~Remember~

As I was trying to put my thoughts about today into words I read this post by a dear friend of mine. She captured my feelings perfectly so please click below and read her post. Thank you!

REMEMBER

Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ May 27, 2011

In my life this week…laundry, laundry and more laundry! I didn't do laundry the week our former nanny visited so I was a week and a half behind. One more load and I will finally be caught up!

In our homeschool this week…Unicorn and Ladybug took the CAT test so we took it easy. We focused on Math and Reading and finishing up our Ladybug unit.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…on Tuesday hubby and I went to the Mesa Temple and the kids went to the park with Grandma. Today we went to Grandma and Papa's and went swimming and had pizza. It was a nice end to testing week!

My favorite thing this week was…getting to spend time with my hubby at the Temple.

What’s working/not working for us…workboxes. I love workboxes. They keep us organized and help the girls know exactly what they need to do. I didn't like that school had to be done at home. So, I had to tweak the workboxes. I have been looking around other homeschooling blogs to see how others have tweaked their boxes. I will be posting soon to let you know whose idea I "borrowed" and how it is working for us!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…nope...drawing a blank today! :)

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…my Adventures in Home Education Facebook page. If you are interested, "Like" my page. I share all the awesome Homeschooling Giveaways I find and other Homeschooling Resources I find. Also, all my reviews will be posted there as well! Thank you to those who already "like" my page!

Have a great week!

Our 2011 Garden ~ Day 63

Our Garden as of yesterday:

Looks like the first thing we will be making is pumpkin pie!

I have learned gardening can be fun. I think I have always put it off because I have always thought if it as a chore and because I have always killed every plant I have ever had to take care of. 

Happy Gardening!

Workbox Wednesday ~ 6th Grade

Each Wednesday I post what we have in our Workboxes. So I don't overwhelm myself I alternate each week with Preschool, K/1st grade, 6th grade and our family workboxes.

This week I am featuring Unicorn's 6th Grade Workboxes (11 years old):


Family Boxes: Calender, Journal, PE, Jobs and Religion
The first photo is her weekly planner. She is transitioning from just having workboxes and working through them to having a planner and managing her time (this was her choice).
1. "Subtraction" page from Math Mammoth Grade 3
2. Putting together her "Ladybug" notebook (most items from In the Hands of a Child)
3. "Verbs" activity from Wordsmith Apprentice
4. A "CAT" test (or 2)
5. "Read" a chapter of Anne of Green Gables
6. "Read" a chapter of Little Women
**This is a lighter load than normal due to the CAT testing.

Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ May 20, 2011

In my life this week…I put out fires between my 36 month old and a 20 month old. My son is a little OCD and the other little boy is ALL BOY! It was interesting watching them interact...they really didn't understand why the other one played the way he did. 

In our homeschool this week…we took it easy this week. We on finishing up our ladybug unit, math and reading.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…our former nanny and her son (20 months old) came to visit us this week. We had a great time catching up, relaxing and hanging out a parks!

My favorite thing this week was…hearing that our former nanny was proposed to soon after she got home from visiting us (she accepted)!

What’s working/not working for us…what is not working for me is Blogger. I love that it is free and easy to use but I think my little blog here is ready for wordpress. I have started the process of moving my blog so please hang in there with me. Our family blog and Unicorn's blog will remain with Blogger.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…How many of you use a standardized test as part of your documentation? Is it required by your state? Arizona does not require testing unless you are part of one of the charter homeschooling schools (and we are not). I have chosen to test my students using the CAT. 
I do this for a couple reasons: 
1. So I can easily see improvement/deficincies
2. So they will be ready for SAT/ACT tests that may be required for college entrance
3. Just in case AZ changes it policies

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. ~Albert Einstein

Workbox Wednesday ~ Postponed

Just in case you were curious about our workboxes today I thought I should let you know that we are "school light" this week because we have out-of-town guests (just another reason to love homeschooling).

Tune in next week for our regularly scheduled "Workbox Wednesday" post where I will be featuring Unicorn's 6th grade boxes!

Until then...

Shining Dawn Books - NaturExplorers: Flying Creatures of the Night ~A Review~

Did you know over 11,000 species of moths exist? Or that there are over 12,000 different kinds of beetles? Or over 1,100 types of bats? Or over 300 species of nocturnal birds? You will learn these interesting facts and so much more in Shining Dawn Books NaturExplorers: Flying Creatures of the Night.

