Although our clay has dried out, we decided to wait until Monday to paint them. Mom was tired!! Feeling a cold coming on, and needed to sleep it off a little. Rachel also needed to finish her 'Emporer's New Clothes' book. So even though it was a weekend..;) we still had a little school work!
The girls started their 'points for cash' chores. They seem to be getting into them!! One cent=one point. I already have a clean livingroom/kitchen and Rachel is doing dishes. :) so far so good! Dishes (only if done neatly..no water everywhere) are 50 points, so I moved that one up a little.
I am debating whether to purhcase the workbook I had planned for Rachel, or just to go ahead with that online program. I know what I am going to use for the next year, but that doesn't start until grade 5 so I am trying to 'fill in the gap'. What I like about the online program is it is pretty much 'all oral'. Which require you to memorize the facts, and then there is no full page of workbook sheets to overwhelm you as well. Just a few to copy down, and it is almost all story problems. So I may stick with them, and try and get them to memorize those facts!!
Will see...still in the 'planning mode'.
The kids are already looking forward to their co-op on Tuesday!! They had a great time :)
Happy Homeschooling!!
HOMESCHOOLING IN AN UNSCHOOLING WAY Did anyone ever tell you homeschooling took a lot of work? Show them this site, and it will prove how easy it is!! I ideas, links to get you started, and you can go on from there :) Or, stick to what I have and let that be your guide. Follow us on our journey through homeschooling. Share your ideas, and feel welcome to use ours!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Day 4
Well, lol ;) the pots did not turn out like we'd hoped. As I learned from others in the MFW group online, they just don't stand! I was hoping ours would be better, but..they weren't!! So the kids played with the clay and instead made something else. If I'm able to get batteries for my camera this weekend, I will get a pic to put up. They ended up with 'snowmen', which turned out quite good. Nothing to do with what we're studying, but in this heat who wouldn't want snow??? ;)
To top things off, Rachel was up at 4am today, and I woke up at 2am myself. Neither of us could get back to sleep! When I finally started getting things together to do school, Rachel fell asleep in front of the television. So now it's just Gracie and I. :)
We're doing the usual, reading from the Chronological Bible, Children's Everyday Bible.
I also found some new sites online. I found a site for an online math text from the late 1800's. In one book it goes from counting, how many eyes do you have all the way up to division!! It only shows how 'dumbed down' American education has become. So I plan to start Gracie off on that, and have Rachel sit in as it will quickly catch up to her! It is mostly oral, but I have a free online workbook to use for practice. There are two links. They are almost the same book, but one has more oral, so I use them both. I started off Gracie on the first lesson today, which was all oral and even tried to include Colette in 'where are you hands?' 'How many hands are there?' Colette enjoyed holding out her hands and feet and Gracie decided on an answer. It starts off easy, but progresses quite fast. Time for the kids to memorize those facts!!!
:( we've been slacking in that area...
1.
http://www.archive.org/stream/anelementaryari10wentgoog
2.
http://www.archive.org/stream/newelementaryar00wentgoog
Keeping this in mind, I went to find an online reader for Gracie. She has been doing very well in reading, so fast may be good for her. I came across this book. It has nice pictures, which I know she'll enjoy!!
http://www.archive.org/stream/firstprimaryrea01hillgoog#page/n13/mode/1up
We read the first portion (which she had no problems with) and went right onto the next one. The next story has the silent 'e', something she is working on. She has the concept down, as she has seen the 'Leap' movies, but hasn't really put them into practice yet. So we'll see!
At this point Rachel was still asleep, so I had Gracie and Colette lay down as I read, Leonardo and the Flying Boy, by-Laurence Anholt. A wonderful story about Leonardo and his two real-life apprentice'. Very interesting!!
I also read, Garden Wigglers, by-Nancy Loewen. Cute, and nice pictures! Of course, they both fell asleep, lol;)
The clay is still in the oven, we didn't leave it on all night, and since I have to work tonight we will probably paint in the morning. Once Rachel awakes I will have her work on finishing up The Emporerors New Clothes.
Happy Homeschooling!
