Classroom Changes...Some Pictures, Finally!

Math Time!

We were using our place value boards during Math...reviewing the value of numbers.

I think most everyone knows that we decided to take the plunge and move our classroom.  It was in the dining room last year, which worked fairly well, but drove this Momma to distraction because it seemed like an eternal mess.  Posters are fantastic in a classroom, but are very distracting in a dining room.  While having a dual-purpose classroom worked perfectly well for school, and the kids certainly enjoyed seeing their work displayed on all the walls of the dining room, it was a little less aesthetically pleasing for me.

Now the classroom is officially moved into the attic!  We are loving all the storage and whiteboard space. 

I finally managed to get some pictures. I have a couple bulletin boards to hang, and I still need to paint the "play" area of our classroom and a few spots I missed before construction of my whiteboard/storage carts began, but it is completely functional!

I'm sure I will eventually be replacing desks for the girls' high chairs, but we have a while yet. :)

We really enjoy having such a large space to work, study, and even play during our school day.

The kids have a hidden tunnel behind my cabinet
Rosalynne and Gabrielle love playing back here.

My little tour guide - Rosalynne loves having
a bed in the attic.

The kids helped pick neutral colors for our classroom - they actually aren't quite as bright as they appear in the photos. The toy area will be painted yellow, but with all the cold/rainy weather we've had, there just hasn't been time to get it painted.

School schmule

Last week was our first official week back in the classroom, and the kids did fantastic! We reviewed number patterns, skip counting, introduced a new book and talked about root words, examined the cursive alphabet, reviewed short vowels, talked about national, state, local, and familial holidays, and introduced our study topic in science for the coming weeks: ecology, environment, and organisms.

Whew! That was a busy week!

As we begin our second week, we are doing a slightly more focused science biome project.  The kids are making books about their biomes today. Asher picked the Rain Forest and Savannah picked the Coral Reef.

This year we will be adding three new topics in our curriculum beyond our core subjects from last year, but we are still waiting for the materials to arrive. What are we adding? Well, one of our subjects will be religion, which we covered last year a couple times a week, and has always been incorporated into our daily life, but we didn't have a specific faith-based curriculum to follow.  With the kids enjoying VBS and Totus Tuus so much this summer, they asked if we could add a more religious based subject of study. We considered entirely changing curriculum to one of the wonderful faith-based options by Seton, Our Lady of Mary or one of the many others, but thought that might be a bit too much of a change in one year. Instead, we chose two new topics of study from the Seton Curriculum to work with: Religion, and a History through Religion, which teaches history while examining changes and events in our faith. We are extremely excited to add these subjects to our daily lessons, though it will probably take a few weeks before I am able to fully integrate them into our lesson plans.

We are also incorporating Handwriting Without Tears into our curriculum.  Before we start really writing our pen pals again this year, we are going to take a while to review handwriting fundamentals (which seem to have lapsed a bit over the summer), and to begin working on the cursive alphabet as well.

Though we are starting school a bit earlier than normal, our plan is to take a short break at the end of August or beginning of September to give the kids one last hurrah before we really buckle down for the year, and also to give me a little more time to finish prepping the curriculum and adding our new topics. I am really excited that the kids are so enthusiastic about our faith and including it more thoroughly into our daily studies.

Keep checking back for more entries and updates about our school year. With starting school again myself, I can't guarantee that I will write quite as many entries, but I will do my best to keep everyone updated frequently. Also, feel free to message me or comment to remind me to post!

Summer Daze

We are on the verge of hitting summer vacation...and we know it.  I think we are all having just a little extra trouble concentrating on the work at hand because we know we are just a hands breadth away from having our school year complete. Technically the kids will be done with school on Friday, but we are playing Jeopardy next week for a year-long review of each of our subjects.  As we complete a subject we will have the glorious opportunity of removing all traces of that subject from our classroom and transferring our supplies to the attic (where we will hopefully be doing school next year) and reclaiming our dining room.

This week we are learning the basics of Multiplication in Math, which is going fairly well.  As usual, Asher is catching on slightly faster than Savannah, but they are both quickly grasping the concept.  I thought it might be a struggle, but the format the kids are learning it in, really seems to be clicking for them, so I'm very happy and excited that what I thought would be a bump in the road at the end of our year is actually a fairly smooth lesson.

In Social Studies we are finishing up our three week study of communication.  This has been an interesting section, though short, and the kids are enjoying learning about something that they already know a little more about. It's making for a nice slower pace as we close out our school year, and providing us with a lot of good opportunities to discuss people with differing abilities. 

I have been evaluating the kids' Language Arts abilities, and while I am confident they are both on track for completing Second Grade, there is definitely a gap between Asher and Savannah's skill sets.  Asher seems to have a bigger imagination and is more confident in creating his own story, but Savannah has better sentence structure and grammar.  Where Asher often skips words while he is writing because he doesn't want to take the time to spell/sound them out, Savannah has an almost uncanny ability to spell and make long, flowing sentences. When I am proofreading with Asher, he will often read the four or five words he has in the sentence, adding words throughout to form a complete sentence that he never actually wrote down on his draft.  It is something I think we will keep working on throughout the summer.  Savannah, unfortunately, gets to a certain point with her stories and simply ends them because she doesn't want to write more than two pages.  

