Weekly Review 2/4

 

 

I am pleasantly happy with how well this week has gone. As I have posted before we have been having a few behavior issues with getting work done in a timely matter.  I switched things up this week, and looked into making a curriculum change.

As I had posted earlier I had to break out my old kitchen timer to encourage Kiddo to get his work done in a timely matter.  Taking an hour to do one handwriting page or dawdling so much on math we did not have time to finish in a day.  We were both frustrated and getting no where. 

 

The timer helped, he saw it as a game, could he finish before the timer went off.  This helped with handwriting.  Math he was still getting frustrated saying he couldn’t do the worksheet when I knew he could.  Instead of moving forward I pulled out the extra practice workbook for Singapore and went back to easy addition and subtraction to see if that would help, it didn’t.

It finally dawned on me maybe it was the curriculum not one of us.  That lead to a search of math curriculums. I like Singapore but if it is not working for him we need a change.  I found that teaching textbooks has a new 3rd grade program, I was excited to find this.  I had read such good things about teaching textbooks but didn’t think it started until 4th grade.  I printed off the placement test from their webpage and Kiddo got every answer correct.  So, I printed off the placement test for 4th grade and he did really well on that one but I do not think he is ready for the 4th grade program yet.  I then let him try the sample problems they have on their webpage and not only did he love it, he has asked everyday this week to do more math!  I was wondering about spending so much money on a single class but if he is asking to do more math, I am happy.  I ordered the cd set for 3rd grade. I chose not to order the workbooks because I have the Singapore 2A and 2B books we can use for extra practice.  I think he will go through it quickly, it will be easier to tell once we get the program in but I feel he is between the 3rd and 4th grade program.  The 3rd grade level may be a little too easy for him and the 4th grade level too difficult, I chose the 3rd level because having an excellent foundation in math is so important. Extra practice learning the basics is never a bad thing. 

 

One of the other things I did this week was change up our schedule. We did a subject a day this week.  We spent our entire school time on only one subject.  Kiddo really enjoyed it and I will do this again when we need a switch up from our regular school schedule. This is what we did this week.

 

Monday – Science:  We finished reading the Apologia Astronomy book, Built the international space station with Legos, watched Journey to the Stars DVD, spent time on NASA’s website looking at the mission to the moon Titan and as a bonus watched Apollo 13 movie. 

Tuesday – Math:  Took 2 placement tests for Teaching Textbooks and did sample lessons online.  He spent over an hour doing sample lessons because he like them.

Wednesday- History: Read 2 chapters in Story of the World and did matching maps and activities from the Story of the World activity book.  Looked at photos for some of the things we read about and researched the Black Plague in detail, he found it very interesting.

Thursday – Spelling/Vocabulary/Reading: Started on new spelling words with sentences and a story.  Did 3 exercises in our Vocabulary workbook and started reading a new chapter book.

Friday- Experiment Day various experiment and activities to go with what we learned from the week.

 

It was a much improved week over the past few.  I am glad switching things up did the trick and I am looking forward to getting the new math curriculum. 

3 in 30 Goals–Week 1

How did my week go?  I made progress not as much as I wanted to, but that is always the case. 
1. Deep Clean the whole house  - I started on the office, the worst offender in my clean the house plan.  So many things to organize, clean out, file, etc. etc.  I made progress, have not finished yet hope to this weekend. 
2. Make a 30 day menu and shopping list.  I made my menu 30 days of breakfast, lunch and dinners.  It was easy for the most part, I have done this before and since I am planning for just two while my husband is travelling.  I was heavy of meals that Kiddo likes and ones that make good freezer meals.  Now who wants to make the shopping list and cook all the food?  NOT ME   I will probably do the cooking at the end of the month.
3. Blog more often  I have not had a chance to schedule any preplanned blogs.  I am going to set up a file to make notes of ideas I want to blog about. I am planning on doing a weekly review post every Friday. 

Wordless Wednesday

 Snap Circuits hours of fun

 

Apologia Astronomy Review

 

 

We finished Apologia Astronomy this month. It took one semester to complete this book.  So far I found it to be the easiest Apologia book. We are also using Zoology and Botany. If you are looking for a beginner book in the Apologia science books, Astronomy would be a great start. 

We did go through this book fairly quickly.  Kiddo has read a few books on space and knew most of the material in the book.  We did many of the projects in the book, he loves all the activities that come along with the book.  We did several other activities to go along with the reading.  We went to a planetarium, took a trip the the NASA museum in Huntsville,AL,  read other books on space, built the space station out of LEGO bricks,  watch the dvd Journey to the Stars and watched the movie Apollo 13.  We are planning a night trip to look for constellations once we have clear and warmer weather.  He wants to find Orion and Ursa Major.

As the parent/teacher I did enjoy the Astronomy book, it was written in a simple but clear matter without “dumbing” down the subject matter. The conversational tone is great for easy reading and discussions.  I like that Apologia does not over simplify the subject matter or vocabulary.  I will be keeping our Apologia books as reference books plus he likes to read them on his own time.

This is a Christian based program.  I will say I did not agree with all that is stated in the book and that is fine. This book is very New-Earth creationist.  It opened up dialogue for us to discuss different beliefs and why some believe the way they do and why we believe what we believe.  The same can be said for the Journey to the Stars DVD from NASA.  They discuss the big band theory in this dvd. We discussed many times why some believe that universe was created that way  vs. created by God.  We talked about how it is possible that God did create the universe with a big bang.  Kiddo came up with his own theory as to how God created the universe and can not wait to go to heaven to discuss it with Him. 

