Last night, Princess M was having a bit of a problem eating her dinner. She kept telling me she was full. She remained at the table after everyone else was done. I left to go finish folding the laundry I had started to fold before dinner. Princess E, knowing that I had purchased some rainbow sherbet at Aldi's, reminded Princess M that she needed to finish her dinner in order to get dessert. Princess M said, "But my tummy is all filled up." So, Princess E retorted, "But what if there is ice cream for dessert?" And Princess M replied, "Well, my tummy will get all empty for ice cream." Yeah - I bet it will!
1/23/12
1/14/12
TOG Year 1 Week 17-18
Christmas break was way to short! I think that coming back after Christmas break is much more difficult than coming back after summer break. Usually, they get bored over the summer and having something to do, and a normal schedule, is a welcomed idea when we start back up. However, two weeks off at Christmas is only enough to make everyone - me included - want just a little bit more time off. In the past, I might have accommodated more time off. But since Princess E is doing an online TOG class, we need to stick with that schedule.
Princess M - Pre-TOGGLER
We finished up F for fish, and we have started G for gumball. This little one, unlike the others, was antsy to get back to school. She spent much of her Christmas break dancing in her new ballerina clothes - her first that are new rather than very used. I am still trying to decide what to use with her for next year. I have IEW's PAL - but I've also been very intrigued with All About Reading. However, I'm not sure whether I'd need to start her with Pre-Reading or with Level 1. I'm hoping that they will be at our homeschool convention in April so I can get a comparative look at them. I know it's still a ways away, but April is really just around the corner.
Princess L - 1st Grade - LG
We have been doing lots of reading. Sometimes, it's more fun to read to someone other than Mom. So she spent some of her break reading to Nanny. We have started the Hopscotch Hill Series. These are great beginning chapter books that are written by one of the American Girl stories authors. Both Princess E & S enjoyed these books, so we are giving Princess L a chance. She really wants to be able to read the book that goes along with her Kirsten American Girl doll. But she just isn't ready for that yet. The other book we started is Animal Antics, a compilation of chapters from the Little House series that deals with animal encounters. This book is a bit more challenging, but because it doesn't have pictures on every page, it forces her to rely only on the words and not on the pictures. We also started back up on the next MUS chapter. So she is learning the +8 and 8+ facts. They are a bit more challenging than the nines were. I sometimes feel like we're dragging in math, but I made the mistake of allowing Princess E to go too fast in her math. I think she really doesn't know them well to this day, but there is no way she is going to go backwards that far. It just means that she has to take more time with each problem and lesson.
Princess S - 5th Grade - UG
We are beginning the move to D work. I have decided that from week 19 on, I am going to shift her to the D history books. But, I am going to make it a slow progression as to what I expect of her. The first couple of weeks I will just have her read the D books and continue doing KWOs on them like she has been doing. The next couple of weeks, I will sit with her while she reads and help her go through the accountability questions. I'm hoping that by the last unit, she will have the idea down and we will be able to add the thinking questions. Then for the last few weeks - probably weeks 32-36, I hope to have a discussion time with her. I may also have her listen in on a few of her sister's online classes. In math, Princess S is up to lesson 23. This has been a bit more difficult lesson as it is double digit long division. I know she can do it - she just needs to be able to keep her concentration. That is always the challenge with my SPD/ADD girl. I do think that she will be catching up to Princess E sometime next year. Also, in Latin she is up to chapter 12. In science, she is just not doing very well at all. I think she is bored. She loves to read about scientific topics, but she doesn't like being told what to read. So I am going to have her join Princess E in my newly designed science endeavor.
