Yesterday and today, R has listened to music on headphones while doing his math. This has seemed to help him focus and he has completed his assignments in about 20 minutes as opposed to hours of sitting and doing nothing. Not sure if it is really the music or just a behavior anomoly, but I will continue to let him do this as long as it lasts.
A and J and I did writing and reading today already as well as cuddling up on the couch and reading the Magic School Bus and the Human Body. Tons of information in that book, a bit much for one setting with those two, but they sat through the whole thing and we even discussed it a bit.
I need to go through the microscopy kit today to make sure B has what he needs for his labs next week. Maybe while I have the microscope out, I will let A, J and R look at their cheek cells as explained the the Magic School bus book. And find on the internet how to take photos with my microscope!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Mid-January
We are easing back into a schedule this week.
For the preschooler/kindergartner
First we pu together our magnetic calendar for January.
A, J and I are sitting together at the table with slates and chalk. We took out the capitol letter cards and made some with our shapes and now they are playing. A also did the F page in HER exercise book. J practiced writing numbers while A and I read a number book.
Her and I also went over the short vowel sounds for a, e, i & o; she doesn't seem to have retained much so far, but repetition is the key. It is good for J to hear the sounds as well, even though he is reading quite well.
For some social studies we read O Canada, our National Anthem together. It has beautiful photos to go with the words and then short history/bio of the anthem and its writers.
For science we listened to Jonathon Park and I will go through the lesson with Ry later and they will listen.
R & B are doing math, writing strands, handwriting. B started his Biology program this week, it is his high school class. He is also doing Logic and Greek & Latin roots/vocab. R is doing spelling workout. B is done for the day and R is barely started. ugh. It's 3pm! He just put in some earphones and seems to be getting down to it finally.
For the preschooler/kindergartner
First we pu together our magnetic calendar for January.
A, J and I are sitting together at the table with slates and chalk. We took out the capitol letter cards and made some with our shapes and now they are playing. A also did the F page in HER exercise book. J practiced writing numbers while A and I read a number book.
Her and I also went over the short vowel sounds for a, e, i & o; she doesn't seem to have retained much so far, but repetition is the key. It is good for J to hear the sounds as well, even though he is reading quite well.
For some social studies we read O Canada, our National Anthem together. It has beautiful photos to go with the words and then short history/bio of the anthem and its writers.
For science we listened to Jonathon Park and I will go through the lesson with Ry later and they will listen.
R & B are doing math, writing strands, handwriting. B started his Biology program this week, it is his high school class. He is also doing Logic and Greek & Latin roots/vocab. R is doing spelling workout. B is done for the day and R is barely started. ugh. It's 3pm! He just put in some earphones and seems to be getting down to it finally.
Monday, January 05, 2009
It's 2009!
Today we should be getting back at it, but I am not feeling it. My brain is still on holiday. But it has tuned out to be a pretty fab day anyway.
The littles had J's new art kit out before I was up this morning and they were sculpting:) Other than that it was a lazy morning.
After lunch, I put on Mozart's Magic Fantasy, part of the Classical Kids stories. It is based on Mozart's Magical Flute Opera and I bought the study guides that are full of interesting tidbits for a comprehensive music study and cross curricular ideas. So we just listened to the first act and read a bit and discussed what we heard. The kids responded quite well. Then J and A played with a spelling puzzle they got for Christmas while R started his chores.
We were listening to a Jonathan Park Cd, which they also received for Christmas. I found it informative and entertaining, if not a bit preachy. Okay a lot preachy. The kids on the other hand, loved it! I also have the study guide that one of my dear children has already misplaced. I hope to find in and go over the information in there. edit: The study guides are all available on the website as pdf's, as are ideas for real life adventures for your family!
Now we are listening to G.A. Henty's With Wolfe in Canada on cd while the kids paint and draw. J is experimenting with colour mixing and A is having fun making shapes with her brush and stamping. The big boys are drawing and helping with the littles.
I think my off day has been rather productive. Maybe we will learn some kitchen skills in a bit.
The littles had J's new art kit out before I was up this morning and they were sculpting:) Other than that it was a lazy morning.
After lunch, I put on Mozart's Magic Fantasy, part of the Classical Kids stories. It is based on Mozart's Magical Flute Opera and I bought the study guides that are full of interesting tidbits for a comprehensive music study and cross curricular ideas. So we just listened to the first act and read a bit and discussed what we heard. The kids responded quite well. Then J and A played with a spelling puzzle they got for Christmas while R started his chores.
