December 10, 2010

I have begun to get real interested in products that are made in this country.  Not so much 'health food' products.  But brand names like

'Skippy'

'Peter Pan Peanutbutter'

and such...

Anyways, does anyone know what typical, grocery store brands are 100% American?

Also...

For those waiting for my curriculum postings..

The goal is to get it started by January. 

Happy Homeschooling!!

December 5, 2010

I was sitting down at work the other day with a jug of apple juice when I noticed something written on the bottle in barely visible writing

'apple concentrate from China/Argentina'

What!!??

On the label it read, 'Made in the Usa'.  Apparently that was only the bottle!

I went to other juices, including Mott's, all generics, and noticed the same pattern.  They were sneaky, including it on the bottle, smaller than size 10 print, Mott's didn't even have it in black.  You had to hold the bottle to the light to even see it was there!

Anyways, I'm just sending this as an FYI.  If China can not even produce toys that aren't poisoned, can you imagine what they are doing to our food?  Not to mention their public relations issue!

Welches products use their own fruit.
I am still not sure if that means their fruit is 'grown' in China, however??  But if they are, I can only assume it means they oversee it a little.

Apple juice was difficult, but I finally found

Musselman's.

It read clearly on their label that all apples are American grown.  Their juice is not the cheapest, as opposed to those shipped from other countries, but it does make me feel better I am supporting our business' that haven't sold out on us or our health!

Anyways, an FYI to those that didn't know.  I had no idea till I got bored and started looking at the bottle.  The print size couldn't even had been 8!

Look for writing like this

That above is about the right size.

December 1, 2010

We're trying a different approach, and I think it's working!

We've been slacking on this reading, so we read an entire chapter of

Little House in the Big Woods together,

worked on our 1800 book math/First Language Lessons

Today we read the 'Christmas' chapter

I don't really 'bother' to do much with the First Language Lessons. I simply ask the kids, 'remember what a common/proper noun is? Give me an example.  Do the same for the rest that is covered.  It can be monotonous. 

We also did copy work for

'Twinkle Twinkle'.

Before, copywork was a hassle.  I would just give up on it, as it was just too much of a negative impact on our day.

:) Then I discovered bribery, LOL...

For each line they copy, they get 5 pieces of (their choice)

mini m&m's, reses pieces (3peices), gummies/sour patch are only 2.

They can stop wherever they want, and that has eliminated the whining!:)

I have also come tot he conclusion that since Abeka is a grade or two ahead, why are they doing a full page?

I let my 9yo know that half a page would be just fine, and this wouldn't put her behind at all.  It may take her two years to finish the book, but that wouldn't put her behin, it would just put her at grade level!

We also made the Molasses Snow Candy!!

Snow Candy

"Laura and Mary each had a pan, and Pa and Ma showed them how to pour the dark syrup in little streams onto the snow."


- Little House in the Big Woods




You will need:


1 cup molasses


I cup brown sugar


Fresh, clean snow (or crushed ice)
(we didn't have a blender that could crush ice, so we used icy-semi frozen water on a saucer, and it worked fine!)






Measuring cup


Large pot


Wooden spoon


Candy thermometer, or cup filled with cold water


Shallow pan, such as a cake pan


Clean towel


Boil the molasses and sugar together in the large pot until the mixture reaches the "hard crack" stage on a candy thermometer, or until a spoonful dropped into cold water forms a hard ball and cracks. Remove the syrup from the heat.


BE VERY CAREFUL. THE SYRUP IS EXTREMELY HOT AT THIS STAGE.


Scoop fresh, clean snow (or crushed ice) into the shallow pan. Dip up a spoonful of syrup and dribble it onto the snow in "circles, and curlicues, and squiggledy things" as Laura and Mary did. It will harden and become candy. Lift the candy off the snow and onto a clean towel to dry.