Well, lol ;) the pots did not turn out like we'd hoped. As I learned from others in the MFW group online, they just don't stand! I was hoping ours would be better, but..they weren't!! So the kids played with the clay and instead made something else. If I'm able to get batteries for my camera this weekend, I will get a pic to put up. They ended up with 'snowmen', which turned out quite good. Nothing to do with what we're studying, but in this heat who wouldn't want snow??? ;)
To top things off, Rachel was up at 4am today, and I woke up at 2am myself. Neither of us could get back to sleep! When I finally started getting things together to do school, Rachel fell asleep in front of the television. So now it's just Gracie and I. :)
We're doing the usual, reading from the Chronological Bible, Children's Everyday Bible.
I also found some new sites online. I found a site for an online math text from the late 1800's. In one book it goes from counting, how many eyes do you have all the way up to division!! It only shows how 'dumbed down' American education has become. So I plan to start Gracie off on that, and have Rachel sit in as it will quickly catch up to her! It is mostly oral, but I have a free online workbook to use for practice. There are two links. They are almost the same book, but one has more oral, so I use them both. I started off Gracie on the first lesson today, which was all oral and even tried to include Colette in 'where are you hands?' 'How many hands are there?' Colette enjoyed holding out her hands and feet and Gracie decided on an answer. It starts off easy, but progresses quite fast. Time for the kids to memorize those facts!!!
:( we've been slacking in that area...
1.
http://www.archive.org/stream/anelementaryari10wentgoog
2.
http://www.archive.org/stream/newelementaryar00wentgoog
Keeping this in mind, I went to find an online reader for Gracie. She has been doing very well in reading, so fast may be good for her. I came across this book. It has nice pictures, which I know she'll enjoy!!
http://www.archive.org/stream/firstprimaryrea01hillgoog#page/n13/mode/1up
We read the first portion (which she had no problems with) and went right onto the next one. The next story has the silent 'e', something she is working on. She has the concept down, as she has seen the 'Leap' movies, but hasn't really put them into practice yet. So we'll see!
At this point Rachel was still asleep, so I had Gracie and Colette lay down as I read, Leonardo and the Flying Boy, by-Laurence Anholt. A wonderful story about Leonardo and his two real-life apprentice'. Very interesting!!
I also read, Garden Wigglers, by-Nancy Loewen. Cute, and nice pictures! Of course, they both fell asleep, lol;)
The clay is still in the oven, we didn't leave it on all night, and since I have to work tonight we will probably paint in the morning. Once Rachel awakes I will have her work on finishing up The Emporerors New Clothes.
Happy Homeschooling!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
August 27, 2009
Day 3
I had to run to the library this morning. I came home with a bunch of books and while I was getting things organized, my 8yo hit the books and read to Gracie:
Are you a Snail?
Are you a Ladybug?
Are you a Spider?
Are you a Dragonfly?
(all by same author as previous day)
When I asked if they learned anything from them, Gracie said that foxes eat snails and Rachel said that they eat thrushes too. ;) got something out of them!
We went on with our regular routine of reading the Chronological Bible, page 13, Gen. 11,12. (stopping once Abram moved) We also read out of the 'Children's Everyday Bible', pg. 20,22. I think it's getting now where the stories may be far in between, so I do plan to read the Bible aloud to them, maybe while they're coloring or something. This is where they're starting to show dates, however, so this will be great for timeline that we're doing (with coloring pages), we can now write the dates under them!:)
We followed this by going over From Rags to Riches, by Leslie Sills. This was an interesting book of how children were treated way back in the 1600's, the dress and just what was expected of them! We discussed child labor, the death rate among children and adults (average life-span was 30 yo!) and I think it gave us an appreciation for what we have now.
We also did our word game with E,F and G. Colette could not make it (fell asleep), but Gracie chose the italicized one, with Rachel making a sentence:
Elephants are gray.
I am fast at running.
Gophers can dig underground.
Gracie then went onto practice her printing on her wipee board. Rachel went onto take her mid-week spelling test, aced it! :) So no more spelling for the rest of the week for her!!
For reading, Rachel is going to be reading, 'The Emporers New Clothes' (same one I read aloud). What I plan for her to do is let me know what she read about, if she can not give me an idea of what is going on in the story-perhaps she needs to re-read it!;) She is supposed to have this done by Saturday. After this, I have a site that lists spelling words from the book.
