Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Week of Oct. 18th - 22nd and the week of Fall Break
Darin had a week of Fall break with his school the week of the 11th, so we took off, too. His parents flew in town, and we picked them up at the airport. We really enjoyed their stay. It's hard not having any family here, so we are thankful when we do get to spend time with any of them. They love to eat at the Blue Willow Inn in Social Circle, GA, so we took the long drive there and had a fabulous southern meal.
They enjoyed playing the Wii with the kids and relaxing with us. We went to see Toy Story 3 at a nearby dollar theater. It was a fun week, and we were sad to take them back to the airport to return home.
This week (the 18th) we've had school as usual. We had our usual outside classes, co-op, Hannah's vocabulary class, and David's musical group. The group is getting ready for two performances next week. It was a great week.
I had Hannah switch from the Hakim series to the Bob Jones 8th grade textbook this week. I already had it here. I felt that she was reading a lot, but not retaining much of what she was reading. She finished the chapter on the American Revolution this week. After her test, I asked if she thinks she will learn more from the textbook and extra materials it provides. She said that she really thinks she will.
In math she's been working with multiplying monomials, probability, and constructing angles. In grammar she's been learning about infinitive phrases and how to diagram these as well as reviewing pronoun-antecedent agreement and use of commas. She has started microbiology in her science, which is not a favorite topic, so she'll have to buckle down and make herself learn it. In Bible, she is continuing the devotion book from the Navigators and started a book, God's Will God's Best for Your Life. For literature she read A Gathering of Days.
David finished up the American Revolution and establishing the Constitution and has moved on to studying Lewis and Clark. He read How We Crossed the West and A Picture Book of Sacagawea, as well as A Picture Book of Davy Crocket. In science he studied the nervous system and did a lab with our neighbor. In Bible he learned about Gideon. He started one of Bob Jones' Booklinks, The Treasure of Pelican Cove. He has been doing the Book Adventure website and has really enjoyed reading books then taking quizzes on them. He's loving the Magic Treehouse books right now.
He has started to get a little bored with his CLE math. I think it is because it has a lot of review. I love certain aspects of the program, so I'm not ready to give it up yet. I had the 2nd grade level of Singapore math here, so I'm supplementing with it and crossing off a lot of the review problems. I also still have the second half of Bob Jones' math that I switched from, so I'm going to use some of it as well. I will switch if I think one of the programs will be the best for him. I would probably lean towards BJU because I will more than likely use it in high school.
They enjoyed playing the Wii with the kids and relaxing with us. We went to see Toy Story 3 at a nearby dollar theater. It was a fun week, and we were sad to take them back to the airport to return home.This week (the 18th) we've had school as usual. We had our usual outside classes, co-op, Hannah's vocabulary class, and David's musical group. The group is getting ready for two performances next week. It was a great week.
I had Hannah switch from the Hakim series to the Bob Jones 8th grade textbook this week. I already had it here. I felt that she was reading a lot, but not retaining much of what she was reading. She finished the chapter on the American Revolution this week. After her test, I asked if she thinks she will learn more from the textbook and extra materials it provides. She said that she really thinks she will.
In math she's been working with multiplying monomials, probability, and constructing angles. In grammar she's been learning about infinitive phrases and how to diagram these as well as reviewing pronoun-antecedent agreement and use of commas. She has started microbiology in her science, which is not a favorite topic, so she'll have to buckle down and make herself learn it. In Bible, she is continuing the devotion book from the Navigators and started a book, God's Will God's Best for Your Life. For literature she read A Gathering of Days.
David finished up the American Revolution and establishing the Constitution and has moved on to studying Lewis and Clark. He read How We Crossed the West and A Picture Book of Sacagawea, as well as A Picture Book of Davy Crocket. In science he studied the nervous system and did a lab with our neighbor. In Bible he learned about Gideon. He started one of Bob Jones' Booklinks, The Treasure of Pelican Cove. He has been doing the Book Adventure website and has really enjoyed reading books then taking quizzes on them. He's loving the Magic Treehouse books right now.
He has started to get a little bored with his CLE math. I think it is because it has a lot of review. I love certain aspects of the program, so I'm not ready to give it up yet. I had the 2nd grade level of Singapore math here, so I'm supplementing with it and crossing off a lot of the review problems. I also still have the second half of Bob Jones' math that I switched from, so I'm going to use some of it as well. I will switch if I think one of the programs will be the best for him. I would probably lean towards BJU because I will more than likely use it in high school.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Week of Oct. 4th - 8th
We had a really good week. We took last week off to do some fall cleaning, although we still had co-op and classes on Wednesday, so I didn't get as much cleaning as I would have liked. We started off with co-op on Monday. David made a pirate treasure box in his history class and a board showing the life cycle of the frog in his animal class. They both enjoy co-op a lot, which makes my work as director all worthwhile.