November 18, 2010

 Tried out a very easy bread recipe today and it worked great!!  Wanted to share-

Easy Bake White Bread     

1C very warm water        1 1/2 t salt
1 envelope dry yeast        2 T oil
1 t sugar                             3 C flour


Pour water in bowl, add yeast, sprinkle over water.  Stir until dissolved.  Add sugar, salt and 2 T oil.  Stir.  Add 1 1/2 C flour.  Beat well, stir in rest of flour, put on lightly floured board.  Knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes.  Form into a ball.  Place in a greased bowl, brush top with oil.  Cover and let rise 45 minutes.  Punch down and shape into loaf.  Cover, let rise 1 hour.  
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Bake 40 minutes.
Delicious!             

November 18, 2010

I am using McGuffey Spelling 2 and 4, and am surprised how fast the words move.

I have decided to start noting these spelling words.

Gracie's spelling words

(She decided she also wanted to learn a few states)

California

Oregon

Florida

favorite

spelling

date

jade

late

fade

mate

rate

came

dame

same

cage

page

sage

ace

wake

the ones that don't end with an 'e' are also her choosing;)-she wanted to learn them!

Rachel, Grade 4

(she has a few reading words.  Her words started out very easy, but are gradually getting more difficult.

envious

borrow

inquired

endure

squall

fatal

pagan

baby

lady

lazy

navy

racy

Satan

usually

legal

regal

real

penal

taper

dial

trial

final

vial

local

cubit

duel

human

unit

fury

jury

puny

pupil

duly

They will have their pretest on Monday and I will note how they do:)  I let them have a pretest on Monday (which will erase their words), another Wednesday, (which will erase even more) and those  that are missed go to next week:)

We've all been sick, so no school this week. 

Getting better!!

Happy Homeschooling!!

November 11, 2010

It has been a while, and I only wish I had time to update this!!

As for now, I am working extra to get some Christmas money, so I am a little more tired than usual.  But there have been some interesting changes/realizations going on as well.

Rachel and Gracie have both found a pen pal, a set of sisters, that love to write back.  Gracie is not too much interested in writing herself, but her pen pal doesn't seem to mind her short letters.  They also exchange stickers/pencils and other neat things. 

Colette has even found herself a pen pal!  Feeling left out at her sisters getting pen pals, we found a 3yo little boy that felt the same way.  They exchange stickers and the last letter she received she got a bookmark as well.  There are short letters, also included, that us parents write;)

Our days have gotten more relaxed, yet we find the kids are still learning/retaining what was taught a day or so earlier, so haven't really been going traditional at all. 

We found "Always Ice cream"
This is a great site for girls where they play educational games to earn scoops to play a lot of fun, entertaining games.  My kids love this!

http://www.always-icecream.com/login

Rachel has gotten up to level 32, Gracie I believe is around the upper 20's  in the geography of the states.  All having fun, accidentally learning.  Wow!!

I finally broke down and got the paid version for Colette.  Colette loves studying her 'preschool', and although we don't do anything formal, this is really all she needs!

https://secure.nickjrboost.com/about.php

Colette loves it and has learned quite a few letters and numbers.

I am also using words from their letters and grocery lists that they've misspelled and putting them on Spelling City. 

Once you sign on, you make a list.  You can change this as often as you would like.

Your child will have the option of taking a test, 'Teach Me' which will introduce the words to your child, or fun, educational games to help them learn the new words.  The site will even test them for you! 
Here is a game mine both enjoy

www.spellingcity.com 

Worried about the meanings?  They have games for those as well.

I also pull words from the McGuffey Speller, Grade 2. (It starts out easy, so there is great review, but by the end of the year the words are more grade 5, than 2!)  So, needless to say, I skip a few words for Rachel.

We are still reading 'Little House in the Big Woods', but our plans to use any kind of guide have pretty much 'blown up';)  We do very well on our own and decided to just read together as a group.  We do activities as they come up.  Gracie does her best, and I even get a turn to read. 