The CatapillarFor First Language Lessons we went over Lesson 2. We reviewed nouns, learned a new poem to memorize.
Brown and Furry,
Catapillar in a hurry.
Take a walk,
On a shady leaf or stalk.
May no toad spy you,
May the little birds walk by you.
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.
We made up hand motions, the kids really enjoy that!
I had Rachel do the second sheet on nouns, and a word find:
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hmsv/1/wordfinds/wf_unit15_2.pdf
and another puzzle:
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hmsv/1/wordpuzzles/unit1-2/puz1_1_3.html
this one above seems to be an intro. to crosswords, so if they already know this, then maybe going to the next level would be fine.
We also went over A is for America, G-L and learned about the Statue of Liberty, Wright Brother's and the Lincoln Memorial. While we were looking at pictures in another book, Rachel read, Backyard Bug Battle, by-Scott Nickel. I asked her what it was about, she couldn't answer. Looking it over, however, I wasn't surprised...it was a cartoon book and it didn't make any sense at all. I don't think it was about anything but trying to smash the cartoon-like bugs!
Later on today we will be making our clay pots. Earlier this week we learned about scrolls, so now is the time to make clay pots like the ones they used to store them in. I have this recipe:
Cornstarch Modeling Clay (6 small jars)
Combine:
1/2 C cornstarch
1/2 C salt
3/4 C flour
Slowly add:
1/2 C water until mixture can be kneaded without being too sticky.
Add food coloring as needed.
I also plan to put it in the fridge, so it will be firmer and perhaps stand a little more easily.
Happy Homeschooling!:)
Catapillar in a hurry.
Take a walk,
On a shady leaf or stalk.
May no toad spy you,
May the little birds walk by you.
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.
We made up hand motions, the kids really enjoy that!
I had Rachel do the second sheet on nouns, and a word find:
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hmsv/1/wordfinds/wf_unit15_2.pdf
and another puzzle:
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hmsv/1/wordpuzzles/unit1-2/puz1_1_3.html
this one above seems to be an intro. to crosswords, so if they already know this, then maybe going to the next level would be fine.
We also went over A is for America, G-L and learned about the Statue of Liberty, Wright Brother's and the Lincoln Memorial. While we were looking at pictures in another book, Rachel read, Backyard Bug Battle, by-Scott Nickel. I asked her what it was about, she couldn't answer. Looking it over, however, I wasn't surprised...it was a cartoon book and it didn't make any sense at all. I don't think it was about anything but trying to smash the cartoon-like bugs!
Later on today we will be making our clay pots. Earlier this week we learned about scrolls, so now is the time to make clay pots like the ones they used to store them in. I have this recipe:
Cornstarch Modeling Clay (6 small jars)
Combine:
1/2 C cornstarch
1/2 C salt
3/4 C flour
Slowly add:
1/2 C water until mixture can be kneaded without being too sticky.
Add food coloring as needed.
I also plan to put it in the fridge, so it will be firmer and perhaps stand a little more easily.
Happy Homeschooling!:)
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
August 26, 2009
Day 2
Today we had a busy day!! I wasn't feeling well :( headache..so I slept in a little later, hoping the Excedrin I took (which makes me tired..) would kick in. It did-a little..
(I think what I will have to do is make sure I get more sleep for that co-op! Put a shock to my system.. )
We started off with The Tyndale (One Year) New Living Translation, Chronological Bible. I read to them from page 13, "Genesis 11:19". I did skip over the naming and such. We then read from Egermeier's Bible Story Book. Ironically, the other story book we usually use, did not have 'The Tower of Babel' in their book??? Guess it's not as popular a story as I figured..;)
Using the MFW manual, we finished Day 1 by covering letter's B,C. (this will be the last time I refer to the manual. for the most part, I am using the manual, but just adding my extra tid-bits/using my own library materials).
Colette, once again, repeated the letters. Gracie chose the words, bear and car. Rachel put them in sentences:
Bears are scary.
Cars are yellow.
Rachel then went on and did her 'Spelling City' for 20min. She also did a worksheet off the site.
