Monday, August 29, 2011

Great day of school today! I am still experimenting on how things ought to be run, but each thing seems to be working better and better.

I pulled out all of E's sheets for grammar, math, handwriting and phonics and put them in her binder. She knows to get one sheet out per day and that is her independent work. She watched Mr. Steve for her lesson on multiplying 1 and 0 today. Did really well and actually said she liked math today!!! That is definite progress from last year. :)

Also did:

• Bible - verse is Psalm 139:14
• Spelling - did her list on spellingcity.com

Following all done on time4learning:

• Science - passed her test on life cycles
• Social Studies - passed her test on the globe vs. maps (country and city)
• LA - fluency reading
• Grammar - also worked on making sentences out of index cards (nouns, verbs and adjectives)

P's day:

• Verse - Proverbs 12:22
• Handwriting - continued working on correct forms of letters
• Bible - God created people. She had to draw a picture of herself showing "God did not make anyone else like me"
• Math - we went back to the very basics so she wasn't so aggravated. We worked on adding 0 and adding 1 along with "playing" with the manipulative blocks to recognize color with amount
• Spelling - did page 86 with her spelling words still from last week
• Poetry - we reviewed "The Caterpillar" and she is almost ready to recite and let me video
• Phonics - we worked on blends and coding words with short vowels and circling our blends

G - still trucking along and writing her letters and numbers. She did the number 8 today and was able to cut out 9 rectangles, color them the correct color, and then paste to the correct corresponding color word.

We got a lot done today and I am proud of our Monday!!!

August 26, 2011

Homewood Park - "Learn about Alabama"

Today was a field trip followed by a back to school party for Essential (our cover school) and Highlands Homeschoolers (a support group that organizes a lot of our field trips). We all met at Homewood Park to have our "Learn about Alabama" kickoff study.

Ms. Kristy went over a lot of facts about the state that we have been discussing along with going over some we haven't. The girls got to look at pictures of everything she covered. She also had some things they could touch and feel to see them also.

The girls were able to state the facts they have been learning and have a lot of fun doing so. They played bingo (with cheerios) as Ms. Kristy called out facts about our state. I had to help P with the reading some but she did a great job!

They also colored pictures of state symbols, did mazes, some riddles about our reptiles and so much more. It was very hot but they had a good time. Each one also sang the first verse to the Alabama State song - they were very proud to know it!!

Great first meeting for our Alabama study.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

P - Today was catch up on reading. Also did reading eggs complete first lessonl. She really enjoyed it!

E did time4learning.

Science lesson and test. Did her test on life cycles - only missed 1!!!

Social studies - Essential needs of humans

Math - working with money

LA - fluency in reading

G - reading eggs. Completed her 2nd lesson and really likes it too!

Here's video of E:

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Busy, busy day at the Reed school today. Took a while but got a lot accomplished.

Today for P:

• Working on sight words: heart, any, only, was, climb
• Bible: Review verse from earlier this week
• New spelling list
• Math: 9 facts and making 10
• Phonics: the A sound (ai, ay, a-e, eigh)
• Language Arts: Proper noun definition
• Handwriting verse

Today for E:

• Cursive - q and g and review previous
• Bible - review verse
• Math - 2 sheets multiplication with rectangle area
• Grammar / LA - linking verbs (see video), also "telling" sentences
• Handwriting - verse

Monday, August 22, 2011

We are getting back into things since we didn't do school Thursday and Friday. We are having to make some changes over the next few weeks due to Emi's gym training schedule changing up some.

Today for P:

• Bible: God made animals (she drew her favorite animals. she chose a giraffe and a monkey)
• Verse for this week is Proverbs 16:9 - "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps"
• Language Art lesson : The Rabbit and the Turtle. Worked on comprehension of the story and being able to answer the questions I asked. Reviewed her poem, The Caterpillar.
• Math: still working on adding more than 10 and filling in the unknown.
• Spelling: writing her new spelling words out and doing 1 activity with them
• Handwriting: Wrote her verse with only 1 correction.