We  are also following the the reading list for Ambleside Curriculum, although not following their reading schedule.  It sounded a little too hectic, how many hours of reading can one do in one day??  Two stories is enough!  But the reading is challenging, so we decided to give it a try and read it together, taking turns so it doesn't seem like too much.  We started at Year 1, because even at that level, they have Little House in the Big Woods..which is grade 3 in regular schools! (for them it's considered grade 1).  I have limited the stories, and the kids seem to enjoy the time spent together.
http://www.amblesideonline.org/01sch.shtml

I will keep you up on what books we are reading.
Happy Homeschooling!

October 6, 2010

Doing great here!
I think we found our schedule:)
It's really a hit and miss, kind of the way we work! LOL..

Mondays, since I work the night before, I leave it up to them.  They can do their binder work if they like, just remember, if they get too far behind, there will be summer work.  Or, they can do it later in the week.  That concept is doing good so far!!

Tuesday we do the full day!  Rosetta/spelling city (the kids are enjoying this, and mid week last week Rachel went from 42 spelling words to 14, Gracie went from 23 to 2!  So they are learning:)  Also do the oral math/First Language Lessons/Binder work (but they still decide how much they need to do)

Wednesday is movie day.  We watch educational shows and catch up on those penpals.  They still do their spelling city/Rosetta, though.  It's all oral, and they enjoy that. I will leave the written portion up to them.  So far, they haven't been too interested in that.  But to understand a language is the key, so they're getting this!:)

Thursday is another full day.

Friday is 'Baking Day'  I found these great books-

They have several versions, low sugar/low cholesterol/meals/appetizers...so I told them to pick a recipe each week and we'd give it a try.  This is a fun way to learn math!!

So what are we doing now? Absolutely Nothing! ;)
No, actually we're getting ready to move next week.  I know...that is 'next week', but there are boxes EVERYWHERE and we can barely get on the couch. So, cancel school out;)

I will start recording more as we move in.  Post the spelling words and such.
Happy Homeschooling!

September 25, 2010

What a change!!

We started on the Lifepac, convinced we were going the semi-traditional route..it got boring!!  Monotonous.  Since my work schedule had changed, we added/dropped some ideas.  We still use the Lifepacs for math, but had some other ideas that I think work better for us.

The stories are short-but challenging!!  I also have Gracie on Grade 1 (I would say these books are at least a year or two ahead of our school system now)

I also have them using McGuffey's Spelling Book from grade 2.  This book starts out very easy, but by the end of the book, I would say, they are learning words that our grade 5+ are learning!  So I started my 9yo at this as well.

What I do is plug these words in spelling city

www.spelling city.com

You can create your own spelling list, and the words are plugged into games/fill in the blank pages.  I have them work on them everyday.  At the end of the week, they take their test (online).  The words they missed are then put onto their next weeks lesson!

 I get the words from their reading and their spelling.

Rachel had words like-

perseverance...objection...entangled

Gracie's words are quite easy now,

list...test...ask...  

but they move forward fast!

So this will be a challenge, and they will be having fun.  They enjoy unscrambling/hang man the best for games to do with their spelling words.  I also have them do fill in the blanks now and then, too, to get the meanings taught.

Happy Homeschooling!

September 17, 2010

Okay, I think it's fairly clear...traditional just isn't us!;)

But we're keeping part of it..

The kids found a 4-H group the other day that we love!!  The leader is excellent, and anyone that lives in our area, let us know if you're interested, and I'll send you her number.  There are fundraisers for all, no one has to pay a dime. (And we all know the price to get into those fairs!)

The first day, she had them.  That is rare for my kids that take a while to warm up to kids/adults.  I knew we found our club!  She also got them interested in an exhibit. Gracie, my 7yo, can not enter yet but can enter under her sister name, so we may have them work together on some projects.  We're already entered for the horticulture exhibit.

