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!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
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?!
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?!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Our Homeschool Schedule
Since things have changed so much since we started HSing in November (WOW, so long ago already!) I thought I would give you our current set up!
I dont start school at a particular time, mainly because Luke hasn't figured out our schedule, but we do always try to get it done in the morning.
Eat Breakfast
Get Dressed
Start school:
Pleadge of Allegiance
Girl Scout Pledge (because she is learning it for one of her petals)
Bible: Studying God's Word Book B-Right now we are learning about creation
Math-Horizon's K book 2
Reading-Spectrum and HOP K
Phonics-Spectrum K and Explode the Code B1
Writting and Penmanship-Writing with Diligence Grade 1 and she journals.
All together it takes us about 2.5 hours from start to finish with no breaks. You might be asking why we aren't doing any science or history. This is mainly because when I first started out I wanted to make sure that we were covering the three R's. Now as I have gotten more comfortable I have decided an actual curriculum is not necessary for those just yet. Next year we may add them in but I haven't decided yet. I usually try to write up our weekly lesson plan on Saturdays and even though we don't always get everything done, it at least gives us a goal to work towards.
There you have it!
I dont start school at a particular time, mainly because Luke hasn't figured out our schedule, but we do always try to get it done in the morning.
Eat Breakfast
Get Dressed
Start school:
Pleadge of Allegiance
Girl Scout Pledge (because she is learning it for one of her petals)
Bible: Studying God's Word Book B-Right now we are learning about creation
Math-Horizon's K book 2
Reading-Spectrum and HOP K
Phonics-Spectrum K and Explode the Code B1
Writting and Penmanship-Writing with Diligence Grade 1 and she journals.
All together it takes us about 2.5 hours from start to finish with no breaks. You might be asking why we aren't doing any science or history. This is mainly because when I first started out I wanted to make sure that we were covering the three R's. Now as I have gotten more comfortable I have decided an actual curriculum is not necessary for those just yet. Next year we may add them in but I haven't decided yet. I usually try to write up our weekly lesson plan on Saturdays and even though we don't always get everything done, it at least gives us a goal to work towards.
There you have it!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Exploding the Code!
Ok I LOVE LOVE this book. It somehow fits perfect with what we are doing on HOP. Today Brianna had to look at the picture and then write what it was. She did this all by herself! You can not imagine how easy it is to get excited over them having these victories but it is such a blessing to see her grasping what we are doing and of course she gets so excited too!
Monday, February 9, 2009
No More Reading Woes!!
My Brianna just picked up her workbook that comes with the HOP program and read a lesson that she had never seen! She is finally understanding how to decode the words rather than just memorizing them! I am so proud!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Just a quickie
Just an update on school this week.
Reading and Phonics-
Brianna made it through the next two word families in her HOP program. So we now know -at, -ap, and -an. Of course we are still working on fluency and I imagine a bit of it is memorization as opposed to actual "reading", but I consider it a start in the right direction!
Math-
Flowing as usual. We started counting to 40 and she seems to already have it down pretty well. Keira surprised me by counting to 20 with us. I guess she has learned from listening. We continue to work on addition which she excels at.
Writing-
I have been terrible. We have been focusing so much on other things this week that we have only journaled once! I plan to get it back on par this coming week. She enjoys it so much.
Bible-
We continue to do memorization and I have some little work sheets. I have ordered a book that teaches the basics of our beliefs that I hope to have in the next week or so.
This brings me to my final thought. Science or no science this year? Brianna and Keira both have shown an interest in the stars and planets recently so my thoughts were to maybe start Apologia come July when we start our new "semester". I am just not sure if she is ready to add anything else since we are still finding our stride. I am sure some prayer will help me make the right decision.
Reading and Phonics-
Brianna made it through the next two word families in her HOP program. So we now know -at, -ap, and -an. Of course we are still working on fluency and I imagine a bit of it is memorization as opposed to actual "reading", but I consider it a start in the right direction!
Math-
Flowing as usual. We started counting to 40 and she seems to already have it down pretty well. Keira surprised me by counting to 20 with us. I guess she has learned from listening. We continue to work on addition which she excels at.
Writing-
I have been terrible. We have been focusing so much on other things this week that we have only journaled once! I plan to get it back on par this coming week. She enjoys it so much.
Bible-
We continue to do memorization and I have some little work sheets. I have ordered a book that teaches the basics of our beliefs that I hope to have in the next week or so.
This brings me to my final thought. Science or no science this year? Brianna and Keira both have shown an interest in the stars and planets recently so my thoughts were to maybe start Apologia come July when we start our new "semester". I am just not sure if she is ready to add anything else since we are still finding our stride. I am sure some prayer will help me make the right decision.
Monday, February 2, 2009
AT Phonics Book
Now that we are using HOP to do Brianna's Phonics I decided it would be fun to do a lapbook to go with our first lesson "at" so here it is!
Now that we are using HOP to do Brianna's Phonics I decided it would be fun to do a lapbook to go with our first lesson "at" so here it is!
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