Are you still homeschooling???

Is it the end of February already? The quote, "The days are long but the years are short," is a quote that if I didn't know better I would think that I wrote it myself.  However, I did not. Gretchen Rubin wrote it but it does describe how I feel about things lately.  The days have been sometimes painfully long but all too often I realize the girls are growing up at lightening speed.  Yes, they are still young, but they are no longer babies. I do not want another baby nor do I want them to be babies again but it does give a mommy and odd feeling when a stage of your child's life is gone.

Zoey especially is far from babyhood. Sierra still requires somethings that make our home not completely baby free (diapers at night) but at three and a half she is so very independent. Zoey is completely and totally a school-age child. This is fun and new to me. Teaching preschool for so many years left me with the experience of children only to the age of five. Going off into this new stage in her life has had its ups and downs and with Zoey they are some wild ups and downs. No surprise there. This brings me to the title of this update, "Are you still homeschooling?" I have a dear friend that asks me this every time she sees me. It makes me laugh on the inside. She says it nicely but questioningly. I always answer with a smile on my face, "Yes." "How are things going?" Good, is always a better answer than, well I wanted to drop her off at the closest school last week and not pick her up until she turns 18 but I decided against it. And I mean like not pick her up at all. Ha ha! Yes we are still homeschooling. Yes we have good days and bad days. Yes she is learning. No I have not decided what we will do for high school yet. My goodness she is only six.

So what are we doing and how are things going? At the beginning of the year we started an American History curriculum that started with Native Americans. Zoey loved this so much and she continues to love history now even though we have moved into American Revolution and so on. Lately we have made wigs, like George Washington, that were so cute. We made binoculars and went exploring like Lewis and Clark. We continue to learn about a new state or two each week. Zoey was very happy to finally get to Texas and Florida. I wonder why she likes those states so much. She also has memorized her address although she still says South Carolina sometimes. Science continues to be fun to with simple experiments that both girls can do. One of my favorite things about homeschooling is seeing that Ah-ha moment. We were doing an experiment where we put ice and water in a glass jar and waited.  After a while we observed water on the outside of the jar. I asked how it got there and Zoey looked and looked at it then her eyes lit up. "It is from the air! The water in the air!" This was something we had discussed before but now she saw it happening right before her and connections were made. She was so happy and proud of herself. We were all excited. I thought it was funny though that it took a while for a tiny bit of water to appear. In Florida there is water on the outside of your glass all the time. No waiting required.

An ah-ha moment happened today too with math. Zoey was using the Cuisenaire rods and discovered one of her math problems had a 12 in it. The Cuisenarre rods are one through ten.(Thanks cousin Danielle for the C-rods)  I showed her how 12 is simply a ten rod and a two rod. No biggie. We have done this before. I took that time to show her how the ten rod was the 1 and the two rod was the 2. I explained some very basic place value and a light bulb went off. "Ohhhh, I get it...." and she continued on telling me what she did indeed get. I love moments like those. We have very frustrating times too but what would you expect when you put me with Zoey?

Zoey is doing very well with reading and loves to read to her sister. She really amazes me with the words she can read sometimes. She tells me all the time how happy she is that she can read.

We also are still doing unit studies. I want to keep up-to-date on those too but they need a whole separate post. Maybe there will be a post of Ferdinand in a few days. Please don't hold your breath. Life is just too crazy. As always thanks for reading. I still can't believe it is the end of February already. Only 13 more weeks of school left. Why does it go so fast? Note to self: slow down and enjoy. It will be over before you know it.

All About Spelling and Reading

All About Spelling is a multi-sensory spelling program but you don't have to take my word for it. Check out their website. They are having a contest for a $100 gift certificate to their website and one way to enter is to blog about it. I really want this program for the girls. It is excellent but if for some reason someone ends up not liking the program it can be returned within a year of purchase! Wow! That is some return policy. 

With my spelling I can use all the help I can get to teach the girls how to spell correctly so I hope to win this!