 Reading is another subject where Asher and Savannah are finding themselves gapped slightly.  Asher is an average reader, there are words he struggles with and other words that he just misreads without looking at them (reading "what" for "when") because he isn't actually focused or paying attention to what he is reading and only thinks he knows what the book is going to say.  He does better reading new books than ones he's familiar with, because new stories he is more likely to pay close attention to, whereas stories he is already very familiar with, he will often just read by rote, filling in the blanks without truly concentrating.  Savannah is turning into an amazing reader.  It's nothing for her to sit down and read an entire chapter book from the Magic Tree House series in her spare time throughout the day.  Our last trip to the library found her reading the chapter books before I was able to get through them during school because she is such an avid reader. My plan for the summer is to have Asher review some of his phonics rules and to revisit Hooked on Phonics (levels 3 and up) to help him gain confidence in his reading ability. My goal is to close the ability gaps between the two before we start Grade Three at the end of the summer.

Science this year has been a lot of fun, and we have more fun coming! We try to do a lot of hands-on outdoorsy science during the summer, and now that we are all more mobile (being quite pregnant last summer made hiking a bit difficult) we will be out and about whenever possible this summer. We have waterfall hiking excursions planned, rainy day science experiment kits, rock exploration, bird watching, and a host of other activities that the kids are anxious to start.  Our pets are also proving a valuable tool in our scientific studies.  Learning about Max, Asher's Red Eared Slider/Painted Turtle has truly been educational. Asher LOVES feeding Max, and I had to admit, watching him eat is definitely interesting.  Max has finally started getting used to our busy family, and is rarely startled by little faces starting at him behind the glass. Butterscotch and Max are both teaching the kids about responsibility.
 

We have had a wonderful year, and while we have a few areas we need to work on, the kids have made amazing progress this year.

Many thanks to all the kids' pen pals (and their parents) for such a great experience! The kids have been enjoying writing everyone. If you haven't received a letter recently, it is coming, we are just taking our time as we end our school year.  Letters will continue throughout the summer, though it will probably take the kids a bit longer to respond. Thank you to everyone for making this such a special activity and learning experience.

Two Weeks Left...And a Few Days

We are gearing down for the end of the year...only two weeks left and three days of review!

Last week we studied several new topics.  In Math, our focus was on measurements, including studying volumes.  Fortunately for the kids, they help Daddy with a lot of projects, so they've had quite a bit of practice measuring various items.  We practiced measuring body parts, things we use daily (pencils, crayons, ect), and random items around the house.

For Grammar and Writing we were working on the writing process, and the kids are learning how to put the stories inside their heads down on paper. This is difficult for Asher, because he thinks so quickly that his writing can't keep up, and when I go over the story with him, he often adds/explains quite a bit more than what he has written down.  Savannah on the other hand, has an image in her head, but doesn't want to write "too much" so if she starts reaching a point where she thinks the story is supposed to be done (usually around 2 pages double spaced), she quickly ends her story.

In Reading last week we learned about synonyms, homonyms, and antonyms and this lesson will carry over into this week. The kids have synonyms and antonyms down fairly well, since it's a favorite car/store game we play.  I think they will do pretty well with the homonyms. They already know a few of them from our spelling lessons, so I'm curious to see which ones they will remember and what ones they might just know from reading books and Hooked on Phonics.

Our focus in Social Studies last week was Communication. The kids are doing a really good job making advertisements and discussing the different forms of communication.  One of their assignments was to design a product and advertise it.  Asher designed a snake cage.  His slogan was "Afraid of Snakes? Git Snake be Gone! It holds one snake." His illustration to go with the ad, was the image of a barred cage with a green snake inside, and a person outside the cage with a BIG smile on his face.  Savannah's advertisement was for "Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Craisins because they're healthy and delicious!"  Her illustration was a group of girls going gaga while eating her CPBPC, which she made from construction paper. The girls have comment bubbles above their heads with exclamations of how great the snack tastes.

In science last week and this next week the kids are learning about Electricity.  Daddy skipped into our class on Monday and taught a short lesson on circuits, and then we tried a few experiments throughout the rest of the week. We used static electricity to "unpepper" the salt, which was a lot of fun. Using a comb, brush, and balloon, we were able to remove pepper that we'd stirred into salt.  The kids really enjoyed this experiment, especially since they got to make their hair wild from static electricity.

As we are ending the school year, writing our pen pals has, unfortunately, slowed down. We will respond to all our accumulated letters before our last day of school and continue to write throughout the summer, though our response time may slow down over the summer. The kids have really been enjoying writing all their friends and family and look forward to the letters in the mail, so thank you to everyone that has been participating in their pen-pal activities.

I am looking forward to the next few weeks as we start looking at our progress and comparing our skills and knowledge from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. I am really impressed with the kids and how wonderful this year has gone.

Dewey Decimal Flower

My sample Dewey Decimal Flower without any pictures....

Sorry this post is delayed....we've had a very busy week/weekend.  Last week we made Dewey Decimal Flowers for Reading.  We are currently learning about the Library, the difference between fiction and non-fiction books, and how books are categorized in the Library.  

One of the kids' favorite activities so far has been the Dewey Decimal Flower.  It is a visual representation of the Dewey Decimal System that the kids can easily understand and it helps them remember the numbers associated with each topic/subject matter.  

The kids started their flowers by cutting out 10 different color petals, one for each of the number sequences in the Dewey Decimal System, 000 - 900.  One difficult thing about our Library section is that there isn't really a "card catalog"  anymore....everything is done on the computer!  I wanted the kids to understand that each book used to have THREE cards (author, title, subject), but now we can search by all of those things and MORE.  We spent a lot of time discussing the different ways to search for books, the best method of searching for a particular book (title), and the best way to do research searches (subject).

 After we had our petals cut out, we had to cut out our stems, leaves, and the middle of our flower, which served as a number guide for our flowers.  We traced circles on construction paper and cut out our yellow flower centers, then divided it into ten parts, writing the numbers 000-900 in each portion.  Then we glued our petals together and added the center circle.  This part was tough because we were trying to match up the numbers on our center to the numbers for each petal.

