Tuesday June 28 :)

Today we did our typical math on Khan Academy, then science Chapter 3 Lesson 1. We learned that plants are producers and animals are consumers. And we spent about an hour watching videos online about photosynthesis. We did painting in the evening which turned into each of the kids having their faces painted with the finger paint. They looked pretty cool!  Yesterday we focused on Math and a little science. I need to get back into history and geology. I am looking for a good curriculum for that though because as we are trying to learn about US history starting about 14000 years ago it is intensive and we are going through it very slowly. I would like a US history text that includes Ancient History, yet something we can get through quicker than we have been lately. It has been one of those days that at six pm I still want to learn with the kids. But they are playing Indians in the yard and I will just have to wait till tomorrow.

One Month In

I just realized that it has been a little over a month since our family began homeschooling. Then I realized that we already took a week off from it and panicked a bit. However I started homeschooling the kids straight from public school with no break in between. So I think allowing them a week off in the middle of summer is completely justifiable and expected. This has been a good month. I wonder though if I will always question myself every day we do not have school? And when the other kids return to school in August will the worry of not being enough for them or making them do enough each day become even more intense? I don't know... one day at a time... one day at a time.

Break

June 16 was our eleventh wedding anniversary so we called it a family holiday and did not have school. Then the next day I realized that the first official day of summer was coming up so we decided to take the week off, this turned out to be a good thing for many reasons; I had finals in college and Nic had a serius injury to his mouth that would have kept him from his studies. He is all better now thank goodness, and fyi knee plus trampoline plus chin equels lots of blood and pain for little boys. :(

 Starting tomorrow Monday June 27 we will resume our schooling I have found an online grammar class that I plan on taking with the kids to brush up on my own skills by teaching them. We will continue to use Khan Academy for math. We are still on the ancient Native Americans for History but plan to move on soon. We will do another Chapter or two in Science this week. And free reading of their own choice is still the reading curriculum although I do think I will have them fill out some kind of form to show when they read a book. This is our tentative plan for the week. There are also plans to go to the beach on Friday but I have not mentioned it to the kids yet.

Monday Tuesday June 13-14

I think we are getting the hang of this thing, and the heat was so bad that we stayed inside a lot.

Monday

Gabe-
Did a half hour of math online. (Math)
Finished The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (Reading)
Did the research for a report on Turtles. (Science, Reading, Handwriting, Grammar)

Nicolai-
Read four books to his sister. (Reading)
Did a half hour of math online, and watched a math video. (Math)
Read personally in a few Second Grade level books. (Reading)

Katie-
Did a few pages in her workbook (letters.)
Enjoyed stories read to her by Nic and Gabe.
Flipped through several books.

Tuesday

Gabe
Wrote a rough draft of his report on turtles. (Reading, Science, Grammar, Handwriting)
Did an hour and half of math online. Plus a few videos on times tables. (Math)
Watched a show about the Hubble space telescope and images of space. (Science)

Nico
Painted a picture. (Art)
Read to Katie. (Reading)
Did a hour and a half of math online. Plus a few videos on times tables. (Math)
Watched a show about the Hubble space telescope and images of space. (Science)

Katie
Painted a picture. (Art.)
Did several work book pages. (pre-reading)
Enjoyed stories read by her brothers. (reading.)
Watched a show about the Hubble space telescope and images of space. (Science)

This was a busy day. We did not cover history but it is only the second day of the week so I am sure will will progress in that area as the week goes on. They are making such leaps and bounds in Math that if that is all they do for a few weeks I would be satisfied.

Also I am so proud of Gabe for his work on his research report. He took three pages of notes from the Encyclopedia, and online. He wrote the report in the format I requested and I was suprised at the hours he put into it, and the final outcome. It is not perfect, but tommorow he will do the final draft so it will be close. I am very proud of him because this is the first report he ever wrote and I have seen worse from students in my college classes.  My plan is to ask him to turn in a report in MLA format (or as close as he can get in his handwriting) every two weeks on the topic of his own choice. I think that will meet handwriting/grammer requirments, allow him to study whatever topic he wants, and have something I can keep to show his work.

