Week # 13

This week went smoothly. The kids seemed a little burnt out on the routine we had been trying so I tried a few different things to make things a little more fun. DS dreads math so I am trying to figure something out that will make it not seem like such a chore for BOTH OF US. DD is starting to not like math so much either as we are getting in to some new concepts and she is now having to work a little harder. Overall, I think we had a pretty good week.

BIBLE-
Window on the World- Bulgaria
Memory Verse

LANGUAGE ARTS/ENGLISH-
Copied memory verse
DS- Yellow Book Page 80-86, Assesment #2 (100%)
DS/DD- Creative Writing Story- FROG (From previous post)
DS/DD- Independent Study Form- They both filled out a worksheet stating that they would like to study, what they hoped to learn from the study, time frame, materials needed, ect. I am asking them to do this as independently as possible. I am going to stay out of it as much as possible, just to see what happens. I am not expecting much from this one, but I plan to make it a regular part of our schooling, and will increase my expecatations as we go. DS chose healthy eating and DD chose bug/butterflies.
DD/DS- Letter Writing, DS chose Grandpa Jens, DD- Friend Yesenia
DD- She came to me this week with an idea to start a "dog club" Not a dog club really, but a social hour for her friends, where she plans activities, they dress up and eat snacks. She named it the "DOG CLUB" because her brother has the "monkey club" and she likes dogs :) Anyhow, I told her in order to have the club she had to organize everything with an itinerary, detailed schedule, and menu. And she did, a very detailed one at that! So I have agreed to let her have her club as long as she plans all the activities in advance. She plans to have her group meet once a month. She will be responsible for writing everything out and gathering all the materials she needs and making simple snacks. She is very excited, as am I, but for different reasons! She did SO much writing and planning this week, really having no idea that she was actually working in the process!
Spelling-DD/DS Spelling DVD 3x 30 min
DD SIGHT WORD TEST - SHE DID AWESOME!(PREVIOUS POST)
DD/DS - Vocabulary word - Abhor

MATH-
A bit of a challenge this week- with both kids. Both of them moaning and groaning every bit of the way...
DS- Saxxon lesson 43&44
DD- Saxxon Lesson 37-40, Assesment #7, only missed one (and that was a simple problem that she knew but tried to rush through)
DRILLS- DD-Addition, subtraction, DS- Geometry

GEOGRAPHY-
I read aloud from Illustrated World Atlas Pages 30-33 Nature, Farming, Industry
DS- Finished Geography Packet
Played Geography Game-Europe 3x -30 min. each
Added the year that Norway got its own flag to our Book of Centuries.
Continued our Norwegian Krone activity- kids "paying" for each meal with krone. Friday we pretended we were at a Norwegian Auction. Kids bidding Krone for items out of the auction box.
Friday I tested the kids on the Europe Map. Because there are so many little countries I did not require them to learn them all. I tested DD on 13 and DD on 17 of the countries. DD got 8/13 and DS 8/17. I was very happy with the results as we really didn't study the map as much as I would have liked over the last two weeks.

SCIENCE-
I read aloud from Living World- pgs 68-69- winter in the Northern Forests.
We added to our Frog Lapbooks (What I know about frogs)
We continued to observe our tadpoles and added to our frog journals.
We continued to observe our potato plants.


MUSIC/ART-
Songs from Europe- Row, Row- Little Frogs, The Mulberry bush, The Circle goes around.
Crayon Rubs
DD- did a drawing for a scholastic contest, although I am not sure I am going to turn it in as she really didn't seem to understand the directions as he drawing shows...

READING-
Book Basket- 4x 20 mins each
DS read and finished 5 Pokemon, BMX Bully, 3 Scooby Doo 3rd reader books. It was a huge week for him reading wise. He is really enjoying it these days!! DS read to DD from MY FIRST ATLAS- Europe
DD- Read Big, Big Big Bus 2 x

I read the following books aloud.

Creative Writing - The frog story

For this assignment I gave the kids a funny picture to look at and asked them each to write a creative story about what they thought was happening in the picture. They both wrote them independently then I corrected them and they wrote a final draft. These are the storys they came up with.