 Once the flowers were glued together, the kids wrote the categories on the corresponding petal: 000 General Knowledge, 100 Philosophy, 200 Religion, 300 Social Sciences, 400 Languages, 500 Science and Math, 600 Using Science/Technology, 700 Arts & Recreation, 800 Literature, 900 Geography and History.  Once all the petals were labeled, the kids illustrated the petals so they had a visual image of what each category included.  I considered printing out clip art images for the kids to paste on their petals, but decided to let them look through the listings under each category and pick their own image to draw to help cement it in by using something meaningful to them.  My flower (I haven't added images yet) will probably include clip art.

And voila! The kids' Dewey Decimal Flowers!

Asher and Savannah's Dewey Decimal Flowers!

Savannah's Flower Petals.  She took a lot of time drawing each picture.
She wanted the petals perfect, so she took the flower apart three times
trying to get it to fan out correctly.  What a hard worker!

Asher's Flower Petals.  He spent a lot of time writing out things in
each given category and then drawing a small picture.  He managed to get
his flower to fan pretty well until Rosalynne tried 'helping' him and
managed to pull a section apart. What a patient Big Brother!

 

Spring Fever!

Today was a difficult day for focus at the Quinlan Homeschool.

After experiencing sunny skies and seventy degrees yesterday and the day before, combined with Easter on Sunday, the chilling thirty-five degree, drab day outside today was hard for the kids to tolerate.  Asher and Savannah both had a rough time staying on task  Spring Fever has really hit hard in the Quinlan household. I hope they can pull it together better tomorrow.  They are understanding the concepts and absorbing the information, they just didn't feel like putting forth the effort today.

On the upside, however, their prewrites for Grammar and Writing went very well on Monday, and they did a good job on their Rough Drafts today.  Last week we talked about the process and I partially modeled each step (I didn't write an entire rough draft for example, only one paragraph), and while the kids did well on their stories last week, they struggled with a couple steps, so this week I am modeling each step completely before allowing them to move on with their stories.  They are enjoying watching and helping me as I work through the steps.

For Social Studies we are working on a section called "Global Education" so we are trying to focus on learning a few short words/phrases in several languages, and also reading fairy tales from each culture and comparing them.  Today we learned how to say: hello, goodbye, how are you, my name is..., and see you later in Spanish.  We also read the story of the Ugly Princess, which was new for me and slightly disturbing.  Tomorrow we will try learning the same words/phrases in French and read another fairy tale.

Our Library section in Reading is going well, though I think a planned trip to the library on Friday may be in order.  The Librarian for the Children's room is just a sweet lady, and I think the kids will really benefit if after we finish all or most of our Library section, they are able to have her explain all about how books are organized, sorted, and shelved at the library and the best ways to search for a given book.  We've already determined that if we are looking for a particular book, Title searches work best, because subject and author searches provide us with too many other suggestions.  I am excited for them to get to the library and ask the Librarian questions.

In ASL we are learning about rooms in our house and the things that can be found in those rooms.  It has been so amazing to see the kids learn signs this year.  They are picking up an impressive amount of signs, and using them whenever they can.  They are particularly appreciative of knowing signs during church, and often use them while we are in mass.  Savannah has been getting me a lot when I am on the phone, asking me things by signing...it can be tricky answering her while continuing a conversation. :)

Asher's turtle Max is doing very well, and seems to be adjusting to the regular sounds of children in our house and the typical activity in our classroom each day.  Asher is doing a great job with him.  For a boy that REFUSED to touch any new and especially slimy creature just last year, he is doing wonderful picking Max up and moving him when needed.  It's wonderful to see the change and animation while he is caring for Max. All the kids seem to really enjoy Max.

Fortunately, Savannah's cat Butterscotch has no apparent interest in Max, and as long as Savannah feeds and waters her first thing in the morning, she keeps to herself until the kids sit down, then she climbs on their lap to cuddle.  With Spring weather just around the corner, Savannah will have her hands full brushing Butterscotch's fur.

The First Day/Week Back....whew!

So - today is our first day back in school after Spring Break.  We are all rejuvenated after our week 'vacation' and are ready to get back to work.

Asher working on the rough draft of his story.

Monday was extra special because Daddy was able to hop in during our Science period and teach a lesson about rocks!  We learned how weathering works, what causes it, what minerals encourage weatherization and what can inhibit it, and how it is all a cycle.

This week we have also acquired a new addition to our classroom/home.  Asher got a 'small' pet turtle that he named Max.  Max is currently residing in our classroom in his small tank and in our laundry room sink when he needs a larger space to play and exercise.  He is a Red Eared or Painted turtle and is fairly friendly.  Asher really likes Max!  He is careful to feed him every day and for once, doesn't seem to mind getting his hands dirty while handling him or cleaning his cage. Mommy and Daddy may not be Max's biggest fans, but he is a fairly calm little guy that the kids enjoy watching.

Sunday after Mass, Savannah had some really deep questions about Heaven and death.  She doesn't want to die for a VERY long time and is praying that nothing happens to her Great-Grandma Pachmayer or any of her Grandparents because she would miss them so much.  I usually let Daddy take the lead on these kinds of conversations since he manages to explain them better than I can on the fly.

Grammar and Writing this week is proving to be a process - the writing process! But seriously, each day is devoted to a different part of the process. Today Savannah blew it out of the water with her rough draft, but Asher is having some problems focusing, so he is working on his third attempt of his rough draft, this time with a 'list' of story needs: who, what, when, where, why, and how.  It seems to be working better for him knowing that he needs to address these parts of the story. Wednesday the kids will be working on their reviews and peer edits. I'm curious to see how well they do.  This is our first week back AND our fist week writing "un-directed" so I'm sure it will be a learning experience and give us some ideas on things we will need to work on/improve.

