Jesse Bear What Will You Wear?

Sierra's most recent book of the week is Jesse Bear What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom.  We have taken longer than a week with this book because of all the summer fun we have been having. However, she has loved this book. One of the activities was finding all the bears on every page. Now she likes to find them every time we read it. We also made up stories about what Jesse bear would wear at the beach or in the rain or at the pool. She thought this was funny. One day we talked about loving relationships but Sierra's favorite thing to do was to find things in the book. Other than bears we looked for flowers, food and shapes. 

I also checked out other Jesse Bear books from the library. Sierra loved "Guess Who's Coming, Jesse Bear?"  In the story Jesse Bear's cousin comes for a visit. At first Jesse doesn't think he will like her but at the end if her visit he does not want her to go. I can't tell you how many times I read this book to her. It is a good book though and I'm glad she enjoyed our time with Jesse Bear. 

This morning it is nice out so we are enjoying some chalk drawing and bike riding. 

Zoey is taking some pictures. :-)

I heart Excel!

Homeschool can get very messy and unorganized very fast. I don't mean the kind of mess that is made from a fun art or other creative project. This mess is the one created when the teacher is also the mother. What needs to get done in school sometimes gets lost in the rest of, well life! 

This year I wanted to find a planner or program that would have the whole school year laid out. Not specifically what to do for each lesson but what lessons need to be completed each week. Make sense? No, well read on anyway. You are either Mat, my Mom or Dad, Debby or Danielle and you are hoping for a cute picture of the kids. Good news, I'll add a picture at the end because you are so patient to read my ramblings. 

Back to my planner....so I couldn't find anything I liked. I don't want to write it all out by hand. Hello, this isn't 1984! I didn't want to pay for a program that had tons of features I won't  need and was missing the ones I want. The free stuff I found wasn't right either. So I created my own!!! I know you are thinking, "Can we just see the pictures of the kids already?" 

I used Excel. I bet you guessed that from my title already though. I've been cutting and pasting and freezing cells and all sorts of fun things. Oh how I miss using Excel on a daily basis at work. Anyhow, I am not completely done but I am very happy with what I have thus far. I really hope it helps keep me on track and stops me from freaking out and thinking I am behind. I'm Happy! (At the moment. I'll find something to freak out about soon. It's my gift.). 

And now for a picture...(You may be thinking this better be one heck of a picture after I just read all of that blah blah blah) 

  Hmmm, that's blurry. Let me try another. 

Better. They are painting with corks and feathers. Short boring story. 

We also had fun with water balloons today.   That's all. Hope you enjoyed. Now you can go back to what you were doing. :-) 

Schedule board (in lieu of work boxes)

Keeping school moving along during the day can sometimes be a struggle. However, we tried something new this year that worked very well for us. I had been reading about Sue Patrick's work box method for organizing the homeschool day. The basic idea is to have a drawer or box for each subject. Then the night before a school day you fill each box with the child's work for the next day. The child then just goes box by box to get all their work done. I love the idea but space and cost were both issues. Also I was concerned I would not keep up with it as well as I should. What to do?

One day I stumbled across an idea from a homeschooling blog and instantly I was in love! I took a piece of poster board about 12 x 18 and Zoey and I decorated it. Then I put 16 Velcro circles on the board. Next I made the subject cards. For these I took pictures of the workbook or subject matter and printed on regular paper. Then I glued those pictures on poster board cards about 1 1/2 x 2, covered with clear packing tape (I didn't have contact paper on hand) and put a Velcro dot on the back of that. 

Once we found the perfect place for the chart we hung it on the wall. Now in the morning I put on the board everything that needs to get done that day. Every time Zoey completes a subject she gets to take down the card. When the cards are all off she is done for the day! 

Many things in homeschool life are trial and error. I have been amazed how well this approach is working. We do not do the exact same thing every day and the schedule board helps Zoey to see how much she has to do that day and keeps us BOTH on task. In addition to cards for her subject areas I also included cards for 15 minute break, outside time, lunch and snack. These help motivate Zoey and remind me to give her a break. 

The schedule board also must be done in the order the cards are in the board. After we had been using it a few weeks and then I let Zoey have input on what order the cards went on the board. She stuck with the same order I had been using most of the time. Some days she put her cards up on the board before I finished breakfast. :-)  Another benefit of this system is I can more easily see where the handwriting heavy subjects are and spread them out. This way she is less likely to have tired hands. 

