They're Back!

We are back in school for the 2012 / 2013 school year. We officially started Monday, August 6 and had a great week. The first few days Zoey couldn't get enough of school and Sierra was thrilled with her own workbooks. By Friday Zoey only wanted to do one math lesson instead of two or three. One lesson a day works for me. Sierra has always had Zoey's old workbooks to play with but this year I got her a few of her own. She still wants me to make "math worksheets" for her. Her "math", as she calls it, is a paper divided into four parts. In each part I make an activity for her at her level. I include simple things like matching, mazes, copying letters or numbers and simple pictures to color. They are not beautiful or wonderful in any way but she loves them and asks for more. I don't love making them but I keep doing it because well she is so cute!

We started of Monday by taking first day of school pictures. Well, they opened their new backpacks (thanks Grandma) with all the new school stuff in it first then we took pictures. Here are a few highlights...

After a while Zoey said she was tired of all the pictures. I laughed and thought, did she just get here? I always take tons of pictures.

So anyways, the first week went very well. Zoey is using new math curriculum but pretty much everything else is the same. History and Science will be changing when we finish what are currently working on. We are still using Five in a Row with Zoey and I started Sierra with Before Five in a Row. They join in with each others books so it is working very nicely. The book Zoey did this week was, Daniel's Duck by Clyde Robert Bulla and Sierra did Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.  Although this was our first official week of school we did FIAR (Five in a Row) the week before this just to warm back up to school. It was a nice week with FIAR only. Zoey did Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney and Sierra did Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey. We had a great time with all of the books. I love to see how Sierra is remembering things with this curriculum and just having a blast. So now I am off to decide what we will be doing this next week. Thanks for reading.

The Story of Ferdinand

I promised a while ago (two months) to share how our week with Ferdinand went. I thought for sure I would get to it way before now. I will try to keep it simple and short so I actually finish it. So here goes...

The book of the week was The Story of Ferdinand. I set up a little thing called a teaser. It is a collection of items including books, pictures, and anything else you can think of that go along with the book. The girls were excited when they saw it and couldn't wait to get started.

We started off the week as we always do. After reading the book we colored our story disk and found Spain on our world map. Both Zoey and Sierra are doing the story disks this year so there isn't much room on the map for all of our story disks but we are making it work. Next we learned a little about Spain. We tried out some Spanish dancing and a few Spanish words.

On Tuesday we learned about interjections. Wow! Zoey thought every sentence that ended with and exclamation point was an interjection so I had to explain the difference. Later in the week she added a few interjections to some pictures she drew. Very cute. We also talked about how this story is a fantasy story and not a true story.

The next day Zoey and Sierra acted out some of the scenes in the book. I expected this to be fun and it was. Also very fun was finding the humor in the illustrations.  We tried to come up with what some of the people were saying and this made Zoey laugh uncontrollably. She begged me to do it over and over again every time we read the story after this.

Zoey the Matador

For applied math on Thursday I showed the girls how many inches are in a foot and how many feet in a yard. Next I measured them on their growth chart to see how much they grew, just like Ferdinand.

To close out the week we learned about vultures. There is a vulture pictured in the book. This lead Zoey wanting to know more about scavengers. On the back of the vulture book we got from the library it showed other scavenger books. We were all excited that our library had them and we reserved them online. We also learned about cork. We watched a video on YouTube to see how cork grows and is harvested. I also had a surprise set up for Zoey and Sierra. I told them it was not exciting but just something funny. I took a bunch of corks I had (thanks mom) and attached them together with paperclips and attached it to a tree in the backyard. In the book Ferdinand likes to sit under a cork tree. One of the funny things about the illustrations in the book is that the cork tree has corks hanging from its branches. We had talked all week how that is not how cork trees really look. Zoey laughed and laughed at the corks hanging from our tree. Sierra giggled some too. The picture below isn't great but you get the idea.

Next we made small boats using corks, tooth picks, and paper. I let them test out their boats in a small container of water. That was fun but soon the boats were changing into other things and they were gone into pretend land. It was so funny to watch. They really crack me up.

We had a great time with Ferdinand. We have not been doing Five in a Row every week this year but I am glad we are back to doing it. It is so much fun and what they learn really stays with them.

Sisters!

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.