Our "Friendly Letter" pen pals are still going strong. The kids have probably written about 40 letters to various people.  They love getting mail and responding to their pen pals.

A close-up of Max, Asher's turtle.

The Final Leg

These next six weeks are the final leg of our journey for this school year.  The curriculum is changing slightly, allowing for more open topic writing opportunities in Grammar and Writing.  Our only focus is the steps of the writing process, so the kids will have the opportunity to let their imaginations roam free and unhindered. I am excited to read their work! They have such amazing minds.

During Reading we have been working on abbreviations, writing dates, using the dictionary, and learning how to use research books more effectively.  Next week we will start a Library section, where the kids will focus on learning how to find non-fiction and fiction books at the library, the dewy decimal system, using the card catalog, searching by author, keywords, and title and locating books that we find in the catalog.  We have also been reading Junie B Jones books during reading and the kids LOVE her.

In Math this coming week, our focus will be on solving equations and checking answers using opposite operations.  This should be easy for the kids to grasp since we have already discussed this when explaining fact families.  We will also be discussing ordinal numbers, which the kids have already learned thanks to ASL. :)  Our week in Math will be completed by creating a mini book  of things that go in a specific order, like the days of the week, months of the year, recipe ingredients/directions, or the order of a story.  This is especially convenient because our spelling words this week include the days of the week, so we will be able to get some extra practice.

In Social studies we are continuing our study of the History of Transportation by talking about the problems different forms of transportation have caused.  Throughout the week we will be discussing solutions to problems from transportation, like noise pollution, traffic jams, traffic safety, the depletion of our energy sources, and the effects on our planet.  Towards the end of the week the kids will be able to create their own form of transportation using their choice of materials, and lastly, they will write a short description of what their lives would be like if we didn't have cars, buses, trains, or planes.

Science this week will be focused on Rocks.  We will spend our week attempting to weather a rock, to illustrate erosion and showing how with enough force or constant wear, rocks of all different sizes will break or crack.  Weather permitting, we will also go on a rock finding field trip, and make our own sandstone rock that we can put outside and observe the process of erosion over the next few weeks.

I am looking forward to starting the final portion of our school year on Monday after our short break.  It has been nice to have a week off to regroup and plan, but I am definitely ready to dive back in! :)

Spring Break!

This week the kids are out of school for Spring Break.  I am using this time to clean and organize our classroom (which somehow seems to need re-organizing every few weeks for some reason!), and to schedule our last six weeks or so of the school year.  I am also using the time to start planning for the coming school year, find new materials for the upcoming topics of choice, and prepare for the end of the year and some of the more difficult topics the kids will be learning.

So far, a lot of the kids' curriculum was either review or a building on knowledge they'd learned last year.  In these last six weeks of school, the kids will be focusing heavily on adding/subtracting monetary sums, more writing/handwriting, reading, and spelling.  I think I can safely say our handwriting/writing capabilities have improved greatly in only a few short weeks (thanks to all the pen pals!).

This summer we will take about 8 weeks off, but while we are enjoying our time off, we will be doing some fun science projects and experiments that we weren't able to do outside this winter.  With Trevor's hours being somewhat unpredictable, we can't really schedule/plan any trips just yet, but hopefully by the time we officially start Summer Break, we will have a better idea of what we can manage this summer as far as traveling.

I am looking forward to these final six weeks and compiling sets of the kids' work to illustrate their progress in the different subjects from the beginning of our school year to end.

Research Papers

For Grammar and Writing last week we worked on short research papers.  The kids started by choosing a topic and making a brainstorming web of what they already knew about their topics and what they wanted to learn.  Asher decided to write about dinosaurs and Savannah decided to write about flowers.  After the webs were complete, the kids wrote their questions on index cards and started their research.  They looked through encyclopedias, non-fiction science books, and even searched online for answers to their questions. After they answered their five questions on the back of their index cards we started writing the actual paper.

We checked our rough drafts for grammar and spelling before writing our final drafts in our best handwriting.

Here is Asher's paper:

"I am writing about dinosaurs.  The meat eater Barxonyx had a claw on the thumb of each hand. It may have been a fish hook to snatch fish from water.  This is a clue that Barxonyx probably ate fish.  The Protoceratops female arranged her eggs carefully in a spiral shape or in circles."

Asher also researched information about pteranadons, but he forgot to include it in his final draft (I think his hand may have gotten tired...)

Here is Savannah's paper, which is a little less based on fact. :)

"I am writing about flowers! They are as pretty as dolls. Some can grow without sunlight.  There are as many as 100455 kinds of flowers. They have to drink water every day. They grow in all 50 states. They help and feed bees."

The kids are also focusing on writing in DETAIL using adjectives, adverbs, and trying to SHOW our readers rather than TELL them.  I will let them pick one of their detail practice pieces for a later blog entry. :)

Unexpected

This has been a week of the unexpected.  Last Friday some of our dearest friends were married, so our school day was slightly abbreviated.  Another good friend is moving from Michigan to Kentucky, so he had a going away party Saturday, plus we were able to get tickets to see the Irish Comedy Tour a few hours away on Monday night.

We planned to delay our school week until Tuesday, but now it seems like the delay may last just a bit longer....when we came home on Tuesday early afternoon, the house was unusually cool.  The city's water keeps freezing, but until this week, we've been fortunate to avoid the effects of the frozen pipes.  Not so much now.  None of the pipes in our home are frozen, but we have no water coming in.  No water is a bummer, but that in and of itself is manageable.  However, our furnace is a steam radiator system....that means it needs water to run.  So, without water, we have no heat.  NOT something that is fun to manage in the frozen North.

