Week 22!

It is Sunday already.  Good grief.

History this week was learning about the very beginnings of Rome, including the myth of Romulus and Remus.  I had BK color a picture showing the twins with the wolf that raised them and he had a lot of fun doing that since it was also the same picture as the cover of Story of the World.  Last weekend we also watched the 2.5 hours of The True Story of Alexander the Great.  It was a very interesting movie and BK really liked it, so that was a bonus.  I also got a bag with a few gifts in it for Mother’s Day last weekend and BK immediately took it and make a Grecian helmet out of it and ran around the house declaring he was Alexander the Great.

For reading we are still reading Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.  The kids are paying really close attention to it and they find it very interesting.  In the book there are plants that smell like fresh baked bread and baked apples.  Based on that I got some of the flowers off one of the shrubs we have by the house because every year when they bloom it smells like watermelon to me, so I let the kids sniff and see what they thought, they agreed.

For science this week we continued the study of the woods that we had been working on. We also briefly watched a webcam put up by the local news that showed a robin in her nest with her pretty blue eggs.  It ended poorly for the eggs though when a cat found the nest. Honestly it was a pretty light week in the science department but next week is a bit more intense with an awesome project planned.

In math we worked on more Singapore 2A.  I also took the time to really look over Math-U-See and decided that it didn’t look like something that would work for BK so I boxed it up and returned it.  The videos were rather drab and longer than I cared for them to be plus the workbook was super boring in my opinion.  Singapore might not be quite as in depth but there are fun games and interesting things to do plus some nice colors.  It is much more engaging as far as I am concerned.  So for now, we are sticking with Singapore, though I do need to get the next set of Fred books too since those are fun as well.

The other thing we added into the daily lessons starting last week was this book, Daily Language Review.  It has short little lessons in practicing things like capital letters at the start of sentences, whether to use a period or a question mark, and capitals for names etc.  It is pretty neat and it also works as handwriting practice since a lot of the lessons include at least one “write the sentence properly” assignment.

In all it was a good week!  It is hard to believe that we are already finished with week 22 from Build Your Library!

Week 21 Build Your Library Complete!

Hello all! I am back!

This week flew by as usual! It goes even faster in the summer when we have good weather as we get a lot “PE” time outside.  A lot.

This week we started a new book for literature.  The new book is The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.  So far it is a good book, though it is very wordy.  I get lots of, “Mama what does XYZ mean?”  That is okay with me though as new vocabulary words are always exciting.

I am also having Big Kid read Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Little Kid in the evenings.  They both seem to like it so that is always good.

Science this week focused on a book called Flute’s Journey.  It was a very neat book about the lifecycle of a wood thrush.  It was a circular story that starts with the bird of Flute and ends with Flute’s own eggs being laid.  Great book.  I included a picture of his “story circle” though it wasn’t exactly a circle.

We also learned about frogs vs toads as I happened to find one of each in the pool.  We took a little time to compare them.  There is a picture below though the frog is hiding quite well on the label of the bucket.

In history we learned a lot about Alexander the Great.  He was a pretty neat guy and BK had some interested theories about how he died, since he just got weak then weaker and died.  His big theory was that Alexander exercised too much and wasn’t able to recover.  I found that rather amusing.  We have a documentary to watch tomorrow (when it gets here from Netflix, plus it is supposed to rain all day) all about him.

Last weekend BK and Dada used instructions and built a wooden car from Lowes.  He got it for a gift either at Christmas or his birthday, I can’t remember which. He found it in the basement last weekend so they put it together.  He was rather pleased.

There was a lot going on in math this week.  My goal was to focus on practicing adding and subtracting triple digit numbers with carrying and borrowing.  He can do it but practice was a good idea, before we step into Math U See Gamma which is starting multiplication.

There was one day this week that I didn’t set up any math for him at all and he ended up going to the playroom and counting the money in his piggy bank, even grouping the quarters into 4′s and counting each dollar.  It was great practice and I had to do nothing at all!

We also have still been using Singapore Standards, book 2A.  I bought it awhile ago so I figured if we have it we may as well use it!  He did a few pages today and found it pretty easy it seemed, so that is great.

In all I say it was a good week!  Quite a lot of learning was had by all and they seemed to enjoy it.

In related news, LK had her Kindergarten screening on Wednesday   She seemed to have a lot of fun so hopefully she enjoys it in the fall.

I have also been working on setting up a local secular co-op type situation here for the fall. It takes quite a bit of effort so far but I have gotten a great deal of response so far, so that is exciting.  Most of the kids are 5-7 which will be great since BK is turning 7 in a little more than a month.  It is taking a bit of organization and stepping out of my comfort zone but I think in the end it will be worth it, hopefully.

Friday Again, Already!

Wowsers.  Summer has sprung here.  It has been BEAUTIFUL all week with temps in the low to mid 70′s and sun from dawn to dusk.  It is amazing.

In math we finished Life of Fred Dogs.  It is all finished up.  We don’t have any other Fred books right now so for the next few weeks I am planning on having Big Kid practice adding and subtracting with carrying/borrowing.  He can do it but he hasn’t quite “mastered” it yet.  I did get Math-U-See Gamma in my hands too and that looks good. I don’t want to start it though until I am sure he has mastered carrying and borrowing.

In reading we finished Tales from the Odyssey Part Two.  It was a very exciting book and both kids really enjoyed it.  It was popular.  It was my first exposure to the story as well so it is nice to read it even my from perspective.

In history we learned about the Greek’s war with Persia and then about the 25 year Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens.  I also learned an interesting lesson about screening movies, even documentaries, before I show them to the kids.  The curriculum suggested the kids watch The Spartans, which is a history documentary.  I thought nothing of it since they have seen fighting etc before however this movie also mentioned a rather lengthy bit about sex and how it factored into wars the Spartans were part of.  Now, this isn’t a big deal overall, I just wasn’t prepared for it.

For science we worked more on One Small Square: Woods.  It is a neat book with quite a few interesting things in it.  We also cracked open geodes!  It wasn’t part of the curriculum but we got a kit for Christmas so I decided to make use of it since it was so nice outside.  The kids had a lot of fun and were very impressed that the “rocks” had such pretty things inside them. Pictures are below.

Another thing we ended up doing for science, that actually fit in quite nicely with our study of the woods, was studying a spider that we found.  I found a dock spider (pictured below) in the pool and got it out via grape juice container.  I am not a fan of spiders at all, they creep me out, however BK REALLY took to the spider and named it and declared it was his pet.  We did a bit of research about them and learned all kinds of things from diet to the interesting fact that wasps sometimes lay eggs inside the spider then carry the spider off as a nursery for the wasp eggs! Wow.  Sadly the spider ended up dying (not surprising) but he sure did spur a lot of learning.

It was a good week and we spent a very large amount of time outside running around and enjoying the fresh air.  In New England weather can be fickle and for all we know after this week it could be rainy and 60 all summer so we take as much time outside as we can get while the weather is nice!

Last Week

I don’t understand how the weeks (and then the weekends) go so fast!

Last week was pretty low key overall.

Math was more Life of Fred.  The only thing about Fred that wasn’t awesome this week is that the material talked about euthanizing dogs.  I knew it was coming though because I had seen it mentioned in a review somewhere online.  Given that I worked at an animal shelter in my life before kids, this was pretty simple for me to explain/deal with but I can see where it could be a big deal for those that aren’t expecting it.

We also did a bit more with fractions.  BK used the fraction tiles to figure out a few problems that I gave him.  It gave me a chance to practice my adding fraction skills too since he didn’t pick things I thought he would! I figured he would pick more straight-forward things but that just isn’t his style.  Pictured below is what he decided to include.

I DID finally chose a math program for Big Kid.  I got him Math-U-See.  Based on the table of contents and how he does with math currently I ordered him the Gamma level.  I am hoping that is the right one but we will see when it gest here!

Science was more about the woods!  We learned more about animals and elements in the woods.  We also learned about camouflage.  One of BK’s assignments was to take one of our old iPhones (with a broken but functional screen) and look for animals/bugs that were camouflaged.  He didn’t find anything living to take pictures of but he did take some good photos of what the woods look like (posted below).

History has been more about Ancient Greece.  We have talked about mythology a bit too which is fun.  We learned about Athens vs Sparta and thought it was interesting that since BK is about to turn 7 that if he lived in Sparta he would be sent to warrior training camp this summer.  He decided it would be better to stay at home with us instead.

Reading was more from Tales from the Odyssey.  It is a great book and the kids are both loving it.  I am quite pleased.  We finish that this week and move on to the next book.

 

 

Build Your Library Now on Homeschool Reviews!

I just wanted to let my readers know that the curriculum we use, Build Your Library, has a page on Homeschool Reviews now!  You can find it HERE. Myself and at least one other person has reviewed it already.  Hopefully more will add their thoughts as time goes by and more people get to use the program!

Grades 1, 2, 5, and 6 have been completed and I heard a rumor (I can’t remember where!) that she is working on a Kindergarten edition as well!

 

Another Week Done (and picture overload)

We finished another week on Friday and now I am way late for my weekly post! Oops.  It has been pretty nice outside here lately (at least for New England!) so we have been spending a LOT of time outside.  It is great, it just means not as much time for computers and posting to the blog!

This week was pretty low key over all.  It didn’t really feel like we did a lot of stuff but looking back at the pictures we covered quite a bit of information.

Math was more Fred.  Last week was a lot of focus on functions.  I have included a picture below of one of our function problems.  We had to find the “rule” that explained the function.  Some of them were pretty tricky and others were rather simple.  Some of them made no sense numerically (such as the one where every human was given a 1 and everything not a human got a 2) but I like that it makes BK think in ways other than JUST numbers.

We also used fraction tiles for the first time today.  Big Kid loved seeing what fractions matched up.  I have pictured the tiles below too.  They are quite neat.

Science is a lot more about nature.  We are reading One Small Square: Woods.  It is more geared toward fall but it is working just fine right now for spring time.   There are nature walks and leaf rubbings and sitting quietly observing the woods.  We also examined a spider I found today.  We aren’t completely sure what kind of spider it is (pictured below) but I *think* it is a juvenile dock spider/fishing spider.  We have a lot of adults around so it would make sense.  The adults get HUGE…the one in the picture was about 2.5 or 3 inches from leg to leg.

Reading was more from Tales from the Odyssey Part 2.  It is a great book and it seems like we are close to Odysseus coming home soon.  BK is very excited.

I am having BK read to LK every night as well.  One chapter a night from Matilda. When this is done I will pick another book for them to read that way.  It is great for him to be reading aloud and LK likes hearing the story as well.

For art/story telling I had BK draw a picture of the “Summer Monster” (pictured below).  He made up a huge story all about a monster that goes around the world and blows fire on pools to warm them up.

Little Kid has been working on her handwriting too.  She was writing an open/closed sign on her own and is doing quite a lot better at forming letters.  She did pretty well spelling it on her own as well.

Overall it was a good week and since it is already the end of Sunday we are getting ready to jump right back into it tomorrow morning!

Back at it

We took last week off!  We hadn’t had a week off in 37 weeks (including public school at the start of the year).

We did read Matilda, and are still reading it.  I had been reading it to both kids but have taken to having Big Kid read it aloud so we can work on more words with him.  There are a LOT of difficult words in Matilda so it is a great chance for him to see the words, find out what they are, and then figure out what they mean.

We had a little trouble adjusting back into the routine today but overall it went well enough.  Fred to start the day.  We worked on chapter 8 today.  I still haven’t decided on what to do for math after this book of Fred.  We have no more Fred books (I need to order the next ones)…we only have about 10 chapters left in this book.  Ack!

In science BK sat in the woods with a clipboard and answered a few questions about what colors he saw, what he heard, and what season it was etc.

In history we learned about the Medes.  A lot of the story sounded like fairy tale and honestly with that book I sometimes have trouble figuring out what is SUPPOSED to be myth and what is actual history.  I am sure the kids are having similar trouble.  I need to do a bit of my own research it seems.

In reading we started Tales from the Odyssey Part Two.  It is a great book.  BK has been reading another version of the same story, The Odyssey, during rest time every day.  He likes it a lot and was talking to me today about the various monsters in the book.

Overall it was a decent day.  It was very sunny so that was amazing and meant a lot of time outdoors.  Hopefully the rest of the week goes well too!