Summer Day 10

Yea! Completed 2 weeks within 2 weeks in summertime!

A record for us I think. ;)

Today's 3 R's

1. Reading: Ch 16 in Vietnam book.  Only 2 more chapters!
2. Writing: Sentence on whiteboard
3. Algebra: Solving Area expressions for squares and rectangles

30 more days to go! Yippee!!!

Okay.  The challenge begins.  The next two weeks DS will be at camp.  So we won't be logging any 3 R's until July.  Then there are always a couple of recoup days from all the business, then comes Independence day and ortho appointments, and puppet team workshop and VBS and so on.  So most likely the days will be spotty.  But that's okay because I knew that would happen!  I hope we can just persevere and get all 40 days logged!

Summer Day 9

Today's 3 R's

1. Reading: Ch 15 in Vietnam book
2. Writing: sentence on whiteboard
3. Algebra: More patterns. Fun! Fun! Fun!

31 more days.

Summer Day 8

3R's

1. Reading: Ch 14 in Vietnam book.
2. Writing: Another short poem on whiteboard
3. Algebra: Finding patterns continued...

All this on his own while I was at work and I didn't even have to tell him. :)

8 down 32 to go!

Summer Day 7

Today's 3 R's

1. Reading: Ch 13: "Home Again" in Vietnam book. This chapter was loooong.  But he persevered!
2. Writing: Wrote another short poem about my tea.  I don't make or drink tea.
3. Algebra: Area of triangles, finding patterns. Yay!  All were correct.

Also a fun thing today - we got a package!  Packages are always fun right?  Even if they are school related!
I ordered some little electronic gadgets for DS to practice math and spelling drills.  Even though he's entering highschool he has a LD and he forgets things so quickly and has trouble with details. Hence the summer school 3 R's.  Anyway it was fun to see that he was glad to get an electronic gadget to use instead of doing drills on paper.

 to go!

Summer Day 6

This one almost didn't happen.  DS had company and promised to do his 3 R's after the company went home.  Well, you know how that goes.  Later in the day he tried the old "I'll do 6 R's tomorrow" bit.  But I said no and these were the toughest 3 R's yet.  But he did them!

1. Algebra: still working on evaluating equations given the variables.  I really think he's got it! Time to move on. Tomorrow we work on area.

2. Reading: ch 12 in the Vietnam book. We discussed it afterward.  He didn't realize one of the characters had committed suicide by jumping overboard. 

"With the strength and speed and skill of a gymnast, and still with that angel's smile on his face, he is off.
He grabs the rail, flips over, and dismounts, throwing himself out and into the white and wild chruning water below.
My new friend flies."

3. Writing: He wrote a silly poem about all the frogs we have around here.  They are EVERYWHERE!  And the tiniest things!  We should post a pic.

6 down 34 to go and it's getting tough already!

Summer Day 5

Yay! Five in a row for us!

Today's "3 R's"

1. Algebra:  We had to re-work the problems he did yesterday.  Some were incorrect but mostly, he did not show his work! So I had no idea where he'd gone wrong.  We also did a few more handpicked problems today on the white board.
2. Writing: He wrote a sentence on the whiteboard about some of the things he did yesterday.
2. Reading: Chapter 11 in his Vietnam book. Narrated the chapter and we looked up some military terms and crafts like DMZ, 8"/55 gun, PCF-19, F-104, and F-2.  We also looked at a map of Vietnam and found it on the globe, identifying the areas mentioned in the book.  I also found an eyewitness article that I am going to print out for his to read after he finishes the book.

Okay - 35 days to go!

Summer Day 4

Honestly, today was a struggle.  We had storms last night that knocked our power out, so we got up a little late and had to be at church to work by 8:00am.  DS was the last one out the door because he couldn't find his Vietnam book.  I didn't allow him to have any free time or video games while we were at church.

No reading- no games.
Right?
Right.

So he did:

1. Spelling: spelled 30 words from ch 9 of the Vietnam book.  (I had these from yesterday's vocab.)
2. Writing: wrote a sentence on the white board.
3. Algebra: some handpicked evaluating expression problems.
4. Work: He did all the grunt work at church today - gopher jobs, took out trash, cleaned and organized the resource room, helped make lunch and clean up, and helped with bulletins.
5: Reading: Yes!  When we came home he got right to work and found his book, read chapter 10 and narrated it to me.  Now he's playing x-box. :)

36 more days to fulfill our goal!