I'm not sure if you can see them or not, but the kids are excited as their teacher said it could take 2 weeks, and they grew faster.  

Happy Homeschooling!!



September 14, 2009

Rachel pretty much taught herself division today!!  She wanted to play a game, and so I gave her an idea of how division works (basic division) and she did it all on her own.    Here is the site she was on.  They like the penguin game where they help build the icecream scoops-
http://www.fun4thebrain.com/addition.html

Gracie likes this for the addition. 

Happy Homeschooling!

September 13, 2010

What a year!!

I would say it's doing great, and really, it is.  The kids are enjoying their lifepacs, Rachel is almost done with hers for the month and has already finished one. Life is good:)

At first I started with a mandated amount of work each day.  After all, I didn't want them to fall behind.  It didn't work out all that well, though.  I got the cranky, 'I don't want to.' 'This is too much, I can't!' arguements...so I gave up.  The new rule goes this way- there are 10 lifepacs.  One for each month.  Do what you think you need to do to keep up.  Fall behind?  Looks like you're going to do summer school!  Very simple.  Rachel (9yo) has figured this out and is keeping up.  Gracie (7yo) is the one that only likes to do a few rows of math at a time...she may be falling behind.  But we'll see.  I know unschooling works best, and really do wish I had the funds/car to do it correctly.  I taught them how to keep up, they'll just have to deal with this till then.

Happy Homeschooling!

August 25, 2010

Well, what can I say, but
Thank God for Gigatribe! lol..

Big changes due to all the things we have found.  We're having a GREAT first week!! I went short the first day, as usual, and 9yo asked for a longer school day:)  Gracie has even decided she likes this better than time4learning. Yeah!!
We're in transition now..so it's a little choppy.  I'm hoping to somehow encorporate 3yo into picture tomorrow...

I am not sure which pics I have posted, so will repost;)
What I plan to do is read short Bible stories with 3yo/kids first...but keep having a hectic start..

First 9yo goes online for Rosetta French :)-another Gigatribe gift!!

She is really enjoying this.  We are moving slow, and I am having her do the first lesson over and over (all animated) until she gets it right.  Then we'll move to the next exercise. 

First there is AOP Bible, grade 3 (I heard this is a good place to start.  Is a great intro!)


Then she goes and does AOP Language arts written


She seems to be doing great at this.  It's a little challenging, but good.  Not too happy about the 8+ letter words to look up in dictionary;)

She then goes back on the computer for  AOP online version- SOS (Switched on Schoolhouse). I have grade 3 language arts on there, it will be good for her, I figured, since she has not really done anything formal.  I am planning on just staying with this curriculum from now on.  Tired of jumping around! She is enjoying this, so I may try to go online next a little more for her.



Then she goes back and does her AOP Math (grade 4). 


7yo Plans....
She starts her day with the AOP Bible  She does this while 9yo is on her French
(I guess it won't do much to show pic;) pretty much the same!

She then goes onto her Rosetta Spanish

This is challenging for her as well, but she does enjoy it.  Much better/easier than working on a book.  I just have them doing the same lessons until they match the words correctly.  I also step into help as the directions are not all that clear, and  it just assumes that you have good deciphering skills to figure out the words.  I am teaching them to do that now.

After this she goes back to her schoolwork.  She does her AOP Language arts and Math (both grade 2).

Today we read the first 6 pages of Little House in the Big Woods.  We alternated reading, and 7yo did have to have help with a few words, but did great!  I found that this is a grade 3 book, so it will be challenging for her. 

We had a lot of fun.  I will remember to take pics tomorrow!  We read on how they preserved the deer meat, and did a little experiment of our own with bread.  We put moist/dry bread in baggies on the counter/fridge and freezer.  Kids are predicting and can not wait to see what will grow the fastest!  We also had a copy exercise for vocabulary words.