SO - off to the hotel our family did drive.  With four children under 8, two of which are 2 and under, staying in a house without a reliable form of heat in the middle of one of the coldest winters on record isn't really recommended.  I mean, we can melt snow for water, but there isn't much we can do for no heat.  The Kerosene heater is great, but not something we want to run non-stop for days at a time.

Getting ready to go swimming, I notice Savannah has a ton of random blotches like Mosquito bites all over her skin that are just suddenly appearing.  She had croup last week, and was given meds that she is clearly allergic to.  So, my poor girl is covered in hives that seem to come and go as soon as her benedryl and steroid prescription start to wear off.  It's tough to see her itching.  :(

On the upside, this is a review week and Trevor is covering again, so even though we have missed a few days of our normal school week, we can make up for it relatively quickly.  With Trev covering shifts, we will do school for the next 8 days straight, then take a 3-day weekend before returning to our normal weekly schedule.  Next week was supposed to be our Spring break, but with the weather being so iffy, and Trev having to work, I think we will push our break back just a bit longer...it's hard to believe that school will be done in just another 8ish weeks, which means we really need to start deciding what we want to do for next year.

I am still leaning towards doing some school throughout the summer.  Take a month off, maybe six weeks, then start back up for four weeks, take a week or two off, then do it again.  We will be able to take more time off throughout the year, and I think it will be good for the kids over all.  It might mean that we will finish more like two years in the span of one average "school year" but it would give us even more flexibility in our schedule and allow us to plan even more extracurricular activities.

It's About Time!

My minute and hour hand working together...

So - we have been working on concepts of time in the last week of school (I find it a little humorous that I'm late posting our lessons on time...). We have been studying the concepts of time as considered throughout the year (365 days in a year, 7 days in a week, 52 weeks in a year) and also the concept of time as it pertains to physical time on an analog clock.

When talking about the clock, we discussed that there are 24 hrs. in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 seconds in a minute.  We've also gone over how to tell time.  The kids have gotten very good at both displaying time on practice clocks and reading times displayed on various analog clocks.  During our time lesson we did a variety of activities, from making a circle on the floor with 60 blocks, each 5th one a different color, to practicing being the hour/minute hands in the middle of a large floor 'clock' we made with index cards.  The latter proved to be the kids' favorite time telling activity. :)  Here are some pictures of the fun we had with that particular lesson.

Poetry

We have been working on all kinds of poetry in the last two weeks.  Some of the poems we have been reading rhyme, some don't.  Here are a couple of the kids' own poems that they worked on this week.  I think they are doing a pretty good job.

Savannah's Onomatopoeia poem:

Zap a Boom gun over
The nite. Achoo! A
Sneezey persone over
the day. What noise!
Vroom. My car is here
Smash! Not again!


Asher's Onomatopoeia poem:

Boom! and Bam!
And a Crash and Smash!
Lot of loud stuff.
And 2 more
Zap and Pop!



The kids also wrote a couple of St. Patrick's Day Poems where they were supposed to rhyme and include two similes.  This was a tough one.

Asher's Poem:
 
Get a Leaf
Get it and paint it green for St. Patrick's Day
A green man as a green door?
A green frog like a flower,
It is good!
I play with green balls for 7 bucks
Ball it is small.


Savannah's Poem:

Phile (Phil)

The St. Patrick's Day man
Had a brother named Nan

Nan had a jolly sole
Yesterday he saw a hole.
With Green Leaves as big as sharks!

Nan's Borther was like a bear
But only used a gun to hunt.

Friendly Letters

The kids started their "Friendly Letter" campaign about three weeks ago, and they are so happy with the results.  So far they have written over twenty letters, received at least ten, and already started working on their responses.  Unfortunately, since we've been sick, we have fallen a little behind, but they are really happy with everything they've done so far with their letters and are excited to keep working.  They especially like sending and getting pictures.  We now have our 'pen pal' board, where we are keeping any pictures that are sent our way, letters (until we reply), and any other important information we need for letter writing.  The kids' handwriting is improving daily, and they really enjoy getting to know their cousins, friends, aunts/uncles, anyone that showed an interest in getting a letter.

I ran out of pictures to add to their letters, so I will be printing more off and sending in later letters to those that missed out on the picture.  Right now, we have another eight responses to write to our pen pals, which might take us a few days. :)  But, the kids love sending and receiving mail so much, that they don't mind writing pen pals over the weekend, even.  It is interesting to read the many letters and see what they ask/tell the various recipients. I hope they are able to see at least a few of their pen pals this summer. :)

Icky Sicky

Last week Rosalynne and I came down with a pretty vicious stomach flu bug and cold combination.  Daddy substituted as our teacher Wednesday, and we had slightly abbreviated days on Thursday and Friday.  Even so, the kids did a good job learning about Fractions, Alphabetizing to the second letter, creating poetry books of their favorite poems, and starting our section in Social Studies about the Presidents.

They also made some really great Bird Feeders when Daddy subbed, for Science.  :)

Rhyming Couplets

In Grammar and Writing we have been learning about poetry and the different literary devices often used within a poem.  Today our focus of discussion was on alliteration, rhythms, and patterns.  Our assignment today was to write a poem with at least four rhyming couplets.  Writing rhyming couplets can be difficult, especially when sounds and words are still so new, but I'm happy to say that the kids are trying really hard and doing a good job.

Savannah's Poem today:

Thar's(there is) a squirrel

One that can turrel (twirl)

That lives in a tree

Far away in a sea

She has a bote (boat)

She can flote (float)

On the sea

What abot (about) me?

for a beginner, I think she did really well. :)

Asher had a slightly harder time...he thinks poetry is silly and doesn't make as much sense because it isn't in full sentences.  I corrected his spelling with him, so....it's already fixed here.

