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!

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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.

Phonics Road Level II

Math

Complete Right Start Math Level B

Begin Right Start Math Level C

Introduce Zillio Math Mountain

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

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!

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Getting Ready for School in 2011!

Our goals for 2011 are pretty simplistic - I need to relax.  I also need to be less lazy and more scheduled.  I'm not sure how to accomplish those two things at the same time, but I aim to try.  The problem is, I really like to sleep in.  Like, REALLY like to sleep in.  I am not the type of person to wake up before the sun, get the school materials out, have my coffee while I make a hot breakfast, and accomplish life.  I am the type that stays up until 3am on a regular basis and enjoys the quiet that a house full of sleeping people brings.  I need to rearrange my priorities it seems, as well as my sleep cycle.

Curriculum Links

These are a couple of sites that I found interesting:

Evan-Moore Curriculum Resources veeeery interesting :D

Neoscience is a complete science curriculum with experiment kits that include everything needed to complete the projects.

Moving Beyond the Page is curriculum for creative and gifted children.

Is YOUR child gifted?

Dental caries are no joke! :D

Which is why we are doing everything we can to avoid them! These pics are from the kids' first visit to the dentist.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Here, J's teeth have been painted with a "disclosing" dye, which was then rinsed off and the parts that remained dyed were the areas that had plaque build up. The hygenist was awesome, and explained to him everything that she was doing and let him ask any questions his little brain could think of.

He did a great job with the water spray, our hygenist said he was the best patient she'd had in a while, even better than most adults haha...


After brushing J got some little trays put in with a flouride foam in them. He thought he looked like a duck, it was pretty cute. S had to try it out too, her trays were empty of course.

S was pretty excited to get a ride in the chair!

And she also liked the water squirt thingy. She'll have her first real appointment this September when she turns three.

Detroit Science Center

We spent a few hours at the Science Center today, it was so much fun! The special event was Animal Grossology - it highlighted the gross and disgusting aspects of animals and bugs - this first pic is a station all about flies, there was a microscope to look at fly legs, wings, and mandibles. The second pic is of a cow station that talks about passing *all* kinds of gas, and how food is digested and turns into said gas... that station was fun, you press a button to feed the cow, and then subsequent buttons to initiate the following digestive processes.


The water play area, and a Mackinac Bridge replica:

Playing With Light (and a movie)

This wall was covered in windows, some concave and some convex. I think he could've played with this all day...


My sis was playing with my little guy from the other side of the windows:


A different wall was covered in mirrors of different colors and shapes, check out his reflection in the orange mirror!


This film was set up so that you could turn a dial and progress or reverse through frame by frame, it was so interesting I had to post a short movie of the man-child playing with it...

More Playing With Light (and a movie)

Every little circle lit up at different times, our little guy is trying to "catch the lights" in this pic.


This station shows how white light is made up of all colors.


Inside a giant kaleidoscope:


Each drum was connected to a different light, so that when you hit the drum the light came on:

Playing With Electricity

I know how that sounds, but we played safely ;)