Princess E - 7th Grade - D
After spending much time before break, and during break, contemplating what to do with Princess E, I think I've come up with a plan. For math, we put a small halt on MUS, and I purchased a math fractions drill book through Currclick. She is going to complete ten questions each day until she learns to slow down and look carefully before turning in assignments. She will not be allowed to go back to MUS until she is scoring a 9 or 10 each day. She is going to be required to continue on in math through the summer until she has reached Zeta lesson 10. In Latin, I purchased the official test packet from Classical Academic Press. I told her she would take the unit tests until she was not able to achieve an 85% or higher. Well, she passed the first, and that was all. So we moved back to lesson 6. I told her she would have to continue through the summer until she completed the book. I changed up the order of her assignments and created my own practice worksheets that will force her to think through each word and all it's possible spellings and translations. I told her she would not move on from each lesson until each test is passed with an 85% or higher. In science, I am combining several different programs and one method. I am going to use this method with both Princess E & S, This task card approach will hopefully help them learn how to research the information they need to learn about a topic. They will be going through the Life Science task cards. I also purchased Lyrical Life Science because they both seem to learn really well with music. I cross referenced the LLS lessons with the Task Cards to match them up. I also wanted to add in some lab opportunities as 7th grade science is big using labs. So I found this completely free life science program and once again cross referenced it with the Task Cards. So in a nutshell, they will be taking a task card and will have to research the topic on each card on their own. For every card that there is a corresponding LLS song or Mr Q lab, they will be doing those as well. I purchased several books to keep in a basket so that they have most of the books that can help them to research the topics. To show what they have learned, the task cards have a few different output options. Of course, the expectations of quality output will be higher for Princess E than for Princess S. I am praying that the opportunity to discover information on their own, rather than being told "this is what you must read and what you must do" will click with my two extremely strong-willed princesses. If they enjoy it and take off with it, and if I see that they are really learning with this method, then I am thinking through how I can combine that method with our TOG studies. I do believe it is quite possible, although it might not be possible for me to pull it all together by the fall. It might be something that I look at implementing with the R level of TOG and hold off with it until we do Year 3 starting in the 2013/2014 school year. Anyway, that is what has kept me busy over our Christmas break.
Princess M - Pre-TOGGLER
We finished up F for fish, and we have started G for gumball. This little one, unlike the others, was antsy to get back to school. She spent much of her Christmas break dancing in her new ballerina clothes - her first that are new rather than very used. I am still trying to decide what to use with her for next year. I have IEW's PAL - but I've also been very intrigued with All About Reading. However, I'm not sure whether I'd need to start her with Pre-Reading or with Level 1. I'm hoping that they will be at our homeschool convention in April so I can get a comparative look at them. I know it's still a ways away, but April is really just around the corner.
Princess L - 1st Grade - LG
We have been doing lots of reading. Sometimes, it's more fun to read to someone other than Mom. So she spent some of her break reading to Nanny. We have started the Hopscotch Hill Series. These are great beginning chapter books that are written by one of the American Girl stories authors. Both Princess E & S enjoyed these books, so we are giving Princess L a chance. She really wants to be able to read the book that goes along with her Kirsten American Girl doll. But she just isn't ready for that yet. The other book we started is Animal Antics, a compilation of chapters from the Little House series that deals with animal encounters. This book is a bit more challenging, but because it doesn't have pictures on every page, it forces her to rely only on the words and not on the pictures. We also started back up on the next MUS chapter. So she is learning the +8 and 8+ facts. They are a bit more challenging than the nines were. I sometimes feel like we're dragging in math, but I made the mistake of allowing Princess E to go too fast in her math. I think she really doesn't know them well to this day, but there is no way she is going to go backwards that far. It just means that she has to take more time with each problem and lesson.
Princess S - 5th Grade - UG
We are beginning the move to D work. I have decided that from week 19 on, I am going to shift her to the D history books. But, I am going to make it a slow progression as to what I expect of her. The first couple of weeks I will just have her read the D books and continue doing KWOs on them like she has been doing. The next couple of weeks, I will sit with her while she reads and help her go through the accountability questions. I'm hoping that by the last unit, she will have the idea down and we will be able to add the thinking questions. Then for the last few weeks - probably weeks 32-36, I hope to have a discussion time with her. I may also have her listen in on a few of her sister's online classes. In math, Princess S is up to lesson 23. This has been a bit more difficult lesson as it is double digit long division. I know she can do it - she just needs to be able to keep her concentration. That is always the challenge with my SPD/ADD girl. I do think that she will be catching up to Princess E sometime next year. Also, in Latin she is up to chapter 12. In science, she is just not doing very well at all. I think she is bored. She loves to read about scientific topics, but she doesn't like being told what to read. So I am going to have her join Princess E in my newly designed science endeavor.