(DD)
The Scary Frog and Alien

The alien wanted to eat the frog and steal the diamond. The spaceship was coming to get him. His name was Tim. He went home to rescue his family. The end

(DS)
Frog Capture

This is a story of a rich frog who got captured by aliens. Hopper was the only one on Earth. He even thought he was the only one in the world. Well, he was wrong. Since the frog was the only one he did not have to go to work. One day when he was eating fly soup outside he got captured by aliens. The end.

Week # 12

After the last two great weeks, I really had myself convinced that we were in a groove and had this whole homeschooling thing figured out. It doesn't stay one way for very long. I am guessing the anticipation of DS's upcoming birthday and the kids' anticipation of our upcoming trip to California for the holidays contributed to our lack of focus this week. It also didn't help that it was the last week for nut sales for Girl Scouts and I was very busy trying to get all the paperwork done and fielding phone calls. I learned the hard way, as seems to be my ONLY way in life, that with homeschooling things keep changing. I am trying to see that as a good thing. Some days I really feel that it is. But being the controlled and scheduled person that I like to think I am, some days it bugs me that things aren't going exactly (or even remotley close) to how I had planned. As with previous weeks though, as I jot down what we did I realize that we didn't do as badly as I had been thinking and we did accomplish a little. Whether or not it will be enough in the long run- THIS IS WHAT PLAGUES ME!!! I am trying to be more relaxed and have a "fly by the seat of our pants" kind of teacher/Mom.. I am working on this... daily...


We are now studying Europe- Norway specifically the next two weeks.

BIBLE-
I read aloud Mathew 8:5-27
Memory Verse
Window on the World- Romania
Colored John 3:16 Norwegian Page

LANGUAGE ARTS/ENGLISH-
Copied Memory Verse
Dictated memory verse
DS and DD- Book Report on Nate Saint
DS- Yellow Book Pg 70-72
DS- Letter writing- Focused on the different parts of a letter, greeting, body, ect- did a first draft then a final draft. He then addressed the envelope by himself, and mailed it. He chose to write to his Great Grandma this week.
DS- Workbook- Worked on 2 pages relating to letter writing.
DD- Workbook #1 page 46-50, Workbook #2 page 21
DD- watched DVD that came with Language Arts program for 35 minutes- It shows the story and you read along with it.

Spelling- DS- Spelling DVD 2x for 30 minutes, DD- DVD 3x for 30 minutes

MATH-
DD- Saxxon lessons 35 & 36
DS- Saxxon Lessons 40-42
Drills- DD- Subtraction
DD- Worked on a Math DVD for 30 minutes. (I found it at Goodwill brand new for .99! It is a game that has subtraction and addition problems.

GEOGRAPHY-
We stamped our passports as we entered in to Norway.
Read Intermediate World Atlas page 58-63
We located Europe on the map and started to become familiar with the different wcountries, what hemisphere, what oceans border it, ect.
We used our Flag Sticker Books and matched the flags of Europe to the right countries.
DS- Began the advanced country packet.

SCIENCE-
We continued to observe our tadpoles. Not noted changes this week.
I read aloud from Living World about Northern Evergreen Forests.
We continued to observe our potatoe plant experiments. Although, we haven't measured them as I had hoped to. Just keeping an eye on them, watering them, observing how they change.
3 Episodes of Oregon Field Guide

MUSIC/ART
No music this week other than the regular music that plays around the house daily. As for art, no scheduled projects but DD was constantly drawing as usual.

READING-
DS- Finished Journey to the Center of the Earth and Attack of the Prehistoric Pokemon.
DD- Read Pop, Pop, Pop.
4 episodes of Reading Rainbow


SPORTS/EXTRA ACTIVITIES-
Cheerleading, Community Group, Play date with the neighbors. DS had a sleepover at our house with 2 friends, DD went to a sleep over at a neighbors house that night. Birthday party for DS (DD and I surprised him by making a Pokemon cake while he was occupied, he was so surprised)


(In his monkey costume- he and his friends have called themselves "The Monkey Club" since first grade, DS being the monkey leader had to be in costume of course)

Sight Word Test- Results Week 1- Week 13

In September, our first official week of school, I tested DD on 108 level one sight words. She scored 29/108.

Yesterday I repeated the same test and she got 68/108!

It is exciting to see what progress she has made in just a couple of weeks! I showed her how well she had done and she was so excited and wanted to go "practice" reading some more. It is becoming more and more common to find her in her bed curled up reading a book, or sneaking in to her brothers room at night to tell him about a new word she figured out how to sound out.

