Homeschool Highlights - Week of October 3, 2010

Sunday: 

• Bible:  Attended worship services at church. 
• Devotions:  Ephesians 5:1-2.  Differences.  This reinforces our science theme of how our bodies are different.
• Read aloud:  It was the perfect dreary, rainy, cold, and blustery day to stay indoors and cuddle up with some good read alouds.  We started a new chapter book, Junie B. Jones and Meanie Jim's Birthday.
• Played board games with family (Memory, Ready, Set, Spaghetti, etc)
• Counted out a baggie full of Box Tops for Education for her school.  We counted $23.20!

Monday:

*Notes to self:  Something has not been right with Shayla lately. Here are some differences I have noted.  Is it due to something she has eaten?  Is she not feeling well?  Is it from the weather?  Wet, cold, mold allergy flaring?

•  Her attention span is shorter than ever. 
• She needed constant supervision to somewhat stay on task.   Freqently giving correct verbal answer, but forgetting before she wrote it.
• In constant motion.  Needs MORE frequent movement than her normal.

Math:  Nothing like getting the hard stuff out of the way first.  Math has been proving itself to be Shayla's least favorite subject (must be in her DNA).  I've been concerned because she is still doing a level 1 book and she should be in a level 3 or 4.  My attitude has not been the greatest lately because of this.  Long story short, I rethought this and am going to try to make it fun so she wants to memorize and learn.  Also, I am not going to worry about teaching to the curriculum standards as much.  Who cares if she can complete a page of facts, but not be able to apply those facts to real life situations?!?

We are trying something new.  The reward system with math.  Several friends recommended that I pitch the Abeka in the trash, it is not the right fit for us, but I don't think there is any "perfect" curriculum, so if she completes her lesson quickly, cheerfully, and to the best of her ability, we play a math game. 

*Note to self:  Frequently made 2's, 3's and 6's  backward and took numerous attempts at making 8's.

Did Abeka 1 lesson 61. 

Used playdough to demonstrate fractions of 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4

 

Used counters to demonstrate half of a group of numbers.

Played store.  Shayla bought her toys using the largest coins possible. 

The reward game:  Dice.  Rolled dice to make addition problems.  Could use the

dots to find the answer. 

Bible: 

• Primary Bible Reader:  Read God Makes Joshua the Leader. 
• Devotions:  Psalm 119:105.  Practicing locating verses in Bible.  Practiced Pledge of Allegiance, Pledge to the Christian Flag, and Pledge to the Holy Bible.
• Art/Bible/Science/Music:  Made a paper plate parrot from craft book.  We discussed the parrot in our vet's office.  That fellow is a talkative bird!  He can say many things.  What an example of fun, living science!  We sang the verse to the song "Oh be careful little mouth what you say."

Reading:  Stepping Stones.  Read The Best Day and Stop That Top!

Language/Phonics:  A Beka 1 Lesson 46.  wkbk 41-42

After the bookwork, we played a friendly game of Sight Word memory matching.  I am pleasantly surprised at how well she plays this game.  She has won fair and square a few times!

Social/Bible/Art:  Attended Kings Kids.  Learned about the Genesis, Exodus, the Ark of the Covenant and made a paper treasure box to represent the Ark of the Covenant.

Tuesday:

I love the opportunities for learning that homeschooling enables.  Today while reading Junie B. Jones, we read about the big ball in the back of the toilet.  Of course this sparked my little darling's imagination, so we had to investigate our toilet ball.  LOL!  Unfortunately, we discovered that our newer toilet does not have one.  :(

Spelling:

• Completed wkbk activity 2 - List 6
•  Used magnets to make words.  This hands-on activity helps with committing those spelling words to memory for my visual/kinesthetic learner.

Reading:

• Read aloud:  Junie B. Jones and that Meanie Jim's Birthday
• Shayla read What Boys Like and Good Night from Stepping Stones (Book 3 Abeka 1)

Science: 

• Discovering God's World 1 - Read about hair.
• Read The Hair Book by Graham Tether

Math: 

• Completed Lesson 62.
• Played dice game for addition facts practice.

Social Studies:

My America Abeka 1.  We got a little behind so we traveled to France, Germany, Italy and Israel in our lessons.  We located each country on the globe, looked at their flag, and learned a little about their countries and cultures.

Activities: 

Finished our lessons a little early today, so we did some activities together.  Some of the ideas are preschool level, but she doesn't seem to mind. 

• Color hunt.  Her favorite color is blue, so we went through the house identifying things that are blue.  (language, observation)
• Made a fall scene with dot paints.  (art)

Wednesday: 

• Specials Day!  Shayla is doing wonderful socializing with other children.  It was fun to watch her sitting at the head of the lunch table and gabbing away to ALL the other girls.  Woo-hoo!

• She also did hearing and vision screening.  She was verbal and completely willing to complete this (so she could get back to playtime with friends)

• Dance classes.  Shayla was very animated and she LOVES dancing! 

Thursday:

Bible:  Read Gove Gives Joshua Orders. 

Reading:  Stepping Stones.  Read One at a Time and Birthday Twins.

Phonics/Language:  Abeka 1 Lesson 47.

Math:  Lesson 63

Spelling:  Practiced list 6 words.

Handwriting:  Working on badge 7 The Beatitudes.

In addition to regular studies, we went shopping for things to fill shoeboxes for our sponsor child from Honduras.  Shayla was getting quite jealous and having bad behavior in the store.  Something that would probably have been dealt with long ago, but never surfaced until now since becoming verbal.  After we allowed her to pick a few things for herself, and she was given the task of picking things out for Jazmin, she became cheerful and co-operative again. 

Friday:

I may be stretching here, but anything can be a learning experience.  We didn't do much written work today, but much real life learning.

• Monthly meeting with school administrator.
• Field trip:  The fire truck was at the school for classes to learn.  We took the opportunity to learn about fires, the truck, tools, and being a firefighter. 
• Reading:  Abeka 1
• Field trip:  grocery store.  I love that she is finally speaking.  We talked about the fall display outside the store, the fresh produce, healthy foods, we discussed using coupons (buying correct sizes, amounts, etc).  She helped put things in the cart, out of the cart, helped with coupons.  In the end, our almost $300 bill was reduced to $162.  (math, economics, science, health, home ec)