Monday, January 31, 2011

The Best Part of Waking Up

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Discovering Eighths

J has discovered eighths on his own, he even figured out what they're called by noticing the pattern in this project (which stopped at 1/4 but he wanted to continue).
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Monday, January 24, 2011

When The Books Are Good

This is how you know your kid likes his curriculum... He was doing this when I came down stairs this morning!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Fine Motor Development

Sprite had been showing some readiness for writing, so here she is practicing is an activity suggested by a member of a local homeschool group.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Sunday, January 23, 2011

It's like this...

Let me begin by explaining that we don't school on a traditional cycle by any means of that word.  Not only do we choose to school year round, but I do not stick to any grade level of any kind with either of my kids.

For example:
Jupiter (my son) is about four weeks away from finishing his current Language Arts text, so this means we'll have to find something for him to continue with.  He is also about one week from completing his "Level B" math book, good thing I bought "Level C" last year when I thought we would school through my summer displacement and our move from MI to CT (what the heck was I thinking?).  To further complicate things, if we can actually stick with some sort of schedule, we (the kids do Science and History together) will be done with Astronomy in the end of April and History in the middle of May.

Sprite (my daughter) has already completed the entire "Kindergarten" year through the program she uses online, so I have allowed her to continue to 1st grade.  A lot of repetition is involved, and I have to explain concepts more than once...  but she eventually gets it and she's doing quite well!

At least this situation is timed well this year re: tax return.

Our Curriculum Goals for 2011
Jupiter
Language Arts
Complete Phonics Road Level I
  • We are only on Level I despite his age because even with completing Sing, Spell, Read and Write (also known as SSRW), while he is an excellent reader he can could not spell.  He is doing about two weeks for every week that is scheduled in the text because he can handle it, and I'm proud to report that his spelling ability and general understanding of the English Language has improved immensely.  In related commentary, we are not using SSRW with Sprite.

Math

Science
Complete Apologia Astronomy and accompanying Notebook and Labs
Begin either: Apologia Zoology I or Apologia Botany.  Can't decide, might do both.  No matter the decision, we will also have him complete the Notebook and Labs - the enrichment provided by these activities is astounding to me.

History
Complete Mystery of History Volume I and construct a detailed timeline
Begin Mystery of History Volume II and construct a detailed timeline


Sprite
Language Arts
Completed Time4Learning "K"
Starfall.com as desired - we use the free stuff
Working through Phonics Road Level I at readiness

Math
Completed Time4Learning "K"
Right Start A at readiness
Introduce Zillio Math Mountain


Science
Complete Apologia Astronomy No Notebook for Spritely, but she does do the labs alongside her brother.
Begin either: Apologia Zoology I or Apologia Botany.  Can't decide, might do both.  

History
Complete Mystery of History Volume I and construct a detailed timeline
Begin Mystery of History Volume II and construct a detailed timeline

I've decided to maintain a separate tab which will archive these posts as I write them.  I expect to add to it as we add to our curriculum.
<3

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Bad Apple

Jupiter was biting into a slice of apple today and it slipped out of his teeth...  He picked it back up and brought it to me, telling me, "This is a bad apple - something is wrong with it!"  I looked at it and told him it was fine, but he was so insistent that there was a problem, so I asked him what made him think something was wrong with it.



"When I bit it, it felt like it was making my teeth go wowowoOOOoOOOoah or something!"

I immediately wondered if it was his teeth, so I asked him to show me his mouth and I touched the teeth he pointed to - sure enough, loose, loose.

I'm not sure how long it will take, but those little teeth aren't going to be part of my little guy much longer!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Vacation Destination

Today's assignment was to design an advertisement to convince aliens that Earth is a good place to visit. I allowed inventive spelling, because right now we are in a period of trying to make writing less of a frustration... Seems to be working, he giggled all the way through this project!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Enjoying the Last Bit of Snow

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Flip Out

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Zing!


Zing!
Originally uploaded by angecrwfrd

1/2/11's 365 snapshot. I giggled at this, just as I do every time we go here (our favorite coffee shop in New London).

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Flickr

I'm trying to do this whole Project 365 thing, let's see how long I can stick with it ;)

Happy New Year!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5