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)

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.