They also have a new program to teach reading, All About Reading. This will be perfect for Sierra this fall.

Sierra is listening too

A few weeks ago we did day one of the Download N Go, Goofy Geckos. Well stuff and things happened so we didn't get to day two until this morning. When we study a Download N Go Sierra is allowed to join in as much as she likes. Today I gave her some paper to cut, glue and a coloring page of Geckos. While I am working with Zoey I tell her the next question is, "What do geckos use to clean their eyes?" We were getting ready to watch the video link to answer our question when Sierra pipes up, "Dey use der tongue to keen der eyes.(They use their tongue to clean their eyes)" She is pointing to her tongue and eyes the whole time. She remembered this from the day one study. It was briefly mentioned in something I read.  She really amazes me.

Tuesday I was working with Zoey on math. I told her to color the same toys the same color on her worksheet. Sierra wanted a worksheet too so I drew nine shapes on a piece of paper, three squares, three circles, three diamonds. I gave it to her and said, "you can color this however you like." She colored each shape that matched the same color. And circled same shapes in same color. Now Zoey's work was small as it was only one problem on a sheet of problems and Zoey used two shades of yellow for different objects (you could barely see the difference) it looked nothing like what I gave Sierra. I was so surprised. What a hoot this kid is.

The Caterpillar

Zoey memorized her first poem from First Language Lessons is record time. I can't wait to see how she does with the next one.

Back to School - part 2

I didn't intend to break this up but I got so long winded about the new history program I ran out of time to keep going. So here is some more about our new curriculum.

Elemental Science - Introduction to Science

This program I also purchased digitally so I have the same benefits that I do with Adventures in America. I can print for Sierra and only print what I need. It can be scheduled two or five days a week. I do two so we can do it the days we don't do history. So far it is working out well. We will see how it goes once our schedule gets crazy again with gymnastics and other programs. I think I need another me and a few more days in the week. Anyways, the program covers six areas of science, spending six weeks with each area. The areas covered are chemistry, physics, geology, meteorology, botany, and zoology. The program consists of simple experiments, easy enough for Sierra to join in, coloring pages, book suggestions, and nature study.

Peeling the crayons took quite a while.

Last week we learned about liquids and solids. We melted ice in our hands as we began our discussion then we melted crayons in the oven. I now have a muffin tin that is dedicated to art. We played the solids, liquids, and gases game where we pretend to be molecules. Every time someone calls out solid, liquid or gas we have to either hold onto each other tightly (solids), loosely (liquids), or just bounce around the room (gas). This was fun and it really helped Zoey to remember the difference.  We are also keeping a notebook for science.  A suggested book to go along with this curriculum is Usborne Internet-linked Encyclopedia. We read selected pages from this about solids and liquids. It is short and just the right amount of information for young children. The science experiments are mostly from More Mudpies to Magnets. I was already familiar with this book so I knew it would work for us.

Coloring with our once again solid crayons.

For nature study we went on a nature walk to see if we could find pine trees. We found many pine trees. Some of them even had sap oozing from the bark. When we got back home the girls could draw what ever they wanted in their nature journals. Zoey drew me pushing Sierra in the jogging stroller and her pushing Bitty Baby in a stroller. It was so cute. Sierra drew something....???  If you would like to see more about this science program just go here.

Math Mammoth
We have a new math program too! We will still be using Mathematics Enhancement Program that we used last year but only once or twice a week. So far Zoey is flying through Math Mammoth. It is another digital download program so I can use it for Sierra too when she is ready in a few years. Zoey has been begging me to give her math problems for quite a while now. When we are in the car or just have a quiet moment she starts asking for the math game. I am surprised how well she does. The only thing that messes her up is 8 and 9. She calls them the wrong name sometimes.  More about Math Mammoth here.