Princess E - 7th Grade - D
After spending much time before break, and during break, contemplating what to do with Princess E, I think I've come up with a plan. For math, we put a small halt on MUS, and I purchased a math fractions drill book through Currclick. She is going to complete ten questions each day until she learns to slow down and look carefully before turning in assignments. She will not be allowed to go back to MUS until she is scoring a 9 or 10 each day. She is going to be required to continue on in math through the summer until she has reached Zeta lesson 10. In Latin, I purchased the official test packet from Classical Academic Press. I told her she would take the unit tests until she was not able to achieve an 85% or higher. Well, she passed the first, and that was all. So we moved back to lesson 6. I told her she would have to continue through the summer until she completed the book. I changed up the order of her assignments and created my own practice worksheets that will force her to think through each word and all it's possible spellings and translations. I told her she would not move on from each lesson until each test is passed with an 85% or higher. In science, I am combining several different programs and one method. I am going to use this method with both Princess E & S, This task card approach will hopefully help them learn how to research the information they need to learn about a topic. They will be going through the Life Science task cards. I also purchased Lyrical Life Science because they both seem to learn really well with music. I cross referenced the LLS lessons with the Task Cards to match them up. I also wanted to add in some lab opportunities as 7th grade science is big using labs. So I found this completely free life science program and once again cross referenced it with the Task Cards. So in a nutshell, they will be taking a task card and will have to research the topic on each card on their own. For every card that there is a corresponding LLS song or Mr Q lab, they will be doing those as well. I purchased several books to keep in a basket so that they have most of the books that can help them to research the topics. To show what they have learned, the task cards have a few different output options. Of course, the expectations of quality output will be higher for Princess E than for Princess S. I am praying that the opportunity to discover information on their own, rather than being told "this is what you must read and what you must do" will click with my two extremely strong-willed princesses. If they enjoy it and take off with it, and if I see that they are really learning with this method, then I am thinking through how I can combine that method with our TOG studies. I do believe it is quite possible, although it might not be possible for me to pull it all together by the fall. It might be something that I look at implementing with the R level of TOG and hold off with it until we do Year 3 starting in the 2013/2014 school year. Anyway, that is what has kept me busy over our Christmas break.
12/24/11
For Unto Us a Child is Born
Merry Christmas from School 4 Princesses!
I have to share a few quick photos. DH's brother stopped by our house on his way into town from St. Louis. He brought his dog, Rocky. The girls just love him!
We have a Santa hat that is traditionally worn by the person who gets to distribute the gifts. However, when it was time for Princess L to put it on, she couldn't find it. So she decided to put a Christmas stocking on her head instead. Isn't she sweet?!
I couldn't decide which shot was better for the official shot of the kids all dressed up, so here are the best two. I'll let you decide for yourself.
May the LORD bless you and your family this Christmas.
12/15/11
TOG Year 1 Week 15-16
I think that one of the most difficult times to homeschool is that month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We've come off of a one week break, and are looking at a two week break. Not to mention all of the pre-Christmas business that seems to take over our lives during the month of December. This year has been no exception. While some things are working well, others are not at this point. So we are looking at a few changes for our second semester. Technically our second semester doesn't start until mid-January, but for sanity sake we are making some of these changes after Christmas. So here is a brief synopsis of the last two weeks.
