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.

Week 5 Busy Busy Busy

When asked what her favorite part of this week was, I expected Coco to say the hike at Quail Hollow State Park yesterday. Instead she said it was emailing back and forth with her pen pal DJ. She wrote to him Monday and he responded right away. I love the idea of a pen pal because she is not only making a friend (in this case keeping a long distance friend) but she is learning spelling, writing and the art of conversation. Each letter between the two is less then 6 sentences long but they are a start.

This week with Coco we...
In Explorers (Social Studies) we started our unit on Vasco de Gama. We read a bunch of stories about him, completed a worksheet from www.enchantedlearning.com and posted his card of fun facts on our timeline. We also mapped out his voyage on our giant wall map.

In Language Arts we worked with identifying parts of speech. We used our Language Arts 4 (Laidlaw) and our Scholastic Success 4th Grade Grammar book.

In Math we finished up our Subtraction Review, completing worksheets made on www.theteacherscorner.net. Coco is just not a big fan of math, so I let her use my Expo markers and my hanging white board and she wrote out the problems and completed them on the board. When using the white board, she was considerably better at solving the problems.

In Science we are learning about measurements in Science. We are using our Physical Science book (Holt) and a few pages from her Comprehensive Curriculum Grade 4 book. We also printed a few worksheets from www.instructorweb.com
For fun, Coco picked a random science experiment from her book of experiments and made a volcano! It was simple, messy and fun!

We are still working on finishing the 38 page Stuart Little review. It was due today but we have 6 pages left so we will work on it over the weekend. I found it on www.teacherpayteachers.com for $2 and its perfect for us.

In Journaling this week we wrote about Going to the Fair, Making Coffee (how to), Going to Quail Hollow State Park, and we made cards for my mother, my grandmother and my grandfather. We also made birthday cards for Nacho in art class this week.

For PE this week, we went hiking at Quail Hollow. With 6 families from our homeschool group in attendance, we hiked a little over a mile through the woods. We followed that up by playing on the playground.

Fifi's went very well too!
In Spelling we worked on the colors. We used our 100 Words Your First Grader Should Know workbook and our Comprehensive Curriculum Grade 1 book. We also did some color by numbers.

In Language Arts, we worked on word order in sentences from our Scholastic Success Grammar book and our Comprehensive Curriculum book. We spent a lot of time writing out entire sentences.

In Phonics we worked on ending sounds of words (at, an, in, it...) using our Hooked on Phonics Grade 1 workbook

In Math, we started counting by 2s. We played games(2 4 6 8 who do we appreciate) We also worked with our Scholastic Success Grade 1 Math workbook.

In Science we worked with elephants. We used worksheets from www.enchantedlearning.com and read books about elephants. I found a great graph art project that made an elephant.

In Social Studies, we worked with maps in our Scholastic Success Maps workbook and we also learned about Mabon with our Our Pagan Family workbook.

Fifi also made cards for our family and wrote a short story (with my help) about her family... with pictures!

All in all this was a nice week. We got alot done, got fresh air and exercise, and have the whole weekend ahead of us to just relax!

So Proud of My Nacho!!

This concludes Nacho's first week of traditional homeschooling for high school. I couldnt be more impressed with his effort and enthusiam for the curriculum we created!

This week he completed:
Algerba 1- Using Algebra 1 by K-12
Review of Variable Expressions ~ 100%
Working with Variables~ 100%
Translating Word Equations~ 80%
Replacement Sets~ 100%
Week in Review Quiz~ 100%

Language Arts- Using Language for the 21st Century (Prentice Hall) and worksheets from www.teachervision.fen.com
Proper Sentence Structure~ 98%
Subject and Predicate Agreements~ 100%
Writing a Paragraph in Steps~ 84%
Punctuation Review~ 100%
Writing a Presuasive Paragraph~ 90%

Physical Science- Using Physical Sciene (Holt)
Work and Power (Chapt 8, Sect 1) + Vocab~ 100%
What is A Machine (Chapt 8, Sect 2) + Vocab~ 100%
More Power to You- experiment~ 100%
Mechanical Advantage (worksheet)~ 100%

Social Studies- Using www.teachervision.fen.com
Learning how to Research a Topic~ not graded
The Blitz of London (worksheet)~ 28%
The Blitz of London (redo worksheet)~ 100% = 64%
Write a Research Paragraph about the Blitz~ 90%

Health- Using Health (Prentice Hall)
Quality of Life~ 60% (not complete sentences, wrong page set up)
Risk Factors~ 100%
Causes of Death in Young People~ 90% (incomplete answer but well written)

Begin reading Robinson Crusoe. Study guide from www.coreknowledge.com
Study Guide Chapter 1~ 80%
Study Guide Chapter 2~ 100%

Spanish 2- Using Primsleur's Spanish II and Spanish Verbs by Vivianne Bey
Lesson 1~ not graded
Lesson 2~ not graded
Present Tense Verb Conjegation~ 90%
Verbs (worksheet)~ 90%
Lesson 3~ not graded

Unlike previous years, this is high school. Nacho is suddenly required to write out his answers, using complete sentences. He is required to set up his answer pages by certain specification. He is being graded this time.

