www.enchantedlearning.com We also made hardened paper beads that look like giraffes and made necklaces. I got one for my birthday!
Social Studies- we are still working with maps with our Scholastic Success Map for Grade 1 workbook. We made a map of the park using a key and worked more with directionals. We also talked about the Wiccan directional color associations. She is now coloring North green, South red, West blue and East yellow on every page lol.

Lola is still doing very very well with OHVA. She loves the workload and the teachers. We are doing alot of work with the Italian Renaissance both in art and history. She is reading A Wrinkle in Time by M Engle. I bought her the audio copy so we could listen to it during the day on the computer and she read the hard copy at night. OHVA doesn't really have a study guide or any quizzes, so I printed her one from www.coreknowledge.com This gives her a chance to work with vocabulary words from the book, do character summaries and state her opinions about the storylines.

Nacho is really doing well with his new curriculum. While I do have to sit at his desk with him the entire 4 hours, the work I'm getting from him is the best work Ive seen in three years of homeschooling.

In Math he is working with Number Lines. We are still using his Algebra 1 math book from K-12. His weekly average is 94%
In Science he is still working with power and energy. We are still using Holts Physical Science and printables from www.teachervision.fen.com His weekly average is 100%
In Health he is working on Personalities. We are still using his Health book from Prentice Hall. His weekly average is 83% (We still have an issue with writing out his answers in complete sentences and loses points off his grades for those errors)
In Social Studies he is learning about Religious Intolerance in Europe. He did a worksheet from www.teachervision.fen.com and wrote a paragraph about a specific incident. His weekly average is 81%
In Language Arts he is working on types of sentences. He is still using his Language Arts book from K-12. His weekly average is 98%
In Spanish he worked with a new vocabulary list and congregating standard ar, er, and ir verbs. His weekly average is 95%
He also attended an anime class at the Stark Main Library and was placed on the make up committee with the Stark County Little Theater Troup.

Really Getting into a Grove

We have had such a great week so far! Day 3 of our new school year and the girls are still so excited about their new lessons and projects. I am sneaking off the blog this as they are doing an impromptu art project. (I will post the project and the pictures when they are done)

Lola is moving right along with OHVA. We have run into a few stumbling blocks. Her French isn't listed on her daily schedule. We ended up noticing yesterday that she hasn't even done any of it, only to log on today to find the program isnt working right. We then took our own Primsluers French CDs and listened to a few lessons all together. I plan to wait until her online school actually starts before I ask any questions. I could just be because she started their program so early.
I am however, so very proud of how well she is doing in math. Those summer time math drills really are paying off!
Coco seems to be working harder and faster this year compared to last. I hate to admit shes having a better start without Mimi here. We are both enjoying her Daily Drills book (Daily Learning Drills by Brighter Child) and I am getting much less resistance to writing sentences than ever before.
In the last two days we have done:
DD pages 50 and 233
Spelling- correcting sentences and a word scramble (made at www.theteacherscorner.net
Language Arts- textbook pages 18 and 19 and CC page 294 (types of sentences)
Explorers- we marked the journeys of Daniel Boone on our US map and worked on some vocabulary words using a grid worksheet I found on www.teacherspayteachers.com
(settlers, wilderness, pioneer, frontier, exploits, treaty)
Math- SS pages 7 and 8. We are still working on comparing numbers and place values
Science- We started working on our weekly worksheets I made from the textbook. I will be using the same text book and worksheets with another student starting next week so Coco will actually be a week ahead of him.
French- we have been working with the vocabulary worksheets I made and we have also been listening to the Primsluers CDs with Lola.
Reading- we are still reading Stuart Little but its not really holding her interest. I have found some great character worksheets on www.teacherspayteachers.com and those seem to hold more of her attention.

Fifi more interested in school this year as well. She is still transitioning from K to 1st grade but is grasping 90% of the work she is being giving.
Our main issue with Fifi is that she is worried about not having any friends. She has playmates from the neighborhood, but no other homeschooling friends in her grade or her age. We are working on setting up some new playdates and 8 more families joined our homeschooling group in the past week!
I will post tomorrow what she has been working on this week.

As a side note, I have found many many audio and ebooks both educational and reading for enjoyment. Lola is trying to read The Hobbit with the audio book reading along with her. (Its not working well lol) Nacho is reading Animal Farm by George Orwell as an ebook and it seems to be working better for him than it was as a paperback.... If are looking for anything specific let me know.

Dani

Arts and Crafts Curriculum Grades 1 and 4

I cant recommend the Mailbox Magazine enough. Its very expensive so I borrow them from my library. I just picked up The Best of The Mailbox Magazines Arts and Crafts for K-6 at our library this week and I am soo excited.

Here is our new 36 week curriculum for the 09-10 school year. I will be doing these projects on Tuesdays with both Coco and Fifi (ages 9 and 5).

1) Name Design Posters- On one 8 x 11 sheet of white art paper have your child color the background completely with crayons or pastels. Rather then drawing a picture, have them just fill the entire page in with a design. On a separate 8 x 11 sheet of white art paper, have them write their names in bubble letters and trace a border around the edges of the entire name. Color the letters in with any design... Cut out the name around the border and glue the name onto the first sheet of paper. Let dry and hang above their desk area.

2) Patchwork Elephants- On an 8 x 11 sheet of poster board (I buy the big sheets and cut them at home, its more economical) create a 16 piece grid. (4 x 4 boxes) with a ruler. Have your child color in each box with a different design. Cut according to the picture above. Use the bottom rectangle to make an ear flap and tail. Use a marker to add an eye and tie some yarn around the elephants trunk.

We laminated ours so the kids could then put post it notes for things to remember...

3) Grandparents Day Magnets- September 9th is Grandparents Day and one of the things we love to do for my grandmother is make her updated picture magnets. This is a very simple project. We buy a sheet of magnet paper at the office supply store. Then we print them with wallet sized pictures. Once printed we make Popsicle stick frames around the edges of the pictures that we have decorated and dried before gluing on.

4) Split Personalities- This is one of the harder art classes but it does help build drawing skills and self esteem (well at least Coco's lol) We start by going through one of my magazines for a picture showing a full sized face. We then cut the face down the center and glue one half of the face onto an 8 x 11 sheet of white art paper. Then with markers we attempt to draw the other half of the face. We have also tried this with pictures of ourselves that we printed on plain computer paper (photo paper is expensive) and draw the other halves of ourselves.

5) Apple Prints- This is an oldie but a goodie. We go on a field trip to the orchard every September. When we get home we set aside our apples for different projects.. pies, sauces, dried chips... and art.

With our art apples we simply slice them in half. Then on a 8 x 11 sheet of white art paper we stamp the apple pieces onto the paper. I have found through trial and error that for less mess we use colored stamp pads vs paint. Make sure you cut your apples horizontally not vertically, it makes a prettier pattern.

6) Personalized Spirals- Starting with any color of regular construction paper, cut a 8 inch in diameter circle. Then take the circle and with a marker, start at the center and draw a spiral outwards. Don't make too tight of a spiral. Cut along the marker line making a spiral. Then have your child use extra pieces of construction paper to make "ornaments" we even use magazine clippings of things that they love or that represent them. Glue the extra pieces onto the spiral to make a mobile of sorts. Hang them by the very center of the beginning circle in your classroom.

7) Stuffed Owls-

8) Corn Mosaics -This is one of my favorites!! We buy big bags of popcorn kernels at the grocery store. Then we bring them home and put them in piles (handfuls... 8 of them)on cardboard in our driveway. Then I (the adult) spray paint them bright colors (or fall colors this year lol). I leave them on the cardboard to dry, be sure to move them around to prevent them from painting them to the board. One year we used those 99 cent hair colors that they have at Halloween to color them too!

When they are dry, put each color in a separate cup of a muffin tin. Give your child an 8 x 11 sheet of posterboard that they have drawn a shape on (we have done turkeys, flowers, rainbows, butterflies...) and have them glue the kernels to the paper in a mosaic pattern. Lola likes to color her pattern first and then fill each space with the coordinating color and, I have found that works well for my younger child too.

9) Ghosts in Flight- Start with black construction paper and use chalk to draw a creepy scene (omitting ghosts but leave room for some) When the picture is drawn, take the paper and spray it with aerosol hairspray (this prevents the chalk from rubbing off) When dry, gently pull cotton balls into ghost shapes. Glue the balls to the scene. We have also gone so far as to glue google eyes to our ghost.

10) Traditional Jack O' Lanterns....

11) Leafy Lanterns- Place bright colorful leaves on a 9 x 12 sheet of wax paper (wax side up) . Cover the leaves with second sheet of wax paper (wax side down) Using a press cloth, carefully iron (at a low setting) the outer surface of the wax paper until leaves are in place with melted wax. Fold in half two 2 x 12 strips of fall colored construction paper. Place top and bottom borders inside fold of paper (like a frame on either side) Glue into place. Rolls wax paper into a cylinder, form by overlapping unedged sides and staple (or glue) together. For a finishing touch add a 1 x 8 strip of same colored paper to top of lantern as a handle.

12) Rolled Paper Mosaics (Turkey Style)- Start with a standard white piece of art paper (even computer paper) Draw an outline for a turkey. (I got mine from www.enchantedlearning.com) Take multiple fall colors of construction paper and make 1/2 inch by 8 inch strips. Take each strip and coil it to make a "tile". Fill your handy muffin tin with tiles. (I do all of this before we even start the project (HEHE Monday nights is Medium night which is when i set up alot of our art projects)

When ready to start, give your child the turkey out line and the "tiles" Sometimes it helps to shade in the turkey with the colors of the tiles you would be putting, but otherwise, just glue the tiles, coiled, edge down, spiral showing on the paper, filling in the turkey.