:) Summer Time

We still are tempted outside more often than not. Although with temps reaching 107 yesterday it is becoming less so. Here goes the remainder of our week:

Thursday- The kids each did Math online. They read to each other and did personal reading. Gabe went into the swamp with his Dad and watched a turtle lay her eggs. Pictures coming soon.

Friday- They did a little math but it was one of those days that their Dad was home and we stayed busy. Aside from personal reading it was an day off.

Saturday- We went to our friends house and had science. The kids learned about holograms using the suns rays, I am still not sure how it worked but plan on researching it so we can do it again at home. They also watched a science video and made their own sidewalk paint with cornstarch. This was a great science/art lesson. They got to play with their other home schooled buddy and make a mess with paint. This was a good day.

Today is Sunday so aside from reading scriptures there is no official work. This week was an easy one, but I am not worried because they made leaps in their math, and had fun with science.

One of those days....

Today was one of those days that confirms my decision to home school my children. We started at nine with math online. Then history, then a bit of letter sounds with my preschool daughter. Then we went to town to run errands and get dinner. When I got in the parking lot I saw a bloodmobile. I thought, I have never gave blood before but this should be a good lesson for the kids, in compassion, and an example of a job in the medical field. So I asked if the kids could be with me the whole time and they said yes, so I signed up. They interviewed me and determined that I was worthy to drop off my bodily fluids with them. The kids each got a lemon aid slush and complements on being well behaved. I conveniently forgot my childish fear of needles until she pulled one out, but knowing that I would be a horrible example if I ran out of the screaming so I concentrated on the face of my daughter snuggled up on the chair next to me and hardly felt a thing. It was over in half an hour and a least one of my kids have said they want to be a doctor or a nurse when they are grown so all in all worth every drop of blood and pretending that I am tougher than I am. In the evening we went for a swim in the lake as the sun set. I waded with my children around me as the sun set and the bats fluttered around our heads as we stared in wonder at the quarter moon and night birds. We finished the day with another math lesson on the computer and reading the library books we checked out. All in all a great day. I really have no dramatic stories for why I dont' send my kids to public school. In fact I love LOVE the public school in my small home town. I have spent many hours volunteering there last year. And honestly it hurts my heart a bit to give it all up. But I want to give myself to my kids each day, I want to be their teacher. I recently read that Mary was Jesus' first teacher. I take my role seriously and if I fail I count on all the other people in my kids life who don't really support this choice of ours to let me know. Meanwhile I am enjoying every drop of my kids childhood. I really goes too fast that is something everyone has told me a hundred times and  it is true. So this is what this blog is about. I will Journal our home school days honestly and if any of you people who also love my kids think I am failing in any way feel free to let me know. I want to do this right... this parenting thing, because I only get this one chance. Ya know?

Outside all the time.

We have started using Kahn Academy for math. It has turned out to be immensely useful. I have started the boys out at basic addition for practice and I am letting them self pace their way up. The site is http://www.khanacademy.org/ and it is free. 

Today we mucked around in the mud, caught fish with our hands, studied ecosystems, focused on math (online), read Beezus and Ramona in order to watch the movie tomorrow, and went for a Looooong hot walk. For handwriting and bible study they are writing one bible verse a day. (Their choice) if I don't mention it in our days activities it is still done daily. Much of our time is spent outside; they are learning at a steady pace but not getting a ton of paper work done. I think the bulk of the paper work will be done in the winter when the weather does not draw us out for most of the day. Luckily it is summer and they would be out of school either way so no one is worried. :)

This week...

This week we have tried something new... since it is only our second week in I think this will happen often till we find exactly what works for our family. We decided to be a bit more laid back we looked at a swamp and had a short discussion about ecosystems. We read about animal and insect behavior and watched an ant bed for patterns. We watched two episodes on Planet Earth. We read a chunk of The Magicians Nephew by C. S. Lewis, and did math work sheets daily. They also did more personal reading this week than last. We reviewed last weeks history but did not add anything to it. I know we can't be quite so relaxed every week, nor will will be quite as structured as we were in week one. This week was a lot more peaceful and I feel they learned a lot so all in all even though I don't have a ton of paperwork (aside from daily math) to show for it, I feel it was successful.