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hmsv/1/wordfinds/wf_unit15_1.pdf
Gracie worked on a math sheet from one of her workbooks that she seems to enjoy (volunteered;) She does her math when she wants to. She enjoys learning!!:) We are still waiting for Rachel's math to come in..
I read aloud to them, The Emperors New Clothes, and we looked at the history of clothing from the book What People wore When, by Melissa Leventon. They really seemed to enjoy this, and a lot of the clothing was quite interesting!! This gave us a chance to discuss our families geneology and what our great-grandparents wore/as well as their ancestors.
Rachel is still working on her Barbie book. Today she is finishing chapter 2. She also read to Gracie and her webkinz the following books:
Are You a Bee? from Backyard Books Series, by- Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries
Are you a Butterfly? (same authors)
She really enjoyed the bee one, and told me all about the queen bee and how it could sting more than once whereas worker bees can only sting once.
Gracie read a book from Abeka, Fun with Pets. She read by herself, again volunteered, and read The Fat Rat and Pat's Cat. She will be getting books soon, we had a misunderstanding with the library. Apparently last year we could have as many books as we wanted, but the libaries they ordered from this year want a limit..have to get them under control I guess!;)
We went over First Language Lessons, Gracie sat in as well. (although it is grade 1, I don't teach grammar until around age 8-10..so as much as I do want her to pay attention, she doesn't do anything else). Today we were introduced to nouns. (of course she picked it up immediately!) It was about a five minute lesson. I had her do page 1 of the worksheets off this site. I think the worksheet took her about 5 minutes as well..and that one I made sure was neat;) So it didn't take long..
Here is the link to the worksheets. The site I use, has only three worksheets for each grade (up to grade 4) on nouns. First Language Lessons does a lot of review, I know more then three times!! So I started at grade 1, then by the end she will have all grades covered, ;) so it starts out quite easy!! Here's the link to first three.
http://www.sfreading.com/resources/pdf/ghbg1_050.pdf
I also read to them the first 6 letters of, A is for America, by-Devin Scillian. We discussed the Liberty Bell, the states they were in, The Battle at Bunker Hill, big cities across the country, Detroit, Michigan triggered the conversation on automobiles, the bald eagle (have a book waiting at the library for this), to the Egret-which we see out here in Florida often!
All this from the first six letters!!
Looking at this, we also looked over Discover America! A Scenic Tour of the Fifty States, by National Geographic. We looked at pictures of North Dakota, New England, New York buildings/sky scrapers at night. They were beautiful!!
This year is a slow start for us. We will be meaning to start some 'living math' activities, once we get the swing of things. For those of you following this blog, I will give you a few ideas daily (even if we do not do them ourselves). Today I am not feeling well. Too many meds, too much headache!! lol;)
One item I have brought up with them, however, is they have a point chart in which they get points for chores completed (that we did not ask them to do.) If we have to ask, no points. Picking up after themselves can also get them five points, all the way up to doing dishes (neatly), which is 20 points. They also get points taken away for certain behaviors, too, so that is a motivator;) Anyways we usually have prizes like picking out their favorite cereal all the way up to sleep-over or a visit to the water park. This year I have brought up 'pennies'. I asked, 'when you get 100 points, how much will you have??' $1 (which doesn't sound like too much to us, but their eyes lit up ;) Anyways, an idea.
Other ideas:
Play Store (we did this for a while. it was fun!!)
Play restaurant (ask kids to make up a menu, you hand them the money, and they make up the change)
Calendar (ask them to read the calendar for you. what day is it today? what day is your birthday? what will the date be next week?)
You can find a lot of other ideas on:
www. livingmath.com
This site will also list off books that 'teach math through literature'. A lot of fun!! :) ...if you have a child that enjoys this (which I hear a lot do..lol..mine said the stories were 'dorky' and just plain 'weird'!)
Happy Homeschooling!!
:)
Today we had a busy day!! I wasn't feeling well :( headache..so I slept in a little later, hoping the Excedrin I took (which makes me tired..) would kick in. It did-a little..