First Language Lessons
I knew I wanted to use this program I just didn't know when I wanted to start it. I ended up ordering it because I needed a slightly bigger Amazon order to get free shipping. I am glad I did. I started it with Zoey the first week of school and figured I would see if she was ready for it or not. Part of the program includes memorization of grammar rules and poems. The program is a start in learning about English grammar. It is done only three days a week. The first day was very simple but kind of boring so Zoey was not that crazy about it. The second day we read a poem and I explained that she was going to memorize it.  After I read it she wanted to read it too. Great! I guess I failed to tell her that she had weeks to memorize it because when we got the book out again on Friday she read the poem once and then repeated it back to me from memory! She made one small mistake. Since then she says the poem a few times everyday and gets the biggest kick out of it. I will try to get it on video so that I can share it with you. I was so surprised that she learned it that quick. Children's ability to remember things can be almost scary. She can't remember to turn off her bedroom light though? Learn more about First Language Lessons here. Oh and now she asks to do this almost everyday.

Programs we are keeping:
Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading  - We are keeping this because Zoey is reading at age 5. If it is working this well we will keep on going. The book is supposed to take her through 4th grade so we have a while to finish it. Some days the lessons go fast and other days it is a struggle. I try to break up lessons that are long and we do the optional follow up as a separate lesson.
Download n Go - We will continue to do these unit studies when the interest is there. We did the Summer unit study this summer (duh). I will add pictures of us making ice cream for this study at the end of this novel that I am writing. We started Goofy Geckos this week. We usually do these in bits and pieces so they take us a while to go through them. They just came out with one called Football Frenzy. Sounds good to me!
Five in a Row - Better known to my loyal blog readers (aka my family) as the book of the week. At the end of the school year with did four books in a row that Zoey was only so-so about. I thought maybe we had come to the end of using this curriculum. Zoey and I had a heart to heart conversation about it. She wants to do the book of the week. She said she has fun doing the activities and I know she is learning AND remembering so much but she does not like it when I read the book over and over and over again. Part of the program is to read the book five days in a row to reinforce what was learned previously. However, something I have read many times from experienced home school parents is to make the curriculum work for don't work for it. So I decided we would continue with Five in a Row our own style. We will read the book at least once and more if Zoey wants to. Apparently she has an excellent memory so maybe I don't need to read it over and over again. The other very nice thing about this curriculum is Sierra can join in too. Also, I can decide which activities to do since multiple suggestions are given for each topic. My next hurdle with this program was getting volumes 2 and 3. To buy them new it would of cost around $90 with shipping. Volume 1 was easy to find used last year since it is more frequently purchased. Not so with vol 2 and 3. I decided to search one more time and found both of them used on Amazon! Yes! I am very happy. So when we finish Goofy Gecko's we will choose our next book of the week. I can't wait! I really enjoy this curriculum so much.

Last but not least Handwriting Without Tears  and Explode the Code round out our curriculum. Anybody still here? Don't know why I wanted to give so many details other than I am so excited and so far so are both of the girls.

Making ice cream this summer.

Back to School - part 1

Hi everybody. Last week was our first week back to school. Everything went quite well. The only slight problem we had was there didn't seem to be quite enough school for Zoey. I learned from last year and knew that I should not over plan and keep the stress level to a minimum. I guess I went a little too light for Zoey. Not really a big surprise for the high-needs kid Zoey is.

This year we have some additions to our curriculum that are working quite well so far. We also have kept most of what we used last year. Here is a description of one of our new studies...

Adventures in America

This new program from Elemental History is a 36 week study of early America and the 50 states. It is set up to be done in three days with two days for history and one day for geography. What made me decide to purchase a separate history program was Zoey's growing interest in early America this summer. We started listening to The Little House on the Prairie series on CD in the car this summer. The whole family is hooked. Zoey pretends to be Laura or Ma and gets Sierra to play along also. With Zoey's quest for knowledge in this area I decided to go for it. It is a well laid out program. There is a hands on activity each week, two short stories to read, chapter book and picture book suggestions, coloring pages, dictation, and copy work. The copy work and dictation are optional. As an added bonus I was able to buy the program in digital version so I am able to print copies of coloring pages and other things for Sierra also. Since Sierra wants to do everything Zoey does this is a huge benefit. The only downside is I have the cost of paper and printer ink.

