50 States Song

Interrupted and complete with background noise of Toddler jumping his ramp with his foot-powered Cadillac. Homeschooling involves the whole home! Enjoy our first noisy post!

Old School Beats

I guess this is our "Keepin' It Real" week in our homeschool lessons. We have taken it back to LP education again, and our record experience today was with 2 boys and rhythm sticks! Got to love Moms, and my Mom picked this Rhythm Stick Activities record out at the local thrift store for 20 cents!

Well, spoons from the kitchen can be many things, and my Art Teacher always said that a tool is what you make it...so here's to rhythm spoons and records!

With the absense of Student, we have continued reading, and practicing the 50 States song for our audio recording when she comes back. Summer Pupil picked out a book from the library on his state, and Texas it is! Ten Cows to Texas. I think we'll all be more cowboy-ish by the time we are done with this unit!

Reading Old School

Here is our latest pick from the local library. Something Dad was excited about, keeping it old school...

Sure enough, it is written my Cheech Marin, and just like his comedy act, there are some places where the story doesn't flow so smoothly. But one has to laugh and try out his series of stories focusing on Hispanic culture. Summer Pupil listened and laughed a few times. Toddler liked the musical instruments in the story. And where is Student?

Oh, yes, we sent her off to Camp Allegro today. 6 hours a day, each day this week! After homeschooling and having her around to help each day, we are really missing her and all that she adds to our day! So student will be around later to give her summary of camp day #1.

In addition to reading, Toddler is getting more work on the alphabet today. He truly loves his "X Y B's"!

Friday Fun

Truly, the library is a fun place...but today was the bank's anniversary and they threw a free fair in the park at the library! The kiddos were swirling with excitement! Our trip with the wagon was a hot one, but God took care of us with hot dogs, snow cones, soda, balloons and tattoos. As well as a What a Friday surprise!

His going before us and providing all things good, this was a good day full of Summer fun and books, thanks to His care.

It is so nice to be on our own schedule with the ability to take time for an improve fair. We had intentions of heading home in 2 hours...our surprise experience got us home in 3! And it is ok! Summer Rules!

And the reading goes on...a bag full of new books and stories that go beyond this world.

Student: It was okay at the fair today. I got a tattoo and a snow cone. I ate a delicious, messy hot dog!

Literary Thursday

Thursday Literary lesson combined Art and Reading. What bright lights shine from her brain when I mention...PAINT!

Story time for Student! We have been enjoying contrasting non fiction heroes and folk tale characters. Today we introduced new literary terms, and Student will be brainstorming about her own story. We are focusing on an animal story, like the one we read today: The Three Snow Bears.

We began by reading the story of creation and naming all of the literary terms consistent with that story. She picked this book, and it is far from a beginner reader, but she breezed right through the pages. Taking turns, we got through it so smoothly and began our lesson with our minds on the Lord that created this day for us to learn through!

Student:

Main Character: My main character will be named Krista, and she is a jaguar. Kind of yellowish with black spots. She is a kid.

Antagonist: Monkey, named Joe, that gets her fish for her food. But he gets her fake rubber fish with seeds on them when she wishes for real fish with real seeds. He lives in a very big tree. He is a kid, too. Brown monkey.

Plot: One day when she woke up, she saw an empty plate. She thought that it would be nice with real food on it...but there was no food, and no Joe. She didn't see him hiding in the tree...and he jumped out and scared her.

Setting: She lives in the jungle. There are lots of animals in the jungle.

Resolution: A jungle police, big strong elephant, he finds Joe and gets him in a net. Scaring was a rule not to break. And he stayed in the net for a day to teach him to choose to not break the rule. Do what is right!

Title: Jungle Thief

Mid-Week Work

Here we are, already to Wednesday. Using manipulatives are helping so much with our skip-counting.

Reading is right on schedule. Books read by all in the house. Favorites include: Firefighters Counting, My Perfect Wedding, Pirates of the Caribbean and Silly Suzi Goose.

Still working on our 50 States song, we start from the East and go to the West. It is truly a great teaching tool! Soon enough the kiddos will be ready for their audio right here on the blog! Listen and learn soon!

Summer Pupil: I picked out this one sticker, and I am a boy, Hello Kitty one.

