what happened to 3, 4 and 5???

so, what happened to weeks 3, 4 and 5? well. life. life happened.

messy, crazy, not too predictable life.

and it isn't promising to get any better in the near future.

we have managed to get some schooling done here and there.

we got through the story of Moses and the Exodus and are now focusing on Creation in the TOG curriculum.

bonobo managed to slowly (painfully) wade through the letters M and K before stalling out completely.

we couldn't get through a week of The Rag Coat to save my life, and i tried for 2 weeks! argh!!

tic-tac got through several pages of math (thank goodness he loves to do workbook pages).

as for the rest of it, well. we are behind.

sigh.

i am hoping to get back on track soon.

this week, no go, as we have two full days of bible study training for our CBS group. very long days. we took monday off, too, of course, since daddy had the day off.

sigh.

it gets better, right?

school, that is? i know life just gets in the way and will continue to do so.

In the Car...

our latest audio selection is

How to Eat Fried Worms, by Thomas Rockwell, read by Jay O. Sanders.

i read this book as a girl in elementary school and remembered it to be pretty funny, and just a tad gross.

which is right up our alley! my two boys hooted and hollered throughout the playback, and more than once we had to sit in the driveway or in the parking lot at wal-mart so that the chapter could finish.

i thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it!

Week 2 :)

this week was pretty low key. we started strong on monday, and then hiccuped some when we got ill one child per day. by the end of the week, we were all hacking and dripping everywhere, even mom! needless to say, we kept school to a minimum toward the end of the week. dad had friday off, so he pitched in and did all the kids reading with them.

i am SUPER glad i am not working off a calendar, because i would feel pretty defeated and behind right now. as it is, we will just continue where we left off and check items off the list as we go :)

we did manage to get some things done, though!

tic-tac

focused on learning about pharaohs from the Pharaohs and Pyramids book by Time Travelers.

he did several worksheets from Horizons math, although i am getting less and less excited about them. there is very little hands on and i am starting to think he will do better with more manipulatives.

our science experiment for the week was nixed because it involved the outdoors and it was darn hot. maybe when it gets cooler (like in november!).

we finished up our Deserts book.

we continued learning verses. he has the first 4 down pat from our Truth and Grace book. we are also moving along in our catechism, and daddy has taken to reviewing the verses/questions with the kids at night during family worship time.

bonobo

we focused on the letter B and reviewed the letter F. we have these great books i got from ebay a few years ago by J. Moncure that emphasize each letter and sound with the entire theme of the book. they are amazing!!! she has several series of phonic books, and i have yet to see a bad one. they are great for little ones just learning their sounds and letters :)

our FIAR book for the week was Lentil by Robert McCloskey. this book is absolutely wonderful. JoJo really enjoyed playing his harmonica in the bathtub for the acoustic experiment!

we all had fun making our Egyptian Paddle Dolls from the Old Testament Days craft book. the boys put them on their walls, and little A had been running around with hers all week. i am hoping to download the pictures sometime this week.

even though we were sick, we managed to get some stuff done. big N had some issues this week with his attitude, and we have had several discussions about being teachable and what that looks like. all in all, i feel like we all made at least one step forward despite all our setbacks.

mom

i need to get cracking on preparing the next two weeks. i need to go through the next few weeks on our TOG and get the books from the library reserved.

i need to prepare the science experiment for the week.

i need to get stinkerbell's tot trays ready. (haven't heard about tot trays? check out carisa at her blog for some AWESOME ideas on school for the little ones! she is amazing!)

have a great week :)

Week 1 :)

we schooled 3 full days this week. here is the breakdown :

tic-tac

• read Egyptians and Deserts this week, vocabulary words in line with each
• finished the Handwriting Without Tears workbook from last semester
• worked on several pages of our Horizons Math workbook
• memorized Genesis 1:1 and Matthew 22:37; copywork of verses
• 30 minutes of private reading time daily
  
• science: learned about lightning, thunder, and rainbows

bonobo

• Five in a Row book: The Story About Ping
• Get Ready for the Code :letter 'f'
• memorized Genesis 1:1 and Matthew 22:37
• reading time with mommy
• science: reflections
• art: composition and water

tic-tac also participated in the reading of Ping throughout the week and learned right along with bonobo.

each of the boys really enjoyed their week! next week i hope to incorporate crafts and a field trip. next week we will also go four days instead of 3. i think we will stick with a four-day week so that fridays can be used for errands, playdates, etc.

i think.

that is the fun of home-schooling, right?

flexibility, baby!