We were listening to a Jonathan Park Cd, which they also received for Christmas. I found it informative and entertaining, if not a bit preachy. Okay a lot preachy. The kids on the other hand, loved it! I also have the study guide that one of my dear children has already misplaced. I hope to find in and go over the information in there. edit: The study guides are all available on the website as pdf's, as are ideas for real life adventures for your family!
Now we are listening to G.A. Henty's With Wolfe in Canada on cd while the kids paint and draw. J is experimenting with colour mixing and A is having fun making shapes with her brush and stamping. The big boys are drawing and helping with the littles.
I think my off day has been rather productive. Maybe we will learn some kitchen skills in a bit.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
sigh...
Well. We had a fabulous week and a write-off week and this week is still up in the air. So far, I am frustrated. I am tired. I am thinking it may be time to call Christmas vacation. We will finish this week and see. I am afraid that if I take too much time, then it will take ages to get back in the groove. Maybe we can just do a bunch of fun, Christmassy activities. Elaborate on our advent studies... do some hands-on learning and more field trips.
This past week, we went to the science centre twice and spent tons of time in the gallery upstairs with all the hands-on demos. Lots of physics experiments to try. A loves the discovery gallery and the water tables. She could spend hours in there, and I love that the mess is not in my house.
For advent, I am using this page from the teachingmom.com site. Lots of links for extensions, though some were dead. It is a terrific resource.
From Pioneer Woman I found SpellingCity.com which I am going to try with R, spelling and R are not friends, I am hoping computer time might help.
Trying to keep my head above water here, praying to find my joy and patience.
This past week, we went to the science centre twice and spent tons of time in the gallery upstairs with all the hands-on demos. Lots of physics experiments to try. A loves the discovery gallery and the water tables. She could spend hours in there, and I love that the mess is not in my house.
For advent, I am using this page from the teachingmom.com site. Lots of links for extensions, though some were dead. It is a terrific resource.
From Pioneer Woman I found SpellingCity.com which I am going to try with R, spelling and R are not friends, I am hoping computer time might help.
Trying to keep my head above water here, praying to find my joy and patience.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
HP giveaway
There must be some homeschoolers out there who could use some new computers, here is a giveaway for 4 new HP's plus a bunch of other goodies!
I know I don't usually do this, but this is an amazing giveaway. Over 6 grand in HP computers and accessories! Check it out. http://jk9.qlnk.net/ #glmagic
I know I don't usually do this, but this is an amazing giveaway. Over 6 grand in HP computers and accessories! Check it out. http://jk9.qlnk.net/ #glmagic
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Performing Arts field trips.
The boys had an oportunity to see G.F. Handel's oratorio Solomon last week. They had an educational evening complete with free pizza and face time with the counter-tenor Daniel Taylor and other performers. The kids loved it and learned lots. I only wish I had been able to attend.
They also attended a play last month, The Forbidden Phoenix, which is loosely based on Chinese Immigrants brought to Canada in the 1800's to work on the railroad. The kids said it was 'interesting'. Oh well, they can't love everything.
I am hoping to take them all to Little Red Riding Hood next week, I love living in the city and being able to take advantage of so many performing arts opportunities. I wish I had known earlier that the Moscow Ballet was performing Sleeping Beauty tonight, that would have been a dream come true to me. Maybe Girly and I will have another chance to see it one day.
They also attended a play last month, The Forbidden Phoenix, which is loosely based on Chinese Immigrants brought to Canada in the 1800's to work on the railroad. The kids said it was 'interesting'. Oh well, they can't love everything.
I am hoping to take them all to Little Red Riding Hood next week, I love living in the city and being able to take advantage of so many performing arts opportunities. I wish I had known earlier that the Moscow Ballet was performing Sleeping Beauty tonight, that would have been a dream come true to me. Maybe Girly and I will have another chance to see it one day.
This week in home education;)
I feel like this has been our most productive school year since our very first year 5 years ago. In many ways we are still having the same struggles we have had for the past 4 years. R is still spending vast amounts of time in procrastination and stall tactics. Math is a bone of contention for him. He has no problem learning it, but hates doing the lessons. Today was a great day for math, he did his test in under an hour, but unfortunately that is the exception, not the rule.
I feel good about this week, and this year in general. I have been more engaged and I think that is the key. I have to not let life, or busyness, or weariness, or depression, keep me from daily engaging my children in active learning, from connecting with them and creating relationship with them, and from ensuring that they create good habits of self-discipline.