I wait and wait and wait to look

In a book.

I fly with my wings

And sing.

I drink pop

And hop.

I like it in the day

I said to Jay.

he was not impressed with his work, but I think he did pretty well. :)

Proud of my kiddos. They work so hard, every day. 

Reading for Details

Today we are reading My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza, a cute tale of a crafty piglet that goes visiting at Fox's house, creatively convincing Mr. Fox to bathe him, feed him, and even give him a massage.  It's a story the kids have heard before, but today we are reading for details!

After reading the story, the kids have several questions on the board they will need to take time to answer. I am curious to see how they answer some of the questions, which rely partly on the readers' perception of the characters and their motives. They will have to discuss the basic "Story Elements" (charcters, setting, events, problem, and solution), but they will also need to answer some more difficult questions, like "Who is the 'bad' guy in the story?" Depending on how the reader interprets the events, the piglet could actually be the antagonist in this lively tale.

We have been discussing story elements and the different choices characters make a lot this year in reading. Recently we also started talking about what we would do different if we were one of the characters in a story and how that might alter the events in the story. This is particularly interesting when reading a Magic Tree House book where Asher and Savannah can easily relate to the main characters, Jack and Annie.  Asher is remarkably like Jack, though even less prone to taking chances, and Savannah is a more cautious version of Annie. She says she would often do research about the places first.

At any rate, the kids are learning a lot from reading for details and every day I am seeing improvement.

USA in 4D

I mentioned that we've been working on a 4-D puzzle during our study of the fifty states. We completed our puzzle yesterday (almost two whole weeks early!).  The kids were enjoying themselves so much, they didn't want to stop working on it.

Trevor and I completed the first part of the puzzle, which shows the expansion of the United States with the various land purchases/wars and dates.  This part was fairly difficult, like 800 tiny pieces difficult, so the kids helped sort out the different colors and edges, but Trevor and I put it together.


The second part of the puzzle, the kids put together, showing the division of the states (in the order they ratified the constitution/gained statehood).  While I had planned for this portion to take an entire week, the kids completed it during one class period because they were so motivated. This part of the puzzle included raised foam pieces that are put together and then placed on top of the initial expansion puzzle.

The last part of the puzzle included the monuments.  This part was actually pretty intense and took a while to complete, but like last weeks' portion, the kids were so motivated we completed it in one extended class period.

Since I just got my camera back, I had to take all the "progress" pictures yesterday....but at least the different sections of the puzzle are visible.

Art & Creativity

One of the reasons we started homeschooling was because the public school system where we lived just didn't "work" for Asher.  The things he needed to learn, he wasn't, because the teachers weren't willing to put any effort towards pushing him to improve at all.  Asher is extremely creative, he loves to pretend play, make up stories, draw pictures, and do arts/crafts.  If his predisposition, his passion for play, isn't incorporated into his learning, he completely loses interest.  I don't know if you have stubborn children, but I certainly do.

I have a daughter that will argue and debate that the sky is blue if given an opportunity.  She's six! But she will adamantly disagree with sometimes the most random things.  She's imaginative in her arguments, too.  It's not just, "I don't like that!" though we hear that as well.  The way she thinks is simply amazing to me.  The rationalizations she comes up with for even the most mundane of occurrences are impressive.

It's nice that we are finally at a point in school where their imaginations and creativity can come more into play.  They are able to write their own stories now, instead of learning the alphabet.  They are able to communicate their thoughts and express ideas, feelings, and interpretations more easily.  It is amazing to see how much progress they have made in less than a year.  They surprise me daily. :)

So - my goal for the coming weeks is to allow their creativity to soar in as many aspects of our daily education as possible. To encourage them to think 'outside the box' and come up with new and unexpected solutions to life's' everyday problems and to have them start journaling.  Their handwriting, phonetic spelling, and competency is at a point where a daily/weekly journal would be well within their abilities and enjoyment now.  I can't wait to see what they come up with next. :)

P - E

So, now that the kids have almost completed their first session of Crossfit, we are looking at joining the local Y Center to add even more to the PE element of their education.  This year we are really trying to focus on a Healthy Lifestyle element, above and beyond our regular Science lessons.

In our Healthy Eating portion, the kids are learning to make healthier decisions about what they are eating and when.  They have been helping plan the menu by choosing recipes high in vitamins and minerals.  They are even starting to make 'healthier' choices for desserts, like peach or blueberry infused frozen yogurt over cake or brownies.  Crossfit has been a great motivator, encouraging them to eat more vegetables because the kids that eat the most vegetables on crossfit days are often chosen to be leaders.  The kids are discovering that a Healthy Lifestyle begins with Healthy Eating.

For our Healthy Body portion, the kids are learning the importance of physical well-being.  They are discovering muscles, more about exercise and activity, and the benefit of playing outside in the sunshine.  When it's too cold to go outside, they have been 'exercising' with a WiiFit Kids game. But we aren't only focusing on Gross Motor, we are practicing fine motor everday when we work on our ASL (fingerspelling is a great way to improve fine motor skills) and practice our penmanship.

Our Healthy Mind section includes our school work, but it goes above and beyond our typical school day activities.  The kids are playing mind games, board games, reading, and working through their own problems daily.  We don't watch a lot of television, but when we do, I often hear the kids discussing what the events in the stories mean, what they think will happen (often in the next episode), and what characters they like/dislike and why.

Our Healthy Spirit portion involves our Church and reading from a kids' devotional.  We also spend some time praying each day.  We normally do this before bed at night and at meal times.  It causes quite a few curious looks when we are eating out (we do have a weekly Pizza Night since that is something the kids LOVE).