Student: I love homeschooling. It is fun. My favorite thing is Art. And another thing is Math...I could do it all day! I like to do some writing and manipulative Math. I also read today.

Sew School

Sewing, after the sorting of course! Student helped arrange the scrap strips into piles sorted by color. ROY G. BIV, ya know. Picking which strip pairs with which, and assisting with the roller-cutting, we are on our way to sewing a baby quilt. We will surely complete it in 11 weeks...right?!

Off to VBS to share her verse Student is all-Summered -out this week!

We had much heat and water at the water park today with friends. There wasn't any denying that Summer is here.

Student: Genesis 1:31

God saw all that He created, and it was very good.

Yo-yo Spinner

Our Bible Time Lesson was about wool spinners. And, no, we don't have raw wool sitting around, but we do have lots of fabric! Student began her yo-yo chain with lots of enthusiasm! She says she loves to hand-sew more than machine. Her chain will grow, and so will her ability. She says it takes much less time to make each yo-yo than she remembers from our attempt together.

We are continuing working on our 50 States song. It is our goal to sing an audio for the blog asap!

Numbers, handwriting, and violin will complete this day of summer school. Happy sunshine to us.

Student's Yo-yo Directions:

First, you take a pencil, or if it is easier, a permanent marker. And then, you take a piece of fabric and trace a a jar lid, or something circle, with the marker onto the fabric. A book under the fabric helps. And then, you take scissors and cut the circle out. Then Teacher starts me off with a needle and knotted thread. Put the needle through the folded fabric down round the edge and stitch short, long, short, long, short, long. When you are all the way around, you tighten, or cinch the thread and poke needle through of yo-yo and knot on the back. That's it, that is how you make a yo-yo!

Texas

Summer Pupil: I liked to make my flag. It took a long time, but I finished it. I like flags. As you can see, my flag is TEXAS!

We had magazines to make this flag.

South Carolina

Student: I liked making this flag! It took a long time. But it wasn't as long as 2 days... probably 2 hours.

First, I had a white piece of paper. Then I took magazine parts that were blue in the background, as you can see. Then, my Teacher cut my symbols, in white and we glued them on top.

Literary Record Fun

Folk Tale Record Day! Stories of our childhood recovered!

Literary terms:

summarize

hero

herione

moral

We had fun contrasting heroes we know and our new folk tale heroes from today: John Henry and Casey Jones. Toddler appreciated stories including trains!

Reading continues for Summer goals, as well as outdoor play before the storm rages!

Student: My favorite was Casey Jones.

Summer Pupil: My favorite was John Henry...singing "I'll die with this hammer in my hand. Lord, Lord."

Cleaning Brigade

With our feet up, we have officially finished cleaned together today. Student was on toothbrush duty on the bathroom tiles. Helping with Toddler's room cleaning, and his lesson today, she got a taste of teaching... as though a big sister has no experience in this area! Directional progression, as well as furthering knowledge of shape recognition and hand-eye coordination was the goal of her shape-string lesson today.

Music appreciation from Wee Sing Bible and Veggie Tales was scrunched in the middle.

Reading right along, Student will reach her Summer goals sooner than I predicted. Her literary goals of contrasting folk tales and real life heros will continue. Tomorrow we are planning on John Henry during our LP music session! Ode to Grandmother and the Fisher Price record player.

Student: No, Toddler didn't pay attention like I thought. Maybe next time.

Daddy Day School

Yes, Wednesday has come again, and Dad is home with us! The time for school has slowly altered, as the Summer season begins to warm up. We have been doing our active outdoor fun am the am, and book work in the pm.

Student got to put around with Dad with her new Scotty Cameron bday putter. Yes, her pink clothes match her pink putter and cover oh-so-well!

In the meantime, Pupil and Toddler and I enjoyed the local evos park and all of it's shade from the only tree they left after demolishing the school building that used to dwell in that lot.

Afternoon held time for reading, keeping counter on the Library Reading Log. Writing and violin ended our time before heading for more family time. This evening will be at Papa D's place.

Student: I like putting with my fun Scotty Cameron. For real, I think I made about 15 holes. And my Daddy likes Scott, too. That's what is cool, me and him like Scotty.

