Week # 15

The last few weeks have been really challenging. We have had some personal issues going on which makes it really hard to focus on school work. I am again having doubts whether I am cut out to do this.
While visiting family in California for the holidays my Grandfather became ill and was hospitalized. We stayed as long as we could but had to come home so DH could keep things running at the shop. On our way back home to Oregon, we recieved a call saying that Grandfather's situation had deteriorated greatly and he was not expected to live much longer. I had some things I had to take care of before we could return, so I dealt with my commitments and "tried" to do some school work with the kids. But my mind really was elsewhere. What little school work we did do was mostly done while we were at home on Monday and Tuesday. We ended up returning to California only having been home for two days. I packed hastily but did remember to pack a few school things. Some of them didn't get used, but at least I had the right intentions...

Next week we will still be in California. The funeral is on Monday so I don't expect too much school work to get done then either... I am really wondering if we can pull this off...


BIBLE-
Window on the World- Gypsies
Hero Tales- William Tyndale
Memory Verse

LANGUAGE ARTS/ENGLISH-
Copied Memory Verse
Dictation of Memory Verse (They did not memorize it this week as we only worked on it two days)
Months Book- December writing activity and colored cover page for MONTHS Book
DS- Yellow Book Pages 87-94, Spelling Test (%100)
DD- Workbook #4 Pages 58-61 (She is reading most of the directions herself now and starting to work more independently)
DS- Scholastic Reading Placement test ( I wish I had access to it when we first began!) He got 90% in each category- placing him above 3rd grade reading level.

SPELLING- DD & DS Spelling DVD 4 x each for 30 mins (I remembered to pack this so they were able to work on it while we were away from home)

MATH-
DD- Saxon Lesson 43, 5 worksheets ( I didn't bring out math program so I found some cool worksheets at http://www.math.about.com/ ) 5 worksheets- time, word problems, addition and subtraction, Order.
DS- Saxon Lesson 47, 5 worksheets (Multiplication, word problems, triple digit addition, number squares)
DRILLS- DD- MATH DVD addition and subtraction 1x 20 mins.

GEOGRAPHY-
Illustrated World Atlas- Farming and Industry
Another Trip Around the World- Language- FRANCE
Another Trip Around the World- Activity- made homeade hot cocoa- the kids loved this one!
Played Geography Game with all 3 boards (North America, South America, and Europe) We brought this with us so they played it in California too. 3x for 30 mins+

SCIENCE-

Living World- Endangered Species, Describing Living things

Unfortunatley, when we left for California the first time we left a neighbor in charge our tadpoles care. When we returned home one was dead and the other two were not looking so good. They are still living at the moment, but I don't have high hopes for them. We were all very disapointed :(

READING-

I read aloud from George Mueller- Chapters 3-10

DS read 39 Clues. Finishing it just an hour before book club was to meet- Unfortunatley we were already on our way back to California so he was unable to participate in the meeting, but the librarian was nice enough to give him next months book to start.

DD read Hippo wants to play 2x this week.

ART-

We made soap this week. We read about the history of making soap in France.

SPORTS/EXTRA ACTIVITIES-

Cheer, Church- the kids got to go to Grandma's church in California. I opted not to go and spent some much needed quiet time at my Dad's house.

Week # 14

We had a short week due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. We traveled to California, so technically only had two real school days. I had planned on working with the kids a little on the drive and while we were there. We had things come up and it just didn't happen.

BIBLE-
Window on the World- Albania
Colored John 3:16 FRENCH coloring page
REad from Hero Tales about Menno Simmons, review questions
Memory Verse from Mathew

LANGUAGE ARTS/ENGLISH-
Copied Memory Verse
Dictation of Memory Verse
DS- 3 pages from Yellow Book
DS- Thank you letter to Grandpa for Birthday present
DD- Wkbk #1 pg 57, Wk #4 Pg 23
DD/DS- worked on indipendent study (DD is taking this project very seriously and works on it often, Used her library time very wisely and picked out numerous different books and videos on her subject. DS is not doing well. He needs frequent reminders and even then he drags his feet)
SPELLING- DD/DS- Spelling DVD 2x 20 mins each

MATH-
DD- Saxxon Lessons 41 and 42
DS- Saxxon Lesson 45 and 46- Assesment #8 - Did well, missed a few but they were due to rushing through as usual.
DD- Subtraction game

GEOGRAPHY-
Stamped our passports, read about France from Another Trip Around the World, Crossword Puzzle- France.
Read from Illustrated World Atlas- People and Places
Colored French Flag and learned its meaning.
Played Geography Game- Europe
Watched and episode of Survivor Man (He was in the Amazon Jungle living out in the wild for 5 days)

SCIENCE-
REad from Living World- Living With People, People and Parasites, and Extinctions
Watched an Episode of Oregon Field Guide about Underwater Fossils.

READING-
I read aloud from George Muller- Chapters 1&2
DS read 39 Clues Chapters 1-4

SPORTS/EXTRA ACTIVITIES-
Cheer
Trip to California to visit family for the holidays!

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.