Wednesday, October 21, 2009

ART

Lately we've been starting our school day with paper, markers, crayons, scissors, and glue spread out on the table. It draws the girls to the same room and they enjoy making whatever strikes their fancy. While they work I get a chance to do one-on-one lessons and know the other girls are happily occupied. And some lessons just require listening and dictation so they continue their art during those. It's been good.





This is how Becca kept busy while they were "creating".



Last week during art we made collages. We learned a little about Henri Matisse but made our collages out of whatever materials we had at hand.


I couldn't stand back and watch them have all the fun. I made this one and am quite happy with it. A vase with flowers and a lace curtain in the background. Quaint, I know. But it was a lot of fun!

Enlighten us!

We walked to the library today and got excited about the nature along the way. We're ready to do some research and find out what all of these things are but we'd love to hear from any of you that already know what these things are!

1. Elephant ferns? I remember my mom loves these. Maybe we had them in Panama?

2. The girls say these are thistles from Tinkerbell.


A random stick that Heidi thought was big and worthy of a picture.


The tree where the thistles came from.


3. A huge leaf we found outside of the library. What kind of tree did it come from?


4. Heidi thought this was a tomato at first. Definitely not. It grows on a tree. What is it?





5. Cool looking fauna of some sort.


6. I'm feeling like this might be a silly one to ask about...palm tree? I thought palms always had thicker bases than what I saw on this one.




7. This one wins for "most intriguing" find of the day. WHAT IS IT?

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

2009 Summer Reading List

I'm planning to have Autumn pick 6 books to read through the summer but maybe she'll read more! This is the list she'll be picking from and the AR ratings:

Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren) 5.2
I Am Amber Brown (Paula Danziger) 4.2
Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon
Amber Brown is Feeling Blue
Amber Brown Sees Red
Giants Don't Go Snowboarding (Debbie Dadey) 4.2
Lulu's Hat (Susan Meddaugh) 4.1
The Fishy Field Trip (Brian James) 3.4
Three's A Crowd
A Purrfect Princess
I'm No Fraidy Cat!
The Magic Finger (Roald Dahl) 3.5
Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds (David A. Adler) 3.8
Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Television Dog
Judy Moody Was in a Mood (Megan McDonald) 3.5
Ruby's Wish (Shirin Yim Bridges) 3.3
Andy Shane and the Very Bossy Dolores Starbuckle (Jennifer Richard Jacobson) 3.3
Surprise Island (Gertrude Warner) 4.2
The Yellow House Mystery (Gertrude Warner) 3.2
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (Dr. Seuss) 4.0
Always Room for One More 4.3

Monday, May 25, 2009

2nd Grade Plan for Autumn (2009)

LANGUAGE ARTS
Learning Language Arts through Literature

Phonics, Decoding, and Word Recognition:
5. Read grade-appropriate materials aloud with proper expression and intonation.
Some titles:
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Reading Comprehension:
4. Identify rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, simile, and metaphor in poetry. Read and recognize limericks.

I'm Nobody! Who Are You? by Emily Dickinson
Lots of Limericks by Myra Cohn Livingston; Margaret McElderry
The Random House Book of Poetry for Children by Jack Prelutsky
A Surfeit of Similes by Norton Juster; William Morrow

MATHEMATICS
Saxon Math 2

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY
Beautiful Feet

SCIENCE
Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy by Jeannie Fulbright

ART
Art Through Children's Literature by Debi Englebaugh; www.lu.com/tips
Kids Create! Art and Craft Experiences for 3- to 9-Year-Olds by Laurie Carlson
Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes
Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Kim Solga

MUSIC
Music Theory for Beginners by Emma Danes

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION
1. Be familiar with the elements of good nutrition and the structure of the food pyramid.

The Edible Pyramid by Loreen Leedy
Good Enough to Eat: A Kid's Guide to Food and Nutrition by Lizzy Rockwell

Miscellanious:
Merriam-Webster Dictionary for Kids - online student dictionary
Bookworm - game published by Oxford Games, Ltd.
Cyberguides - www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cyberguide.html (This may be helpful with Heidi.)

