Saturday, April 21, 2012
Here is another giveaway by The Secular Homeschool!
I am trying to find a good writing curriculum for MiMi. She loves to write, but her foundations are weak. The Secular Homeschool is doing another giveaway! This time it's an online course! I have heard nothing but great things about this curriculum. There are five ways to win! Good luck to everyone who enters!
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Another giveaway
Look who is having a giveaway target=blank!
Mimi is always writing stories. I would love to hone this skill. I find this challenging. How do you teach someone to write? I hope with this curriculum, we can encourage Mimi to continue to write her stories without squelching her love for it.
Mimi is always writing stories. I would love to hone this skill. I find this challenging. How do you teach someone to write? I hope with this curriculum, we can encourage Mimi to continue to write her stories without squelching her love for it.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Volcanoes
I'm not going to lie, it's been a challenge to find the motivation and time to teach the kids while studying. Last couple of weeks have been a challenge with multiple tests. Time management has been a big challenge. I do find that when I lesson plan a few weeks ahead of time, it helps. I know what resources I need.
I am also still trying to find my groove. It seems as though I keephttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1054651735358591781 modifying. After six months of home schooling, you would think that I would have some idea. I am giving lapbooks a try. It seems so organized and gives you a general idea of what targets need to be hit.
This week we are learning about volcanoes. I haven't been able to find any lapbooks, but I have a general idea what I'm going to do. Our vocabulary words will be magma, lava, ash, crater, vent, volcanologist, and of course volcano. We will also label the parts of a volcano. We may identify different types of volcanoes, just so they know they are more than one. Our geography for this week will be Pacific Ocean, Washington and perhaps Hawaii.
We kicked off this lesson by designing a volcano from a soda bottle and modeling clay.
The kids made the volcano erupt using baking soda and vinegar (very simple chemistry).
I am also still trying to find my groove. It seems as though I keephttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1054651735358591781 modifying. After six months of home schooling, you would think that I would have some idea. I am giving lapbooks a try. It seems so organized and gives you a general idea of what targets need to be hit.
This week we are learning about volcanoes. I haven't been able to find any lapbooks, but I have a general idea what I'm going to do. Our vocabulary words will be magma, lava, ash, crater, vent, volcanologist, and of course volcano. We will also label the parts of a volcano. We may identify different types of volcanoes, just so they know they are more than one. Our geography for this week will be Pacific Ocean, Washington and perhaps Hawaii.
We kicked off this lesson by designing a volcano from a soda bottle and modeling clay.
The kids made the volcano erupt using baking soda and vinegar (very simple chemistry).
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Week 1 of homeschooling and nursing school was successful. I just had to force myself to stay on top of everything.
Before school began last week, I went out and bought this folder at Staples:
It's a dual sided divided folder. Inside the folders are seven pockets with tabs you can label:
I love it! I planned ahead two weeks. I love how I can find print out worksheets and stick them under the correct subject. This helps communicate with Head Zombie on what to do. I will get Post it notes to stick on the worksheets to help him begin the lessons.
Last week we focused on Martin Luther King Junior and Rosa Parks. We learned about Georgia and Alabama. This week we are going to learn about the phases of the moon, China, and Vietnam to coincide with Lunar New Year.
We do homeschool on the weekends because my day is full Mondays to Wednesdays. Head Zombie will help on Wednesdays with the homeschooling. I get home by two on Thursdays and I start school as soon as I get home. I'm off on Fridays so we homeschool in the morning before I head off to book club. Saturdays and Sundays we break up homeschooling morning and afternoon depending on the day. Evenings are reserved for me to study for nursing school. Busy, busy! But it can be done. I just want to have a set schedule before nursing school becomes more demanding.
Before school began last week, I went out and bought this folder at Staples:
It's a dual sided divided folder. Inside the folders are seven pockets with tabs you can label:
I love it! I planned ahead two weeks. I love how I can find print out worksheets and stick them under the correct subject. This helps communicate with Head Zombie on what to do. I will get Post it notes to stick on the worksheets to help him begin the lessons.