(I think what I will have to do is make sure I get more sleep for that co-op! Put a shock to my system.. )
We started off with The Tyndale (One Year) New Living Translation, Chronological Bible. I read to them from page 13, "Genesis 11:19". I did skip over the naming and such. We then read from Egermeier's Bible Story Book. Ironically, the other story book we usually use, did not have 'The Tower of Babel' in their book??? Guess it's not as popular a story as I figured..;)
Using the MFW manual, we finished Day 1 by covering letter's B,C. (this will be the last time I refer to the manual. for the most part, I am using the manual, but just adding my extra tid-bits/using my own library materials).
Colette, once again, repeated the letters. Gracie chose the words, bear and car. Rachel put them in sentences:
Bears are scary.
Cars are yellow.
Rachel then went on and did her 'Spelling City' for 20min. She also did a worksheet off the site.
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hmsv/1/wordfinds/wf_unit15_1.pdf
Gracie worked on a math sheet from one of her workbooks that she seems to enjoy (volunteered;) She does her math when she wants to. She enjoys learning!!:) We are still waiting for Rachel's math to come in..
I read aloud to them, The Emperors New Clothes, and we looked at the history of clothing from the book What People wore When, by Melissa Leventon. They really seemed to enjoy this, and a lot of the clothing was quite interesting!! This gave us a chance to discuss our families geneology and what our great-grandparents wore/as well as their ancestors.
Rachel is still working on her Barbie book. Today she is finishing chapter 2. She also read to Gracie and her webkinz the following books:
Are You a Bee? from Backyard Books Series, by- Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries
Are you a Butterfly? (same authors)
She really enjoyed the bee one, and told me all about the queen bee and how it could sting more than once whereas worker bees can only sting once.
Gracie read a book from Abeka, Fun with Pets. She read by herself, again volunteered, and read The Fat Rat and Pat's Cat. She will be getting books soon, we had a misunderstanding with the library. Apparently last year we could have as many books as we wanted, but the libaries they ordered from this year want a limit..have to get them under control I guess!;)
We went over First Language Lessons, Gracie sat in as well. (although it is grade 1, I don't teach grammar until around age 8-10..so as much as I do want her to pay attention, she doesn't do anything else). Today we were introduced to nouns. (of course she picked it up immediately!) It was about a five minute lesson. I had her do page 1 of the worksheets off this site. I think the worksheet took her about 5 minutes as well..and that one I made sure was neat;) So it didn't take long..
Here is the link to the worksheets. The site I use, has only three worksheets for each grade (up to grade 4) on nouns. First Language Lessons does a lot of review, I know more then three times!! So I started at grade 1, then by the end she will have all grades covered, ;) so it starts out quite easy!! Here's the link to first three.
http://www.sfreading.com/resources/pdf/ghbg1_050.pdf
I also read to them the first 6 letters of, A is for America, by-Devin Scillian. We discussed the Liberty Bell, the states they were in, The Battle at Bunker Hill, big cities across the country, Detroit, Michigan triggered the conversation on automobiles, the bald eagle (have a book waiting at the library for this), to the Egret-which we see out here in Florida often!
All this from the first six letters!!
Looking at this, we also looked over Discover America! A Scenic Tour of the Fifty States, by National Geographic. We looked at pictures of North Dakota, New England, New York buildings/sky scrapers at night. They were beautiful!!
This year is a slow start for us. We will be meaning to start some 'living math' activities, once we get the swing of things. For those of you following this blog, I will give you a few ideas daily (even if we do not do them ourselves). Today I am not feeling well. Too many meds, too much headache!! lol;)
One item I have brought up with them, however, is they have a point chart in which they get points for chores completed (that we did not ask them to do.) If we have to ask, no points. Picking up after themselves can also get them five points, all the way up to doing dishes (neatly), which is 20 points. They also get points taken away for certain behaviors, too, so that is a motivator;) Anyways we usually have prizes like picking out their favorite cereal all the way up to sleep-over or a visit to the water park. This year I have brought up 'pennies'. I asked, 'when you get 100 points, how much will you have??' $1 (which doesn't sound like too much to us, but their eyes lit up ;) Anyways, an idea.
Other ideas:
Play Store (we did this for a while. it was fun!!)
Play restaurant (ask kids to make up a menu, you hand them the money, and they make up the change)
Calendar (ask them to read the calendar for you. what day is it today? what day is your birthday? what will the date be next week?)