Kindergarten Plan for Heidi (2009)

LANGUAGE ARTS

Reading:
Phonics, Decoding, and Word Recognition:
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Some great alphabet books:
The Absolutely Awful Alphabet - Mordicai Gerstein
The Accidental Zucchini: An Unexpected Alphabet - Max Grover
Animalia - Graeme Base
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - John Archambault
Curious George Learns the Alphabet - H. A. Rey
The Disappearing Alphabet - Richard Wilbur
Dr. Seuss's ABC - Dr. Seuss
Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z - Lois Ehlert
Q is for Duck - Mary Elting
A World of Words: An ABC of Quotations - Tobi Tobias

Reading Comprehension:
1. Be able to order pictures in proper sequence for telling a story.
2. Listen and respond to a variety of age-appropriate texts, including fiction and nonfiction books, myths and legends, fables and folktales, and poetry.

Some good Kindergarten Level Books to read aloud:
Bedtime for Frances - Russell Hoban
Blueberries for Sal - Robert McCloskey
Caps for Sale - Esphyr Slobodkina
The Little Engine That Could - Watty Piper
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel - Virginia Lee Burton
Millions of Cats - Wanda Gag
The Runaway Bunny - Margaret Wise Brown
Stone Soup - Marcia Brown
The Story About Ping - Marjorie Flack
The Story of Ferdinand - Munro Leaf
Tikki Tikki Tembo - Arlene Mosel
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle

3. Know the definitions of title, author, and illustrator. (Hah! She hasn't even started K yet and knows these.)

Writing:
Peggy Kaye's Games for Writing
Draw Write Now?

Listening and Speaking Skills:
1. Follow simple oral one- and two-step directions.
2. Retell familiar stories.
3. Invent and tell fantasy stories or recount stories about real-life happenings.
4. Memorize and recite short poems and rhymes.

Study Skills:
introduce kids to the many uses of the public library (she's been a pro for a long time)

MATHEMATICS
Saxon Math 1 (with manipulatives?)

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY
Beautiful Feet

SCIENCE
Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy written by Jeannie Fulbright

ART
1. Be able to name and describe colors, shapes, and lines and to identify these in works of art.
2. Observe and discuss famous works of art by a variety of artists from a range of historical periods.
3. Experiment with a range of art techniques and media.

MUSIC
Start piano lessons & general group music lessons.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION
1. Know the importance of exercise, cleanliness, good nutrition, and sleep.
2. Participate in age-appropriate athletic activities.

GENERAL KINDERGARTEN RESOURCES

Books:
Homeschooling: The Early Years - Linda Dobson
Kindergarten at Home - Cheryl Gorder

Computer Software:
Dr. Seuss Kindergarten (a full year of math and reading lessons)

Programs and other Resources:
Teaching PreK-8 Magazine - www.carolhurst.com/products/teaching.html

Autumn's First Grade Evaluation

As per Home Learning Year by Year by Rebecca Rupp, my evaluation of Autumn's first grade year. These are just the guidelines for first grade, a list to give me an idea of where we're at.

Of course, it is based off of a typical school year in public school and what they would be learning and as such, includes some areas that we will be focusing on at our own pace. (For example, she knows how to write, but we will be saving diagramming sentences and parts of speech for fourth grade -- something I feel strongly about and have read about it Dr. Ruth Beechick's The Three R's.)

Autumn is reading at a 2nd/3rd grade level and at a 1st grade level in all other subjects. This being our first year of homeschooling, me being pregnant, and everyone adjusting to the new baby -- I am very pleased.

LANGUAGE ARTS
Reading:
Phonics, Decoding, and Word Recognition
1. Knows the sounds of all the consonants and both long & short vowel sounds. Knows the common digraphs and common consonant blends.
2. Sounds out one-syllable words
3. Can read root words and additions with inflectional endings (look, looks, looked, and looking)
4. Knows age-appropriate sight words.
5. Identifies and uses contractions.

