Monday, May 24, 2010

What a beautiful day!  Today is Nana's birthday and we are celebrating with all the fond memories we have of her.  She was a beautiful person!  For today we have alot to accomplish. 

First we did our Bible Devotion on Gideon battling the Midianites.
Gideon Defeats the Midianites
Sing- I'm in the Lords Army
Worksheet - Gideon Goes to War
Judges 8:23

Math - Saxon Math 2 (for 2nd grade) Liberty Math Level A (for 1st grade)

Loving Movement - Daily exercise (walk around the block, jump rope, Wii Sports, etc.)

Spelling - Building Spelling Skills Book 1 (Christian Liberty Press)

Science - Our Father's World - Christian Liberty Press

Handwriting - Kid Zone Cursive Handwriting & Writing with Prayer Book 2 by Christian Liberty Press (2nd grade) or Writing with Diligence (1st) by Christian Liberty Press

Independent Reading - Shells by Betsy Franco
She Sells Seashells: A Tongue Twister Story by Grace Kim
Top 10 Fish for Kids by Dana Meachan Rau
Exploring the Deep Dark Sea by Gail Gibbons

Checked with our zoo and they have Habitat Trunks and Loan boxes to loan out for classrooms.  We are going to check out the Oceans Habitat Loan Trunk.  Inside is activities, books, DVD's and biofact sheets on all types of ocean animals.There is a deposit but it is returned when you return the trunk in good condition with all of its contents.  What a deal!! 

We are still marching along with the Oceans Unit Study.  It is going slow but the kids are enjoying it.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Today our focus is to work and build on our multiplication table.  I found an awesome website that does all the work for me.  For tables and worksheets of all levels visit Math Drills. We are slow going on the mulitplication as we are only on our 3's but considering our local public school hasn't even touched on it, I feel like we are doing adequate.  We plan to work through the summer on our studies so we should cover some ground then.

Our biggest struggle is to get Sparkles reading.  You know how they tell you each kid is different...well Sparkles fits in that category.  She excels with everything you give her but she has ZERO patience with reading.  We have completed an entire Phonics workbook "Adventures in Phonics Level A" by Christian Liberty Press.  She had all the spelling correctly mastered.  However, pointing to the word withOUT the picture is torture.  So, we are working on a different method.  Flash cards and a alphabet puzzle.  Sparkles uses the card and spells out the word with the puzzle (works with words without repeating letters).  Seems to be less frustrating for her but she is not as excited anymore with this practice.  So, any help or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!!! Keep in mind she is only 5 years old but I know she has the potential to catch on if I could just find the correct approach.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Today we visited the Rogers State University Aqua Lab and Reserve in Claremore, Oklahoma.  We joined our homeschool group for a field trip and it was phenomenal.  While we are studying Oceans this month, this was a great local outing to see what is native in our area.  We saw white-tail deer, geese, snakes, butterflies, tadpoles, poliwogs, frogs, turtles, mosqito eating fish, spiders, etc.  We walked down boardwalks through the wetlands, over ponds and through a nature walk with the smell of  honeysuckle filling the air.We saw many animals in the aqua lab from turtles to snakes.  The children had a blast seeing the animals up close.  The teacher, Mr. Gibbs, was awesome about explaining all the nature around us as well as why we should stay on the designated path....poison ivy (3 leaves stay away).  He didn't have to tell me twice.  I have lived in Oklahoma my whole long 38 years and never knew this place existed.  I am the perfect example as to why you should always look a little deeper for a diamond in the ruff.  This place was a diamond.  We finished up the day (after I paid the tow truck driver to remove my keys from my locked car :)  ) with a picnic at the Reserve and with practicing recycling what remained of our lunch (plastic, cans, paper, trash, etc.).

Friday, May 14, 2010

Today is the first day of the rest of our homeschooling!  I have started this blog because I have enjoyed so many of the other homeschooling parents blogs that I thought I might help give back some of what I have enjoyed.  So hang with me, as I am new to this and I am sure I will make many mistakes along the way. 


Today, we are continuing our month long unit study of Oceans.  We are using the May Book Bag by Teachers Book Bag .  This has been a very fun activity for Sparkles.  Dreamer and Grace haven't had as much fun with it.....yet.  Some of the books we are reading from are as follows:

Piranhas by Emily McAuliffe
Ruth Heller's How to Hide an Octopus & other sea creatures
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle
Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea by Chris Butterworth
Little Kippers Sandcastle by Mick Inkpen