Homeschool Discoveries

Sharing a few things I've discovered along the way…

Collage Friday: Books, Games and the New Room January 27, 2012

Filed under: Weekly Highlights — kirstenjoyhill @ 9:10 pm

1.  Weekly library outing.  The book that Miss M and Mr. E are looking at was one of our favorites this week!

2.  We made it to the geometry/drawing tools lessons in RightStart Level C this week.  While I have read many reports of frustration and tears surrounding these lessons, the first two lessons using the drawing tools were met with joy by Miss M and only a few mild frustrations.  I was so pleased that we were able to complete 5 lessons this week (that doesn’t happen to us very often — we usually only get 3 or 4 done).  Miss M actually told me she hopes the drawing tools lessons are harder next week!

3. It was book report week at our homeschool co-op for Miss M.  She chose the Boxcar Children book entitled “Treehouse Mystery” for her report.  She started out writing the report by hand, but quickly got frustrated with spelling issues and her struggles to write neatly on the small lines in the notebook she chose to write in.  Since time of was of the essence (aka, we actually had a deadline!), I allowed her to dictate to me and I typed the report for her.  This reminded me, however, that it had been my intention of finding a new writing curriculum to start in January.  I guess I didn’t quite meet that goal.  I think Miss M definitely needs more instruction and practice in the writing department.

4.  Gotta love a game of War first thing in the morning…while still in jammies!

5. Cute baby J picture, taken by Miss M…just for fun!

6. The boys working on mazes in a new workbook I bought a few months ago…and just re-discovered while moving the contents of our office to make way for Miss M’s new room.  Miss M is working at the desk in the background…and the play/school room is a mess, as usual!

7. Mr. E has been begging me to work on reading again with him.  He was showing more interest in reading “real books” rather than working on lessons from Phonics Pathways.  So, I pulled out our “Now I’m Reading” books by Nora Gaydos, as well as a series of phonics-based readers I printed out (and bound with book rings) when I took advantage of a free trial of readingatoz.com a few years ago.  Mr. E read 4 small books with me this week. Yeah!

8. I bought subscriptions to readingeggs.com for both Miss M and Mr. E through two different deals last fall.  Mr. E is working on basic phonics/reading lessons, while Miss M is working on spelling and reading comprehension.  It’s a great website that uses a lot of fun little games to teach language skills.  I would not probably pay the full price they typically charge, but over the years (starting when Miss M was about the age Mr. E is now!), we have had various free and discounted subscriptions that have proven to be fun and worthwhile.  The kids hadn’t gotten to do reading eggs since before Christmas, and since I paid for those subscriptions, I thought we should get back in the habit of using them!

And last Saturday, we did get Miss M moved into her very own room. We’re all very pleased with the results and Miss M “celebrated” by having a friend over for a playdate on both Monday and Friday!

I’m linking us this week to Collage Friday @ Homegrown Learners and the Weekly Wrap-Up @ Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

 

Collage Friday: Math Games Week January 20, 2012

Filed under: Weekly Highlights — kirstenjoyhill @ 5:36 pm
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Collage Friday - January 20th, 2012

Collage Friday - January 20th, 2012

1 & 2:  We had a “math games week” this week.  When I looked at the upcoming lessons in Right Start C at the end of last, I noticed that we were scheduled for two lessons to learn new games, followed by a review lesson with suggested games.  We played games for math each day M-Th — Short Chain Subtraction Solitaire is the game in both pictures.  We intended to play a game today too, but the review sheet took longer than expected.

In #2, even Mr. E got in on the act of helping with the game.  He is what some people might call “mathy.”  I have never really taught him anything about subtraction, but somehow he figured out the answer to a bunch of problems, or could figure them out with a small hint.  He begged for a Right Start lesson of his own today, and we ended up breezing through about three lessons of level A, after not doing any since well before Christmas break.    I feel bad about rarely doing a lesson of Right Start with him…but he seems to be learning plenty of math whether I do the lessons with him or not.

3:  Miss M, hard at work in her spelling workbook (we are using “How to Spell” book two and “How to Teach Spelling”….sort of.  I am not sure I am quite using it as designed).  The desk is a new addition to the play/school room.  Miss M seems to like it as a new spot to work, especially if she is allowed to stand at the desk and work without a chair!

4:  Miss M loves horses and loves to draw pictures of them.  Aren’t they great for a 2nd grader? I think she can probably draw a horse better than I can!   Miss M found several horse books at the library this week.  She is reading them for fun, but some of this reading I’m sure will benefit her “Expert Day” project at co-op later this spring.  (Expert Day is sort of like a science fair, but the projects can be on any topic.)  She declared months ago that her topic would be horses!