DS is doing great with reading as well. He has been reading a lot, finished a book in one day yesterday. He gets excited during some books, and stops to read aloud to me a passage that he thought was funny. It is so exciting for me, a book lover, to see my kids getting excited about books!

Happy Birthday

It is so hard for me to believe that my baby boy is nine years old today! Even the hubby was a bit emotional this morning. I know it is an overused cliche but the truth is that they really do grow up too fast. I can't help but get a little teary eyed thinking that 9 years ago today I held this sweet little person for the first time ever, and it doesn't seem right. When did he get so big?

I know every mom thinks so, but I really am lucky. My son is so special. He is the sweetest, most thoughtful, kind, and loving person I have ever met. He is growing in to quite the little man.

You've come a long way baby!!

I admit, I have always been that "typical" girl who screamed and ran away at the sight of anything creepy and crawly... spiders, snakes, bugs. But a few years ago, I realized that by showing my fears so openly the kids were inheriting my fears. I decided right then and there to make a real effort to change how I expressed myself in front of the kids. I am happy to report that it has worked tremendously! DS used to be SO afraid of snakes and spiders. DD always had a natural curiosity about them. These days it is not surprising to see them capturing spiders and bugs and running to thier field guide to try to find out what exactly it is. DD in particular loves logging her finds in her Nature Book. I am finding that because I have stopped being so vocal about my dislike of these creepy crawly insects I am not nearly as afraid or "creeped out" by them. Funny how that works!
Recently, we have walked out in the garage to find SNAKES! The kids think it is awesome. As much as I have relaxed, I do not share thier sentiment! I still shudder a bit when I see them.. Anyhow, here is the kids' latest find... (This kid would NOT have come near one of these just a few years ago!)

Week # 11

Had another really good week! I wasn't great about recording everything we did this week though. Was too caught up in what we were doing!

BIBLE-
Memory Verse Mathew 5:16 - This was a really long one so I didn't expect the kids to memorize it really. Just to hear it and get familiar with it.
Read Mathew 7:13-29 & 8:1-4
Lots of discussion on Nate Saint. We visited the MAF website to learn more about him and see pictures of him and his family.

LANGUAGE ARTS/ENGLISH-
Copied Memory Verse
DD- Workbook # 1 Pages 60-69 (+ daily review of sight words) She finished her first workbook this week and started a new one. She did pages 35-48 in the new one. She didn't want to stop working! So we just kept going until I finally had to stop her!
DS & DD worked on Spelling DVD each day. they are still enjoying it but I can see it getting old very soon as we have changed the spelling words numerous times but they have won all the prizes already so...
DS- Yellow Book Pgs 55-69 + Spelling Test %100!

GEOGRAPHY-

Still focusing on South America, Brazil in particular. We got familiar with the flag, and the different maps of South America. We played the South America game, with the North America game three times this week.
DS- finished the South America packet
We continued working on our Brazil lapbook.
Friday we took our South America test. DS located all the countries but one! DD identified three!

SCIENCE/NATURE
We read more form WILD PLACES- Animal disguises and warnings, colorful birds, jungle killers, living in the rain forest.
Also read more from LIVING WORLD- Colors in the rain forest and Rain Forest Hunters.
We continued to monitor our potato plants. They are finally growing. We are all excited to have an experiment that actually worked for once! We will begin graphing thier growth next week.

MATH-
DS- Saxxon Lessons 37-39
DD- Saxxon Lessons 31-34
Math Drills- Addition & Subtraction

READING-
I read aloud- Rainforest, Amazon Adventures, We finished Nate Saint (chapters 10-16)and A Visit To Brazil.

DD- read aloud WHEN I AM BIG
DS- Read Journey to the Center of the Earth.

SPORTS/EXTRA ACTIVITIES
Cheerleading, BMX race, Royal Rangers (DD has now joined this group as well) Book Club (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- DD was able to participate too) Girl Scouts (2 Nut Sales booths and a meeting)
DS- Went on a trip to Washington, DH teaching him about the landscape and roads, directions as they went along.

Week # 10

We had a great week. There were a few minor issues but overall things went really well. Probobally our best week yet. I feel like we accomplished a lot even though on paper we have had "bigger" weeks. We focused a lot on Math and reading. The only real issue is that I am still finding it very hard to find time to work and the business is suffering from my lack of time. It is a really hard thing for me to balance. Hopefully I will figure out something that will work for us all very soon!