For our first week with Adventures in America we began by learning more about Native Americans. Before we even started this week Zoey was immersed in the books about Native Americans that I checked out at the library. The first Chapter book we are reading is Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Bulla. We are supposed to read one chapter a day, five days a week. We read three chapters on Monday! The hands-on activity for the week was making Wampum beads. The girls really liked using the clay. We made beads and they quickly started making other objects. Zoey made Pocahontas and a coil pot. Sierra made a ????.

Zoey putting a hole in the Wampum bead.

Sierra's own creation and a pinch pot I helped her with.



Painting Pocahontas after a few days drying time.



Our state for the week is Delaware, the first state. The state study is simple which is just right for Zoey. We read a paragraph about the state written by a child from the book, Smart About Fifty States. Next is the coloring page. We put a star on the state where the capital is. Delaware's capital is Dover. Then we answer a few simple questions about the state, color it (Zoey added detail to hers, lol) and find the state on the US map. I also checked out a book from the library about Delaware. I think I was more interested in the book than Zoey but she did love everything else we did with Delaware. Oh, and we also added the state flag for Delaware in the corner of the page. I finally found state flag stickers online. Local school supply stores just didn't carry that sort of thing.

All of the papers that are completed with this program are kept in their notebooks, which each of them are very proud of. This also gives us a great chance to review. With the stories, coloring, and crafts this curriculum was a hit the first week of school. Hopefully it will continue this way. If you would like to see more of this program just click here.

Tomorrow...Introduction to Science.

Final Four

Let the May Madness of homeschooling begin! We took the month of April off so that I could auxiliary pioneer. I have to say we all had much more fun than I expected. We kept up with phonics and math but everything else was put on hold. We had four book left to do for the school year and just enough time to get them in.

We started off with the book Very Last First Time by Jan Andrews. This is an interesting fictional story based on real people. The Inuit people who live near Ungava Bay in northern Canada collect mussels in an unusual way. The ice freezes over in the winter but the tide still comes and goes. When the tide is out they cut a hole in the ice and go down, walk on the ocean floor and collect mussels. The story is based on a girl, Ava, who goes under the ice and collects the mussels by herself for the first time. We started off the week doing the usual stuff, finding Canada and Ungava Bay on our map and putting the story disk on it. We learned a bit about the Inuit culture and ocean life all week by reading books from the library. We also learned new vocabulary words, discussed ordinal numbers, explored the detail in the pictures of the book, discussed warm and cool colors, and more. One afternoon I set up a pretend setting so Zoey could go under the ice and get mussels.

Here she is dressed warmly with her sled and tools.

Zoey collects the mussels (shells) and puts them in her mussel pan (cake pan).

It was hard to get a good picture of her under the ice. You can see more when I upload and share May's pictures.

Our next book was Papa Piccolo by Carol Talley. This story took us to Venice, Italy. The story is about a tom cat who is adopted by two kittens. It is a very cute story with lots of action too. The canal streets really caught Zoey's attention. We looked at many pictures in books of Venice and Zoey really liked the book, Olivia goes to Venice this week. I think we read it more often than we did the book of the week. Some of the things we learned about and discussed this week were: the shape of Italy, gondola boats, Marco Polo, architecture, creating the illusion of speed in drawings, peripheral vision, types and breeds of cats, and fatherhood.

