Our Curriculum for 2011-2012, Part 1

Welcome to a new school year!  We are very excited here in our little Schoolhouse.  God has lead us to a wonderful selection of curriculum that I am sure will be wonderful for our children.  Half-Pint is now in 2nd grade, Farmer Boy is still in Pre-K, and Little Brown Braid continues to hang around and someone pick up a few things here and there.  


Here is what we are learning together as a family:


Bible:  
We never got around to using Vos' Child's Story Bible Vols 1-3 last year, so we are using that now.  We are just reading through it and HP is doing some copywork from each chapter and drawing in her notebook.  (We are using the edition published by Banner of Truth, here's what Vol. 2 looks like.)


The 2 older children will be starting AWANA next week.  That will be included in our curriculum.  HP will be in Sparks again this year while Farmer Boy is going to start his first year in  Cubbies.  Pa will be volunteering in Cubbies to help with Farmer Boy's new transition.


Character Building:


This year, we will be reading through a books, the main one being Everyday Graces.  This book is actually a collection of different stories, excerpts from books, and poems.  Each chapter good character traits in different aspects of life:  honoring Mom and Dad, loving siblings, even dealing with manners at weddings, funerals, etc.  It's a GREAT book, I definitely recommend it.  Biblically based.


We are also going to be reading thru Storytime with the Millers.  This book is pretty conservative (about Amish life), but still teaches good character and is Biblically based.


Literature:


We are reading thru some poetry and Shakespeare this year!  


When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne
Poetry for Young People by Lewis Carroll


Tales from Shakespeare by Charles & Mary Lamb
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by E. Nesbit


Some other read alouds will include:


Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Peter Pan and Wendy by J.M. Barrie


... and whatever else we check out from the library!




Okay.  That's it for now.  I'll post more about the rest of our curriculum another day this week.  I am recuperating from a long morning of speaking to some women about breakfast.  

First Day!

It was the first day of school today.  Sorry, I haven't blogged in forever.

It went well!  I may have to tweak a few things, but overall, I think it went well and the kids had fun.

Tomorrow, I'll post our curriculum for the school year.  :)

Real Food Nutrition & Health for Kids is OUT!

Check it out here!

I can't wait to order it.

Farmer Boy loves geography!

Farmer Boy loves our Melissa & Doug USA map puzzle. He will take a state piece, walk over to large map and match it up with corresponding state.

Our favorite state?

"Misses Sota"

(that's Minnesota, if you didn't figure it out)

Field Trip/Birthday Trip

Half Pint chose the zoo for her birthday trip.

The whole family really enjoyed themselves and it was such a beautiful day (which has been few & far between around here).

C'mon, you gotta love Kumon!

I *heart* Kumon workbooks. I bought them for Half Pint when she was a Pre-K'er. I bought a few for Farmer Boy and he really enjoys them. Right now, we're just playing around with pencil practice. There is something about those big fat pencils in this boy's hands that makes me want to giggle. He loves doing "school" like his big sister.

I do have to pace him, or else he'd finish a whole book in 38 minutes.

Picture study

Half Pint wrote a store about a picture that we studied last week.

I absolutely love Queen Homeschool Supplies Language Lessons books. They are gentle, yet very thorough. The picture studies are so beautiful and really gets HP thinking.

Math: It can be fun, afterall!

here is proof!!

A good math day

So, I can't help but be really excited about math today.  HP is really enjoying Math Mammoth worksheets and it's easy for me to teach (so far).   I actually started HP back at the "beginning" of 1st grade math, just so she can get the basics under her belt.  I believe that was a good decision, simply because HP really needed the reinforcement.

It was another breezy Math day.  We ended school early today so we could hang out with the Grandparents this morning.  They are leaving for a 10 day cruise!  The kids are going to miss them so much.  They see them every day, since they live around the corner.  I'll miss them, too.  :(

School bell ringing earlier

Yes.  That's right.  I have found that instead of starting at 9am, starting a 8am makes for a much more pleasant school time.  Half-Pint seems to be more focused and more willing to do her work.  Her attitude is better and enjoys her school time.

So guess what that means??

I have to wake up consistently by 6:30am and make sure that breakfast is prepped the night before.  YIKES!  I better get on the ball!

I have also made a discovery with her Math.  Half-Pint really does well with word problems.  She can easily add 3-4 numbers and come up with the correct answer, IN HER HEAD.  But, if she sees those same numbers printed out on paper, she can't figure out where to start.  Interesting.

So, math today, was lots of fun for HP.

Farmer Boy did some maze work in his Kumon book.  He really loved it.

Little Brown Braid??  She practiced her whining.  ew

Making the switch

First of all, I am a complete heel for not posting enough on this blog.  Okay.  Next...