First Day of School...

wow! it is august already! i am soooo excited to start with our first day of school, i am blogging about it a day early :) i realized that i hadn't posted my curriculum choices yet, so i thought i would start with that and then (hopefully) do weekly summaries about our days...

tic-tac is 6, going on 7 in december. we homeschooled very, very loosely with him last year, hit many bumps in the road, and basically, i gave up trying to follow our Sonlight curriculum. it was just too much and didn't have any clear connections between subjects. my husband and i talked, reviewed and basically gave it up to God, and then he let me choose what we would be using this fall and we chose:

Tapestry of Grace as our core unit study
Horizons math (he still has to finish last year's workbooks before i feel good about purchsing anything new)
Handwriting Without Tears
Sonlight Science K (i really liked their resources!)
Truth and Grace/Catechism for Boys and Girls
Put On workbook put out by DoorPosts
The 21 Rules of this House (i will edit and let you know the publisher when i get a chance).
Luke, a bible study put out by Community Bible Study

it seems like a lot, but i have our schedule blocked out pretty nicely. we plan on going year-round this time since it is so blessed hot here in the valley during the summer and we don't have a pool :) i felt like we really could have gotten a lot done these last few months if i had just gotten my act together!

i am also really trying to focus on biblical characteristics and godly living this year. i hope to see some significant growth in each of my children (and ME!) this year as we dig into the bible together and learn verses, and write God's Word into our hearts.

for bonobo, as he just turned 4 in april, we are really taking it easy, but i don't want him to feel left out. he is eager to read just like his older brother, and i hope to use an adapted workbox system to foster some independent study on his part. his core curriculum is

Five in a Row...if you haven't ever checked out this curriculum, i HIGHLY recommend that you do. it is inexpensive, and encourages children to get completely involved in the story. you read the book (all priceless selections) every day for five days and then each day focus on a different aspect of study (social studies, geography, art, music, math, science, etc)...even has suggested field trips! i LOVE it!!! we have been able to get several of the books ahead of time from the library.

Explode the Code, primer A, B, C
stinkerbell is only 2, but i went ahead and got Before Five in a Row for her since she is showing so much interest in reading books. i am also working on her Tot Trays for her to work on her own with fun toys while i am occupied with the boys.

that is our curriculum in a nutshell. ha! i will let you know how it is all going as soon as i come up to breathe!!!

have a great first day of school :)

Read and Share

i started a group several months back called Read and Share for Kids.

the basic premise was to be that kids would read a book in keeping with a monthly theme, come share about it with a group of kids and moms, and then trade the book at the end of the morning.

the sharing of the books worked beautifully, but the trading didn't.

the kids often wanted to share one of their favorite books, but weren't quite willing to part with it, and there were several times i ix-nayed a book choice because i didn't want to let it go off our shelf.

so we dropped the trade aspect, and it seems to work just fine now!

in fact, we often share books from the library that we choose specifically for the event.

we meet once a month at a library, house or park. the kids all get together to share and enjoy hearing about the other's selections.

children as young as 3 have participated! it is so much fun.

this morning was our day, and we had 5 children share. afterward we had snack (provided by the host mom, thanks, heather!) and some play time. i think the morning went beautifully!

i love how it has opened up my 6 year old to new possibilities. he is reading with a passion right now, and loves picking out a book to share. we are going to start focusing on story elements so that he can start to identify them. my 4 year old really got into it this morning, too!

i am hoping that others will read this and be inspired to do something similar in their circle of friends. i love that it brings together children with a common theme. i hope we can grow our group in the upcoming months! i hope to incorporate some crafts or other themed activities to make it more meaningful for the kids (and moms!).

thanks to all the families who are participating! any ideas on some themes for the next few months?

tic-tac's library pick of the week...

we spend a lot of time picking out books at the library.

quite a bit, actually.

i am always looking for new books to read that my kids will be interested in. it never fails that the ones we read over and over are the silliest out there. sometimes i don't get the humor. like why my husband actually likes the old Monte Python series...but i digress...sorry...

since i am always looking, i thought i would share our library pics of the week for tic-tac (boy, age 6) and bonobo (boy, age 4). i am highlighting tic-tac's since bonobo hasn't settled on anything thus far.

tic-tac's read of the week is (drum roll, please...)

Shel Silverstein's Runny Babbit, A Billy Sook


as the title implies, it is indeed a very silly book. it is incredibly difficult to read aloud for my overly trained adult brain (not to say i am super smart, but our minds get used to seeing words in the right order, the right spelling, etc, and to see them jangled a little with only switching out the first sounds of a few words in a sentence, well, the mind plays tricks on you and you try to read it right, not in Runny Babbit fashion).

my children all laugh and giggle uncontrollably at phrases like "sea poup" (pea soup) and "his taws are sticky, poo" (his paws are sticky, too). imagine a book full of poems that are written in this fashion! so much fun to read and try to puzzle out, especially for early readers.

it is written in classic silverstein fashion, and the illustrations are right in line with other silverstein books. he worked on this book for over 20 years, and his family published it after his death. it is a must-read, and even a must-have on your bookshelf.

and here is a poem from the book to whet your appetite:

Runny Heeds Fimself

When Ramma Mabbit started teachin'
Runny how to eat,
He ficked his pood up with his ears,
He wasn't nery veat.
The sood all flipped, the drilk all mipped.
"That's pot nolite," said Maw.
"Never use your ears, my dear-
That's why Pod gave us gaws."

see what i mean? spell check is really irritated with me right now!

have a great wednesday!!