And sometimes we have guests for school...

The School Post

I recently read one of those "You know you are a homeschooler when..." lists and one was "when someone asks what grade your child is in and your answer ends in 'ish' " That's us.  Jay is 2nd grade-ish.  And really the only reason I keep up with a grade is so that I have an answer when someone asks!  This is our first year of formal schooling.  The past years have been learning through living.  "How many people in our family? 5, right? There are 3 forks in the dishwasher.  How many more forks do you need?"  Reading LOTS of good books and just letting him ask questions, find answers, play and explore.  That tactic worked great!  This year I bought real school books and have a real plan and it seems he is right where he should be.  That makes a mama happy!  So here is what we are doing this year.

Bob Jones Math

 Explode the Code bk 2

Handwriting Without Tears Bk 1

First Language Lessons by Jessie Bauer

We are also doing geography loosely using Geography for Every Kid and the library and internet fun worksheets mostly found here.

October- Human Body Lapbook
Novemeber-Thanksgiving, Pilgrims, Indians...all that jazz.  Bringing in the geography we are already studying.
Decemeber-German Christmas Traditions

That will get us through the end of the year.  I have plans for next year but they are still dancing around in my head!  They will get on paper soon. 


Hunter has been right in the mix as well.  I've picked up a couple of little math books that he loves.  He also finished a dinosaur workbook.  He is always telling me that he wants harder books!  ok!  He's loving this school thing.  That makes a mama happy too! 

Copying math problems out of Jay's book to his own notebook! So cute!

He also has his own Explode the Code

So that's the school post!

Our Nature Walk

A cool morning (finally!) in Texas!





























Perfect.

Art Class

Tyler's first drawing of a guy. Complete with sword and shield. Jay and Hunter (and mom!) are so proud of him!

Summer days and homeschool love

We have been in the school mode for a few weeks now and it's going very well. Even with a two year old and baby in tow. I'm keeping things light, fun and informal with Hunter. Jay started with Math and Explode the Code everyday and I'm slowing adding a few more subjects to fill out our school day. I'll post more details later in the week.
Even with school in full swing here in Texas, fall hasn't shown any signs of visiting. Triple digits. Hot. Hotter. Hottest. Oh. My. So a few days ago I was wondering why I've been so grumpy and irritable by the afternoon and I realized it's because we haven't been outside in weeks. Sure I've kicked them out for a few minutes in the morning for as long as they can stand it but we haven't been playing outside until.....



a storm last week (yeah, like crazy wind and a quarter inch of rain) knocked down this ginormous branch! (we weren't home. More on that later too) The boys can't help but sweat it out because it's so fun to play on!! I deliver water, they play outside. It's a beautiful arrangement and my summer grumpiness has passed! Now if some cooler weather will just come I'll be a happy mommy!

homeschooling

Learning place value:









Teaching place value:




There you have it.

A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle

This week for school we read A House for Hermit Crab and studied the ocean. We use Memoria Press Kindergarten curriculum as our home school guide. The boys were fascinated! Today we used watercolors and markers to draw our own ocean pictures. I love Eric Carle's illustrations. The colors are amazing! Hunter and Tyler were experimental with their color choices but Jay decided to stick with one color. I just love them!

Better than curtains, I think!

The Creativity Crisis

This is a very interesting article.

The Creativity Crisis - Newsweek

ABC Memory Book

Whatever you write on the heart of a child
No water can wash it away.
The marks in the sands are erased by the tide.
Inscriptions will crumble with clay.
The words in a book will decay with the years
And even engraving in stone disappears.
But God's Word inscribed on a child's heart
For time and eternity, shall not depart.

(From "A Word to the Parents" in the ABC Memory Book)

John's mom has been going through her books, papers, and closets and passing down things she doesn't need anymore. I have received some wonderful things from her! One of the best so far is the ABC Memory Book. I really love it. I remember seeing this book in the children's bathroom with John and I were engaged. It's great to now use it with my boys.