Flying Creatures of the Night is 60 pages of information, activities and ideas designed to help you learn more about Nocturnal Flying Animals, Owls, Bats, Moths, Fireflies, Sound of the Night, Night Vision, Predator/Prey Relationships, Animal Classification and More!

Included are Literature Ideas, Hands-On Activities, Writing and Research Ideas, Bible Lessons, Poetry, Artist and Composer Information. There are ideas for additional research, including older/younger children and for Clubs and Co-ops as well as Notebooking Pages, Safety Information as well as a section on Why and Where to Study Nature.

I love that, other than getting your hands on related literature and some art supplies, everything you need is included. And if you want more, they give you links to additional information. Depending on the activities you choose to do this Nature Study could take a week up to a month or more!

NaturExplorers Units Available ($8.95/ea.)

Animal Signs

Beautiful Birds

Butterflies Flutter By

Captivating Clouds

Constant Conifers

Coping with the Cold

Delightful Deciduous Trees

Everchanging Erosion

Flying Creatures of the Night

Frogs and Toads

Fruits and Nuts

Fungus Among Us

Hard as a Rock

Incredible Creeks

Peaceful Ponds

Remarkable Rain

Spectacular Spiders

Snow and Ice

Wonderful Wildflowers

Mini-Studies ($5.00/ea.)

Through the Holidays: A mini book of nature studies for Advent

Through the Holidays: A mini book of nature studies for Easter

Other Products ($8.95)

Loving Living Math

Living Literature, Grammar and Language Arts Packets

To see more curriculum reviews check out http://thehappyhousewife.com/homeschool/homeschool-curriculum-review/

**Disclaimer: I received this product free in order to provide my honest opinion. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ May 13, 2011

In my life this week…Ladybug turned 5 and I got selected for the TOS Homeschool Crew!

In our homeschool this week…we studied the Creation, The Fall and Cain & Able and worked on our Ladybug unit (*Click the curriculum tab above if you want to see our resources).

Monkey worked on the letter "B", blue, black, Bear, Beaver and Butterfly.

Ladybug wrote about animals, learned sight words (at, love, mom, dad), worked on counting, adding, position words, color, shapes and patterns. She also read some of her sight word readers.

Unicorn completed her State's Notebook, wrote some poems, continued reading The Secret Garden and continues to progress in Latin.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…this coming week our former nanny and her son (20 months) are coming to visit us! We are very excited to see them. Baby K was only 2 months old when we last saw them!

My favorite thing this week was…this is hard...I can't choose between Ladybug turning 5, becoming a member of the TOS Crew and finishing the last bit of carry-over from the last school year (the States Notebook)!

What’s working/not working for us…after last weeks tweaks our Routine seems to be working (at least until it gets too hot to do PE outside...which here in AZ might be next week)!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…nope...drawing a blank here. :)

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…if you are interested in keeping up with my reviews and any other fun stuff I stumble upon you may want to "like" me on Facebook. Click here or on the sidebar! Thanks!

TOS Homeschool Review Crew Results...

I made it! 

We "set sail" in June! 

"Like" me on Facebook and stay tuned for reviews of homeschool products!

(This is a repost...the original got lost during the blogger outage).

2011 Curriculum ~ 6th Grade

Unicorn is 11 years old. She went to public school until April of 2010. She is an EXCELLENT reader but struggles in math. My goals for her are to strengthen her math skills, keep her excelling in reading, give her a good grasp of history and religion, to help her discover her strengths and interests and give her the tools to develop them.

Reading ~ She reads one book for a literature study and one more "fun" book. Currently she is reading The Secret Garden for literature and the Leven Thumps series for fun. Next up for literature are Little Women and Anne of Green Gables with a CurrClick class covering these books during the summer. Then I am hoping to put her in a BYU Independent Study course. I think the Harry Potter series is our next for fun set of books.

Writing ~ Wordsmith Apprentice, her Blog and Email.

Math ~ Math Mammoth Grade 3 (and hopefully into Grade 4 by December)

Science ~ Whatever she wants! We will notebook and/or lapbook. We will use Hands of A Child, Unit Studies and Download N Go by Amanda Bennett and CurrClick as our main resources. We will also be keeping Nature Journals and Gardening.

History ~ Heart of Wisdom (Adam to Messiah ~ Ancient History) as a family.

Geography ~ Mapping the US by World and If the World Were a Village lapbook.

Art ~ We will be learning to draw. Some of the books we will use include: Draw and Write through History, How to Draw 101 Animals, How to Draw and How to Draw Lettering.