No Bible this week. I am sad to admit that I slacked on my own reading schedule as well.

MATH
We got back on track this week, finally.
DD- Saxxon lessons 26-30
DS- Saxxon Lessons 33-36
DS got frustrated a couple times this week. He was trying to hurry through his math worksheets and as a result got 90% wrong and had to redo the worksheets. Which led to him getting really upset. Trying to teach him that taking his time to do things right will result in less time spent than doing things the way he currently does them. This was a problem we had in public school as well.
DD- Worked on telling time. She is doing great! Telling time doesn't come in to play until quite a bit later in the Saxxon program, but she had shown an interest during her brothers math time. I decided to do it now since she seemed to want to.
DRILLS- Subtraction/Addition DD
Multiplication- DS
We watched a multiplication video that I found at the library. It was very old and outdated... and boring....

GEOGRAPHY-
Continued reading from the Illustrated World Atlas. We are still learning about South America, with a focus on Brazil.
We spent a lot of time playing our geography game, this week adding the North America game in as well. The kids find it challenging but enjoy it, and are really seeming to retain the information. I am not focusing as much on the capitals as the cirriculum suggests, more so on the location of the countries, which continents they are in, and facts about the continents, countries, ect.
DS- Continued working on his Geography packet. It is an advanced assignment reccomended for kids 5th grade and up- but there were quite a few pages I knew he was capable of doing (and he was) and the ones that were a little too hard I did with him.
We continued working on our Brazil lapbook.

SCIENCE/NATURE
We continued reading from Wild Places about jungles, where animals live in jungles, what lives in the trees, rain forests.
We also read more from Living World - Learning more about the rain forest floor, Monkeys and Apes andAnimals that climb and glide.
We worked more on our Frog lapbooks. Observed our tadpoles, and focused on the frogs of the rain forest, reading more about them and adding some more info about them to our BRAZIL lapbook.
We continued with our potato experiment.
We watched a video about the rainforest.

ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS
DD- continued working on her workbooks. Pg 50-59 with daily review of sight words. She is doing excellent! Reading first reader books on her own now!
We also worked in a seperate workbook focusing on vowels and short and long sounds.
DD- Speech and speech homework- Her speech teacher took me aside after class and told me she doesn't think we will need to continue much longer. DS's speech patterns seem to be consistent with her age group now :)
DS- We didn't work from Yellow Book this week. DS gets really frustrated with handwriting, writing in general really, and since he was having issues with math I decided not to push it this week.
DS- Finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last week. I had him do a book report on it this week.

MUSIC/ART
No music this week. It just didn't fit in the schedule. The suggested art projects for this week required me buying a lot of materials and I didn't feel it was neccesary so we skipped that as well this week.

READING
DS- Finished Charlie and The Chocolate Factory this week. I caught him up at night reading several times this week :) Once he finished CCF he read from numerous Pokemon books and a few others that I didn't require him to log. He really seems to enjoy reading now. I am so happy with the progress he has made in such a short time!
DD- Read When I am Big (The same book that we used to help DS to read) It brought back so many memories. It was such a neat feeling when she finished it on her own for the first time! My kids are growing too fast.
She also read Pop Pop Pop
DS- Read to DD a lot this week as well. I noticed him reading Fancy Nancy to her as well as some other random books on the rain forest and animals, some Pokemon books too. It was a big reading week around here.
I read aloud from Nate Saint- Chapters 4-7, Fancy Nancy (DD loves those books!) Also read aloud from numerous books on the rain forest, animals, and atlas'.

SPORTS/EXTRA ACTIVITIES

Cheer, DS had his last soccer game, Girl Scouts, (We had a nut and candy booth that consumed A LOT of our time this week) Two playdates at different neighbors houses on different days. (We got to know a neighbor that we had been hopeing to get to know better for 2 years!) Royal Rangers, and Sunday School.

Pumpkin Decorating

The kids entered a pumkin decorating contest at a local bank. They worked really hard and came up with the ideas all on thier own. Unfortunatly, somehow I messed up the dates and we returned the pumpkins one day late, so they were not judged :( The kids were dissapointed, as was I. But there is always next year! Here they are :)


The ghost belongs to DD
Cowboy to DS