One night David enjoyed the corn so much that he grabbed the pan and finished off the leftovers.
On Tuesday, we started doing school work, then my sister called me wanting us to join her at a fun site near us. It's a farm with lots to do, including a "tiny town" of buildings for kids to play in. Don't you love the flexibility of homeschooling?!!!
My nephew loved this big stuffed dog at the little fire house.
David took up preaching in the little church.
The kids had fun being with my sister's friends' kids.
It was small, but Hannah made it into the balcony of the little theater.
We did do school work the rest of the week, but we aren't quite finished. We aren't doing school next week because it's Darin's fall break. We can finish up then. Hannah has been reading some of the Anti-Federalist papers, as well as the sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." In science she has been learning about evolution and some creation ideas, such as the gap theory. She's doing a lot of work in math with radicals. Grammar has been covering active/passive voice, intransitive and transitive verbs, and such. She seems to be enjoying the devotional book she is doing with Bible, too.
David has been finishing up studying about the American Revolution. He is learning more about working with 4 digit numbers, multiplication, and measurement. Grammar is introducing adjectives as well as having him write a lot more sentences of his own creation. He is doing a really good job with it. He studied the respiratory and digestive systems this past week in science. I forgot to take pictures, but he got together with our neighbor and made a giant model of the respiratory system at work. It was drawings on the nose, lungs, heart, and legs. They used a vacuum tube to exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide and learn the path it all takes in our bodies. For digestion, they ate muffins, and then we measured out (with yarn) the full length of the digestive system. It stretched about 21 feet when it was completed. They made predictions of the length, then we compared with the actual. We discussed how long it would take the muffin to leave each part of the system.
They both have a little more school work to do in all their subjects, but we've got a week to get it done.
One night David enjoyed the corn so much that he grabbed the pan and finished off the leftovers.
On Tuesday, we started doing school work, then my sister called me wanting us to join her at a fun site near us. It's a farm with lots to do, including a "tiny town" of buildings for kids to play in. Don't you love the flexibility of homeschooling?!!!
My nephew loved this big stuffed dog at the little fire house.
David took up preaching in the little church.
The kids had fun being with my sister's friends' kids.
It was small, but Hannah made it into the balcony of the little theater.We did do school work the rest of the week, but we aren't quite finished. We aren't doing school next week because it's Darin's fall break. We can finish up then. Hannah has been reading some of the Anti-Federalist papers, as well as the sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." In science she has been learning about evolution and some creation ideas, such as the gap theory. She's doing a lot of work in math with radicals. Grammar has been covering active/passive voice, intransitive and transitive verbs, and such. She seems to be enjoying the devotional book she is doing with Bible, too.
David has been finishing up studying about the American Revolution. He is learning more about working with 4 digit numbers, multiplication, and measurement. Grammar is introducing adjectives as well as having him write a lot more sentences of his own creation. He is doing a really good job with it. He studied the respiratory and digestive systems this past week in science. I forgot to take pictures, but he got together with our neighbor and made a giant model of the respiratory system at work. It was drawings on the nose, lungs, heart, and legs. They used a vacuum tube to exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide and learn the path it all takes in our bodies. For digestion, they ate muffins, and then we measured out (with yarn) the full length of the digestive system. It stretched about 21 feet when it was completed. They made predictions of the length, then we compared with the actual. We discussed how long it would take the muffin to leave each part of the system.
They both have a little more school work to do in all their subjects, but we've got a week to get it done.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Golden Anniversary
This past weekend was my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. My sisters and I hosted a reception to celebrate the occasion. We had a great turn out. The decorations were great, the food was good, but the most fun was seeing my parents get to interact and mingle with close friends and relatives. It was a very special occasion that was worth all the planning that went into it. Here are pictures of our family.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Week of Sept. 20th - 24th
Our co-op started on Monday. It was a lot of fun for everyone. We have 20 families and just over 50 kids. Things went very smoothly. Hannah has four classes, a career explorations class, a nature/survival class, an introduction to Spanish class, and health/PE. David has a history through crafts class focusing on pirates, PE, story time, math games class, and an animal classification study class.
Hannah started the third book in Hakim's history series. She read Traitor, the Case of Benedict Arnold. She actually thought it was very boring. She is progressing well in her math and language arts. In science, she made a 100% on her test about genetics. She has found it to be a very interesting subject.
