Guest Tuesday

When did these kids get so technologically-advanced?

Our homeschool day started with a bike ride to the neighborhood park. Quite the experience at an evos park. http://www.gerberleisure.com/EXPAGES/EVOS.asp

This is our newest city attraction, and built right in our area! This park claims to give kids mental and physical challenges during their "play". However, during our bike ride there, the kiddos did succeed in the high-tech satisfaction of pumping their arms at diesel drivers and obtaining a honk or two!

After their engaging play, we skip-counted and enjoyed snack at the picnic table in the morning shade. Counting by 4s was the number choice today, as Guest Pupil was hoping to work on her multiplication facts of 4.

We pulled out the Old Skool Math games just to throw off our Guest! We began with homemade flashcards for our Guest to fine-tune her Multiplication. Student loved to help her practice and then switch and work on her place value flashcards. After all of the giggle-filled learning, we moved along to the FIRST MULTIPLIER. This handy tool pictured above in the first picture, was used by Guest Pupil's father in his days of learning. Afterall, it's all in the family, with homeschool!

They loved the colors, use of both hands and the noises of the sliding parts...all things missed out on with computers. And the other moving-part Math game? Well, SKILL BALL, straight outta the 50s. It is metal and requires one to crouch onto the floor to roll the ball in three turns and add up the end score. They love learning away from the table/desk! Anything to get their bodies moving and grooving for learning!

Back at the table, we continued with History from Genesis ch. 11. Searching the maps and globe, we located the area where The Tower of Babble was in The Mesopotamia. Guest was fascinated to have free reign of the globe and find all that she could with no time limit, like at school.

Next, the kiddos looked up their key words and took their best guess at defining them prior to reading the dictionary version. This is fun for everyone, and always makes a good read on the blog!

Guest Pupil:

Envy: an ivy type

Ziggurat: a rat type

Babylon: babbles

Student:

Envy: poisonous

Ziggurat: unkind

Babylon: a city

Finishing up with reading and Space facts, we enjoyed having our Guest before she starts school this week. Summer School is drawing to an end.

And the Space Walk Continues...

More Space facts entered the brain, today. Space Math and Reading were included, as well. Student read from #3 in our Sesame Street Series, for adults to read to tots...and she finished the continuation of the Penelope story in #4 volume. We had these books when I was a kid, and NEVER did I read them as quickly as she does. Praise the Lord for her love of reading!

We began our Old Testament History today, with The Children's Illustrated Bible. Maps and timely drawings galore!

This will cover much of the needed History lessons for our first semester, and part of the second. I still haven't figured out when we'll break for American History, it is just a short amount that is required for First grade, not to mention she knows much of it already. But, with the Abeka background Student has, she has fulfilled much of the first grade requirements, and so we are working on second grade also, just to keep up with schedule of her Christian school, if The Lord's plan be to send her back next year.

Introduction to The Bible, was our first lesson, which introduced Student to her Bible Dictionary. We get to look up a few words from our lesson, prior to reading it, to get a preview of our lesson. Today's dictionary word list:

Oracles

Law

Hebrew

Gospel

Student looked up and read the definition to each word. She seems to enjoy this challenge.

We also covered the dead sea scrolls, first Bibles printed on papyrus papers, (which we have a papyrus plant on our side porch, so now student wants to try to make paper:)

and the first authorized Bibles, and the story of the King James version.

Student: I like learning about space.

I learned about some stuff in the Bible. There are 66 books in the Bible. Generation by generation, mouth by mouth, teaching their child, to child, to child, tis was the time when the Bible was not written, so the stories were told this way to their children's children.

Fine Motor SKills

Student had a day without Pupil, so girl-time and cuddly reading prevailed!

We got to pull all the tabs, remove all of the hidden features and read all about minerals today, as part of our Space unit. We practiced looking for items in the dictionary, and easily understood the concept of alphabetical.

And, even more exercise for those First Grade fingers, Student continued on her cross-stitch flower for the baby. She is using the pattern from my Grandmother Darlene's cross-stitch rose quilt on our bed. She has continued a design that has now been through 3 generations! I just love sewing! Could it be anymore rewarding to see her loving the things I love?! Truly, I pray she loves that which our Father loves, and hates that which He hates.

Student: I learned that rubies are found in Burma, and I found it on the globe. I am a mineral! And, strongest, most valuable mineral is diamonds.

Preparing for Feast Day

Our Bible Time lesson was about the preparation for and celebration on, the Sabbath. The key words were:

Chassen

Horn

Sabbath

Ark

Ten

Reader

It has been fun to see the kiddos learn about this History, and then use such terms that are rarely used today. Their vocabulary is expanding! And so is my knowledge! Who ever would have thought that homeschooling would be so enjoyable and mind-expanding for all involved. Wow, I can really see how God has asked us to step up to this challenge, and what blessings have already come from this journey. Can't wait to see what He has in store!

We continued with our Space Facts today, and Space spelling, too. This picture is of Student's spelling list...the letters were truly correct and the spelling was superb!

sun

spot

Earth

moon

Mars

dust

Book Fest

A new load of books has made it's way from the library to the hands of Summer readers! We turned in our reading logs and collected tickets for the free swim party that each kiddo qualified for. Toddler surely gets the award for MOST EXCITED!

We found a pop-up book that was on the "new books" rack and so it is actually in grrreat condition. It is Earthly Treasure which deals with all of the goodies that God hid within our planet when He created it! Our space studies continue.

Computer has been taken over by aliens, with the finding of kidsastronomy.com both Pupil and Student are enjoying this unit, especially Pupil since Star Wars can be talked about and it relates to our subject! He is on cloud nine...or should I say an asteroid? He is always fast moving and enjoys the scenery he flies past.

Student, on the other hand, is slow to enjoy and marinate all of the facts into her brain and invent a mental picture of all we describe of outer space happenings.

Together, they are making a great Summer School team!

Monday, Monday

Math has given much practice for penmanship! Even the numbers have a way of getting progressively BIGGER throughout the course of a lesson. And wild numbers?! Yes, those numbers keep getting wild and appearing backwards...Student figured out in a hurry that if she turns her paper upside-down, then a backwards 3 is instantly correct!

Along with oral counting of yo-yo's on our finished garland, numbers have been all around today. Each made a hypothesis as to the total number of yo-yo's, and Student guessed in the 50's family, and Pupil guessed in the 40's family...and the final count was 75! Our counting by 2's was really confusing the Toddler, though.

Pupil has gotten much joy from finishing his Summer reading goal today! Student will be ready by tomorrow, and we shall have a trip to the local library to turn-in our logs. Now, Toddler is another story...he rarely sits to read unless he is tired. So, we'll just keep him awake as long as it takes to finish his last 7 books!

Yes, we are on Earth, today. But where are our brains? In outer space, of course!

Student: I learned about space. It was fun, my favorite part was learning about how many moons there are and moon families. My 3 favorite planets are Jupiter, Mars, but my favorite is my home, sweet, home, Earth! The sun is a star, I knew that, but not about a black and cold sunspot. The hot, fired gases are orange. That's all I need to say!

Pupil: My favorite part about space was learning about asteroids. One can be big like a mountain, one can be small as piece of dust. They go around the planets quickly. They are a family with the sun. And that's all I have to say!

Project Friday

Student loves Art soooo much, we have tried to schedule Friday for a project each week. She is quick to remind me just what day it is!

Today is a Friday that includes a Birthday Party for the Toddler! So, their chosen media was colored pencil! The poster board of firedog quickly became a rainbow of colors!

We talked about figures, and proportion. They understood the "HEAD" rule pretty well. And this figure, firedog, is 2.5 heads tall!

Math manipulatives and inches closer to our reading goal, these Summer school days are truly buzzing right by!

Outer Space, here we come! Our 100 facts about space begins today...I wonder which they remembered?

Student: I learned about when the sun, moon and earth, line up together...eclipse. And the sun is made of lots of burning gases, and it is not solid. Deep in the middle of the sun is a ball of energy that goes to the surface and moves to the surface and shoot burning rings into space...called prominence.

Pupil: I learned about when the sun and moon line together with the earth. That is called an eclipse. We wrote them on our paper. The sun is a star.

Outer Space Noise

Summer Pupil has artwork and space noises mastered!

Pupil: I made a picture of a Droid with a Clone Trooper in outer space.

Sweet School

How sweet is homeschool today? Well, in addition to coming only 5 books from their summer reading goal, completing phonics work, and artwork on our new unit on outer space, we have:

semi-sweet chocolate

peanut butter

margarine

vanilla

powdered sugar

rice Chex...

Our Puppy Chow consisted of:

reading the recipe,

measuring the ingredients,

and remeasuring the ingredients,

counting the seconds it cooked,

and

using those fine motor skills for stirring and rolling to coat...

and lastly, review of how we used each of the 5 senses to create such a sweet school today!

Student: We made puppy chow today. I had a good day, too. Today was fun because of my 2 favorites things: tasting the chow and drawing. I drew a flower and princess Leya and a rocket.

Pupil: Today was a fun day. Me and Student we drew Star Wars pictures and I drew a Jetti. And she drew Princess Leya. And that's all. I want my puppy chow!

Baby Swaddling

Our Bible Time Lesson was detailing the steps of bathing and swaddling a newborn. God's timing is soooo perfect! We talked about the differnces, however, of the swaddling blankets then and now...no strings attached these days!

The focus was on the big sister and all the help and pride she feels from helping the mother with the "man-child"! Student had fun picking out her key words and writing them along with her first lesson in cursive handwriting! We are only doing her name in cursive, as she has some more practice to do with her alphabet prior to cursive. But, when the excitement is present, teach, teach, teach!

We also reviewed counting by 2's to 100 on paper and out loud. Computer time will finish up this Monday of summer school.

Student: I like homeschool. It is fun. I like counting by 2's, and my computer time is fun.. I have a new Webkinz pet named Emerald. I liked to swaddle up the baby-doll. That was fun, too. My hypothesis about why the mom's used salt on the baby, was to keep the baby from sucking his thumb. But, really it was to help keep the baby dry in the swaddle cloth.

Camp Allegro

Student has been learning, playing, and witnessing MUCH at camp this week! She has shared about her new friends, that we prayed God would provide, lunchtime discussions and silly snacking in the van on the ride home.

Her newest addition of knowledge was inspired by the scavenger hunt they have each day at camp. They have been looking for a squirrel all week, with little success. But one of Student's fellow campers informed her of much needed cautionary information concerning squirrels:

" If a squirrel bites you, you are sure to get Arby's!"

Good ol' camp, good ol' memories!

Thanks to Grammy for making it possible for Student to attend camp and all it's glories.

Home again, home again, in the evenings! Student's Daddy time has produced new iphone artwork...goes quite well with the Summer rain God has sent for the day.

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.