We started with A this week and the boys like to sing the verses. This week is "All we like sheep have gone astray" Isaiah 53:6. The book is for ages 3-6 and it's in 3 stages. They start with just part of the verse (the black words) and memorize more as they get older (the blue words and reference) and then 2 verses per week in the third stage. One thing they require is memorizing each verse word for word, including little words. I usually let Hunter get away with mispronouncing a word or using the wrong word and I realize he's capable of more and I need to encourage growth in this area. I'm working on building my school year plans and this book will be up there on the "to do list" each day.

I Heart Homeschool

It's been a fun week!

Jay and Hunter (eh, Bumblebee) watching flamingos on youtube.

The Little Artists

(Yes, they are in the painting in the bathroom!)

The littlest brother!

Getting in the groove

One of the hardest things that I have witnessed and experienced (I was homeschooled through jr. high and high school) about homeschooling is getting in the groove of a schooling routine. Once you are off...it's hard to get back on. My goal for kindergarten has been to get everyone used to doing something for school every day (or close to everyday anyway!) I want the boys to know that this is something we do everyday just like fix breakfast and brush our teeth. I am hoping that if I start NOW...we can keep the groove. This year has been a little crazy with not having our own house but I am doing the best I can. I tried a few things and finally found something that is working for us. It's a Christian Homeschool Bible Unit Study. Each week is a letter, a bible verse, and activities. I supplement also from Homeschool Share. We are filling a notebook with our weekly activities. It's been fun and really easy to put together. The boys and I are having a great time. I haven't been uptight about the amount of activities we accomplish. If we only do one activity and read one book for the week, oh well...we move on to the next letter. It keeps me from getting hung up on feeling like we need to complete ALL the activities and learn all there is to learn on the subject. The goal is to cultivate the love of learning...not filling their heads with information. I am not a workbook, worksheet kind of mama. My idea of learning is outside, in the kitchen, crafts, etc, but I do realize that at some point we are going to have to sit down and work on handwriting and math and I want the boys to already be familiar with this concept. I don't think that kindergardeners need to sit for hours on end every day. We usually work for about 20-40 minutes or as long as their attention spans will last. I want this to be a fun and pleasant experience for all of us! So far, so good! Any thoughts..tips...ideas from your school room?

File Folder Games

Schooling has been fun and informal so far this kindergarten year with lapbooks and reading only. It's been really fun to watch Jay learning and enjoying coloring and cutting and excited to see what activity we are going to next in our lapbook. This week we have been reading The Poky Little Puppy and learning about our five senses, obedience, sorting and categorizing animal, and playing Doggy Lotto. Super fun! I always try to involve Hunter in the activities and sometimes he joins us but mostly we wants to cut the papers into microscoptic pieces (not so fun for clean up time) so I deviced a plan to keep his little hands happy and my floor clean from paper confetti. I made 4 (so far) file folder games for Hunter to play while Jay and I are lapbooking. He is still in the room and can hear the story, the lesson, and activity but doing something on his own. He is still welcome to join us for our activity if he wants to. I always make 2 copies of whatever we are working on. Here's what I have so far.

Felt Cars - The fav!
I cut out shapes of cars, boats, monster trucks, delivery trucks, and tractors along with their appropiate tires, windows, headlights, etc. I glued a piece of felt in a file folder for them to stick on and store the pieces in a zip lock with the easy to slide opening so he can open and close it himself.

Memory
I made two boards and glued them on the insides of the folder, made cards, and got it all laminated. Jay cut out all the laminating while I stuck magnets to the board and to each card. I bought a roll of stick on magnets so it was super fast and easy. This makes a great car game because they all stick to the board so no flying cards! I store the cards in a zip lock also.

Colors
I made pockets out of colored paper and labeled the color name on the front of each one and made more little cards. The object is to match the color of the picture to the colored pocket. There is one white pocket to store all the cards in.

Numbers
I made 3 boards with the numbers in different places on each one and cards with pictures numbering 1-12. The object is to match the number of pictures on the card to the number on the game board. I glued a little pocket in the folder to store the cards.

I got all the cards laminated so they last longer. We took them to a restaurant on Friday and they played with them quietly at the table. Now I just need something easily portable to store them in. I'll check Higgins Branch! =)

I'll post pictures when I have a better internet connection!