David began studying the American Revolution. He read the Magic Treehouse about it, and has requested more Magic Treehouse books. We read The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, as well as a book on his life called A Picture Book of Paul Revere. A funny book he read was John, Paul, George, and Ben by Scholastic.
David is enjoying doing science with our neighbors. We are using Real Science Odyssey, Life Science. The study right now is about the human body. This week we covered the heart and circulation system. We did a lab checking pulse rates after various activities.
The boys enjoyed learning about the components that make up our blood. They made a model of blood using corn syrup, lentils, beans, and Craisins.
Hannah started the third book in Hakim's history series. She read Traitor, the Case of Benedict Arnold. She actually thought it was very boring. She is progressing well in her math and language arts. In science, she made a 100% on her test about genetics. She has found it to be a very interesting subject.
David began studying the American Revolution. He read the Magic Treehouse about it, and has requested more Magic Treehouse books. We read The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, as well as a book on his life called A Picture Book of Paul Revere. A funny book he read was John, Paul, George, and Ben by Scholastic.
David is enjoying doing science with our neighbors. We are using Real Science Odyssey, Life Science. The study right now is about the human body. This week we covered the heart and circulation system. We did a lab checking pulse rates after various activities.
The boys enjoyed learning about the components that make up our blood. They made a model of blood using corn syrup, lentils, beans, and Craisins.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Week of Sept 13th - 17th
We are 6 weeks into the school year...only 30 to go! We had a busy week because the co-op I direct starts next week. I've had a lot of emails, phone calls, etc. We actually started our week at the church where we will meet. I went by to set up our storage cabinet and meet parents who wanted to drop off applications and teachers who wanted to see their classrooms. It wasn't a very heavy week academically, mostly just the basics. I tried to plan it that way with co-op stuff going on. I did manage to get an artist study in this week. We read about Edward Hicks and The Peaceable Kingdom.
Hannah is starting a new Bible devotion book by The Navigators, The Life, A Journey With God. I hope she will enjoy it. She finished reading the next book in the Hakim series. She seems to enjoy reading the series. She also read Indian Captive, the Story of Mary Jemison. She did her usual lessons in math and grammar, as well as taking two tests in science and starting another chapter. I had her do a SAT practice essay, timing her for 25 minutes. I think it was a little shocking to her how fast the 25 minutes went by. I am glad to start her practicing now so that she can have it down pat before she has to really do it on a test.
David had lessons in math and grammar, geography, critical thinking. In reading, he read a play about the Pilgrims coming over on the Mayflower. In Bible, he learned about God giving the 10 commandments to Moses.
David is learning about Colonial life in history, so we got together with friends to do some projects. We learned about the daily life of the colonists and made a collage of foods the colonists would have eaten in various seasons.
We played a game that I have called Made For Trade. You travel around the colonial village (board) purchasing items from various shops.
We ate pineapple and berry syllabub. Colonists tried to grow pineapples inside, but the plants rarely produced fruit. The berry syllabub was juice mixed with sugar and added to heavy cream, then whipped into a yummy topping.
In science, David is studying about the human body. This week he learned about our skeleton and muscles. He cut out and labeled this skeleton. The "arm" was great at demonstrating how muscles work in pairs and shorten/lengthen as they move.
Hannah is starting a new Bible devotion book by The Navigators, The Life, A Journey With God. I hope she will enjoy it. She finished reading the next book in the Hakim series. She seems to enjoy reading the series. She also read Indian Captive, the Story of Mary Jemison. She did her usual lessons in math and grammar, as well as taking two tests in science and starting another chapter. I had her do a SAT practice essay, timing her for 25 minutes. I think it was a little shocking to her how fast the 25 minutes went by. I am glad to start her practicing now so that she can have it down pat before she has to really do it on a test.
David had lessons in math and grammar, geography, critical thinking. In reading, he read a play about the Pilgrims coming over on the Mayflower. In Bible, he learned about God giving the 10 commandments to Moses.
David is learning about Colonial life in history, so we got together with friends to do some projects. We learned about the daily life of the colonists and made a collage of foods the colonists would have eaten in various seasons.
We played a game that I have called Made For Trade. You travel around the colonial village (board) purchasing items from various shops.
We ate pineapple and berry syllabub. Colonists tried to grow pineapples inside, but the plants rarely produced fruit. The berry syllabub was juice mixed with sugar and added to heavy cream, then whipped into a yummy topping.
In science, David is studying about the human body. This week he learned about our skeleton and muscles. He cut out and labeled this skeleton. The "arm" was great at demonstrating how muscles work in pairs and shorten/lengthen as they move.
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