Over all the schedule board has worked very well. Soon I will need to make a second one for Sierra who starts kindergarten in August. I hope it works as well for her and maybe I won't lose my mind homeschooling two children. Ok, I am going to lose my mind but we will be getting things done at least.  

Not a great picture but you get the idea. 

Summer Vacation

First grade and pre-k has come to an end. Our last day of school for the 2012-2013 school year was May 31. We really had a great year. There were some very difficult days that made me want to drop Zoey off at the local public school and run away as fast as I could but there were also many, many wonderful days too. Like the days when Zoey finally understood a math concept or Sierra learned a new letter. It just amazes me another year of school has gone by.

This year is the first year Zoey had to be tested with a Standardized Test. I received her results a few days ago and she did exceptionally well. I think some of it has to do with the fact that she is older for a first grader. She just missed the cut off being born in September. Also, she seems to be really smart like her father.

We spent the last day of school going to Discovery Place Kids and Discovery Place. We had a blast. 

That is funny to me that she is holding up a slow sign. Lol

So we now officially have a second grader in the house. 

Sierra did not want her picture taken. 

I have already decided on and ordered curriculum for next year.  Sierra can't wait for kindergarten and she is so ready. Lately she has been answering some of Zoey's questions. It makes me laugh and makes Zoey mad. It seems Sierra is smart like Daddy too.

So now we will enjoy our summer break. I'm sure it will go all too fast. School starts in August. I'm already excited. If I get a chance I'll try to update with some highlights from the past school year.

101st day of school

I was going to blog when it was our 100th day of school but I missed it. Oops! So here we are on the 101st day of school. Today Zoey finished the First Language Lessons book Volume 1. We did the review at the end and she did great. I am amazed at how much she has learned about grammar. She also has memorized several poems and grammar definitions. In the middle of the lesson she told me how grammar is helping her with math and math is helping her with other things. She also told me she can see numbers in her head and that is how she does her math. I thought that was cute. I guess the mental math approach is sinking in.

Speaking of math, Zoey is 3/4 the way done with her first grade math work in Singapore Math. She is about 1/2 way through Miquon 1st grade math. The programs work so well together. She had the cuisenairre rods available to use when ever she wants but is using them less and less. A few days ago she was working a problem and she took a few 10 rods out then she stopped before she had all she needed. I could tell by the look on her face she was figuring it out in her head. She did it! She likes addition much more than subtraction but then don't we all? Right now she loves to do fractions in the Miquon program.

We have started a new program for learning to write. It is called Writing With Ease. It is an easy program that consists of two days of copy work, and two days narration. Each week the copy work and narration is based on passage from well knows stories. For example the first week was from Little House on the Prairie. The copy work gives her a choice of sentence length and is very manageable for her. The narration consists of me reading a passage from the story and then asking her questions about what I just read. She has to answer in complete sentences and this is the part she really did not like at first. She is OK with it now but would prefer to just give a fragment answer. A side benefit of this program is Zoey wants to read the whole story when we are done with the week. Right now we are reading through Pinocchio. It is nothing like the Disney movie. No surprise there right. We are only five weeks in to this program but we are definitely going to stick with it. It only takes a few minutes a day and the benefits can already be seen.

Zoey is also almost done with her phonics program. She should be done by the end of January. It is amazing how well she is reading but she still needs much practice.

This week gym class and science class started back. Zoey loves both of these and was so happy to return. Sierra is able to take some science classes now too. Not as often as Zoey but when she does she LOVES it. Sierra also started gym class this week which she also loves.

We have continued with the book of the week for both of the girls too. The last book we did in December for Zoey was The Duchess Bakes a Cake and for Sierra was The ABC Bunny. The both ready enjoyed the books and we even made a bunny cake! Over the winter break we worked on a unit study about volcanoes. We did it while taking a break from our regular school work. We are still reading and talking about volcanoes. They are watching a video about Pompeii right now. Zoey has been interested in volcanoes for a long time so she loved this study. One fun thing we did was make edible models of the earth. We put it together layer by layer then cut it in half to see the layers. Finally they ate it up! I was going to add pictures here but the upload function is not working right now. Boo!

