9/30/08

TOG Y1r U1 W9

Princess L (PreK)
Letter I
Reading: Inside Outside Upside Down, Inch By Inch, Inspector Hopper, Inch By Inch the Garden Song

Princess S (LG)
Bible: selections from Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua
Climbing to Good English: pgs 123-127
Handwriting: capital W-Z
Literature: free reading
Math U See: Beta continuing column addition lesson 13
SOS Science: finding errors from last weeks test and correcting them
Writing Aids: 5 sentence paragraphs
Reading: Old Testament Days (excerpts), Celebrate (excerpts)

Princess E (UG)
Bible, SOS Science and Handwriting: same as above
Growing with Grammar: 1.9-1.12
Literature: Tirzah pgs. 99-159
Math U See: Gamma Lesson 8
Writing Aids: narrative writing
Reading: What the Bible is All About for Young Explorers (excerpts), Celebrate (excerpts)

This is our last week of Unit One. We will take a two week break and start back with Unit Two on October 20. During the break, I will hopefully be getting together all the things we need for hands on activities. We've really fallen short on those this unit, partially because I didn't gather things before hand, partially because we've had some issues with ADD and irresponsiblilty of the students to not do work they said they've done. Then we've had to implement discipline and extra work, and then the "fun hands on stuff" goes away because there isn't time. It's sad because that is the stuff that they remember, but it's the stuff that is less necessary most of the time. During their two week break, the princesses will be expected to learn double their Awana verses and will be given an extra song or two from their piano teacher. I am looking forward to it as much as they are.
Blessings.

9/25/08

New Blog

Just wanted you all to know that I moved all political posts to another blog. I wanted this one to stay focused on homeschooling. But I do feel it is important that people see what is going on so I moved all the posts (but not the comments because I didn't know how to move those) to a separate blog. Look on the sidebar for the link if you want to visit that one.

Blessings.

9/22/08

TOG Y1r U1 W8

Princess L (Pre-K)
Letter H
Reading: The Happy Hippopotami, Horton Hears a Who, My Hands, Hop on Pop, Ho for a Hat, The Big Honey Hunt

Princess S (LG)
Bible: selections on OT law from Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy with the focus on understanding why the law is there and what it means for the Israelites and for us as Christians
Climbing to Good English: pgs 118-122
Handwriting: capital Q-V
Literature: On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
Math U See: Beta continuing column addition lesson 13
SOS Science: plants test
Writing Aids: steps in the Writing Process
Reading: The Story of Shabbat

Princess E (UG)
Bible, SOS Science and Handwriting: same as above
Growing with Grammar: 1.5 - 1.8
Literature: Tirzah pgs. 60-98
Math U See: Gamma Unit 1 test and lesson 7
Writing Aids: descriptive writing
Reading: On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, The Story of Shabbat

Just passing this along

Post moved to here.

9/20/08

This is so insane - you gotta read it for yourself.

Post moved to here.

LHOTP Field Trip

We were blessed with a field trip to see Little House on the Prairie the musical. We had a wonderful time! We got to see the Guthrie Theater and its beautiful and unique architecture. The girls had been to see Anne of Green Gables before at the Stages Theater, but this was their first big production to see. It was a little weird, at first, to see familiar characters burst out into song. Yet, they weren't totally familiar as they were played by different actors. Melissa Gilbert played the part of Caroline Ingalls. She garnered loud applause when she first came onstage, and I dare say that the play wouldn't be as popular if she were not in the cast. But it was a wonderful, wholesome family musical for all ages to enjoy.

After the play was over we made our way downstairs to the stage door. We brought along our hard copy of Little House on the Prairie on the offhand chance that we would get autographs. We almost didn't. There was a line of 50 people or so waiting for Melissa Gilbert to come out. Some of the actors with ensemble parts came through. Finally, she came out to a cheer from the crowd. We were in the back of the line. The other actors, with more prominent parts, came out and stood off to the side - seemingly ignored by the rest of the crowd. So I took my two princesses and we went to get their autographs. They were wonderful. After getting three of the four, I turned around to see Melissa Gilbert heading for the door because her taxi had arrived. I grabbed the girls and said, "Oh no! Is she leaving? Can you do one more please?" She didn't look real pleased, but did stop. When she saw I had children with me she smiled (I guess that made the difference) and she signed our book and the program. Then she was off. We went back to the other actors to get Kara Lindsey's autograph, the actress who played Laura.
It was a wonderful night.
Melissa Gilbert - Ma
Jenn Gambetese - Laura

9/14/08

TOG Y1r U1 W7

Princess L (PreK)
Letter G
Reading: My "g" Sound Box, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Grouchy Ladybug, The Growing Story

Princess S (LG)
Bible: Exodus 19-40
Climbing to Good English: pgs 114-117
Handwriting: cursive capital K-P
Math U See: Beta lesson 13
SOS Science: Plant Parts 3 and quiz
Reading: Old Testament Days (excerpts), Celebrate (excerpt on Shabbat), alef-bet, Count Your Way Through Israel
(I must substitute the suggested book because the library doesn't have it and we don't have the budget to buy books. So I'm using these as they have Hebrew writing in them, which is what the suggested book is all about.)