Today for G:

• worked on sight words for her colors and worked on the number 6 and 7

Today for E:

• Bible: God made animals.
• Verse for the week: Matthew 5:25
• Language art lesson: Reviewing nouns and verbs. Learned about "state of being verbs"
• Math: Started multiplication around rectangles
• Spelling: started new list. Had to make 2 corrections
• Handwriting: learned 0 and c in cursive and wrote words containing those letters
• Science and social studies: online with time4learning
• Recited her poem "The Goops" (will post video)

Wednesday, August 17

Schedule of today's school:

Together time:

• Prayer
• Pledge of Allegiance
• Handwriting practice
• Bible: We are still working on Genesis 1. Today we are looking at "God created plants, flowers, trees and animals." The girls had to draw their favorite plants and flowers.

• Alabama state facts: During the time of learning the facts about Alabama, we are listening to this on the computer to help us learn our state song. The Alabama State Song (first verse).

Then we do separate work. I work with P on spelling and phonics while E does hers independently. Then I work with P on math while E works on hers independently also.

E does online for science, social studies and supplemental language arts. P does online for spelling enrichment.

We were planning on starting some Spanish today but math has taken us a little while longer so I think we will wait on that one!!

Funny for today. While working on 1st Language Lessons, we were working on Proper nouns with Payton compared to common nouns. One of the goals of this curriculum is to help your child learn to speak correctly and answer in full sentences. I asked Payton to tell me what her name was and the response should have been was "My name is Payton." Instead she answered, "Me llamo Payton." I laughed so hard that she answered in Spanish. Guess we started that a little today anyway!!!

Tuesday, August 16

School today took a little longer than usually. Each girl completed all of their assignments but we added in science and social studies for E. I am trying out a new online program called Time4Learning. It has lesson plans and some supplemental work for math and language arts along with a core curriculum for science and social studies. E seemed to like it today because she could do it independently and it was on the computer!!

P has decided that handwriting is her favorite thing. I am having to intersperse it with her core subjects to keep her motivated. She learned how to add her 9 facts today by taking one from the units and making 10. She felt smart once she grasped the concept. We are going to do a few more days of this before moving on. She also learned her new spelling list for this week and only missed 3 words. Very proud! I set up a list for her on spellingcity.com so she enjoyed working on the computer also.

G is enjoying writing and also playing on Starfall .

I have changed some stuff up for tomorrow to see how the schedule flows. We will see....

Monday, August 15, 2011

Mondays are always hard to get moving. I think I am organized but it never fails that I forgot to get something prepared for the day. I keep thinking the next day is when it is all going to come together and not be so chaotic. But, it's not. I know that eventually I will have a better system, but right now it is just trying to make sure all is done.

The girls don't seem to be phased by it. We do their work and they help each other when needed. Then they carry on with their day. I, however, am feeling like a chicken with my head cut off :) Going from subject to subject and child to child. By the grace of God, I know it will all be okay.

So, all that to say, we got school done today. We did some in my cardiologist's waiting room. Then we came home and finished the rest up.

P's handwriting is getting so pretty. She is taking her time now and not trying to just finish. She is doing copy work for her writing lesson. Today she wrote her Bible verse that she is working on memorizing. I do not correct words that she misspelled yet. That will come later on. Here is her writing from today:

We have started learning about our state. Today we colored pictures of our flag and traced the outline of Alabama. We talked about the yellowhammer and camellia also.

We also started learning our state song. The girls were laughing at all of the words that they didn't understand (thee, groweth, aye, to name a few). We have our Learn About Alabama kickoff study with our cover school on August 26. If they can sing the first verse of the song, they get a special prize. Well that was all the motivation they needed!!!

E is getting better and better with math. Hoping to get started on her new math sheets by the end of the week. I am going to need to spend some more time with P to make sure she is grasping the concepts a little better before we move on. Might start doing more online games to make it more fun for her.

E's cursive is getting so pretty. She has did e and l today along with linking those letters to ones she has already learned. E is flying through her spelling so I am thinking I'm gonna have to look for some harder curriculum for her. That is a good thing though!! The curriculum Payton is doing is right on her level so all is good there.

All in all, today was a good day. Nehemiah 8:10, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Such a great thing to remember!!! He is my strength and I can do all things through Him!!

Nature Study Trail (#1) - August 12, 2011

We had our first Nature trail study today with Ms. Cathy (who was amazing). The girls had such a great time with the other girls in the group.

One family is a former teammate of E's from the gym.

We went to Inverness Park Trails off Hwy 280. The girls were able to walk along the trail searching for anything that they thought was of interest. We sang "My Father's World" hymn before we began and talked about our 5 senses and how to use them. Each child found things and asked questions along with writing down the things they saw in a journal.

At the end of the walk, each child had to sit down and think about their favorite thing they saw on the trail. Then they took their sheet of paper and wrote about their picture. Each one was so excited about what they had drawn. We learned about spores, ivy, bark, larvae, grubs, leaves, nuts, berries and so much more. Our favorite gift from God on our trail was a praying mantis. It was so neat to be able to study him up close. We were able to sit down at the end and Ms. Cathy read information about him to us. A lot of information but such a fun way to learn it :)

P picked up a hickory nut. She drew the nut along with the muddy trail, berries, wild flowers and the muddy trail. She was so observant!!

E drew the tree that the we saw the praying mantis on. Along with a wild flower on the tree. She loves drawing and writing so this activity was perfect for her!

G drew a tree and some bugs, one being a ladybug. She had so much fun and hung in there the entire time. So creative!

Here is what we learned about the praying mantis:

• Name: stagomanted
• their long legs are always bent into the praying position
• the head turns in all directions
• orginated in Europe
• Young mantis is seen May - August (they are green)
• Adult mantis is seen Sept - October (they are brown)

They each have assignment before our next meeting. They are to go in their own yard and find something to bring to show and tell that is interesting to them. E, P and G are already talking about what they want to bring.

Thank you Lord for such a sweet day with my girls. Learning about your creation while being out enjoying it is a great gift from you.

G reading

Here is the link to G reading:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BxhYZ6tjiA

August 11, 2011

Today school went well. We tried to finish stuff up for the week since we have our Nature Study Co-Op tomorrow.

P: Worked on her math of adding 0, adding 1 and solving for the unknown. She used her blocks some today but seemed to start grasping the concept pretty well. She also is working on the definition of a noun but concentrating on the person part. Her spelling is something she is getting really good at and that is helping her reading come along pretty well. Her handwriting is getting better everyday. Just have to get her to quit holding her pencil so tight. I think her favorite part is when she gets to journal and getting to draw her picture. :)

E: worked really hard on her math and did much better today. She also worked on her cursive, learning the lowercase letters i and t and connecting them.

The poem she started working on for memorization is "The Goops" by Gelette Burgess; Which she got a kick out of this considering her Nana Reed has been teaching her about the goops for years!!!

We also continued working on common nouns and proper nouns and the definition of each.

G: She is reading more and more 3 letter words. Her handwriting is improving also. She enjoys her dry erase book a lot. She worked on the number 4 today. Writing the number, the word and coloring groups of 4.

August 9, 2011

Back in the grind after camping. Girls had a great attitude and I was able to school Payton and then do Emi separately today. Took more of my day up that way, but until I can figure out exactly how to do both together without taking all day to do it.

We started our Bible lessons today learning about Genesis 1. The girls colored pictures about God creating day and night. They each colored one showing something they did during the day.

Payton started in her handwriting book to learn correct manuscript. She has such pretty handwriting when she takes her time, just like her sissy.

Emi started working on cursive today and she is so excited. She worked on under-curves, over-curves, slanted lines and slanted ovals.

They worked on spelling and grammar. Emi is still struggling in some hard spelling words so we are trying to do some easier words to begin with and work into harder ones. Payton did well on hers and just needed help on her challenge words. Each did great on their grammar.

We also started working on Alabama facts and review.

Payton's art work (outside playhouse with daddy's treesand and all) :)

August 3, 2011

We are camping up at Smith Lake and it is raining very badly. The good thing about being able to school my girls is that school can go anywhere with us. I brought our bin with a few days work and we were able to do some in the camper.

Each girl had their journal for handwriting. They wrote about what they have been doing while camping along with drawing pictures about it. Math review sheets were a must to get us ready for the new material we hope to start soon. We also did some spelling and grammar while working on the journal entries.

July 27, 2011

We did school again today. Still reviewing a lot to get caught up from where both girls left off last year. Handwriting, Bible, Math, Spelling and Grammar. A lot accomplished in a few hours but went pretty well.