Princess M - Pre-TOGGLER
For some reason, I can't seem to find photos for this last week. I may have accidentally deleted them. We have been working on the letter F - for fish. She has really been doing well identifying letters, both capital and lower case, and remembering the sounds for the letters we have already studied. I am trying to decide what we are going to do next year. I am waffling between doing IEW's PAL at a slow pace, or doing All About Reading. We will start on MUS Primer next year, as I already have her book. It will be biter sweet, as it will be the last time through the program. I know it seems early to be contemplating, but I like to have those decisions made before the homeschool convention. I usually take our two week spring break to make a list of everything that I hope to find used, or that I need to purchase new without paying shipping. So really, those decisions need to be made soon.
Princess L - 1st Grade - LG
These last two weeks have been full of reading. She is still working on her +9 Calculadder facts. She has received a 9 every day this week so far. So, if she gets another one tomorrow, I'm going to call it good and move on. She is usually about ten seconods slow of getting a 10. Here are the photos we took after she finished reading her books. (For any book you see more than once it is because we read half the chapters one day and the other half the next.)
Princess S - 5th Grade - UG
SPD issues have been plaguing this princess for a long time. Lately, she has had an even harder time than normal. Part of that might be attributed to allergies during fall and early winter, and part of that is excitement for the holidays. She has been holding her own in math, and has just finished up her Unit Three Test. She will be starting on Lesson 22 after Christmas. She is also holding her own in Latin, though she refuses to ask for help when she doesn't understand something. I keep explaining that it will affect her grade as well as take longer doing things her way. But what do I know, right? She is learning a lot more from her Caesar's English than her grade would reflect, as I hear her using some of the words in conversations. Writing, however, is definitely not her strong suit. She is extremely creative, but following a checklist as is required in IEW is not something she is good at. But we keep on because I am convinced that it will someday become easier.
Princess E - 7th Grade - D
What can I say - frustration doesn't begin to cover it. We are going to be making most of the changes we are making because of this princess. I will be praying over the break about how to handle a few issues with her. Ultimately, it is a change of the heart and better choices that are necessary. And those aren't my area of expertise. Those belong to the Father above who created her with such a strong will. He is going to have to do the work in this princess in order to change the direction she is going. It is a spiritual battle that I feel very inadequate to fight. So any additional prayer support is greatly appreciated. About the only subject that she seems to do well at is IEW writing. She is also very creative, and does a bit better with a checklist. It comes down to attitude and choices and her attitude toward writing and her choices to work at it are the least resistant. So I cling to the one positive we have right now.
Princess M - Pre-TOGGLER
For some reason, I can't seem to find photos for this last week. I may have accidentally deleted them. We have been working on the letter F - for fish. She has really been doing well identifying letters, both capital and lower case, and remembering the sounds for the letters we have already studied. I am trying to decide what we are going to do next year. I am waffling between doing IEW's PAL at a slow pace, or doing All About Reading. We will start on MUS Primer next year, as I already have her book. It will be biter sweet, as it will be the last time through the program. I know it seems early to be contemplating, but I like to have those decisions made before the homeschool convention. I usually take our two week spring break to make a list of everything that I hope to find used, or that I need to purchase new without paying shipping. So really, those decisions need to be made soon.
Princess L - 1st Grade - LG
These last two weeks have been full of reading. She is still working on her +9 Calculadder facts. She has received a 9 every day this week so far. So, if she gets another one tomorrow, I'm going to call it good and move on. She is usually about ten seconods slow of getting a 10. Here are the photos we took after she finished reading her books. (For any book you see more than once it is because we read half the chapters one day and the other half the next.)
Princess S - 5th Grade - UG
SPD issues have been plaguing this princess for a long time. Lately, she has had an even harder time than normal. Part of that might be attributed to allergies during fall and early winter, and part of that is excitement for the holidays. She has been holding her own in math, and has just finished up her Unit Three Test. She will be starting on Lesson 22 after Christmas. She is also holding her own in Latin, though she refuses to ask for help when she doesn't understand something. I keep explaining that it will affect her grade as well as take longer doing things her way. But what do I know, right? She is learning a lot more from her Caesar's English than her grade would reflect, as I hear her using some of the words in conversations. Writing, however, is definitely not her strong suit. She is extremely creative, but following a checklist as is required in IEW is not something she is good at. But we keep on because I am convinced that it will someday become easier.