Sierra is doing great with learning her letters, numbers, shapes, colors and so much more that she constantly surprises me.

I guess that is all for now. It is hard to believe that we are over half way through the school year. I have a feeling May will be here before I know it. Thanks for reading and I will share pictures through Shutterfly when I get a chance.

Today...

Today I teach my seven year old,
My first grader, my first born.
She is hear for me to hold and love,
While others can only mourn.
She is a wonderful surprise,
Thought she'd never come our way.
And yet she's here and her sister too,
Just thankful for another day.

Fun times at Creekside

We are well into our second month of this school year and things are going well. We have had a few rough moments and at least one really ugly day but so far I am pleased with everything. Zoey is really enjoying her new math programs and Sierra seems to be picking up number value with lightening speed. Sierra loves to count things and now is adding small numbers. Not on paper, but for example the other day she was finishing a bowl of cereal. I asked her to take two more bites and she did. She then came over to me and said she had already eaten four bites and shows me four fingers. Then she tells me she had two more. She puts two more fingers up. Next she says, "That means I had six bites because see, 1, 2, 3, ..." she proceeds to count her fingers up to six. The the other day I saw her standing on Mom and Dad's deck counting the chairs and she let me know we needed one more chair for dinner. Kids can be so amazing. Of course if we are going somewhere Sierra does not want to go she CANNOT walk but hey she can count to six!

Sierra is also enjoying doing "The Letter of the Week." We just finished "C" and she is finding "C's" where ever we go. Zoey makes me laugh when she wants to do some of the letter of the week activities too. So far I have kept it very simple and only do things when she wants. It is always a challenge with both of them to give them enough to keep them learning and interested but not so much that they burn out and dislike learning.

Sierra is sharing her caterpillar C that she partially laced.  Zoey wanted to do the caterpillar activity too.

Zoey is progressing well with reading, math and handwriting. We just finished learning about silent letter and are now on R-changed vowels. It used to be so hard just to get her through a reading lesson and now it is a breeze. Math can be a challenge some days but the new curriculum we are using has games included and we both have fun with those. It is amazing to see her go from struggling with something to having confidence doing it just because of playing a card game a few times.


In history we are continuing with American History.

We learned about Abraham Lincoln and made hats. Sierra did not want a tall "boy" hat so she made a short pink one. What a funny girl.

 

In science we have had a few failed science experiments in a row but the girls are having so much fun with the garden on our back patio. The sunflowers we planted earlier this year bloomed and dried out. Zoey got seeds from the flower and planted them in other pots. They are growing quite well. She did the same with the marigold flowers. One day they discovered bugs all over the green bean plants.  Then they had great fun smacking them off with brooms and then squishing them with their shoes. Gross! We did the celery in colored water and that worked quite well.

 



Here the girls are enjoying doing some nature sketching. They sat there quietly drawing for the longest time.

Here are a few pictures of the garden in August before the bugs took over the green bean plants.

Now that it is September gym class and science classes have started back up. That always adds excitement and challange to our days. We also are having fun with the Five in a Row curriculum.  So far we have done Miss Rumphius, Daniel's Duck, The Finest Horse in Town, Harold and the Purple Crayon, and How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World with Five in a Row. This is primarily for Zoey but Sierra joins in. For Sierra we do Before Five in a Row. The books we have done so far are, Goodnight Moon, The Carrot Seed, Blueberries for Sal, Corduroy, and We're Going on a Bear Hunt. I wish I had time to write updates every week then I would be able to share what we did with each book. Oh well, here are a few pictures.

Playing with buttons after reading Corduroy.

Zoey and the Purple Crayon.

Zoey cutting up celery for the chicken stew we made. It was a recipe to go along with the book Daniel's Duck. She was so surprised I let her use a sharp knife. I was so surprised I did too and that she did so well.

 

We just started Follow the Drinking Gourd with Zoey and Angus Lost with Sierra. I am excited about all the learning opportunities these books present.

 

As soon as I upload all of my pictures to Shutterfly I will share them so you can see more if you would like.  I just realized the other day I hadn't uploaded any since last December!

 

Thanks for reading and sharing in our journey as we teach our children at home. Also, I wrote this on and off over a few weeks so if it is choppy I apologise.