Reading Comprehension
1. Reads and understands grade-level-appropriate material.
2. Can answer who, what, when, where, and why questions about what she reads. Gives accurate oral accounts of fiction and nonfiction works that she has read by herself or heard read aloud.
3. Knows the literary terms plot, setting, characters, hero, and heroine, and can identify them in her reading.
4. Enjoys a wide range of literature read aloud, including fiction and nonfiction books, multicultural folktales and legends, fairy tales, fables, and poems.
5. Can define and use a book's table of contents.

Writing:
1. Prints all uper- and lower-case letters legibly, using proper spacing.
2. Writes words and sentences, using proper spacing, capitalization and punctuation.
3. Can identify nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
4. Spells simple three- and four-letter words from dictation using phonics skills. Knows spelling of first grade-level sight words.
5. Can identify synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms.

Listening and Speaking Skills
1. Listens to, restates, and follow two-step directions.
2. Retells stories in proper sequence.
3. Participates in short dramatizations: charades, pantomimes, plays.
4. Memorize and recite short poems and rhymes.

Study Skills
1. Knows the uses of a dictionary, encyclopedia, and card catalog (do libraries even USE off-line card catalogs anymore?!)
2. Puts words in alphabetical order according to first letter.

MATHEMATICS
Number Theory:
1. Recognizes and writes the numbers 1 to 100.
2. Counts to 1oo by 2s, 5s, and 10s.
3. Uses tallies for counting.
4. Identifies ordinal positions from first through twelfth.
5. Compares and orders numers 0 to 100 using the terms greater than, less than, and equal to.
6. Understands place values for 1s, 10s, and 100s.
7. Identifies halves, thirds, and fourths.
8. Makes and interprets simple picture and bar graphs.

Operations:
1. Experiments with the addition and subtraction of whole numbers through 20 using manipulatives and number lines.
2. Knows the definitions of sum and difference and the names and use of the + (plus) and - (minus) signs.
3. Knows basic addition facts through 10 + 10 and corresponding basic subtraction facts.
4. Understands the commutative property of addition: that is, numbers can be added in any order.
5. Successfully solves simple equations and word problems.

Money and Management:
1. Recognizes pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.
2. Is able to determine the value of a given set of coins up to 25 cents.
3. Recognizes dollar and cent signs; uses decimals in writing money amounts.
4. Uses calendars to identify days, weeks, and months.
5. Tells time to the hour and half hour on a standard clock. Understands the difference between AM and PM.
6. Is familiar with the uses of common measuring instruments, such as a scale (weight), ruler (length), and thermometer (temperature).
7. Compares and orders objects by length, weight, and volume using both standard and nonstandard measurements.

Geometry:
1. Identifies and draws common two-dimensional shapes: circle, triangle, rectangle, and square.
2. Identifies figures that have lines of symmetry.
3. Correctly uses position words to describe location: right, left, above, below, inside, outside, in front, in back, over, under, and so on.

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY

Following Beautiful Feet and their timeline.

SCIENCE

Followed Noeo's Biology I course this year. Will be using Apologia's Exploring Creation with...Series for the next several years.

ART

1. Knows the primary colors and how these are mixed to produce secondary colors.
2. Is familiar with the elements of line, shape, texture, space, light, and shadow.
3. Is able to identify different kinds of pictures: portraits, still lifes, abstract art, and landscapes.
4. Studies the works of a selection of well-known artists.
5. Experiments with a range of art techniques.

MUSIC

1. Understands rhythm and melody, pitch, dynamics, tempo and timbre.
2. Memorizes and sings simple songs.
3. Listens and responds to selections by famous composers.
4. Knows the four families of instruments in the orchestra: strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION

1. Understands the importance of good nutrition, adequate sleep, cleanliness, tooth care, and regular exercise.
2. Can skip, run (without falling over), and throw and catch beanbags and balls.
3. Participates in athletic indoor and outdoor activities.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Apologia Astronomy & Botany Giveaway!

