End of year/ Summer School...

A short break during late November through January means an extended school year for us, but that doesnt mean we cant finish strong in some classes.

So far we've been able to finish up Killian's math for the year; which means he will be free of his least favorite subject for the summer. And in the next few weeks we will do a quick review of the TN Drivers License manual in hopes of getting his learners permit in June. Pray God gives this mama lots of patience once he's behind the wheel. Luckily for him we will only have to finish up his Physical Science this summer & perhaps go ahead and take Health & Wellness, but thats still to be decided. My hope is that we can accomplish as much as possible before his 12th grade year.

Lotus is a little less lucky and will be finishing up the majority of her classes during the summer, but she will manage to be done with US History by the end of May. We will also be closing up the Write Shop (see note below) and focusing on spelling, vocab and some problems she's having with phonics. As for science were still uncertain if were going to work through the summer or just wait til next year. However science is sooo much more fun in the summer months. Nothing like studying fungi when you can actually get outside and look at fungi.

I guess this means I will be very busy in the next few months, but dont worry most of this will be done creekside or poolside. You know, homeschool style.

(A few months in we decided to switch Lotus over to the Write Shop study that we are using with Killian and incorporate more individual studies in grammar.This program will be worked on over the next couple of years. So far we are loving it!!)

Update...

Since my last post we have been working really hard.

Killian has already started his American History/Literature co-op class and is enjoying it. Right now he is reading Scarlett Letter which I am hoping to start reading as well and he studied the poet Anne Bradstreet this past week also. Of course his favorite part of the class is getting to hang during lunch with the other kids who from what he says love video games as much as he does.Big suprise!!

Lotus is doing wonderfully and speeding through her math and language arts. Luckily for me she wakes up everyday ready to learn something new and this year she's like a sponge. She is really getting it which makes for one proud mama. She is also enjoying her cross country group. Well I should say she likes hanging out with her friends, but the running is killing her. However she is commited to it and I am as well. Her first meet is next Tuesday which she is excited and nervous about.

All in all everything is going fabulously and I owe a lot of that to the new planning tool Im using this year. Uh oh hear comes the product review... No seriously I have went through about 30 planners and everytime gave up on them because they were too complicated or didnt allow me flexibility, but the Homeschool Tracker is a true blessing to our homeschooling. And its free. I would say take it for a test drive if your looking for something new.

For now Im off to bed because tomorrow is a busy day.

Homeschooling on hold...

So the first day of school went by without a problem. Then early Tuesday morning I got really sick and got very little sleep which meant Tuesday was a day of doing nothing. Then Wednesday night I got sick again, ended up going to the hospital and then having my gall bladder removed. Now Im finally home, but still hurting and groggy because of the meds. All of this to say homeschooling has been put on hold, including some classes the kids were taking, but this has given me a better idea about how to handle this type of situation in the future. Luckily there is a lot of flexibility in homeschooling, but a sub folder is definently in order. Now just to recover and to teach the kids some important character lessons... care for the edelery (aka mom). Oh and a study of the gallbladders fuction.

A new year...

A new school year has begun along with new courses, new adventures and of course new changes to our blog. So take a look at Killian's and Lotus' page to see what the year holds for them or take a look at our home page for links to some of the sites we will be using.

Also make sure to check out Lotus' new blog which in the months ahead will be filled with all things Lotus: her thoughts, her dreams and a record of her days. Hopefully she will be better at updating than I am. As always we appreciate your prayers as we seek to grow not only in the knowledge of math, language arts, history and science, but also in the knowledge of Christ.

On a side note, but at the top of our goals for the year, we are seeking to get down and dirty with the least of these. I want my heart and the hearts of my children opened wide daily. Even if that means that we hurt in the process. I want us to learn the heart of Christ.

What's up....

Quick update....

 

In language arts we are reading "A Christmas Carol" and adding to our vocabulary...
Chapter 1 words- official , properly, witnesses, clergymen, undertaker, executor, estate, decreed, will, mourner, beneficiary, wrenching, solitary, shriveled, wiry and grating.

 

Of course we are still doing our Lifepacs and Daily grams.

 

Killian and Lotus are reviewing combining sentences. Here are 2 examples...

• The Lord is good. / His love endures forever.
• I love Christmas cookies / I hate Christmas fruitcake.

Killian is also working on auxiliary verbs, dependant and independent clauses, subject and verbs, present participles and participle phrases. He will also be starting a report on Charles Dickens and continuing is work on homonyms, antonyms and synonyms. I am using words from the book as well as our bible verses for these. He is also using these for our copywork, narration and memory work.

 

Lotus is continuing to work on coordinating conjunctions. Plus she will be learning about the difference between parables and fables. She is also using the book and bible verses for copywork, narration and memory work.

 

I found this awesome tongue twister for Lotus which will help her with her "R"s....

 

Running reindeer romp round red wreaths.

 

I also found these sites to help us add a little Christmas to our math....

 

http://www.blogger.com/goog_1672407749
http://www.blogger.com/goog_1672407749
http://www.blogger.com/goog_1672407749
http://math.about.com/library/xmas7.pdf

 

In geography/ social studies this month we are learning different ways to say Merry Christmas and learning about the country while were doing it. This is also doubling as online research.