You can find a lot of other ideas on:
www. livingmath.com
This site will also list off books that 'teach math through literature'. A lot of fun!! :) ...if you have a child that enjoys this (which I hear a lot do..lol..mine said the stories were 'dorky' and just plain 'weird'!)
Happy Homeschooling!!
:)
August 25, 2009
Today was the first day of co-op!! The girls didn't get much sleep the night before, but they still had a blast :)
To start it off, the kids played in the gym while the teachers got everything organized. Colette jumped right in, grabbed a ball and started bouncing/rolling it back and forth between another girl about her age. Gracie and Rachel ran into the group-and Gracie made a friend right away!! It turns out, they are in the same classes :))))
Next was a mixture of Spanish/PE and the extra class. Gracie is taking something along the lines of literature/acting??? Basically, they are making lapbooks..how acting mixes in I have no idea...
Rachel is taking a class called, 'Theater'. The title is up to the teacher..how the class works- who knows! lol;) But they had a good time!
They have the class every Tuesday and had a great time!!:)
To start it off, the kids played in the gym while the teachers got everything organized. Colette jumped right in, grabbed a ball and started bouncing/rolling it back and forth between another girl about her age. Gracie and Rachel ran into the group-and Gracie made a friend right away!! It turns out, they are in the same classes :))))
Next was a mixture of Spanish/PE and the extra class. Gracie is taking something along the lines of literature/acting??? Basically, they are making lapbooks..how acting mixes in I have no idea...
Rachel is taking a class called, 'Theater'. The title is up to the teacher..how the class works- who knows! lol;) But they had a good time!
They have the class every Tuesday and had a great time!!:)
Monday, August 24, 2009
August 24, 2009
(due to the fact this is our first year really following any kind of schedule..the first few posts will seem a little ..well..choppy! Once we get going, they will smooth out, I promise :)
Lol..I don't know 'what' we are anymore;) So I guess this is not "A Day in the Life of a Classical Unschooler' anymore;) or are we...?? I guess that will be up to the reader!!
Anyways, the day was off to a good start. We started late..which is usual. I work nights, so 'whenever' is a common term for us..
We started off with Bible Study/history. I am adapting a history curriculum from this site:
http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/curriculum/history-1.html
which starts out in 'the beginning', and using it as a morning Bible study! The books that are not available at the library, I supplement with similar books. So as we read the Bible (from a Chronological Bible, which, as of now, had to be sent back to library ;) haven't recieved it back yet!) we also read books along with it.
:) The kids enjoy this!!
We read page16 from, "Children's Everyday Bible', by Deborah Chancellor. Then we read, "Noah's Ark' by Jerry Pinkney. The pictures were beautiful!! Nice book. When we get the chronological Bible back, I will read to them aloud while they are coloring or something, as I don't think there are many more stories for a while.
From the MFW manual, I rolled up a piece of paper, and we discussed what a scroll was, and how it was used in ancient times. We discussed how they had no copy machines back then, so every time the scrolls would get worn out, they'd have to carefully recopy them. Can you imagine recopying the entire Bible!! Talk about copy work!!!
After this, we went onto the MFW (grade 1) reccommendation, and did the first 3 letters of the alphabet (okay, we forgot and just did 1, but tomorrow we'll do the other two;) Rachel and Gracie both enjoy practicing their printing/cursive on a wipe-off board, so we're not going to bother with that...(which MFW would reccommend), but I found a way to adapt it for my 2 and 8yo. This way they can all be involved!
Today we did the letter ,'A'. I pointed it out to Colette (2yo) and she repeated (very proud that she was involved, lol ;) Gracie (6yo, already knows her letters), picked a word that starts with this letter, 'apple', while Rachel (8yo), used it in a sentence: "I eat apples." We call this our 'Letter Game'.
When we were done with this, Rachel wrote a letter to Shelby, while Gracie worked on her printing with the wipee board. She also enjoys working on her cursive, as well. I let her do whichever one she chooses. They have 20 min. (or so) for this.
Then it was time for spelling words from spelling city!:)
http://www.spellingcity.com/avkofoundation/
This link has a free list of spelling words to use!! Rachel took the first list, then went onto the second and missed one word (lol...) , 'all'. Brain fart!! She laughed herself when she realized it;)-she can spell that easy. She went on and did the spelling games for the words, though. Tomorrow, she'll do the next level. I just asked her a few minutes ago how to spell the word, 'all'. Of course, she got it right.
And then what happened? LOL
THE TEACHER FELL ASLEEP!!
Curled up on the couch as Rachel was on her spelling site, Gracie decided she wanted to work on her math book, as I laid down to wait- I was out for THREE HOURS!!
;) woke up in time to make them lunch.
When I woke up, they had found a, 'My Little Pony' movie on youtube, and were watching that. :) My Rachel is so computer literate!!
Rachel's math book isn't in yet, so we're going to overlook this class till it comes in. We plan to use Singapore Math.
For reading, Rachel has asked to work on fairytales. I haven't gotten all the books I have wanted from the library for this book, so we're 'taking it slow' till they come in;) Today she read the first page of, "The Emperor's New Clothes', by Hans Christian Andersen. We plan to discuss the history of clothes...when the books arrive.
She's been reading, 'Barbie: Skipper's Babysitting Blues,' on her own. She finished it the other day. She is reading, 'Barbie: A Sea of Friends', now.
While I was typing this out, Rachel was reading to Gracie, "Incredible Little Monsters," by Christopher Maynard. It is a book on reptiles. They are both sitting down trying to draw reptiles now! Got to love unschooling!!
What happend next? We called it quits! :)
We usually do our read-alouds before I go to work (which is before bed), to try and 'wind-down' the day. Currently, we are working on: 'The Best Christmas Pagaent Ever', by-Barbara Robinson.
Lol..I don't know 'what' we are anymore;) So I guess this is not "A Day in the Life of a Classical Unschooler' anymore;) or are we...?? I guess that will be up to the reader!!
Anyways, the day was off to a good start. We started late..which is usual. I work nights, so 'whenever' is a common term for us..
We started off with Bible Study/history. I am adapting a history curriculum from this site:
http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/curriculum/history-1.html
which starts out in 'the beginning', and using it as a morning Bible study! The books that are not available at the library, I supplement with similar books. So as we read the Bible (from a Chronological Bible, which, as of now, had to be sent back to library ;) haven't recieved it back yet!) we also read books along with it.
:) The kids enjoy this!!
We read page16 from, "Children's Everyday Bible', by Deborah Chancellor. Then we read, "Noah's Ark' by Jerry Pinkney. The pictures were beautiful!! Nice book. When we get the chronological Bible back, I will read to them aloud while they are coloring or something, as I don't think there are many more stories for a while.
From the MFW manual, I rolled up a piece of paper, and we discussed what a scroll was, and how it was used in ancient times. We discussed how they had no copy machines back then, so every time the scrolls would get worn out, they'd have to carefully recopy them. Can you imagine recopying the entire Bible!! Talk about copy work!!!
After this, we went onto the MFW (grade 1) reccommendation, and did the first 3 letters of the alphabet (okay, we forgot and just did 1, but tomorrow we'll do the other two;) Rachel and Gracie both enjoy practicing their printing/cursive on a wipe-off board, so we're not going to bother with that...(which MFW would reccommend), but I found a way to adapt it for my 2 and 8yo. This way they can all be involved!
Today we did the letter ,'A'. I pointed it out to Colette (2yo) and she repeated (very proud that she was involved, lol ;) Gracie (6yo, already knows her letters), picked a word that starts with this letter, 'apple', while Rachel (8yo), used it in a sentence: "I eat apples." We call this our 'Letter Game'.
When we were done with this, Rachel wrote a letter to Shelby, while Gracie worked on her printing with the wipee board. She also enjoys working on her cursive, as well. I let her do whichever one she chooses. They have 20 min. (or so) for this.
Then it was time for spelling words from spelling city!:)
http://www.spellingcity.com/avkofoundation/
This link has a free list of spelling words to use!! Rachel took the first list, then went onto the second and missed one word (lol...) , 'all'. Brain fart!! She laughed herself when she realized it;)-she can spell that easy. She went on and did the spelling games for the words, though. Tomorrow, she'll do the next level. I just asked her a few minutes ago how to spell the word, 'all'. Of course, she got it right.