After Papa Piccolo we moved on to Another Celebrated Dancing Bear by Gladys Sheffrin-Falk. For this story we visited Russia. Here is Amazon's description of the book, A "heavy-footed brown bear whose heart is soft as butter," Boris is unhappily employed at the animal hospital. When he sees an ornate poster announcing that his friend Max, "the celebrated dancing bear," is about to tour St.Petersburg, his discontent overwhelms him and he can't control his tears, even as he bravely struggles to congratulate Boris. But Boris, too, is soft-hearted, and he sets about teaching Max to dance. Scheffrin-Falk's first picture book gracefully confronts jealousy, self-doubt (Max "felt a little foolish. Dancing lessons at his age!"), the value of persistence and the power of friendship. Garrison's etchings, framed like snapshots and hand-colored to highlight certain objects (a sash, a jacket, a flower) against sepia-like backgrounds, infuse the volume with the feel of an antique scrapbook. This old-world flavor further enhances the nostalgic imperial Russian setting, replete with samovars, graduated Russian peasant dolls (here shaped like bears) and distant spires.

Zoey didn't seem to care too much for this book but she did like the activities we did. We acted out different dramatic words. Can you believe Zoey liked that? We discussed occupations, etchings, boiling and freezing point and  characterization. To help learn time I drew a large clock outside and had Zoey show me where the short hand would point if it was a certain time. She did this for me but she really just wanted to play baseball. Later when it rained she told me happily that my drawing was going to be washed away. She sure does make it clear when she doesn't like something. At least I got a picture of it.

Mean mommy tries to make learning fun.

Our last book of the year was Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha.  Here is a review of the book:

 On his way to help grandmother and relatives at a seaside hot dog stand, seven-year-old Mark stops on the beach to pick up a small jellylike substance that he places in a bag of seawater. A moonlight ride with Gram on a fishing boat takes them out on the ocean where thousands of moonjellies shimmer, and the boy slips his treasure back among them. Based on a childhood experience in New England, Shasha's narrative is full of small details that illuminate the story but don't impede it. His rich pastels combined with the text create a strong sense of place and time--the warmth of family relationships, the quiet companionship of the boy and his grandmother, the cheerful hard work and hustle-bustle of the concession stand, and the magic of the glowing sea. His use of light, shadows, and darkness in the luminous full-color double-page spreads invite readers right into the story. Unfortunately, neither the text nor the jacket notes identify exactly what a moonjelly is. Despite this omission, it's a strong debut. --Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha Public Library, WI
Sorry I am trying to get this done fast so it is easier to cut and paste than to come up with my own reviews.  Things discussed and learned this week were: New England, responsibility, contrast in artwork, italics, pastels (art), money, moon jellyfish and more. This was our second to last week of school and our enthusiasm was getting low so we just kept everything brief and moved on. There are many fun things we can do if we do this book again in a few years.

Our very last week was review and surprise trip on the very last day of school, June 10.  Both Mat and I took the girls to the new children's museum, Discovery Place Kids. It is for kids ages 2 to 7 and set up like different occupations and areas of play. I have tons of pictures of it that I will load to Shutterfly and share as soon as I can. Until then here are some pictures of our last day of gymnastics. We really miss this and can't wait for it to start again.

We had a great year for our first year of homeschool. Other than all the adventures we had with books Zoey learned her letters, letter sound and is starting to read. She finally got 13, 14, 15. The other numbers 1 to 20 were no problem. She can spell some words and is enjoying her new handwriting program. She likes to add small numbers and asks to play the adding game when we are riding in the car. We also have started listening to different stories while riding in the car. Charlotte's Web, Peter Pan, and Little House series. Mid-summer update on Little House series. Zoey begs for it every time we get in the car and can't wait for the next one once we complete one. Next we will be listening to The Long Winter so we are almost done. I have focused on Zoey mostly because she is the one "in school" but Sierra is right there with us learning so much. The other day I asked her where China was and she found it right away. She also loves to count things and now is drawing people, trees, and flowers.

If all goes as planned we will start our new school year on August 8. It is so hot out right now it is better to get started and take breaks when the weather is nice in October and April. Thanks for reading all year. Maybe our first week update will come sooner rather than later. Hmmmmmm, maybe not?