Overall, I think the kids are really enjoying adding a Healthy Lifestyle element to our routine.  They especially enjoy Crossfit, PEAK open gym, and they are really excited about starting at the Y-Center in the next week or two, especially the once a week swimming day.  Their enthusiasm and progress amaze me daily.

Teaching Moments

In Social Studies we are studying the fifty states.  Today's state was Alabama and our fun fact today was about the Boll Weevil Beetle, which decimated Alabama's cotton crops.  Amazingly enough, Enterprise, Alabama created a monument to the Boll Weevil in the early 1900's because the loss of the cotton crops encouraged the state to find alternative crops.  Eventually they started planting peanuts, which was much more cost effective and productive than the cotton crops.  

One thing I LOVE about homeschooling? We were able to take a pause in our state study to learn more about the Boll Weevil, including hearing a cute song written in the 1980's, taking a virtual tour of the Enterprise monument, look at images of the boll weevil in different stages of development, and learn about it's habitat.  

Then we went back to our state study, completed the second stage of our 4D USA puzzle, glued it, and next we'll be adding the monument pieces (after the puzzle dries of course).  

Teaching Moments - sometimes I don't even realize how many we get in one day.

Awesome Absorption

It has been a busy week so far!

In Grammar and Writing this week we are working on alliteration and consonance, which the kids are recognizing fairly well.  We are also learning about how to write paragraphs, topic sentences, supporting sentences, and descriptions.  Some of these are pretty tough concepts to grasp, but the kids are doing a good job and working hard on 'mastering' these skills and concepts.  To help them further understand paragraphs, the kids will be doing 'Paragraph Scrambles' this week, where they will have to put together sentences from a paragraph that have been cut up in their own order. We are also writing another 'how to' paper, explaining how to complete a daily task.

Reading this week is focused on the oi/oy vowel sound heard in 'oink!'.  On Wednesday, the kids wrote their own "piggy" stories that were focused on the oi/oy sound.  We are also talking about problem solving and brainstorming different ways/methods to solve the problems in our favorite storybooks. Some of their solutions are pretty entertaining. :)

This week we have also been discussing the difference between synonyms and antonyms.  Since we often play a synonym/antonym game while we are out and about, waiting in a shopping line or in a restaurant, this is actually something the kids breezing through easily.

For Math this week, we are learning about Greater Than/Less Than.  We started our lesson with the story of "The Very Hungry Alligator" Our Alligator is not only hungry, but also VERY smart, and only eats the largest integers in the Number Pond where he lives....as you can imagine, this lesson was a blast to teach and the kids have really shown that this concept is cemented in their understanding.  Lessons like these are what make the kids really appreciate and enjoy our Math periods.

For Social Studies, we are still studying our states.  We study one state a day, discussing the State Bird, State Tree, State Flower, Capital, and fun fact.  The kids are also coloring maps of each individual state.  Trevor and I are working on a puzzle right now.  We are doing the base "historical USA" layer which has about 850 pieces.  The kids will be putting together the second layer of the puzzle, which is comprised of the 50 states in raised foam pieces.  The third layer has monuments and emblems for each state that the kids will be researching and placing.  The 4D USA puzzle is actually quite intense, and we are hoping that after it's completed, we'll be able to make a 'shadow' box of our project.  I am anxious to see how it will look in the next few weeks - the kids will have about three weeks to complete their portions of the puzzle.

Science this week is focused on birds, more specifically, birds of prey, bird songs, how birds fly, and gather materials for our research.  The kids are excited to make their own bird houses and bird feeders, but since it is still so cold outside, we are going to wait to start those activities until closer to the end of our bird studies section.  As a supplement to our book research, we are also watching a BBC series with a famous Ornithologist.  The kids find it very engaging and interesting, and are often disappointed they only get to watch one episode a week during our research.

I was jumping ahead in my lesson planning, trying to estimate the last day of school for the kids and determine what we want to do for next year.  It looks like they will be completing school at the end of May/beginning of June, depending on spring break.  If we only take one week off, then we'll be done with school in May, but if we opt to take an extra week off, then it will be June.  I'm not certain yet what we will decide, though truthfully, the weather may help us make the decision.

I apologize for the dearth of pictures in the last few posts.  During out last trip, my camera was accidentally left behind, so it may be a bit before I am able to add pictures, though I will try to get a few of our Social Studies Puzzle progress with Trev's camera. :)

Birds of a Feather...

This week in Science we will be introducing our section on bird studies.  For the next few weeks we will be focusing our Science lessons wholly on birds and answering questions like, what do birds eat? What is a bird's beak for and how are they shaped? What makes feathers unique?  We will also learn about bird habitats throughout the world, and we will even build our own bird houses to put in the yard this spring so we can (hopefully) see first-hand how birds develop and live in the wild.  We will also be visiting the local Pet Store to see different kinds of birds and talk to staff about bird care and growth.  As with our section about Oceans, we will be compiling extensive research about birds during this study.

Not to be overshadowed by the introduction of our new Science section, in Math we will be working on riddles/word problems that are specifically focused on place value.  We will be introducing the concepts of not all hundreds but of thousands this week, and working towards comprehending large numerical values. We will be using manipulatives, counters, the numberline, and visual representations of large numbers.  This week we will also attempt a canister/jar prediction and estimation using jelly beans.

In Grammar and Writing this week we will be working on combining sentences and creative writing. We will be practicing a few different methods of creative writing, from sentence starters to idea webs, this week we will really start creating our own stories and then editing our finished products so that in the coming weeks we can write and illustrate our own books of fiction.

For Reading this week we will be reading "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and discussing the properties of the story, focusing on vowel sounds.  Because Asher and Savannah are at slightly different reading levels, we will start transitioning from completely combined reading lessons to divided lessons, so both kids can be challenged appropriately for their individual ability.  Since the kids enjoy being on camera, I thought a fun activity might be to have them read a short story or except on camera to upload on the computer (and facebook).