We're not used to this kind of thing, so we're taking it a day at a time, but having fun!!  This is  going to be an exciting year!:)
Happy Homeschooling!:)

August 11, 2010

Okay, it figures! LOL

Change is in the air!!

Although this change is for the better.

I was all excited to get into Laura's past.  After all, her books would be great, so would the books on her heritage.  Was I right?

Oh, I was so wrong!!! 

I finally got the books from the library and I could barely read them myself, let alone read them to my kids.

They just weren't interesting!!

:( Very sad!!

So we're just going to do a fun study on Scotland.

 This will mean maybe we can finish Little House in the Big Woods this year.  I have begun to look at the activities...I'm going to do them all!;)  Have to have fun, and they are all very exciting!!

(Okay, not all...just 80-90%)-there will be no throwing pigs bladders in this house! Yuck!!;)

We're still going to do the AOP plans, though. And I still plan on veritas press, but that won't be till next year sometime when I can get the money. It is expensive, but it is 'so' worth it!!

Happy Homeschooling Everyone!! 

I'll get my act together pretty soon;)

July 28, 2010

Oh, the joy of getting ready for the new year!

LOL...

I want to do everything!!

This years choice has been a hard one. I have noticed with working nights I stay on the same sleeping schedule whether I am off or not, so I am changing my days around at work.  I pretty much work one day here, day off, two days work, another day off and so on.  I think that should be more beneficial.  We'll see!

This year my 7yo is stuck on Time4learning.  She enjoyed it so much last year she doesn't like any other and will not budge. I love this program, but wonder sometimes if it has the review.  I was looking at AOP/Abeka when I came across

http://www.gigatribe.com/

Wow!! It's like a cross between limewire/facebook.  You post your folders and such, and when you are on your 'friends' can look at them.  I have people on there with Abeka, AOP...all free for the download!!  Give her a few worksheets for review, and she's still on Time4learning.

:)  One down!!

This year with my 9yo is kind of rough.  She is losing interest for the most part.  She does show some interest in AOP so I am going to give her copies of those, and when she finishes the 'lifepac' she'll get a week off.

I've also looked into the 'Little House on the Prairie' Book Series.  I have always been hesitant on this, as the teaching books can add up, but thanx to giga, I have them now!:)  So this year all of us will do these.

For the first few books we will be using 'Little House Classroom'.   This has background information on Laura's heritage.  We will be reading (together),

Set in Scotland, we will meet Laura's great-grandmother..

Next-

Here they meet Laura's grandmother.

Meet Laura's mother.

We will end the year with

Along with the 'Little House for the Classroom', manual, I also plan to use

I got this off giga :) Big smile!!!  Been wanting it for a long time.  Anyways, with this, it is pretty much a complete curriculum, minus a few 'additions' that I will make.  It puts science, simple math, geography and history-all in one!  Of course, you have to add more math and some Language Arts.  I plan to also use

for a brief understanding of grammar with my 7yo, perhaps trying to 'add it into' the unit conversation.  For my 9yo I am also adding a worksheet on AOP and another on Abeka for both math/language arts. ;) Can't decide on which one, so I am just going to use them both!  I also have a 'homework sheet' from Critical Thinking Press.


For Language Arts, I think this will be good for my 9yo.  We start grammar at around grade 3, and this has a lot of critical thinking activities to do, along with learning/reviewing language arts skills.


This is also for her 'review' homework.  I do not have this for my 7yo, as I don't start 'formal schooling' until grade 3.  Right now I have a couple sheets for her to get by.  But nothing extensive.

But, anyways, this year I plan to have fun.  I think we have become too passive with me working nights- I am going to get more involved!  Will we finish all these books by the end of the year?

Well, I also plan to stop and do 'state studies', or any other area of interest.  That sure is the goal;) I also plan to read to them more often.  My biggest problem with this is falling asleep while I am reading (believe it or not, when you're tired, it really isn't that hard!;)  I will post the books as we read them.

Happy Homeschooling!!