Princess E(UG)
Bible, Handwriting and Science same as above
Growing with Grammar: 1.1 - 1.4
Math U See: Gamma lesson 6
Reading: Celebrate (excerpt on Shabbat), What the Bible is All About (excerpts), Tirzah - first third of book

I am hoping to be able to do a hands on activity this week. We are studying the Jewish custom of Shabbat, and I hope we will be able to make Challah bread. We will also be looking at the Jewish calender and perhaps working on a model of the temple that was built while the Israelites were wandering the desert for 40 years. It will be dependant on how much work Princess S gets done early on. This past week, she had a very distractible week and had to do lessons on Saturday and today, Sunday. She didn't like that one bit - neither did I - but she has to learn that lessons come before play time.

Also, Princesses E and S and I will be going with Grandma and Great Grandma to see Little House on the Prairie at the Guthrie theatre. This has been highly anticipated for a long time as Melissa Gilbert is playing Ma. Our family is a huge fan of the Little House tv series so we are hoping to get an autograph. Awana started back up last week, so we are adding in some of the verses into our school time to ensure that they get through the books in the year. Princess E is in her 2nd year of T and T, Princess S is in her 3rd year of Sparks, and Princess L is a first year Cubbie. I will be working in the nursery and bringing Princess M with me.

Blessings.

9/8/08

TOG Y1r U1 W6

Princess L (PreK)
Letter F
Reading: Forest, Let's Go Froggy, Five Little Monkeys Jump on the Bed, Fifi Ferret's Flute

Princess S (LG)
Bible: Genesis 32-50
Handwriting: cursive upper case E-J
MathUSee: Beta Lesson 12
Geography: two maps
SOS Science: finish celery experiment, How Plant Parts Function part 3
Writing Aids: conjunctions, interjections, prepositions (Watch Grammar Rock video)
Hands On: make lentil stew, play Hospitality game
Climbing to Good English: pgs 110-113
Reading: The Children's Bible (The Patriarchs), Old Testament Days (excerpts)

Princess E (UG)
Bible, Geography, Handwriting, SOS Science and Hands On from above
MathUSee: Gamma Lesson 5
Writing Aids: same as above, plus writing two paragraphs
Easy Grammar: Prepositions Test
Reading: Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt Make it Work (excerpts), What the Bible is all About for Young Explorers (excerpts)

This will be Princess E's last week with Easy Grammar. Neither one of us is particularly excited about it. I cannot totally figure it out and can see that it will not work for her sister down the road. So I am going to sell it and purchased Growing With Grammar. I bought Grade 4, plus I bought the Grade 1 and 2 combo book for Princess S. She will finish her Climbing book at the end of January and I really think she will benefit from the way this book is set up. She will have to do two lessons a day in order to come even close to finishing by the end of the year. But, the majority of it will be review for her. I'm thinking about having her slip the page into a page protector and writing on it with a dry erase marker. Then her next sister in line can use it too. However, her math book from last year had the same thing and she was constantly losing the markers, so that may not be the best option for her after all.
Blessings.

9/5/08

14 Days of Homeschool

I got this here. Maybe you've seen it before. I hadn't but I sure laughed hard. Think I've heard every one of these. Enjoy!

14 Days of Homeschooling

To the tune of "Twelve Days of Christmas."

On the first day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Can you homeschool legally?"

On the second day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the third day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the fourth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the fifth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "YOU ARE SO STRANGE! What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the sixth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "How long will you homeschool, YOU ARE S0 STRANGE, what about P.E. , do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the seventh day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?"

On the eighth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, what about P.E. do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?"

On the ninth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "They'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E. do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?"

On the tenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "What about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the eleventh day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "I could never do that, what about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the twelfth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Can they go to college, I could never do that, what about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the thirteenth day of homeschool I thoughtfully replied: "They Can go to college, yes you can do this, they can have graduation, we don't like the prom, we do it cuz we like it, they are missing nothing, we'll homeschool forever, WE ARE NOT STRANGE!, We give them P.E., and we give them tests, they are socialized, AND WE HOMESCHOOL LEGALLY!

On the fourteenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "How can I get started, why didn't you tell me, where do I buy curriculum, when is the next conference, WILL PEOPLE THINK WE'RE STRANGE? I think we can do this, if you will help us, we'll join a sports team, and we'll homeschool legally."