Last week we focused on Martin Luther King Junior and Rosa Parks. We learned about Georgia and Alabama. This week we are going to learn about the phases of the moon, China, and Vietnam to coincide with Lunar New Year.
We do homeschool on the weekends because my day is full Mondays to Wednesdays. Head Zombie will help on Wednesdays with the homeschooling. I get home by two on Thursdays and I start school as soon as I get home. I'm off on Fridays so we homeschool in the morning before I head off to book club. Saturdays and Sundays we break up homeschooling morning and afternoon depending on the day. Evenings are reserved for me to study for nursing school. Busy, busy! But it can be done. I just want to have a set schedule before nursing school becomes more demanding.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Handwriting without Tears
I love it! The kids love it!
Not going to lie, at first I was skeptical. But HWT Bobo actually said, "I can't wait to do the next page!"
Mimi took the time to work with her letters, instead of speeding through her transcriptions.
We bought it through this site. It has been the cheapest we found.
Eventually, they will get to choose what they want to transcribe. But for now, we are just working on one letter at a time, or one word at a time.
Not going to lie, at first I was skeptical. But HWT Bobo actually said, "I can't wait to do the next page!"
Mimi took the time to work with her letters, instead of speeding through her transcriptions.
We bought it through this site. It has been the cheapest we found.
Eventually, they will get to choose what they want to transcribe. But for now, we are just working on one letter at a time, or one word at a time.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
New Year, fresh start, and new beginnings
It seems like Christmas and Thanksgiving slowed us down a bit. Trying to get back into the swing of things and find a schedule that will work for us. We have been blessed to start a new year with new opportunities.
I have been accepted into the nursing program at TWU. I have classes Monday through Thursdays during the day. Fortunately, we were able to find a nanny to come to the house while I am in classes.
My husband decided to open a vegan food truck. He will still continue his full time job and run the truck on the weekends.
Yes, we are going to be very busy. We are going to continue to homeschool. My husband, I'll call him "Head Zombie", will help throughout the week while I study for classes and I will teach them on the weekends while Head Zombie sells his sandwiches.
I'm excited to share how a family can work or go to school full time while homeschooling. Let's hope this works! I'll take all the prayers, thoughts and luck you can send.
I have been accepted into the nursing program at TWU. I have classes Monday through Thursdays during the day. Fortunately, we were able to find a nanny to come to the house while I am in classes.
My husband decided to open a vegan food truck. He will still continue his full time job and run the truck on the weekends.
Yes, we are going to be very busy. We are going to continue to homeschool. My husband, I'll call him "Head Zombie", will help throughout the week while I study for classes and I will teach them on the weekends while Head Zombie sells his sandwiches.
I'm excited to share how a family can work or go to school full time while homeschooling. Let's hope this works! I'll take all the prayers, thoughts and luck you can send.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Classifying game
Our orchard visit sparked the interest of spiders and insects. What is the difference? They are both arthropods, meaning they have an exoskeleton and a segmented body. But a spider has eight legs, while an insect has six legs.
This fits into our animal unit nicely. We started off the unit by watching this free movie from brainpopjr.
http://www.brainpopjr.com/science/animals/classifyinganimals/
Mimi is a kinesthetic learner. So lots of manipulations, movement and actions helps her retain what she has learned.
The object of the game was to pretend to be an animal and hop to the group.
Are you a vertebrate or invertebrate? Warm blooded or cold blooded? Bird, mammal, reptile, amphibian, or arthropod? If it was an arthropod, are you a spider or an insect?
This fits into our animal unit nicely. We started off the unit by watching this free movie from brainpopjr.
http://www.brainpopjr.com/science/animals/classifyinganimals/
Mimi is a kinesthetic learner. So lots of manipulations, movement and actions helps her retain what she has learned.
The object of the game was to pretend to be an animal and hop to the group.
Are you a vertebrate or invertebrate? Warm blooded or cold blooded? Bird, mammal, reptile, amphibian, or arthropod? If it was an arthropod, are you a spider or an insect?
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