We are officially over half-way through our school year and starting to consider changes/preparations for next year.  As part of my preparations, I will research state standards and expectations for achievement and academic growth.  While I enjoy homeschooling and I deeply believe my children benefit from being homeschooled, I also want to ensure that they remain at or above the expectations for the state of Michigan so they can both interact appropriately with like-aged children AND in the event that we enroll them in public school, I want to be assured they won't be behind.

Similarly, I will also be selecting and planning curricula for next school year.  Since I have had such a wonderful experience using Jean Wolff's Home Education Curriculum, I fully intend to stick with this program for next year, with a few additions of my own, of course.  Currently we are considering adding Spanish to our 'language' elective, while still continuing with our ASL work.  The kids have already learned about 300 signs at this point, and they are starting to learn to form sentences.  Right now we are looking at language program options, though it appears Rosetta Stone may be the dominant choice since Muzzy seems a bit too simplistic for the kids' age and ability levels and few of the other language programs have such good reviews.

Recently we added a PE (Physical Education) element to school, and it is going very well.  The kids really enjoy Crossfit a great deal, and it gives them a chance to exercise and run around in a structured and supervised fashion.  After a few more sessions of Crossfit, we may consider putting the kids in dance/gymnastics/martial arts per their interests.  We have also started a Healthy Me Healthy Eating 'program' which is encouraging the kids to branch out in their 'tastes' and refine their palates.  They are doing an extraordinary job in trying new foods, and learning how to make healthy meal choices.  It's also nice that Jill, our Crossfit Instructor, really encourages healthy eating habits and rewards the kids that make healthy and informed choices.

Since Christmas we have been adding a Children's Catholic "workshop" throughout the course of our week to give the kids a deeper understanding of Jesus and our religion.  They really seem to enjoy discussing the text and working through some of the more complicated concepts together.  I'm excited to see how this period will evolve throughout the remainder of the year.

We haven't quite gotten back into the swing of things since Christmas Break, but I am hoping this week will help us get back on track completely and keep us there. :)

Review, review, review....

This week was a review week for us.  It was nice to have an "easier" week this week, partly because Daddy had to work nights and had a training, and partly because I think the kids will benefit from a slow transition back into school.  Besides that, my birthday is this week and Savannah's is next week, so the kids were excited to celebrate!

In Math we were reviewing two digit addition/subtraction with and w/out regrouping and introducing three digit addition/subtraction. The kids have already worked on three digit addition and subtraction, but we haven't addressed it yet this year during 'lecture' though it was included in our warm ups.

In Grammar/Writing we reviewed contractions, differences between statements and questions, pronouns, subject/predicate, punctuation, and the parts of a sentence. For our writing assignment the kids will do the age old peanut butter and jelly 'how to' activity.  I'll try to post pictures of that activity. They will also do another 'how-to' paper of their choosing.

For Reading this week, we spent some time reviewing sentence compounding: compound subjects and predicates. We also worked on vowel sound combinations, like (oo, ee, oe, ea...) The kids are getting pretty adept at remember the rules for reading/sounding out vowels.  We also continued practicing bump reading.

This week we also did our first oral group story, where the kids took turns telling a story a few sentences at a time. They created some pretty integrated and surprising combinations.

We didn't start much new in Science, but rather finished up our relatively intense Ocean section from the last few weeks. Reading our books to each other, coloring or painting posters about Ocean pollution and similar activities that serve to reinforce what the kids learned.  We also started our new section in Science, Birds. Asher and Savannah did a close observation of Grandma's Parakeets, noting different characteristics about the birds, what they eat, how they fly, climb, and a variety of other things.

Last week the kids finished up the workbooks that we use for warm-ups. This is quite a feat since their workbooks were about 300 pages long.  I bought a new workbook to finish out the year that I think the kids will be able to enjoy, but since this is a review week, we spent our warm-up times telling stories, reviewing story elements, and working on group building and fun. It was a great week. :)

Ocean Animals Research Project

This week our focus in science is completing our Ocean Animals Research Project. For the last eight to ten weeks we have been studying the Oceans, pollution, the water cycle, and the many creatures that live in the Ocean. Now we are putting all that we have learned together and creating our own research books! We have the book blanks, we have the paint, crayons, markers, and researched information. Now to put it all together!



We are going to begin by painting a few of the pages in our book with a basic watercolor ocean scene background, much like ones the kids made in art displaying the continental slope, continental shelf, ect, which they will label. Since paint takes a while to dry, we will only paint a few select pages/animals/scenes and the rest will be illustrated in various mediums of crayons, colored pencils, markers, stickers, and cut-out pictures or stenciled items.  Google images, here we come! (We already returned the library books used for our research)

 For ease of reading, the kids will type up their information. So, instead of spending computer time solely on Time4Learning doing supplemental school activities in every subject, they will be typing up the information from their research for each animal. We haven't practiced proper finger placement or typing technique so I'm curious to see how this goes.

After typing up their information, the kids will need to organize their 'books' complete with a Table of Contents and prepare to put them together. We won't actually glue anything into their books just yet!

Finally done typing and ready to move on

Gluing our information into books

The last step of the process will be illustrations, though the kids will illustrate as we glue their typed research on the individual pages, the format and layout will be part of organizing their books.  Illustrating will take some time, because at least two pages will be painted and need some time to dry, and the other pages will be the kids' renditions of the individual animals they have researched.  I'm excited to see their finished products! They have been working  hard on various parts of this project for the last eight to ten weeks.

Finally, creating their cover art will be the last step after gluing their typed information and illustrating their books. Voila! The first official science research project is complete! They did an AMAZING job!