Finishing up creation

We have finished studying creation! Yay! They both did really well with it, though I did have to go purchase some visusal aids. I think the lapbook really helped though. As much fun as that was I am ready to move on.

I had Brianna say the Pledge of Allegiance all by herself today. Of course with a few mispronunciations she did great! I am suprised that she actually caught on to it so fast because ::blush:: I don't always remember to have them say it.

We have been working on speed math. I don't expect alot of speed at this age but I found these speed drill sheets that work on basic math (1+1=2 and so on) and I can really see it making a difference in how she answers small addition problems. The evolution of her math skills has amazed me. We went from counting chips, to fingers, to using a number line and now she says the problem outloud and does it with no aids. So for 2+2 she would say "one, two and three, four" and get her answer that way. I imagine the next step would be instant recall on basic facts.

She also has excelled in reading. I was afraid at first, because at MDO they use Abeka and teach a different decoding system than HOP uses, but she seems to be working it out. Sometimes I get discouraged because I think of how long we have been working on something, then I have to remind myself that she is still on the very young side of five.

The book fair is coming up soon and I am so excited! I am thinking of having a look at the Life Pacs for our math for next year. I also need to have a look at some science and history. Not sure if I will add those in the winter or wait a bit longer. Then with us doing some of it up at MDO I am not sure if maybe I will just suppliment what we are doing up there. Seems less confusing that way.

I think that is it for now!

Updates!

I have been super busy promoting our co-op so I have neglected blogging here. I will tell you about that at a time when I can type it all out.

We had a garage sale Saturday and raised about $250 towards our science gear!!! I really think this is going to be a big step in making our co-op unique. I really want to have a full lab set up eventually. Of course it will have to be all portable, but still it will rock!

On a personal front, we are heading forward with schooling. Keira decided she wanted to start K so I got her a phonics book and she has been working out of that. We are also lapbooking. We did a creation one today and I am very pleased. It's a bit out of the box for me. Must have taken me about 2 hours to figure out how to fold it and Keira's folds differently than Brianna's LOL. The fold is called a Pizza fold.

The pictures really should be from bottom to top. I will change them around later. Isn't it cute?!