And then what happened? LOL
THE TEACHER FELL ASLEEP!!
Curled up on the couch as Rachel was on her spelling site, Gracie decided she wanted to work on her math book, as I laid down to wait- I was out for THREE HOURS!!
;) woke up in time to make them lunch.
When I woke up, they had found a, 'My Little Pony' movie on youtube, and were watching that. :) My Rachel is so computer literate!!
Rachel's math book isn't in yet, so we're going to overlook this class till it comes in. We plan to use Singapore Math.
For reading, Rachel has asked to work on fairytales. I haven't gotten all the books I have wanted from the library for this book, so we're 'taking it slow' till they come in;) Today she read the first page of, "The Emperor's New Clothes', by Hans Christian Andersen. We plan to discuss the history of clothes...when the books arrive.
She's been reading, 'Barbie: Skipper's Babysitting Blues,' on her own. She finished it the other day. She is reading, 'Barbie: A Sea of Friends', now.
While I was typing this out, Rachel was reading to Gracie, "Incredible Little Monsters," by Christopher Maynard. It is a book on reptiles. They are both sitting down trying to draw reptiles now! Got to love unschooling!!
What happend next? We called it quits! :)
We usually do our read-alouds before I go to work (which is before bed), to try and 'wind-down' the day. Currently, we are working on: 'The Best Christmas Pagaent Ever', by-Barbara Robinson.
Hapy Unschooling-or..whatever;)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
We're back!!
So much going on! Made a few changes as well to our plans.. Once I remember to purchase batteries for my camera, I will be able to post more pic's. We've got an exciting year planned. As for now, it is pretty hot outside, and I don't do well with the heat, so in the next month or so, we'll start back up!!
I've started looking at My Father's World
www.mfwbooks.com
I bought grade 1 for Gracie, and am supplementing for Rachel. The next year, they will be in the same class together, 'Adventure's', grades 2-8. They have different ideas for each level, and I will be sure to list off all the exciting things they do as well!!:)
Rachel has been reading the 'Barbie' chapter books, and has already finished one, going on the other. She loves to write and make lists. She has also been catching up on her penpals, as well. We have a deal that she gets to pick the books she wants to read. One book she has free reign on, the next book she has to choose from a book on my book lists. One example I have is Veritas Press:
www.veritaspress.com
it lists off classics by grade level (well, there's..;) I let her choose grade 2 and up, as the books are very difficult, and the library even grades them at that! But she picks and chooses the ones she wants, then she'll get to read another Barbie book and so on;)
Gracie has also been working on her reading, and (on her own) is already considered a grade 1 reader!! :) She has an excellent memory, which helps. Only thing, however...I never taught her phonics..she pretty much taught herself to read (which is good), but I need to teach her to sound out words. Something we'll be working on this year..
Well, school starts on Monday. We'll see how it goes..
Happy Unschooling!!
I've started looking at My Father's World
www.mfwbooks.com
I bought grade 1 for Gracie, and am supplementing for Rachel. The next year, they will be in the same class together, 'Adventure's', grades 2-8. They have different ideas for each level, and I will be sure to list off all the exciting things they do as well!!:)
Rachel has been reading the 'Barbie' chapter books, and has already finished one, going on the other. She loves to write and make lists. She has also been catching up on her penpals, as well. We have a deal that she gets to pick the books she wants to read. One book she has free reign on, the next book she has to choose from a book on my book lists. One example I have is Veritas Press:
www.veritaspress.com
it lists off classics by grade level (well, there's..;) I let her choose grade 2 and up, as the books are very difficult, and the library even grades them at that! But she picks and chooses the ones she wants, then she'll get to read another Barbie book and so on;)
Gracie has also been working on her reading, and (on her own) is already considered a grade 1 reader!! :) She has an excellent memory, which helps. Only thing, however...I never taught her phonics..she pretty much taught herself to read (which is good), but I need to teach her to sound out words. Something we'll be working on this year..
Well, school starts on Monday. We'll see how it goes..
Happy Unschooling!!
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