Kiddo truly enjoys the Apologia science books. He naturally likes science and these books further his love of learning.  When we finish Botany this summer he wants to get Human Anatomy,  I am not sure Mom is ready for that one! 

 

For the month of February we will be concentrating on Zoology and in March we will add Botany back in.  We started Botany last summer and as fall came, it was harder to do the activities in the book and note booking journal, so I put it up until spring.  If you are wondering why we are doing two science books this year, when I was working on our curriculum for this year, Kiddo made a convincing argument for studying two different subjects and here we are.

 

Lego Space Station

 

 

 

3 in 30 Update and February Goals

I have enjoyed being a part of such a great group.  Everyone’s encouragement has been amazing. I am looking forward to next month.

It is the end on week 4 for the 3 in 30 goals for January and here is my update.

1.  Stop drinking soda, of any kind.  I gave up soda at Christmas and I have done great with this goal.   I had 1/2 a Coke when we went to Red Robin, we had onion rings, you have to have a Coke with that!  Other than that, I have no soda. I don’t really miss it anymore. 

2. Start school before lunch.   O.k. this one still needs work.  I really want to get us on a morning schedule but the past few weeks we are having some behavioral issues and once we get past those I will go back to working on school before lunch.
3. Start Project 365  I have to say remembering to take a picture every day is hard.   I am working on it.  I have missed 2 days so I consider this a success. I plan to keep this up for the year, one month at a time.
Overall I am happy with the progress I made on the goals,  I have to say knowing I had write about my progress every week really helped to keep me going.  I look forward to next month. 

February Goals
My goals this month center around getting us ready for this spring.  My husband will be travelling overseas for several weeks and that is going to make for some changes around the house.  Not having him here to help is going to be exhausting for me (medical issue) and I am trying to get as organized and prepared as I can to make it easier.  I chose goals this month to help me get prepared and organized.
1. Deep Clean the whole house 
2. Make a 30 day menu and shopping list.  I used to cook 30 meals for 30 days all the time and I need to get back to it.
3. Blog more often   I want to work at blogging more often and  get ahead by scheduling some of my post. 

LEGO Club

To say my son likes LEGO would be an understatement.  If he could only play with one toy ever again it would be LEGO bricks, no question.  He can spend hours playing and building creations.  He reads LEGO books, catalogs, plan his next purchase, watches LEGO TV, and plays LEGO games on the Wii.  We are LEGO people. 
I would not even begin to guess how many LEGO kits we have.  He has been playing with them since the age of 3 so we have years of collecting.  His room is decorated in a garage workshop decor (his other love cars).  To house all said cars and LEGO kits I lined one wall with Craftsman tool carts.  You know the red and black ones with 5 drawers.  We bought 3 of them and put up against the wall and then we made a top out of a piece of pine.  Here is a old picture.  We have stained the wood top and it is full of stuff now:) 
The drawers are perfect for storing LEGO bricks.  I long ago gave up keeping them together in kits so other than a box for minifigs and a box for power function pieces it is a free for all.  He likes it that way.  In the small drawer at the top he keeps the instructions and catalogs. 


We have looked for a local LEGO club here and other than one for older kids working with robots, there is not one for younger kids.  My husband and I have talked about starting one and are still thinking about it.  In the mean time though I found a LEGO club online through CurrClick.  This club is free.I have recently discovered this site and so far I am impressed.  I have purchased a few classes and we have watched a couple of live classes that had been recorded.  We joined the LEGO club and he loved it.  It is a live class via webcam, while I think an actual club local with kids would be better this is an excellent alternative.
For class they built a simple 2011 sign and learned about gravity and how it effects everything.  They then rebuilt a better sign that would stand up on a base on its on.  It was a quick easy lesson.  We look forward to more LEGO club. 

Here is the sign he made with Wolfie who is with us all the time right now.

Ever had ONE of those weeks?

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you question homeschooling, thinking about running out of the house screaming, maybe pulling your hair out?  It has been one of those weeks at our house. 
I don’t know if is the change to school in the mornings, I doubt it or this new “NO” phase my 7 year old is going through but what a week.  Our week started out with handwriting and I asked him to write his ABCs both lower and upper case.  He told me he did not remember his ABCs, I know he knows his ABCs.  Let us just say requiring him to write his letters created all kinds of tears and drama.   He cried saying, “but Mom even 7 year olds forget things”  (I tried really hard not to laugh at that).  Our whole week was like this, it was one of those weeks.
In order for me not to pull my hair our I made a few changes to our day to see if you couldn’t get a better week going.  First thing I did was get out my kitchen timer.  There is no reason at all to spend an hour doing one handwriting page or math worksheet.  He was not happy when I set up the timer and told him he had to get his page done before the buzzer went off.  He fussed and complained loudly saying,  he couldn’t get it done it time etc.  After a while though he got into the game of it, I wonder if I can finish before the timer, I am going to finish before it gets to 5 minutes left etc.  As long as it got done correctly I was fine with it, anything to get him moving and working.
Next thing I have done it break the day up.  We usually work straight through get our school work done and are finished with book work for the day.  I am working on one or two subjects and then letting him take a small 10 or 15 min. break to play, run around, or get a snack.  It is taking us so much longer to get school work done but it seems to be helping with the complaining, and the dawdling.  Did I mention dawdling drives me crazy, can not stand it. 
He generally good about school work but the last few weeks have been a test in my patience.  I hope the changes I have made will help get us back on track. I am sure I am not the only homeschooler who has had days or weeks like this.  While I love homeschooling some days are harder than others. 
Have a good week!