I have started to work daily with J(almost 5) and A(3). Not an easy thing because J loves to whine and complain whenever I ask him to do anything, and A is so active and distracted. We are learning to print with Handwriting Without Tears, I love the short fun lessons. A totally loves working on the slate and is excited to successfully print her 'leapfrog' letters. F and E so far. This curriculum starts with the capitol letters because they are the easiest and natural for kids to print. HWT really stresses creating good habits from the start, proper posture, holding the pencil correctly, paper positioning etc. She suggests using small pieces of crayon and chalk to start, as they almost force proper grasp.
This week we have been doing a fun math activity. I drew two circles on a piece of paper and put a plus sign between them. Each kid has a pile of raisins or beans or something and two dice. They roll the dice and then put the amount of one dice in one circle and the other dice in the other circle. Roll a 1 and a 2, put 1 raisin in one circle and 2 raisins in the other circle. Then they count them to do the addition. 1 + 2 = 3. J asked me the first time, "Mom, can we eat them up to erase!?!" I told them to go ahead. Now they adore this activity and keep asking for it.
I am also using An Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise with A. J is totally reading now, at a grade 1 or 2 level is my guess. This book is designed to be used with kids from about 3 and up, so we are giving it a go with A. We did the first lesson, short vowel a, yesterday and today and then we read the short vowel a Bob books together. Again, quick easy lessons and I am sure they will help the process along. I will be going over some of the lessons with J as we progress, to make sure he has a good grasp of all the phonetics.
The bigger boys are starting to get into a rhythm. Math, handwriting, writing in the mornings, along with spelling or vocab lessons. Biology and Canadian History in the afternoons. We started two experiments today.
I have been remembering to take breaks either at meal time or over a smoothie or tea and do our bible reading, then trying to get the kids to do narration from that and other reading or music. We have been reading Proverbs, but today we read in Daniel. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. B and R decided to act out the story while I read, it was hilarious and got the littles really interested.
We had our facilitator meeting this week and he, as usual, made me feel better about everything. We talked a lot about high school and I found out that B is 1 year ahead in math and will be in science too. Phew! In all I feel pretty good about everything, I was freaking out about all the stuff I can't seem to get done, but now I feel much more peaceful.
I feel good about this week, and this year in general. I have been more engaged and I think that is the key. I have to not let life, or busyness, or weariness, or depression, keep me from daily engaging my children in active learning, from connecting with them and creating relationship with them, and from ensuring that they create good habits of self-discipline.
I have started to work daily with J(almost 5) and A(3). Not an easy thing because J loves to whine and complain whenever I ask him to do anything, and A is so active and distracted. We are learning to print with Handwriting Without Tears, I love the short fun lessons. A totally loves working on the slate and is excited to successfully print her 'leapfrog' letters. F and E so far. This curriculum starts with the capitol letters because they are the easiest and natural for kids to print. HWT really stresses creating good habits from the start, proper posture, holding the pencil correctly, paper positioning etc. She suggests using small pieces of crayon and chalk to start, as they almost force proper grasp.
This week we have been doing a fun math activity. I drew two circles on a piece of paper and put a plus sign between them. Each kid has a pile of raisins or beans or something and two dice. They roll the dice and then put the amount of one dice in one circle and the other dice in the other circle. Roll a 1 and a 2, put 1 raisin in one circle and 2 raisins in the other circle. Then they count them to do the addition. 1 + 2 = 3. J asked me the first time, "Mom, can we eat them up to erase!?!" I told them to go ahead. Now they adore this activity and keep asking for it.
I am also using An Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise with A. J is totally reading now, at a grade 1 or 2 level is my guess. This book is designed to be used with kids from about 3 and up, so we are giving it a go with A. We did the first lesson, short vowel a, yesterday and today and then we read the short vowel a Bob books together. Again, quick easy lessons and I am sure they will help the process along. I will be going over some of the lessons with J as we progress, to make sure he has a good grasp of all the phonetics.
The bigger boys are starting to get into a rhythm. Math, handwriting, writing in the mornings, along with spelling or vocab lessons. Biology and Canadian History in the afternoons. We started two experiments today.
I have been remembering to take breaks either at meal time or over a smoothie or tea and do our bible reading, then trying to get the kids to do narration from that and other reading or music. We have been reading Proverbs, but today we read in Daniel. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. B and R decided to act out the story while I read, it was hilarious and got the littles really interested.
We had our facilitator meeting this week and he, as usual, made me feel better about everything. We talked a lot about high school and I found out that B is 1 year ahead in math and will be in science too. Phew! In all I feel pretty good about everything, I was freaking out about all the stuff I can't seem to get done, but now I feel much more peaceful.
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