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!