We switched math curriculums.  Right Start wasn't working out for us.  The manipulatives are great, but the book and teaching style didn't work for us at all.  I decided to try out Mammoth and it's going splendidly.  We're basically starting over from scratch, which will put Half-Pint behind a bit, but I really do feel that it's what is best for her.

Cursive and a fountain pen

HP loves writing with her fountain pen. It makes her feel like a big girl.

There is a method to the madness of kids using fountain pens. First of all, it keeps the kids from pressing down and gripping so hard. HP has a tight grip and writes very hard. This has helped tremendously in that area. Secondly, because of the way the pen has to be held, the body is almost forced into a different writing position. The arm has to be stretched out in front while the hand is in a natural "flat" position, making the wrist do the motions instead of the fingers that are gripping the pen. Thirdly, this writing position has relaxed HP's shoulders and she can see what she is writing as a whole, rather than letter by letter.

VERY interesting.

Costco SCORE!

I found this at our local Costco just in time for our Weather Unit.

I can't wait to use it!

Book Review: Let's Play by Gyo Fujikawa

Let's Play is an absolutely delightful book. Little Brown Braid received this book for her 2nd birthday a few weeks back. If any of you are familiar with Gyo Fujikawa, you'll know that your little one will be completely engaged by the sweet illustrations.

Sliding down the slide...

Swinging back and forth...

Settling down at the end of a busy day...

That's what playtime is all about!

This is a great book for toddlers and parents alike!

Library Day

This was part of a stack of books that we checked out from the library a few weeks ago. Every Friday, we head over to our local library. We go right when it opens and we are sometimes the only people there. We love the librarians. The kids love looking at all the books.

I love the online system. I also love the interlibrary loan. I ALSO love the state-wide library loan system. If our county doesn't have the book I want, I can check the state wide database. If participating libraries have that book I need, I can request it. It gets shipped to my library and waits for me on the hold shelf. HOW GREAT! It does have a hefty $1/day late fee. If you LOSE the book?? It costs $115. Yes. So these books are placed in a SPECIAL spot in our home! The kids know that if there is the "special tag" on it, to be VERY VERY CAREFUL! ;)

Maybe I should post a weekly library day pic.

Compromise

We've been struck with a virus in our home. Last week, Half-Pint & Little Brown Braid were hit. Fever then cough. We had to take the week off from doing any work so they could get better.

This week, as I was planning out our week I was all set to get caught up and stay on schedule.

Then, last night, Farmer Boy was hit with the fever. Ugh. And this morning, Half-Pint decided to have a bad attitude for a couple of hours. Let's just say that I was ready to throw in the towel. I've already been discouraged about our weeks, thinking that we're not getting enough done. This is what happens when I start comparing. I am realizing everyday that my kids' needs are not the same as other kids'. I also need to realize that life JUST HAPPENS and I need to go with it, otherwise, I'll just keep fighting and things will seem to take forever.

When I found HP reading to FB today, I thought, "Ok. This is good. This is better than school." Then, HP decided to draw a picture of a Dorking Chicken. Isn't it great?

In other news, for the past few months, I've been re-thinking our Math curriculum. sheesh. I've been researching on and off. We'll see where this takes us.

Home Economics and Math: Valentine's Day Brownies

Half-Pint asked to make the Valentine's Day dessert yesterday. I agreed and she used a recipe that I have used before. The recipe is from Heavenly Homemakers. I love that blog and you can click here for the RECIPE.

I helped her a little, but for the most part, she was in charge. Once they cooled, she use heart shaped cookie cutters to cut out the brownies. These were served with strawberres and vanilla ice cream. We were all very impressed with her delicious dessert!

We learned about fractions along the way....

Spell to Write and Read

Half-Pint enjoys her spelling and phonogram exercises.

I don't keep up with it as much as I should. We're supposed to complete a 20-word spelling list per week. OOPS. We haven't done that each week. I need to be better at that.

I am very pleased with this program. There is still some confusion on my part with organizing it all, but I am doing my best.

Happy New Year! We're still going strong...

We're still here.

Half-Pint is still plugging away at her studies and I just feel so blessed to be able to be here at home with her and teach her.

We took a long break- 3 weeks- from formal school.  We still read a lot, wrote, and baked together.  It was SO GOOD to take a break, but it's been even better to get back into a routine.

We also had Pa's mother visit us from back East for Christmas.  It was a nice visit and a great chance for the kids to interact with her since they don't get to see her but once a year.

I pray that you all had a wonderful Christmas Season!

Do you have goals for this new year?  Any school goals?

Mine?  READ ALOUD EVEN MORE.  wheew!