For those of you whom I speak with everyday, yes I have to sit at his desk with him and keep him on task. Four hours everyday of reading my own book, looking up every 15minutes. If I walk away for any reason, I lose him. LOL But with results like these, its totally worth it, dont you think?

4th Week of School in Review

LOL, we didnt have any classroom time this week. We went on 3 field trips, went to theater auditions (twice lol), and battled a stomach bug...

Sunday we spent the day at the Stark County Fair. Aside from the food (which is lethal but YUMMY) we went on rides, saw an Argentine circus, watched a few animal shows, pet a million farm animals, donated blood....

We Knew He'd Do It...

Nacho decided on Labor Day that he had had enough of OHVA and we withdrew him. We then rushed and in 48 hours created an entire curriculum for him that meets state requirements...

Because we are moving to Connecticut in 5 months, and that meant 16 weeks of school (giving a week for Thanksgiving and two weeks for Christmas) This is Nacho's 16 week curiculum:

Language Arts: Using English Language Handbook (Senn and Skinner 2008), Robinson Caruso (Daniel Defoe 1719) The Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling 1894) and Great Expectations (Charles Dickens 1860)--
coreknowledge.org/.../teacher%20guides/Robinson%20Crusoe%20TG.pdf
http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-jungle-book/
http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-greatexpectations/

1)The Sentence
2)Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs
3)Other Parts of Speech Review
4)Complements
5)Phrases, Verbal Phrases, Clauses
6) Using Verbs and Pronouns
7) Writing a Letter
8) Writing a Paragraph
9) Writing an Essay
10) Writing a Research Paper
11) Writing a Persuasive Arguement
12) Speech and Debate Writing
13) Making a Documentary
14) Making a Documentary
15) Writing a News Article/Blog
16) ------ getting ready for PS

Physical Science: Using Holt Science and Technology Physical Science, Physical Science A Labratory Guide (a K-12 book I bought at a book sale), www.teachervision.fen.com (again TOTALLY worth the $40 a year!!)
1) Work and Machines
2) Types of Machines- Simple Machines
3) Complex Machines
4) Forms of Energy
5) Engery
6) Energy Resources
7) Temperature and Heat
8) Matter and Heat
9) Heat Technology
10)Atomic Theory
11)Periodic Table
12)Chemical Bonding
13)Chemical Reactions
14)Chemical Compounds
15)Atomic Energy
16)Review and Midterms

*Each week he will do book work Monday and Thursday, worksheets from www.teachervision.fen.com Fridays, vocabulary on Tuesdays and and expirement from the book on Wednesdays

Algebra 1: Using Algebra 1 (Prentice Hall)and http://www.kutasoftware.com/free.html
1)Reviewing Equations
2)Problem Solving
3)Properties of Real Numbers
4)Comparing Expressions
5)Distributive Properties
6)Operations w/ Real Numbers
7)Reciprocals and Division
8)Solve Equations and Inequalities
9)Transforming Formulas
10)Applications- Cost Problems
11)Combined Inequalities
12)Applying Franctions
13)More Fractions
14)Linear Equations and Inequalities
15)Slope
16)Review and Midterm

Social Studies: Using www.teachervision.fen.com only
Nacho hates Social Studies so we picked 16 topics that should be taught in the 9th grade and will address one per week...
1) The Blitz of London
2)Hunger Around the World
3)Religious Intolerance in Europe
4)European Monarchy
5)The War of the Roses
6)Women's Sufferange
7) The Ghandis
8) The Kennedys
9)Historic Massacres
10)Fenian Movement
11)Edison's Inventions
12)Samuel Morse and Revolution in Communications
13)Man-Made Explosions
14)The Controversy of Nuclear Weapons
15)Serendity in Science
16) The Marshall Plan

*Each week he will do research on the specific subject on Monday, a printed worksheet on Wednesday and write a paragraph on the subject on Friday.

Japanese: Using Primsleurs Japanesse, www.livemocha.com, NTC Basic Japanese Level 1 Workbook (McGraw-Hill)
*Each day Mon-Fri he will listen to a lesson, repeating as prompted and completing a page from the workbook. On Fridays he will play on www.livemocha.com

Health: Using Health Skills for Wellnesss (Prentice Hall 2001) and www.teachersvision.fen.com
1)You and Your Family
2)Building Healthy Relationships
3)Preventing Violence
4)Reproducation and Heredity
5)Pregnancy and Birth
6)Childhood and Adolescnece
7)Adulthood, Aging and Death
8)Food and Nutrition
9)Movement and Coordination
10)Excersise, Rest and Recreation
11)Personal Care
12)Substance Abuse
13)Preventing Disease
14)Enviromental and Community Health
15)Saftey and First Aid
16)Review and Midterm

Week 3- A Week In Review

This week has just gone by so fast. Its Friday and, I realized I havent blogged all week. One of our biggest pieces of news is: WE ARE MOVING BACK TO CONNECTICUT IN JANUARY!!! We are all so homesick, its just time to go home. My very good friend Brenda will be taking over Canton Area Homeschoolers more and more as we get closer to the date and I will be helping her set up outside activites through the rest of the year. I will still be helping my extra students long distance as well.

Nacho's week... His online charter school has had many many computer issues. The foreign language courses are down and reset, so no Japanese this week. I did get my first chance to see his progress yesterday and apartently, he is not doing as well as he thought. I have made a few calls today and, starting next week, he will have an English tutor and a general tutor coming to the house once a week each to help him.

Lola is in San Fransisco this week!! I put my baby on a plane all by herself yesterday and she arrived safely in California. So far she has swan in the Pacific Ocean, sightsaw from Twin Peaks, gone shopping, cooked dinner and slept. She will be home on the 8th.
As far as school wise, the same online charter school that is messing with Nacho, has lost her major math test and she will need to retake the test when she gets home. She and I are both annoyed, as she has already taken this test, stressed over this test and now she has to take it again. Her French is also gone, as it is the same course site. She has been keeping up with her French using Primsleur's French CDs and some workbook pages I printed for her last school year.

Coco just amazes me more and more each week. We do have an issue with the homeschooling office at the BOE, as they rejected her notification. I didnt get her an assesment (and more then likely wont be this year either) I have called the office and the man in charge is on vacation until next week... another battle for another time.
Heres what shes been doing this week:
In her Daily Drills book, she has moved from daily language arts excerises to daily math excersises... lets just say, she was not excited lol
In spelling, she put her words in ABC order on Monday and put the same words in sentences on Tuesday. On Wednesday, she corrected her sentences. Today was her test and she got 100%
cloud quest flax still trim door clung loft pulp grape pose
*Best Spelling Sentence of the Week Award*
I have four cheeks on my body.
In Social Studies, we learned about Burkes and Willis, who were Australian explorers from the 1800s. We read a page from www.enchantedlearning.com and completed a worksheet from the same site. We had a hard time finding a book about them at the library, but our Usborne book had a short story. We also wrote out their info cards and posted them on the timeline, as well as marking their voyage on the great wall map.
In Language Arts, we worked with sentence parts. We worked in the Scholastic Success Grammar book, the Comprehensive Curriculum book and on our Laidlaw Language Arts 4 book.
In Math, we started reviewing subtraction. I printed all the pages from www.theteacherscorner.net.
In Science, we are working with using Scientific Models. We used worksheets from www.teachervision.fen.com and www.instructorweb.com and we did a science expierement using eggs and vinegar that will be posted in a later blog entry.

Fifi has been less enthusiastic about school so, in true homeschooling mom style, I snuck it in via games, tv and storybooks.
In spelling, we used week 4 of 100 words your 1st grader should know. We wrote them in ABC order, wrote them 3 times each and made up oral sentences with the words. We also did the three workbook pages that correlate with the words.
In Social Studies, we are finishing up our Scholastic Success Maps book and for our final project we made a map of our neighborhood showing streets, directionals and keys for parks, buildings and wooded areas.
In Language Arts, we worked with making complete sentences. We used our Scholastic Success Grammar book and pages from www.teacherspayteachers.com We also spent alot of time writing out sentences to help her with her penmanship.
In Phonics we worked on tongue twisters, and words with the "an" and "at" sounds.
In Math, we have given up on working with money. She is just not getting it at this point. We have moved the lessons around to work with addition and subtraction. We also played with counting by 1s, 2s and 5s with our Scholastic Success Math workbook, and Disneys 1st grade Math. We also spent some time over the weekend and Thursday working with plotting coordinates and graph art. Both girls love it!

On Thursday we went to our first day at the Stark County Fair and saw all kinds of farming animals. We will be going back on Sunday for a full day. Be sure to come back Monday to see the pictures!!

A bunch of pics

Fifi's Spelling sentences... such a huge improvement!

One of the latest art projects from the K-6 art curriculum I had posted previously.

Coco at the Stark County Fair petting a baby goat. (by B. Muhleman)

Fifi loving a baby chick at the Stark County Fair (by B. Muhleman)