These are AWESOME science books. We will be using them in the fall ourselves and are really excited.

Apologia is now producing notebooking journals that accompany each of the elementary science books. Both Botany and Astronomy are now available. You can see samples on the Apologia website here:

These journals are beautiful spiral bound notebooks that will save you time and money. You won't have to print and keep up with your child's notebook pages, buy and maintain page protectors, or purchase and compile binders...everything that makes notebooking time-consuming and labor intensive for mom. Also, your child will adore having their own notebooking journal.

Each of the notebooking journals include:
  • A daily schedule for those who like to have a plan or would like their children to complete the book on their own
  • Templates for written narrations, the notebooking activities and experiments
  • Review Questions
  • Scripture Copywork, with both print and cursive practice
  • Reading lists and additional activities, projects, experiments for each lesson
  • An appendix with beautiful, full-color, lapbook-style Miniature Books
  • Field Trip Sheets to keep a record field trips
  • A Final Review with fifty questions the students can answer either orally or in writing to show off all they remember and know at the end of the course.
See the sample pages here:


and


Jeannie is giving away four Astronomy Notebooking Journals and four Botany Notebooking Journals to bloggers who post about this on their site. Visit her blog to learn more about this contest.

Friday, April 24, 2009

My kids are getting ahead of me!

We've entered a new stage in schooling. A few days ago Autumn finished her first grade math curriculum, passed it on to Heidi, and then proceeded to teach Heidi the first lesson! And then she taught Heidi one of Heidi's reading lessons from Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

Heidi now has her own "schoolbag" and this entire week she has done school of some sort, right alongside Autumn. I am now officially working through Saxon 1 with Heidi. Guess we won't be waiting till August after all...but she's ready, excited, and interested -- so why not, right? That's one of the wonderful things about homeschooling. Their pace.

I was going to give Autumn a break from math for now, but seeing as she enjoys it and is still doing her other subjects till summer break, we've started Saxon 2 with Autumn now. She was SO excited when I told her we could start book 2. Cool.

* On a sidenote, after working through Saxon 1 this year, I am amazed that there is a Kindergarten level. Heidi is technically in kindergarten this fall, but Saxon 1 starts with such basic stuff that it makes sense to skip the K level (especially since I already have Saxon 1...).

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Link for typing game

I subscribe to freelyeducate and came across a really good typing game through their recommendation.

BBC's Dance Mat Typing (for ages 7-11)

Friday, March 13, 2009

The Human Body - Lungs Links

Lung Lab - a five part interactive video that teaches how the lungs work and what triggers asthma and how medicine helps asthma

Science Labeling Game - 5 systems to pick from: Layers of the Earth, Structure of a Flower, Anatomy of a Fish, Respiratory System, and Atmosphere Layers

Downloadable Images on the lungs - covers breathing, breath in, breath out, Inside your lungs, Air in your lungs experiments

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The Human Body - Heart Links

We just started a science unit this week on the human body and I love the Usborne book we're using. It's called First Encyclopedia of the Human Body. I love the illustrations and I love all the internet links provided.

This is an activity we did two days ago where the girls had to put all the organs in the correct places on Arnold (an animated Arnold Schwarzenegger!).

And the Usborne link for the pages that day (as well as the following days we've done) has all the pictures from the book in downloadable formats. I haven't figured out what we would use them for, but I still think it's pretty cool that they're offered.

Yesterday we watched an animated video about red blood cells and how they travel through the body. The girls were mesmerized.

Today we used a little interactive game (Click on "Human Body" then, in the pop-up window, click on "The Beating Heart".) where we watched a girl's heartrate increase as we made her walk, then jog, then run. Then Autumn took a 10 question quiz on the heart and we printed out a coloring page of the heart.

FUN STUFF!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Coloring Pages & Handwriting Practice Links

I just printed some Cars coloring pages for Esther (2 1/2) to color. Kids-n-fun looks like it may be worth revisiting since it has several pages with scenes from the Cars movie as well as other coloring pages.