July 7, 2010

Only July and I am aching to get this year started, lol...

I think I am used to year-round...







Anyways, we found out our library has a reading program. The kids read 20 minutes a day, color in a picture. When all 5 pictures are filled up, they get to chose from a prize box! I brought this idea home, and they immediately sat down to read a book.



Rachel read-




when she was done with this, she began working on



The twenty minutes ended before she had time to finish.  Gracie picked up this book too (turns out, we have 2!).  It was challenging for her, but I told her next time we could sit down and read together. 

What fun!!  Finally a way to get them excited to read! ;)-now if I can just get them to form the habit.

Happy Homeschooling!

July 1, 2010

We have had been considering some things for this coming year.

These things may make some homeschoolers/unschoolers cringe a little, but it is only a consideration.

I guess we'll wait and see where the year takes us, and then I'll let you know.  It is an expensive program, so I will have to wait on it a while to make sure it's what I want-then save.  So if you see some missing subjects for my 9yo, do not fret/think that I do not feel they are important.  I am, more than likely, to 'delay purchase', to afford all there is that I want.

I purchased

2010 SOS AOP (Alpha Omega HomeSchooling Curriculum), Switched on Schoolhouse 3RD GRADE, (Grade 3) Language Arts

This is suppose to be a good program, so heres hoping!!  Of course, after I purchased this

(and just an FYI- I did get $50 off, so it's not a total waste)

I read how there isn't much instruction on the math one, and your child has to be great at math to get it...

Hmm.... she's good at language arts, math is kind of....what's the word? lol...

But I have time on math to consider another program, known to be good, but she probably won't get through the books till a little later on.  So I have time.

I also purchased this, but only 6 packets from ebay-great deal! It says history, but AOP is more into 'social studies' at this level, and the grade 3 goes through several states and studies more geography than history-good info for her, and I thought she would like that.  It is missing the 'Oregon' one, though, and I get a feeling she may enjoy that so I am considering purchasing that myself from the company. 

Science/History/Math are taught in the package I want to get from the other company.  So I guess grade 4 starts at different times throughout the year;)

Anyways, still planning!  We have been going to the beach off and on this month (twice this month), so school has kind of been put on hold a little.  It doesn't help that all their friends are out of school...I kind of feel guilty pushing the issue.  But it leaves me more time to plan!:)

Happy Homeschooling Everyone!!

June 17,2010

 

We have finally decided on what we're going to do this year!

YEAH!!

We took a break for June, and will be starting the last week of this month.  Before I say anything in haste, what I will do is post what they are doing each day.  I have many high-priced items I am purchasing this year for my 9yo, which will be purchased throughout the year to save money on upfront cost.

Gracie will start back up with Time4learning for the month of July. 

I will also have her read

"Strong and True" from Abeka

Strong and True (A Beka Book)

This is a later first grade book, (which would make it end of grade 2 for public schools) but I think she can handle the challenge.

Rachel will be taking a route outside Time4learning.  She wasn't very happy with it.  What she will be doing in math is continuing with the math workbook she had been doing.

Multiplication Made Easy 3-4

For reading I went and purchased

Reading Detective Beginning - CD

I figured this will be a good review for grammar until I am able to buy the software that I want

Language Smarts, Level B (Grade 1)

 

I also purchased 'Learn at Home'. I had never used this before, but had always wanted to 'take a look'.  Wow! I should had purchased this a long time ago.  Anyways, it's filled with a lot of great ideas so I will alternate her 'Reading Detective' with this for some topics, such as history/science/language arts/reading.  It's that complete-and cheap!!  I think I paid $3, I saw another on ebay for $1 (a complete curriculum, for a whole year!)

All you need is the time to teach...which, I guess, would had been my downfall..

Learn at Home, Grade 3

Well, that is our goal for next month (and a little hint with the above book;)

Look back later, as I post their work and what other exciting things we're doing:)

Happy Homeschooling!