The Homeschool Mother's Journal Week: April 26, 2014

Homeschool Mother's Journal/Weekly Wrap-Up

In my life this week…

Well, it has been warmer so we have been going out to the park more. The other evening we were over there as it was getting dark and I couldn't believe the mosquitoes that were out already. I got one nasty bite that actually seems to have blistered up. Sure makes me want to stay in and away from the bugs. 

We also got new internet the other day. I am a bit nervous about our internet going out more as we have heard rumors, but it made no sense to keep paying for a phone we didn't use just so we could have the internet. 

In our homeschool this week…

As I mentioned a couple of times this week, we have started our 1st grade curriculum with My Father's World. The plan is to have lesson time 4 times a week and Exploration Day once a week as recommended in the Teacher Manual. This week we only had 3 days of school though as we had a cleaning day on Thursday. I was hoping to get through the first two review weeks in 1 week, but that got all messed up. Now the goal is to finish the first 3 weeks in two weeks and then we will see where we will go from there. The plan is to school through the end of June, take July and the beginning of August off because of VBS, camp and Summer Reading programs and start back in with our curriculum mid to late August.

Our My Father's World unit:

This week we did some of Week 1 and some of Week 2. There really aren't specific units with MFW 1st grade. So, we will just be calling it Week 1, Week 2, etc.

We started our week discussing the meaning of history. We will we studying Biblical history and also proverbs this year. 

All the children made little scrolls with Genesis 1:1 printed on them.

The older girls are also working on Alphabet Scroll Sheets.

Tabitha is writing each letter in both print and cursive plus writing the word for the picture.

Amelia is just writing the letters twice in print, both upper and lower case, plus the word.

We also have a Number of the Day. I write the number on a piece of paper, have them go get the correct amount of objects, and then they each get a penny for their coin cup and a bean for their bean cup. More on what we will be doing with those next week. We are also making a Number book. Each day they have a sheet of paper where they write the number and draw that many objects on the other side. I have been having them draw something that goes with our lesson, such as an ant, two fish and 3 ladybugs. For now those have been going along with our devotional story (which sort of goes along with our science topic), as have our snacks.

We made ant hills on Tuesday. These went along with both our Monday devotional and our Science lesson. Our other art projects went along with Poppins Book Nook (which will be posting tomorrow, the theme was Planes, Trains and Automobiles) and our American History curriculum we are reviewing for the Schoolhouse Review Crew (more on that below).

For math the older girls have been working on patterns, both in the Complete Book of Math that comes with the MFW curriculum and with Unifix cubes.

I made patterns for them, and then they made patterns for each other to complete.

For science we are reading the Usborne Explainers book "Finding Out About Things Outdoors." This week's lesson was "Close to the Ground." We didn't get a chance to go outside and do our Worm Watching activity, but we will be doing that next week at the same time we do next week's activity. 

Amelia is also working on phonics in the Student book. Right now we are reviewing the letters and working on blending sounds, which she can do, but I figured a bit of review won't hurt. Tabitha on the other hand is beyond the student book and is using Logic of English Essentials. 

Review Learning:

I just posted my review of CTC Math and we will continue to be using this great online math tutoring program for supplemental math.

We are studying early American History with Golden Prairie Press's Heroes and Heroines of the Past: American History. We made Teepees for our Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen and also made some Viking Ships.

We have also been doing some map work.

We are also reviewing a Progeny Press study guide for Frog and Toad Together. The girls have been taking turns reading and then we answer the questions and do the activities.

We are also reviewing abcmouse.com. This is not a Schoolhouse Review Crew review. I was contacted by the company which was quite exciting. I don't get a lot of companies actually reaching out to me. I can't wait to share my review. Psst, let me let you in on a little secret, I have been given the opportunity to give away a 1 year subscription. So, keep your eyes pealed for that review and giveaway coming up soon!

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

We have been allowing the children to play most of the morning and then have a short lesson time that includes Harold and Hannah. The remainder of our lessons are done after lunch. As of yet I am not sure this is going to work because Tabitha has been getting too tired. I am thinking morning might be better after all. 

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

This was our last week for co-op for this school year. Every year we do a service project at the camp and help clean the grounds. This year the K-3 group cleaned up leaves, weeds and pinecones. I really wish it hadn't been so wet and cold though. After the clean up is done, we have a potluck meal, yum yum. 