My friend Kristi told me about Crayola.com -- I'm excited to have a place I can go and enter what kind of supplies I have and then be told ideas for crafts and activities! I think this will be especially useful when Esther gives up naps and decides she wants to sit at the table and be more involved in 'school'. There are also TONS of coloring pages here.

For the last week, Heidi has asked me every morning to print pages for her to work on for school. We haven't officially started school with her yet, but I'm glad she's beginning to show interest on a regular basis. I printed out some pages from Young Minds Handwriting Lessons (which I found through Mrs. Jones) for her to practice fine motor skills. She can write all of her capital letters but gets stressed with the small letters so we'll practice the shapes involved first.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Noeo Biology I vs Apologia Exploring Creation Series

I'm rethinking science for next year. I've loved Noeo's Biology Curriculum and how it uses what are called living books as the curriculum rather than a "textbook" approach. The books have been hit and miss. We definitely have our favorites and not-so-favorites. I love the Usborne books with Internet Links. So far, we've only used the Pocket Nature book, but soon we'll be getting into the Usborne Internet-Linked First Encyclopedia of the Human Body. But we have not cared for the "One Small Square" series of books. They're not written toward young children, although they protest to be. They just aren't on the same level as the Usborne books.

Friends of ours are using Apologia's Exploring Creation with...Series and we're going to give it a try next year. I love that it's only one book, $25 for a year! I like that the experiments and activities (and there are lots) are done from things we normally have around the house. I like that it has a faith-based slant to it, not going into doctrine, but acknowledging that the earth and everything on it was created.

Just using a scale from 1-10, here's what I think of the books we've used up to this point in Noeo:
(1 being the very best)
DK Eye Wonder: Weather - 3
Usborne Pocket Nature with Internet Links - 1
One Small Square: Cactus Desert - 8
The Boy Who Drew Birds: John James Audubon - 2
Audubon's Birds of America Coloring Book - 2
One Small Square: Seashore - 8

Books we haven't used yet and what I anticipate regarding them:
One Small Square: Woods - Not looking forward to this one...same reasons as with the other "One Small Square" books
Pasteur's Fight Against Microbes - this book looks a bit too mature, but we'll give it a whirl and see what we get out of it
Usborne Science Activities: Science with Plants - I'm excited for this one and confident it will be enjoyed by the girls
Usborne's Internet-Linked First Encyclopedia of the Human Body- Again, excited and confident that it will be fun and they will learn a lot.

We did not purchase the Ein-O's Smart Box Weather Science Kit or the Young Scientist's Club Experiment Kits. When the lessons have called for experiments, we have supplemented with our own by searching online for something we can do homemade or looking at Janice VanCleave's Biology for Every Kid. I've been happy doing it this way. Happy that we didn't need to spend $60+ on experiments but that we could still have fun experiments that taught the same principles on a thriftier budget!

Pros with Noeo:
real books
notebook assignments where Autumn writes what she's learned, in her own words

Cons with Noeo:
some of the books are not that great...
having to come up with your own experiments if you don't buy the kits
the expense of the kits and overall program (too bad we weren't able to find ALL the books at the library...)

Things I think we'll like about Apologia:
although one textbook, geared toward kids and has a very "real" or "living book" feel to it
experiments included and made from mainly household items

So...we're going to give Apologia a whirl next year! I'll post periodically about how it goes.

Friday, February 6, 2009

The Great Backyard Bird Count

We’re studying birds in science right now and we couldn’t have planned it better! (Even being behind, which we are…but what’s behind when YOU are the one in charge of things!) We are just in time to participate in the Cornell Lab of Ornothology & Audubon GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Evaluating Curriculum: Our year so far

Once things got rolling we revamped some of our curriculum choices.

Reading:

We had PLANNED to use books from Sonlight and Veritas Press reading lists and use reading cup questions (an idea from a fellow homeschooling family) and use Reading Strands.

IN REALITY, I pick books that look interesting for Autumn by subject matter or level or she asks for certain books and then she reads them. With MANY of them (all but the last two actually) we found a website with free quizzes for children’s books. I figure if she can tell me about what she’s reading and do well on a quiz after the book is done, we’re good to go. I know we could be doing more and have considered “Beyond Five in a Row” but it seems like overkill since it’s meant to be a unit-study covering all subjects but math. We already cover all subjects. I tried (for a day) to use it anyway with something she was reading and just use the parts that didn’t interfere with our other subject work or that seemed interesting and fun. I believe with more preparation on my part, it would be a useful addition to our curriculum.

Spelling:

We had PLANNED to choose words from 1st grade spelling lists and her weekly writing. Write three times by: three mediums, rainbow writing, and using in a sentence. Test weekly.

IN REALITY we did this for about a month. After that I decided she would learn from what she was reading and when she made mistakes in her writing work, we would review the misspelled words, looking them up if need be, or reviewing phonics rules if applicable. I like this approach a lot more. I think it sticks with her better.

Writing:

We had PLANNED to do Writing Strands 2. I had high hopes for this program but felt it was a little beyond her. Maybe we can give it another go next year. IN REALITY, we went with a free Scott Foresman Writing & Grammar workbook for her grade. I think she’s learning although so far, writing isn’t her favorite activity. She loves math and science. (Hmmm…is that a reflection of the way I’m teaching? I hope I’m being more evenly spread than that…but I do love math and science myself.)

Math:

We PLANNED and IN REALITY are doing Saxon Math 1. This is going well. It seems to be very easy for her. I’m not sure she’s challenged, but she enjoys it and I don’t want to do more than one lesson a day.

German:

We PLANNED to do German with Rosetta Stone. IN REALITY, we are succeeding but need to be more consistent. We had about a month where we did it very consistently. Now, it’s been about a month since she’s done it.

For Heidi, I PLANNED to do Kindergarten (and this would be a year early) but IN REALITY, it was all I could do to do school with Autumn. I’m not sure how much of that can be attributed to me being pregnant. Obviously next year school for Heidi will not be optional. That alone will mean it WILL get done. I also had a very detailed plan for Autumn from the beginning but didn’t start thinking about what to do with Heidi until later. I think that influenced things as well.

Next year, I'd like improve on these things:

  • Reading: Make sure beforehand that the books we've chosen have online activities or quizzes. Use "Beyond Five in a Row" to supplement or look into another curriculum. Notes for Heidi: Read with her more, allow less TV (this goes for Autumn too).
  • Language & Writing: I feel like the writing workbook I've been using with Autumn has kept her on grade level, but all the same I think it's too simplistic. I'd like to find something else. I'm a little hopeful that we can use Writing Strands again - but I'm skeptical because I think the issue we had before was not so much that it was beyond her, but that it didn't do things in her style. I'd like to find a happy medium. I have friends that have used "First Language Lessons for the Well-trained Mind" but it sounds crazy with them having to repeat things to you x amount of times per day. I'll need to research this. Notes for Heidi: Work on penmanship with Zaner Bloser worksheets from first-school webpage. Find a writing program that will also help. Consider selling Writing Strands.
  • Math: Look for inexpensive or household manipulatives. Get more thin dry-erase markers and in typical rainbow colors. Scan assessment pages & print so that we can actually write on them - or record their scores in my book. Preview each week of work to see what the teacher's manual suggests in the way of scripts.
  • German: Be more consistent. (It will help when Rosetta is back on my computer.)
  • General Note: Do a circle time where we can work on scriptures to memorize, songs they're learning in primary, educational songs, and scripture reader (when history sequence calls for it).
  • Science: Print out pages provided by Noeo and add them to their notebooks. Use three-prong folders with looseleaf paper for science notebooks this time. Prep for science experiments. We have LOVED the Noeo program. We did not buy the science experiment kits and instead supplemented with our own from online or Janice VanCleave's books and that has been a much better option. I found many of the books inexpensively on Amazon. Others we will check out from the library.