Berry Bowl

Berry-pickin' time at Auntie's!

Just a small bowl full of fun to represent Student's time there and all the good lovin' we get when we visit family!

Field Day

This was the first swim of the year... back before Easter. Today was our day out, having a vehicle, and our swimming was in a deeper pool, on a hotter day! With a few extra kiddos along, our trip was full of sweat, screams, splashes, chalk art, swinging and half-price drinks at Sonic! What a day! What a SUMMER day!

Back to Homeschool tomorrow! As The Lord blesses us with another hot Summer day.

Son & Daughter of the Commandment

You know, Phylactery... that word you use in daily conversation!

The kids had fun with this Bible Time lesson, on becoming a son of the Commandment... and daughter in this case!

We read about the special wrapping of the scripture scroll in it's box. First the 13 yr olds carried on their arms, as pictured, and then on their foreheads during morning prayer.

Reading for these little students always fits right in.

No, I haven't found the Student's misplaced camera, but let's give it up for this Mac, b/c it has it's own camera! So this was our experiment in using it today.

On to our 50 States song by Camille McCausland, again, give it up for the Mac, we love itunes!

Water baseball anyone? We know how to spend a Summer day at this house!

Student: I like to homeschool, it's fun! It was really fun playing water baseball, home plate was actually our pool full of water. I got to splash into it when I ran to home. What was also fun, was learning our 50 song. It is medium, not too fast or slow! We are beginning in the East and go to the West, so we sang about my state: South Carolina.

Summer Pupil: It was fun playing water baseball. I liked making the little...phylactery. It felt like a spider was on my arm, and it was itchy so I didn't wear it for long!

Rainy Day Computer

What is it about rain that makes the kiddos want to be on the computer? Well, 2 days in a row, they are liking the new section of PBSKIDS.ORG titled kids island. It has some reading, sentence structure practice and sorting. Quite colorful and kid-ready, thay enjoyed it! Registration is required, but free. Kids earn tickets after completing tasks, and exchange them for prizes. Of course, looking at this picture I had on hand, the computer was showcasing Popeye. A vintage fav with the Toddler.

Math brought use of manipulatives. Combinations of addition and subtraction in story problems today. Paired with reading, Student is on her way to a familiar schedule of homeschooling. As this is our goal before the new addition arrives for our family in September. By then, I will surely come to know my favorite quote by heart, and have experience that brings it home:

"God has educated my children in spite of my efforts." Lisa Crabtree.

Summer Pupil: We did some art, and we get to be on the computer. That's all. You can write that the colors of the manipulatives are helping me.

Student Take: I like reading. I like to do math. One thing I like using in math, is our cubes that help us. The colors of them are very pretty. One thing I call when you use color cubes in math: rainbow math!

Daily Practice

I remember beginning violin lessons, last Autumn, and shrieking at the thought of daily practice.

How could we possibly fit one more thing into our daily schedule?

Here we are, alomost a year later, and Student and I forgot to include violin in our planner...because we are so accustomed to having it daily that it comes quite naturally. So began the talk of which is school, which is chore, which is life for a kid. And, as all parents know, everything is a teaching opportunity. Every day there are happenings that are fun and enjoyable strictly because they are through the eyes of a child. And as the Bible instructs to talk of the Lord when we walk, eat, sit and lay down...well, that pretty much covers everything! So, to seperate school from life, we are realizing isn't necessary. Whether the learning is impromptu, planned in our lesson, or an inquisitive question from the view of a child, it truly is learning.

Student, newly six and all, created her own chore chart. Her symbols for each job are superb! And as she begins and ends each day with chores, the in-between time is truly a joy to observe.

This picture is iphone time with Daddy, keeping busy when on an errand and creating art...what better use for that piece of equipment?

Student Says: I had a nice time making my chore chart. My favorite chore is making my bed and getting dressed. We went on the computer yesterday, and found some fun stuff I like to do. I made stories, and my own postcards.

Give Us This Day

A rainy day spent reading...and baking!

Bible Time lesson was about Baking the Daily Bread. Student and Summer Pupil learned about this task and wrote down key words in their tablets. Even the Toddler correctly pronounced "leavened"!