My favorite thing this week was…

Has to be starting 1st grade finally. We have been doing Kindergarten for the last year and a half as we were taking it slowly. It is nice to have a change. Though I am still not exactly sure what I am doing with the two younger children. They are doing some of the projects with us, as I noted above, but I need to figure out a preschool type curriculum for them.

My kiddos favorite thing this week was…

Amelia has really been enjoying CTC Math.

Hannah loves abcmouse.com

I can't ask Tabitha right now as she fell asleep.

Linking with:

Learn & Link, Saturday Show & Tell, Sharing Saturday, Show-and-Share Saturday, Share It Saturday, The Sunday Showcase,

The Homeschool Mother's Journal Week #1: January 18, 2014

In my life this week…

I have been working toward my goal of being organized this year. We have gotten rid of 7 (or maybe it was 8) bags of girl clothes from newborn up to size 4T. Yes, they were all in my laundry room. Now. They. Are. Not!! It is such a relief to have space in my laundry room. I haven't gotten anything else organized this week, but I have kept up with vacuuming the dining room all week and have kept clutter from once again building up in the one corner. Little steps at a time.

In our homeschool this week…

We started back in with our regular schedule. We had school 3 days this week, went to playgroup on Tuesday and co-op on Wednesday. We had our gathering time each of the 3 school days, though I think having over a month off has gotten the children out of the routine so they were forgetting things and I was getting frustrated. 

Our My Father's World unit:

We started K: Kangaroo and learned that "I am safe in God." Mommy learned some really fun stuff about kangaroos right along with the children.

• Did you know a baby kangaroo is only the size of a bean when it is born after only 30-40 days gestation? Did you know the newborn joey needs to crawl through its mother's fur to the pouch using its sense of smell. 
• We learned that a kangaroo can jump as far as 27 feet and they can not walk (alternate feet) at all. We all took turns jumping to see how far we could jump. Tabitha took the initiative to write down the results. 
• Did you know the kangaroo uses its tail to help it balance?
• And we also learned that they use their front feet to dig holes to lie in to stay cool. And they also stay cool by licking their forearms and drooling (the girls loved the last two facts).

Here is what we did each day:

On Monday, the children colored their K pictures and made kangaroo collages. Tabitha and Amelia also worked in their Fun with Shapes workbook (it is part of the 1st grade Math Mammoth). Harold practiced his cutting.

On Wednesday, we sort of finished up our Penguin unit with our Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen. We made Penguin Rice Krispies Treats.

On Thursday, Tabitha and Amelia worked again in their Fun with Shapes Workbook. They used rulers to connect the dots to make and identify shapes. They also worked on their handwriting and sound discrimination sheets. Additionally, Amelia enjoys the upper case/lower case sorting activity. I don't know that she really needs it anymore, but I allow her to do it.

Hannah worked on her K Book. I was so impressed that she wanted to do the actual writing of the words by herself and she formed the letters pretty well.

Tabitha also worked on her cursive.

On Friday Tabitha and Amelia worked on fractions, wrote out their words for their cut and paste and wrote out their Words to Remember. They prefer to write their words that go with their phonics lesson cut and paste. Tabitha is beyond this for reading, but I like for her to spell the words and work on her handwriting.

Review Learning:

Our Crew review year has started. This past week we were working on Week 2 of Kinderbach. The children worked on hearing high and low sounds plus learning about quarter notes. The week before we had been introduced to Dodi the donkey and Frisco.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

Mommy needs to remember that the children are just children and mommy is the mommy and needs to be consistent so the children can feel secure and learn what is expected.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

This week was our last time to go to playgroup for a while. While this may be a bit disappointing, I am actually relieved. The children haven't enjoyed playgroup as much as they used to, mainly because the mommies are participating in Bible Study while the children play with minimal supervision. Yes, we are in the other room and yes there are older kids watching them, but it just doesn't seem the same as it used to be, especially because they are always complaining about other children being mean to them. Don't get me wrong, I am not in any way saying they are completely innocent, but I have seen them be picked on and I think it wouldn't have been happening as much with us mommies in there. It also comes at a perfect time. The hubby and I have decided to speed up the MFW Kindergarten so we can start 1st grade as soon as possible. By going from two weeks (6 days of lessons) to 1 week (4 days of lessons) we should finish in just two months.

My favorite thing this week was…

Was seeing Hannah actually write her letters. I had no idea she could do them unassisted. 

My kiddos favorite thing this week was…

Tabitha really enjoyed making the Penguin Rice Krispies Treats and Amelia thought it was fun to boing boing boing like kangaroos.