Religion ~ We do religion as a family. We will be studying the Old Testament. We will use The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Primary Workbook, Heart of Wisdom (Adam to Messiah) and other resources I find on the internet. Unicorn and I are also going to start Scripture Journals this year.

Foreign Language ~ RosettaStone Latin finish year 1.

P.E. ~ WiiFit, running, walking and Nutrition (not sure what we're going to use for this yet).

Workbox Wednesday ~ K/1

Each Wednesday I am going to post what we have in our Workboxes. So I don't overwhelm myself I will alternate each week with Preschool, K/1st grade, 6th grade and our family workboxes.

This week I am featuring Ladybug's K/1 Workboxes (5 years old):



Family Boxes: Calender, Journal, PE, Jobs and Religion

1. "Shapes and Patterns" page from Math Mammoth Grade 1

2. "Cursive letter 'a'" from Teach Me Joy's The Joy of Handwriting Curriculum

3. "Life-cycle of a Ladybug" lapbook page from Hands of a Child's Ladybug Project Pack

4. "Writing about Pond Animals" Lesson 1.7 in WriteShop A

5. "Sight Words" from 1+1+1=1's You Can Read Program

6. Open Birthday presents! Today is her 5th Birthday!

Ladybug is 5...

(going on 15...but that is a story for another day)!

Five years ago today I woke up early, went to the hospital, got checked-in for my scheduled C-section, had the monitors put on (to make sure I wasn't having too many or too strong of contractions), got prepped, chatted with the doctor, got my spinal and at 7:30 am (right on time) Ladybug entered the world. She was born at 38 weeks.

After Unicorn's scary entrance this was a welcome change (little did I know that this was going to be my only "normal" delivery as Monkey's entrance was going to be an adventure as well).

Ladybug's Favorites

Color: Pink

Sport: Swimming

Game: MarioKart Wii

Season: Winter (because that's when Christmas is)

Meal: Oatmeal

School Subject: All of them!

Book: Mr. Finnegan's Giving Chest

Sweet Snack: Chocolate Cake

Salty Snack: Chips

Ladybug Today

I am 5.

I believe in Jesus.

I wish I had a trampoline.

I have lots of books.

I know how to read.

I can play.

I hope I get a trampoline.

I want lake that has fish in it so we can fish.

I will learn to snap.

I remember 5 + 5 = 10.

Ladybug's Stats.

At birth: 6 pounds 4 ounces and 18.5 inches

At age 5: 26 pounds and 3 feet 3.25 inches

2011 Curriculum ~ K/1

Ladybug is 5 years old and did preschool from August 2010-December 2010 and Kindergarten from January 2011-March 2011. In April we started 1st grade work in Math and Reading. She knows all her letters and sounds, can blend short vowel words, is learning sight and high-frequency words and the silent "e" rule. She can count to 59, knows all her numbers and shapes, add and subtract single-digit numbers and understands 1-to-1 correspondence. My goal this year is to stay ahead of her. She learns very quickly and gets "bored" easily. Additionally, I want to work with her on controlling her temper.

Phonics ~ 1+1+1=1's You Can Read (Sight Words), Progressive Phonics (starting with the Beginning Program) and Starfall.com. Additional resources include Spalding Phonics, Sight Word Readers, First Little Readers, Education Cubes and whatever else I can find to keep her going and help her become a fluent reader.

Writing ~ WriteShop A

Math ~ Math Mammoth Grade 1 and Math Whizz

Science ~ Whatever she wants! We will notebook and/or lapbook. We will use Hands of A Child, Unit Studies and Download N Go by Amanda Bennett and CurrClick as our main resources. We will also be keeping Nature Journals and Gardening.

History ~ Heart of Wisdom (Adam to Messiah ~ Ancient History) as a family.

Geography ~ Mapping the US by Heart (modified) and If the World Were a Village lapbook.

Art ~ We will be learning to draw. Some of the books we will use include: Draw and Write through History, How to Draw 101 Animals, How to Draw and How to Draw Lettering.

Religion ~ We do religion as a family. We will be studying the Old Testament. We will use The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Primary Workbook, Heart of Wisdom (Adam to Messiah) and other resources I find on the internet.

Foreign Language ~ Signing Time Series One

P.E. ~ WiiFit, walking, running and learning to ride a bike.

2011 Curriculum ~ Preschool

Monkey is 3 years old and is just starting to do some “school” at the table with his sisters. Until now he has pretty much learned everything he knows from his sisters, Leap Frog movies, Rock ‘N Learn movies, Dora, Diego and through books we have read to him. He learns best through song and repetition. He can count to 14 and recognizes many of his numbers by sight. He can identify most letters and even knows many of their sounds. He knows some shapes and colors. Having said that my goal for him this year is to know all his letter names and sounds, count to 20 and recognize each number, learn 1-to-1 correspondence, learn the rest of his shapes and colors and to explore God’s creatures.

