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!

June 12, 2010

We took a little break for June.

I figured this would be a good time to figure out how we're going to handle next school year.

I will post as I go (in case I change my mind...again!;)

But, for the most part, it is going to be fairly relaxed and fun!!

:)

Time4learning will start back up towards the end of the month.

Keep checking for any big changes.

Happy Homeschooling!!