Don't forget one black coil for the turkeys eye...

13) Color Through Thanksgiving Place Cards- I use card stock for these and we have used these more then on occasion in a row.

Using place card sized card stock (folded over to stand up better later) have your child press hard with crayons while coloring with brightly colored crayons. Be sure the entire surface is colored. Then have them color over the entire surface with a black crayon. Again be sure the entire surface is covered. Then, using bamboo sticks or toothpicks, have your child write the name of the person whose place setting they are creating in the black. The name will show up in the first colors with a black foreground...

14) Toy Soldiers- this is a premade project we buy at the local craft store every year. We buy a different wooden toy solider kit and paint them...

15) Handprint Wreaths- Using a 12 x 12 square piece of posterboard and green and red tempera paint we get ready to be messy! Starting with green, we dip our hands in the paint and press them on the paper repeatedly making a circle of green hands. On occasion we have sprinkled it with glitter... then we wait for them the green to dry completely.

Then we get the red paint and make a two handprint bow shape at the bottom of the wreath. We sprinkle it again with glitter... Wait for this to dry completely.

Then we take cameo sized pictures of the children, the parents, the family, the pets (1 inch pictures from old photos work best) and we glue them on as ornaments. Last year we finished it off with some glitter paint (or the glitter glue) and outlined the photos.

16) Bill of Rights Wind Sock- Bill of Rights Day is December 15th. We will be celebrating this by making this wind sock...

Materials:

five 1 1/2 inch by 15 inch strips of white tissue paper glue

five 1 1/2 inch by 15 inch strips of red tissue paper string

one 6 inch by 18 inch blue strip of construction paper gold star stickers

one 4 inch by 18 inch white strip of construction paper a hole puncher

a black fine tipped marker

Start by writing an amendment on each strip of tissue paper. Then write Bill of Rights in bold letters across the white construction paper. Glue the white strip to the blue strip. (so that blue edges show on the top and bottom of the white) Turn blue strip over so that the white side is down. Alternately lay the amendment tissues on the bottom edge of the blue paper. Glue the strips in place (so they hang from the blue paper) Glue together sides of the blue paper (white side out) to make a cylinder. Decorate cylinder with stickers. Punch holes in either side of the top of the blue to run string through so you can hang your wind sock.

17) Post Christmas/Yule Thank You Cards- There are two ways to do this... showing my analness.. I save the wrapping paper from each gift my children receive and we then use a piece of it to make a "Christmas ball" for each card (the paper matches whomever gave that gift wrapped with it) Or... you can just have them make little drawings per card.

We like to use card stock and for the younger children I prewrite the message, for the older children they have to write their own. Then we decorate the cards with either the paper or little sparkly pictures...

18) Snowflake Mobiles- My Coco thinks its fabulous to cover every single window in the house with those white paper snowflake cut outs that she produces by the millions... I am less excited about not seeing out my windows for 4 months a year. So we compromised. We make snowflake mobiles.

Using 8 or so pieces of white art paper (or even computer paper) make traditional snowflakes (the way we did when we were children LOL) Then using a 2inch by 12 inch piece of blue construction paper, glue the ends together making the top of your mobile. Using yarn, attach each flake to the top at varying lengths.

19) Peanut butter Pinecone Birdfeeders- I remember making these as a girl scout when I was 8 years old and we have made them every year Ive had children.

Take a large pinecone from your backyard. Attach a string of yarn to the top of the pinecone so you can hang it from a tree when you are done. Cover your cone in peanut butter (or applebutter) and then roll it in a paper plate full of birdseed. Place the cones in the bushes and trees around your house and watch the birds come flying in...

20) Penguin Art-

21) Valentine Abstract Art- Give your child a 12 x 18 piece of art paper. Have them use a pencil to lightly draw several large heart shapes. (The bigger the better) Then have them draw three intersecting lines through the entire paper, make sure the lines go from one edge of the paper to the other. (hopefully intersecting the hearts lol) The using the muffin tin, give you child three colors and black and white paint and have then color in the lines not letting two colors touch if possible. After the paint dries, have your child color over the pencil lines with a black marker.

22) Sandpaper Prints- A uniquely tactile experience...

To begin have your child use crayons to draw a picture on a sheet (4 x 6) of course sandpaper. Make sure they press hard on the sheet and color thoroughly. Place the sandpaper picture face down on a 4 x 6 piece of card stock. Using newspaper on your ironing board, press the papers together carefully with your iron, transferring your art onto the card stock. For display, mount both the sandpaper art and the card stock paper on a single piece of colored paper with glue.