5. The boys totally love Legos.  This was what they were doing several days this week while Miss M and I did school.  Daddy discovered a bunch of his childhood Legos during a recent basement clean-out project, and those Legos joined our recently-organized collection on Sunday afternoon.

6.  Baby J and Mr. K checking out the “bus” at the Children’s Museum.  The kids and I went to the museum for most of the day on Saturday while Tony cleaned the basement.  I could make a whole collage just of pictures of our visit — we had so much fun!  The kids all particularly enjoyed the “Storyland” exhibit that creates play spaces based on several favorite children’s books including “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom”, “Peter Rabbit”, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and “The Snowy Day.”

7. This nearly empty room means…Miss M is about to get her very own room.  As soon as we gave her the news this past summer that her new sibling would be a brother, we tried to soften the news by telling her she would eventually get her own room (she currently shares with the two bigger boys).  While we originally thought it would not happen until Baby J was old enough to move in with his brothers and out of Mommy and Daddy’s room, we decided it was time to move her sooner rather than later.  Our old office room is getting cleared out and items moved elsewhere in the house (hence the new desk in the school room), and “moving day” is scheduled for tomorrow!

8. Mr. E says HE wants a handwriting book with Bible verses in it like Miss M’s book (She is learning cursive with A Reason for Handwriting Book C).  I told him I would order Book A for him, but I had a challenge for him first: write out all the letters in the alphabet, upper and lower case.  I don’t think he actually knows how to write all the letters yet, but I wanted to see what letters he needs more work on.  He got about half way through the upper-case alphabet on Thursday, and wasn’t too interested in writing today.  The challenge will continue into next week.  Mr. K got right up at the table next to him and declared that he was writing letters too.   I bet his random lines will start looking like real letters pretty soon. 🙂

I’m linking up with…

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Collage Friday @ HomeGrownLearners
and
The Weekly Wrap Up @ Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

 

Collage Friday: Back to School! January 13, 2012

Filed under: Weekly Highlights — kirstenjoyhill @ 11:15 pm
Tags: , , , ,
Collage Friday 2012-01-13

Collage Friday 2012-01-13

We resumed our regular school schedule this week after a three week Christmas break.  Here’s a few highlights from our week:

1. Grandma Karen visited one day this week.  Here she is reading “Little Man in the Map” to all the kids.   Miss M will participate in a Geography Challenge at our homeschool co-op in May, and the challenge for the 2nd graders is to memorize the location of all the US states.   Miss M wanted lots of prep time, so we started this week!  We’ll be using this book as well as a few iPad apps (and standard blank paper maps) for learning and practice all semester.

2. Mr. E and Mr. K relaxing on the couch with a bit of music on a shared MP3 player today.  Sometimes music is the best thing to soothe the savage beast…or stir crazy little boys as the case may be!

3. Mr. K is potty training.  He’s our “class clown” so it makes life interesting.  He is just as likely to do as pictured (or jump in the empty bath tub, or run right past the potty into the next room) as he is to execute the act of pottying appropriately.  We still have lots of work to do in this department, so I am planning on just as many interruptions to our school day next week as potty training continues!

4. At our homeschool co-op,our assembly time speaker was a “history player” from the Minnesota Historical Society portaying Maud Hart Lovelace.  In this picture, Miss M is dancing with “Maud” to the music of a record playing on a Victrolla.   “Maud” talked about her life story, and how life has changed since the turn of the century — a very fun presentation

5. It’s not uncommon for Mr. E and Mr. K to have some time to play games on the iPad during our school day.  I set Baby J down on the couch next to them for a moment, and he quickly leaned in next to Erik to see what was going on.  So cute!

6.  Here’s Miss M hard at work on her RightStart Math level C lesson.  We completed three lessons this week.  This included spending a fair amount of time reviewing subtraction strategies on Monday and Tuesday that may have gotten a little rusty over break.

7. This was perhaps the top highlight of the week — 50 degree weather on Monday and Tuesday.  In January! In Minnesota!  The kids were asking why we had no bubbles or chalk or jump ropes handy (Hmmm…maybe because it is really still winter?), so I was kind enough to dig some out from the basement.  Reality returned on Thursday and Friday with some more seasonably cold temps.  But this is still a very warm winter by Minnesota standards — I don’t think it has gotten below zero yet.

I’m linking up this week with:

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Collage Friday @ Homegrown Learners and with the Weekly Wrap Up @Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers