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Friday, January 22, 2010

Weekly Review

We were able to get back to school work this week, after all of us had been sick. We are still moving a little slow but it was good to get back to work. LittleBit has not been interested in doing school since the holidays, has an attitude about it and made this week a challenge.

Overall we had a fairly productive week. We caught up to where I wanted to be in history for this semester. He finished the next unit in his math workbook. We started back with our spelling workbook and worked on finding nouns in our reading this week. I am working on incorporating more handwriting into all parts of his schoolwork and only doing actual handwriting a few days a week. It seems to be helping, he does not mind writing out words in workbooks or for a project but puts up a huge fight when I say it is time to do handwriting. I would have never guessed that he would dislike handwriting so.

Thursday I asked him what he would like to do for school and picked math word problems, mind benders and his map workbook. He had a great time doing the subjects he chose and we got a lot accomplished. It was a great day.

I am hoping this weekend to get lessons plans made for the next several weeks and get a timeline made for finishing this years curriculum.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Spring Plans

I was asked not long ago if I was making any changes with our curriculum for the spring, at the time I had not planned on making any changes. Now I am looking at adding a science program. I am thinking of getting Apologia Exploring Creation with Botany.


Last summer we had a great time with our butterfly garden and very small vegetable garden. I had planned to doing the butterfly garden again and we are going to have a vegetable garden. I am planning on us starting the seeds indoors in the next few weeks. I found a seed pot maker that uses newspaper to make little pots to start your seedlings in. Looks like it will be a fun way for us to make and start our little garden.


A friend of mine and I were talking about curriculum for next year and she had recommended Apologia for science. I was looking at some of the sample lessons plans on their website and thought the Botany textbook looked like a great way to incorporate science into our fun gardening plans. While I doubt we would finish the textbook before this school year is over that is fine, we would just take our time and go through it at our own pace.


Has anyone used Apologia sciences specifically the Botany textbooks? I will also be getting the journal that goes with the textbook, I thought it would be a good way to get in some extra handwriting in a fun manner.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Weekly Review - No school this week

We have not done any homeschooling this week. LittleBit came down with strep last Sunday, he is still sick. I got sick on Tuesday and hubby got sick yesterday. We are all sick and feel miserable. I hope next week will be a better week for us all.


Happy Weekend to everyone.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Weekly Review - Back into the swing

This was our first week back doing school since going on holiday break around Thanksgiving. This week we mostly worked on getting back into a schedule and reviewing last semesters work. It was a good week, he has done really well, getting back into our regular schedule. I am sure promising to go to the adventure science center this weekend, had nothing to do with that:)


This week we reviewed the first 15 chapters of The Story of the World. He remembered more than I expected him to and we enjoyed rereading some of the stories. We picked right back up with our math practice workbooks, we are working our way through the extra practice book of Singapore 1A. We went over a few lessons in My First Language Lessons and worked on finding a noun in sentences as we read this week. For science we did a magnet experiment, learned about winter weather(of which we never saw the snow that we were supposed to get) and did a bit of research into how his heart is different than normal hearts.


Today we had fun working with our LEGO spelling set, using leapster games to practice math and reading.




He asked a lot of questions, as he does every day. I tried to remember so I could make a list of just some of the more interesting conversations we had this week.

1. Jesus how did he grow up
2. Jesus dying on the cross and how he got to heaven
3. Dentist - cavities
4. X-rays
5. What causes a gag reflex
6. Egyptians why did they believe in fake gods
7. Heart - healthy and how his is different (he as Tetralogy of Fallot)
8. Self defense - which lead to a talk about fighting
9. Atmospheric pressure - where does he learn this stuff!

I wonder how his mind works some days, it can be hard to keep up with how fast he changes topics. I am happy to answer his questions and I try to always tell him the truth on a level he can understand. But I would not mind if he would save some of these discussions for Dad.

Monday, January 4, 2010

First Day Back

Today we got back to our regular schedule which meant getting back into a regular school time. I have not made any changes to our curriculum for this semester, the books we are using are listed on the right side.

Today we reviewed Chapters 1 - 7 in The Story of the World history book. He did a good job at retaining the information and being able to narrate the stories back to me.


We practiced handwriting and worked on a few math worksheets. We are almost finished with the Singapore Practice book 1A and I will move right into practice book 1B.


At the end of every school day, LittleBit has to read a book by himself, he can pick from any book as long as he sits and reads the whole book. Today he picked Transformers, Meet the Decepticons. He usually picks an easy book but one he likes, which is fine with me, I want him to enjoy reading.

Muffin Tin Monday - Snacks

We have not been doing Muffin Tin Monday since we have been on holiday break, but with school starting back today, he was ready for a new Muffin Tin Monday. I did not give any thought to it, naturally, so I used what was left from our holiday food to make a snack tin.

He had

Apple Juice
Babybel cheese
Crackers
Muddy Buddies
Pretzels
M&Ms



Are you interested in Muffin Tin Mondays, just click the button to learn all about it.

Muffin Tin Monday at Her Cup Overfloweth

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Homeschool Engineering

Today we worked with our motor generator kit, his Aunt gave him for Christmas. It is a great kit, there are about 12 experiments on magnets plus the instructions to build different motor and generators. This kit can be easily adapted for younger kids or used for older children.



Today we did a few of the magnet experiments. The instructions are well written and easy to follow. There are a just a few household items needed such as string and thumbtacks, most everything is provided.

Experiment #1 - Finds the Earth North Pole

You use the magnets to observe the effects they had on a compass. Then you suspend magnet from a string and the north pole of the magnet will turn to face north, this shows the north pole of the magnet. Label the north and south pole of the magnet.




Experiment #2 - How magnet poles attract and repel
Use the magnets by putting the north and south poles together and apart to see how they attract or repel.





Experiment #3 - Why Magnets Attract
You try different things around the house to see what works with the magnets and what will attract or repel the magnets. A dollar bill is a great one for this because the ink is magnetized.