We began our local library summer reading program today. And along with the sweet smell of the rain, came the warm aroma of bread.

"Give us this day our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

Student Review: In our story, it was about bread. So we did a project of making bread. My favorite part was the mixing and stirring. I was happy, because when I was shaping my dough, I put a fold. And after it was cooked, I still saw the fold that I made.

Sweet Miles

Student can spot a VW a mile away...I know who her Daddy is! She has a well-trained eye for the things of this world that bring a twinkle of happiness to his eye:

• When I Play Violin
• Tom & Jerry
• Having Daddy Daughter Time
• Singing to Him
• VW Findings

We ran, well, drove, errands most of the day. We are experiencing the day of the week that Dad works long hours and we have a vehicle all to ourselves. Dr. appointments, lunch program bus ride and meal, across-town park and driving Dad to work. Other days are just as full, but scheduled with home-time. Interestingly enough, Student has begun a transfer of likings from being on-the-go, to wanting to be a homebody. Just another detail God has taken care of to help us on this new homeschooling journey. Home is good. School is good. And we shall get to both tomorrow!

Student's First...

Six and sweeter than a pixie stick...this student rolled around in laughter and water during her first experence at an amusement park.

Here we are driving an antique car on a track...her first driving experience sure came quickly! But we survived all of the fun, and student had only one remark for her long-anticipated cotton candy experience:

Student:"...it's not my favorite..."

Summer Camping

In the hills, among the trees, and swarming around the bees... this was camping!

Some worksheets by the fire + 

reading to the Uncle and Aunt + 

 super sonic violin practice =

Camp School!

Other than that, Student and Teacher enjoyed a morning devotional and study while the boys were off doing laundry and eating donuts. The time was blessed and oh so peaceful. 

Tomorrow marks the return of our 2nd pupil for summer school, and thus the learning continues. Tomorrow is another day, and another learning experience...whether planned and on schedule or not. Super Summer here we come!

Student's First...

Birthday trip. We are heading to camp in Missouri, as we camped when student turned 1. In addition, there is a WORLD OF FUN to be had, for this turning 6! Off we go tomorrow morning!

Worksheets and violin shall squeeze in among the other packed goods. When we return, pupil 2 will be back and 50 State Scramble will continue.

Student's First...

Audition. Sounds like a big and scary thing. But, not to be intimidated. She says it means she plays for a new teacher at a new place. And, that's all folks!

Lord, we pray that this gift you have given to Student will bring you much glory as she plays tonight. Bless us with safety as we travel, as you are the only thing to keep us safe. Thank you for this opportunity. Bless those who continually bless us, for Your kingdom. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Couch School

Teacher got to experiment with relaxed methods today. Seriously, what a blessing to have freedom to NOT have a desk setting, but still learn.  Do kids realize that learning can be accomplished WITHOUT a desk? 

Well, student is still tired from the big BEATLES performance this past weekend, and she requested to sleep until she woke herself up, today.  What a question! What a wish for so many people I know! Well, when I can say yes, it sure brings joy to do so, and I did. 

Beginning with our Money-Changer lesson from the Bible Times in the temple, student enjoys picking out her own key words from the story and writing them. It only took a handful of lessons for her to decide that she needed more say of the words she picked, not so much help from teacher, please!

We moved on to a math money worksheet, and tagging items from toddler's room and proceeding to count enough to purchase them. 

Finishing up with drawings of the temple money, roman money and today's currency, student is ready for some backyard time. So goes our fun on the couch, and learning, too.

We are holding onto the 50 State unit until our 2nd pupil returns in a week.

New Addition: Completed Work Drawer for Daddy to check, in addition to the blog, when he returns home to us after work each day. They have already been checked for accuracy, and stickered by student! But, Daddy and student can discuss together and share!

Student's view: Tonight is my first audition. I am going to violin camp. I like playing violin.  My favorite song is , oh boy, variation of twinkle, is Popcorn & Ice Cream. 

I learned in Bible Time, about in the Temple families having to pay taxes to greedy money-changers. I learned about the coins, too. That they used back then. 

I drew a picture of the coins that the people used in Bible times and the coins that we use today! I did a math page and it was kinda cool, because, I learned about coins and talked about them, and also did them in math. My homeschool was mostly about money.