23) American Eagle Art- In celebration of Presidents Day, we will be making eagles.

Start by covering a 12 x 18 piece of cardboard with aluminium foil. Cut an American eagle shape out on brown construction paper. Cover the eagle with balled up pieces of colored tissue paper (trying to keep it looking like an eagle... beak, white collar...) When dry, glue the eagle to the foil covered cardboard. To complete the effect, add gold foil stars around the eagle and strips of red, white and blue ribbon around the edges (like a frame)

24)

25) Rainbow Art- Celebrate the coming of Spring! Start with a piece of poster board cut to look like a rainbow complete with clouds at the ends. With a marker, mark the lines for the colors and clouds.

Give your child the muffin tin with ripped pieces of colored tissue paper. (red, orange, yellow, green blue, purple...) and glue. Have then glue the pieces of tissue paper to the poster board making a rainbow. When the rainbow is complete, glue on cotton balls to the cloud part of the design.

26) Sponge Grass- This doubles as an art project and a science project and we do these all year long! Start with a sponge, cut a shape out of the sponge and place in shallow dish. Cover sponge with grass seed and pour a little water into the dish. Keep the seeds moist and before you know it, you will see green cropping up all over your sponge.

27) Kite Making

28) Magazine Butterflies- A recyclers dream project. Using torn out pages of magazines, cut each page (3 pages) into a butterfly shape. Placed together, fold them according style horizontally. Unfold them and place a black or green pipecleaner around the center of the pages, twisting them together and leaving the ends for antennas. Carefully pull the pages apart, giving your butterfly a three dimensional effect.

We have even made a few at a time to make a mobile of them for our adopted grandmother to hang in her room at the assisted living center.

29) Rainbow puzzles- A good friend of mine gave us make your own puzzle boards. We use the for everything from math aids to art projects. Coco's favorite puzzle was when she made a beautiful springtime rainbow scene. Now on rainy days, she can put together a puzzle of a beautiful day.

30) Sticker Art- We have done this a few ways. One is using character stickers and making pictures (by drawing them) around the stickers. The other is using shape stickers and creating pictures from the shapes. A bunch of Dora stickers turn into a jungle picture straight out of her show whereas with the random shapes, we are learning geometry at the same time.

31) Springtime Vases- Begin by cutting a vase shape from construction paper or art paper and decorate. (we have also used leftover fabric) Then take large strings of recycled brown paper bag, making flower stems Glue stems to undecorated side of the vase, then glue vase onto larger piece of white art paper.

To create pussywillows, glue puffed rice cereal to the brown paper stems.

To create forsythia, glue bits of yellow tissue paper to brown paper stems.

It looks best to interchange the stems by creating a vase of both flowers.

32) Tulip Shaped Mother's Day Cards- Start by folding a 6 x 12 piece of card stock in half, making a card. Then cut the card to look like a tulip, careful not to cut the crease. Decorate the cover of the card with things like wallpaper samples, fabric, construction paper, tissue paper...

Cut a strip of green construction paper to make a stem and a leaf. Glue the stem to the leaf and then to the back part of the card.

Write a poem or message inside the card for mom.

33) Frog Plates- To start, fold a paper plate in half. Color one inner half of the plate red, to represent in the inside of the frogs mouth. Then paint the outer surface of the plate, green. Allow to dry. From red construction cut a small piece for the tongue. From some white paper cut circles for eyes, draw black pupils. From green construction paper cut arms and legs for your frog. Glue the arms, legs, eyes and tongue in place.

34) Love Earth-

Materials:

one paper coffee filter

one 9 x 12 sheet of white art paper

one 9 x 12 sheet of black construction paper

yellow, blue, green and purple watercolors

Q-tips

silver and gold stars

Wet a paper coffee filter then place it on white art paper. Use a Qtip to dab on watercolors onto filter. Cover the entire filter with color. Add more (very small amounts) water if the filter becomes too dry. Once colored, allow the filter to dry.

Remove the filter and a beautiful earth shape will remain on the art paper. Cut out the earth shape and glue it into the center of the black paper. Add stars around the earth on the black paper.

35) Beaded Key Chain Kits- we buy these at the craft store and make one for each grandfather, great grandfather and of course dad nearly every year.

36) Macaroni Frames- Make a four sided frame out of popcicle sticks (rectangular if possible) This should be traditional photo sized. With additional sticks beef up the framework, creating a flat surface. Cut a piece of cardboard to fit against the back of the frame. Glue three sides of the cardboard to the frame (leave one open to slide a photo in)

Decorate the flat part of the frame with elbow and other shaped pasta that have been spraypainted in the driveway (and allowed to dry)

We actually spray paint small amounts of macaroni on cardboard and then sprinkle them with glitter before they dry, then we allow them to dry completely before gluing them to the wooden frames. We have used the colored art sticks when making frames to add more color.