 

If you would like to learn the different ways to say Merry Christmas go to http://www.santas.net/howmerrychristmasissaid.htm and then take it further by learning about the country of origin.

 

To top it off we are doing a study of the different symbols of Christmas which is giving us our fair share of bible study, art and history.

More nitty gritty and other boring stuff....

As I said Im using this as our online school journal which means I have to add the boring stuff. So here it goes.....
This week Lotus went through a few chapters of the Story of the USA and learned about some other early American explorers such as Desoto, Cabrillo, Gartier, Estaban, Coronada & Cabot. She learned about the reasons behind these expeditions & the cost to the African & Native Americans who helped build this country. Her favorite part came today when talking about the lost colony at Roanoke. She had some very interesting ideas about their disappearance, but I added my own... aliens. She didnt buy that. Way to think critically Lotus. We also did a virtual tour of Jametown.
She also worked on rounding numbers, counting money and giving change. She aced all her work and they are proudly displayed on the refrigerator.
Killian stuck to working on math and reviewed his division skills which he struggles with. However after working together he flew through these and is obviously ready to move on.They arent displayed, but he made sure to share them with dad. He would not admit he is proud of himself for all the hard work. He also shared with us as I taught Lotus her history & geography. Its like a refresher course for him.
Together we read some more of Witch of Blackbird pond which led to some great discussions. We also continued to work on our grammar skills through dictation and our listening & reading skills through narration. Its amazing to see how much they pick up with these simple lessons. Overall the week was a busy one filled with life skill lessons and many more real life applications during our shopping trips. I still cant quite talk them into exploring roadkill, but come on imagine how cool that would be and we carry gloves in our car. Oh well maybe next week. Tomorrow we are off to the Sweetwater Valley Farm for a field trip and some fun. 

Needs improvement

 One of the worst things about being home with the kids is not being able to tell what is really a problem & what is just the kids not wanting to do their work. The kids are always tired and their really is not any reason for them to be. Im not sure if the problem is their just bored. I try to make things exciting, but the fact is some work is boring. It's work that just needs to be done & that is a very important life lesson. Not everything is fun! Laundry is not fun, going to work is not fun, paying bills is not fun, but it is a part of life that has to be done. How do I instill in them the values of excellence & diligence?

On the plus side of homeschooling is seeing firsthand what they need to work on, but for my own benefit I need to make note of this and refer to it often. For instance today I have noticed that Killian has problems with reading comprehension, but his listening skills are very good. If its read to him he can answer with no problem. Kinda of strange to think Killian has good listening skills, but this lets me in on the fact that he does understand when asked to do something. Although he would have me believe he doesn't.

I also noticed that Lotus is struggling with her reading comprehension, but her listening skills seem to be a bigger hurdle for her. If I read aloud a story to her she has a hard time narrating it back to me. Mostly this only seems to be a problem when it comes to literary reading.

I also have noticed Lotus making the same spelling mistakes. (i.e. silent e, th, changing y to ies in past tense form & y that makes the e sound at the end of a word). Killian however does wonderfully with his spelling, but his sentence structure needs to be worked on.

Already today I taught Lotus some skills when reading textual info, but I plan on using some methods to improve her listening skills which should also help with her reading comprehension. We used some of them while listening to the reading of "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" today.

Todays other work...

Before our trip to Ijams we had some other stuff to get out of the way. The boring stuff. Well only if you think learning is boring.
Both Lotus & Killian worked in their lifepac workbooks. Lotus also practiced her spelling words online using Spelling City. Then Killian did an online study of the Erie Canal & wrote a report on it. Lotus did ch. 2 of The Story of the USA & worked on learning the continents & oceans. Later we all read the preface & ch. 1 of "Walk the Worlds Rim". Very cool stuff.
At breakfast we continued our study of John & then the kids worked on memorizing their memory verse. This was a very special time for us. Especially when Killian narrated the whole thing back to me. It was incredible how much detail Killian remembered from the story, but Im starting to see that this is how Killian learns best. Lotus on the other hand does better when she can read it for herself. Its amazing how different two kids can be.
We also had a question come up that we are going to explore further...
-Why does fog form over bodies of water? (Each one of us gave our hypothesis, but we are going to do some research & possible experiment to figure it out for ourselves.)
This will be a great thing for Killian to research & then share his findings.

Its a bee's life.....

We got started with a little work today. Not too much, but just enough to give them a taste of whats ahead. We started out by reading pages 1-11 of "The Life & Times of the Honeybee". Both Lotus & Killian helped with the reading & then I had them answer questions to check comprehension. I also had them recite back to me what they learned. The plan is to take a field trip to a honey farm & learn more about the importance of bees to the enviroment. There were some fun moments during our study such as when I told them that the drones (males) of the hive are so lazy that the workers (females) have to feed them or they would die. Killian spoke up & said, "Yep sounds like me!" Then I had the kids try to flap their arms 250 times in a second. Of course it cant be done, but it was hilarious watching the kids try. Killian finally just stopped & told me he was going so fast that we didnt see him move. Smart boy!! I thought it was amazing to think that a bee flaps it's wings 250 times in a second. Afterwards I gave them a pre-test on the multiplication tables. They have definently forgotten some things over the summer, but this just showed me what we need to work on. Multiplication tables will be a constant in our curriculum. Altogether they did 90 problems.