Princess E - 7th Grade - D
What can I say - frustration doesn't begin to cover it. We are going to be making most of the changes we are making because of this princess. I will be praying over the break about how to handle a few issues with her. Ultimately, it is a change of the heart and better choices that are necessary. And those aren't my area of expertise. Those belong to the Father above who created her with such a strong will. He is going to have to do the work in this princess in order to change the direction she is going. It is a spiritual battle that I feel very inadequate to fight. So any additional prayer support is greatly appreciated. About the only subject that she seems to do well at is IEW writing. She is also very creative, and does a bit better with a checklist. It comes down to attitude and choices and her attitude toward writing and her choices to work at it are the least resistant. So I cling to the one positive we have right now.
12/14/11
Kid Funnies - Sort Of
While doing our reading time today, Princess L decided that she was too itchy in the shirt she was wearing. (Anyone with a kid with SPD issues can understand that one.) So she decided to change into something different. I told her she should just take the sweater that was on the top of her drawer. She said, "But that sweater makes me look fat." I said, "No it doesn't. It makes you look very warm." To which she replied, "Your sweater makes you look really warm, mom."
12/12/11
Homeschool Classifieds
Due to some second semester changes, I have I'm going to sell in order to order some things I want. So click on the link over there on the right and see I have for sale. If you get this in a blog reader, you'll want to click through to my blog.
12/2/11
TOG Year 1 Week 14
After a week off for Thanksgiving break, we hit the books again this week. This week we returned to Greek mythology, which is a topic that both my older princesses seem to enjoy. In fact, I think Princess S remembered almost every single Greek god and goddess that she read about from our first time through this several years ago. The little princesses made some Greek food at the activity time with our TOG friends, and brought home some awesome spanakopita. Everyone liked it so well, we decided we needed to make some more soon.
Princess M - Pre-TOGGLER
We finished up "d" week. She really enjoyed the "How Do Dinosaurs . . ." series of books by Jane Yolen. Over the past three weeks, her numbers have finally started to stick. I give the credit to the iPad that DH's dad bought. So far, most of the apps she uses are free ones, except for two apps from Leap Frog. Those are the two that are helping her the most. Here she is enjoying her iPad time.
She also had fun with our "d" crafts - a dinosaur and a duck puppet.
Princess L - 1st Grade - LG
This little princess is really enjoying our library time. Here are the books she read this week:
Princess M - Pre-TOGGLER
We finished up "d" week. She really enjoyed the "How Do Dinosaurs . . ." series of books by Jane Yolen. Over the past three weeks, her numbers have finally started to stick. I give the credit to the iPad that DH's dad bought. So far, most of the apps she uses are free ones, except for two apps from Leap Frog. Those are the two that are helping her the most. Here she is enjoying her iPad time.
She also had fun with our "d" crafts - a dinosaur and a duck puppet.
Princess L - 1st Grade - LG
This little princess is really enjoying our library time. Here are the books she read this week:
(And no she didn't wear the same outfit two days in a row - we just forgot to take pictures one day.) She is also in lesson three of Explode the Code 4. I decided to wait to incorporate PAL Writing until after Christmas. I'm going to condense some of the first several lessons of the 2nd book as she is doing the copywork portion with another program. But we are going to focus on the story outline elements. We'll do some practice ones, then we'll start using the chart with the books she reads during her library time.
Princess S - 5th Grade - UG
This princess is almost done with lesson 20 in Delta. She also is almost done with lesson 9 in Latin for Children. Since she had already read her Lit book for the week, she read through Princess E's book too.
Princess E - 7th Grade - D
Princess E is working on lesson 19 in Epsilon. She is on lesson 15 in Latin. She is continuing to assist Princess L with her piano lessons. They even played a duet of Mary Had a Little Lamb this past week. She is working on Module 8 in science, and then we are going to take a break. She will be starting The Fallacy Detective for the second semester. I have a few ideas for taking science in a different direction with my "not-so-science-minded" child.
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