Phonics ~ Teach Me Joy’s Animal Play, Homeschool Creations Preschool Packs, 1+1+1=1’s Preschool Packs and Confessions of a Homeschooler’s Printables

Math ~ Teach Me Joy’s Animal Play and other resources I find on the Internet

Science ~ Teach Me Joy’s Animal Play, Gardening and other resources I find on the Internet

Art ~ Teach Me Joy’s Animal Play and other resources I find on the Internet as well as projects the girls are doing that he is interested in

Religion ~ We do religion as a family. Monkey hangs out with us and participates when he can. We will be studying the Old Testament. We will use The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Primary Workbook, Heart of Wisdom and other resources I find on the internet.

Foreign Language ~ Signing Time Series One

He will also do P.E. with us when it is age appropriate. 

Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ May 6, 2011

In my life this week…

NO MORE DIAPERS! :) My baby is not a baby anymore! :( While I miss certain aspects of babyhood I will not miss the diapers!

In our homeschool this week…

We started our new school year and routine! WOW! I am loving our curriculum picks and our routine. 

Monkey has started preschool and is loving it. He already knew the letter "A" so we focused on the sound "A" makes. He also learned about "1", alligator, ant and albatross. Click here to see his workboxes for Wednesday.

Ladybug started her KG/1 grade year. She is at a 1st grade level in most things but as she is only turning 5 next week I want to make sure her skills are mastered in both KG and 1st grade. She is also becoming quite the negotiator (a good skill but not one that works well when you are trying to teach obedience).

Unicorn is starting her 6th grade year. She is on track or ahead with everything except Math. We are still in the skill recovery mode with her here. She is 1 to 1 1/2 years behind in most math concepts. When I brought her home from public school about a year ago she was 2 to 2 1/2 years behind so we are making progress! :)

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

Since we are in the very early stages of potty-training we are not going far (well, that and gas prices) from home! 

My favorite thing this week was…

NO MORE DIAPERS! :)

What’s working/not working for us…

Our new routine. I will be doing a little tweaking but for the most part it is working! :)

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

Not much here other than I am planning on sharing our curriculum, routine and workboxes throughout the month of May. Keep an eye out!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Unicorn and Ladybug checking out a lizard's tail.
Ladybug looks queasy because the tail is still moving!

Workbox Wednesday ~ Preschool

Each Wednesday I am going to post what we have in our Workboxes. So I don't overwhelm myself I will alternate each week with Preschool, K/1st grade, 6th grade and our family workboxes.

This week I am featuring Monkey's Preschool (36 months):



1. "Aa" page from Homeschool Creations Astronaut Preschool Pack

2. "1" coloring page from Teach Me Joy's Animal Play Preschool Curriculum and 1 marker, 1 circle, 1 block, 1 dragonfly and 1 foam 1

3. "Ant Colony" pages 8-9 in I Love Animal Homes

4. Pre-Writing page from Confessions of a Homeschooler: Letter A for Apple

5. Colors from Education Cubes

Monkey will also join us (hopefully) for our family workboxes: jobs, religion and PE.

Portfolios as You Go

I have had a few questions about how I am doing portfolios this year. I will attempt to answer them here.

First, a disclaimer, I am NOT an expert. I am a former teacher turned homeschooling mama! Also, the state I live in (Arizona) does not require portfolios so I am free to do what works best for me. If your state has requirements, PLEASE follow their guidelines.

OK...on to the fun stuff!

Last year was my first year of homeschooling and I did not create a portfolio as I went along and am now regretting it. So, here is my {hopeful} solution.

1. A 3-ring binder (clear pocket on the front is nice) for each child (mine is 1 1/2 inches but I will probably end up with a 3- or 5-inch binder when they go on sale in August).

2. Pocket dividers (one for each subject)

3. Pretty paper

4. 3-hole punch

5. I put the child's name, school year (2011-2012), grade level and age on the pretty paper and slid it in the front of the binder (you could also have the kiddos decorate their paper).

6. I labeled each divider with the subject and put it in the binder.

7. I put completed daily assignments in the pockets until the end of the week when I hole-punch everything and place it behind the correct divider (I also use the pockets to collect finished work that will be used in a lapbook or notebooking page until we are ready to assemble the projects).

8. Our portfolios: