Homeschool Highlights - Weeks of March 23, 2009

Days 131-135

Where have I been? Oh, we're still schooling, it's just that I have gotten away from logging it on as we do it. It doesn't seem to get done! Last week hubby and I had a nasty cold. Him first, then me.

Reading: We started lesson 23 of the Abeka curriculum. Shayla is reluctant to do this anymore. Awhile back, all she wanted to do was learn to read. Now that she is actually doing it (and well, I might add), now she wants to avoid it at all costs. I think when she finishes the first Abeka reader (4 stories away), we will go back to the Bob books and the other "easy" readers for a review time.

Math: We practiced basic addition and subtraction using a number line on the floor. We did our worksheet for the day using this method. As you can see, she had fun, and she did get some exercise. (PE)

We discussed different animals that hop and pretended to be those animals while doing our number line. (science)
But, I don't think she understood the whole mathmatical concept!


Math: The next day we tried using our dominos as manipulatives. We added one side to the other. She understood and enjoyed this concept. Afterwards, we were standing them up in lines to watch them fall. It was fun until . . .

We got company - of the furry kind.

This sweet and innocent looking pair ruined our domino game.

Language: Pronouns. Worksheet pages and board work.

To reinforce all the parts of speech that we have worked on so far, we played several of Shayla's card games.

She really started understanding how the different parts of speech work in sentences with these fun games.

Language: Verbs. We read Where the Wild Things Are. (An old favorite of ours). We acted out the verbs in the story and completed lessons 1-5.

Spelling: Short u sound words. I try to do spelling with different activities. This time she did the pretest, worksheets, traced and filled in the blanks on sentences, read the short u sound story on Starfall

Another day, she spelled her spelling words out loud while bouncing on her trampoline.

Social Studies: Shayla completed her map studies and packet. At the end, we went out to the sandbox and dug lakes, a river, and an ocean.

It was fun to fill it up with water. It was fun to play in the sand after the long winter!

Art: We learned about warm and cool colors and made page four of our art book.

Writing: Practicing letter m's and started badge 2 work from Hide the Word in Your Heart Club.

Scouts at Home: Shayla completed badge requirements for the Creative Composing badge.

Specials: We entered a contest between PBS kids Arthur show and CVS Caremark Kids. It was for the chance to meet Marc Brown, creator of the Arthur series and to make a new character for the show. Shayla loves all the Arthur characters.

The character we submitted was much like my own little girl, Shayla. I hope we win, but if not, we had lots of fun coming up with ideas!

Music & Movement: We did all the songs on the Hap Palmer cd this week.

In addition, we also started using Kids Make Music book. We are learning ways that your body can be used as musical instruments.

Science: (This is when the cold got the better of me - Dad took over here) Read books about seeds and planted seeds for 36 tomatoes.

Phys Ed: Lots and lots of outside playtime!

Social Skills: We attended another Kings Kids. She felt even more comfortable. She ate her snack, mouthed the word "blocks," and did her craft independently. She did not even become upset as I helped out more with the other kids. Yay!