Summer Day 3

3 days down, 37 to go!

1. Reading: Ch 9 in Vietnam book plus vocab
2. Writing: Short paragraph on white board
3. Algebra: hand picked problems including evaluating algebraic expressions with given values of the variables.
In case it's been a while since you've done algebra that means solve the problem! : )

Ode to Goliath

Poem about Goliath.

Summer Day 2

1. Writing: He wrote a poem on the whiteboard about our dog Goliath. (photo to follow)
2. Reading: ch 8 of Vietnam book, along with vocabulary from that chapter.
3. Algebra: handpicked problems from chapter 2 identifying coefficients, variables and constants, and expanding exponents.

(38 days left)

Summer Day 1

I've never done this before but I just had an idea that I will blog a short list of things we do each day school-wise as a quick log of sorts.  I have planners out the wazoo but I need something that I can do on the fly.  I'll be using my text-blogging so the formatting may be weird, but I don't want to spend a lot of time on this to make it look good.  I just want the record that I can do from anywhere.

So with that said here is day 1 of summer. Oh btw I'm focusing on just the three R's for summer.  So we'll have at least 3 things per day to report. (I hope!) Anything else is gravy.

Summer Day 1
1. Read ch 7 in book  and discussed with Mom
2. Algebra 1 chapter 2 handpicked problems
3. Sentence writing on white board.

The book he's reading is "Vietnam: I Pledge Allegiance" by Chris Lynch.  Maybe he'll have a review at the end.

****UPDATED TO ADD****

My goal is to record at least 40 days of  "summer school" logged by Sept 1.
(39 days left)

Journal May 4th

This week went pretty well.  I'm trying to simplify our school days so that I don't have to "think" so hard and come up with lesson plans.

It doesn't mean that we aren't learning or using our brains it's just that this old brain needs some down time!

Here's what we got done this week:
Algebra 1.  I noticed that ds knows the concepts, however he doesn't know the vernacular.  So we spent some time learning what all those terms mean.  He did great studying them on his own and reciting them back to me at the end of the week!  This is great improvement on his independence and study skills!

History/Literature: These go together right now because he is listening to The Iliad and also Age of Fable.  I have him listen and then narrate right into the Mp3.  I'm not sure if we will go back and type them up or just leave them verbal for now. We are also reading Augustus Caesar's World a couple of days a week and working on a timeline.

He also did some writing and some grammar.  The thing that is lacking right now is science, but I have some ideas for that later and right now just want to focus on the three R's.

My favorite resource this week has to be the Mp3!  It's a great little tool.

 

Sometimes, it takes awhile...

Funny story, funny to me anyway, it dawned on me just today as I was writing up assignment sheets for my son that I should add the days' events at the top and upcoming events on the bottom!  He has always wanted to know what we are doing tomorrow, where we are going tomorrow etc. He has been asking me those questions since he was old enough to talk! LOL He loves having his own calendar too.

I took a cue from the workbox lady a while back to write out a daily list for him with detailed instructions rather than a weekly chart on one page.  Although I prefer charts.  I love charts! But we have great success when I make the daily pages for my son.  The problem is it is time consuming and I have to use my brain A LOT!! LOL So that's why I slip and don't do it.  

But I really, really need to do it! It helps him so much.  I can't wait to see how he likes the "upcoming events" on his pages.  I'll let you know what he thought, although I can't let him know that I want to know what he thought because he's 14 and 14 year old boys don't like to let their mom know they like something about school. ;)

Math Answers

In a previous post Amy asked why I switched from Teaching Textbooks to Chalk Dust.  So I thought I'd answer here, since it was a long reply!

The first reason was $$$. I basically got the Chalk Dust for FREE!  Also I had been told that the TT didn't work the same way in the higher levels as it did in the lower levels.  By the time they get to Algebra the solutions were not included on the CD's like they are in the others.  The solutions showing my son what he did wrong was the best thing about the program for us!  So while others continue on with TT we decided not to.  I might even be wrong about it all, but really in the US math is math and I always use whatever works at the moment!
We've used MUS, MEP (free online here), TT and now Chalk Dust. :)

Just as an aside; we really enjoyed MEP but I am working part time now and it's just too teacher intensive for our schedule.  But I would really like to have continued to use it.  What ds did in level 3 of MEP was the same as TT6!

Another aside; my dd (now a hs graduate and in College) used MUS mostly all the way through, but her learning style was different from ds's.

February 24, 2012

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week…
It's been a while since I journaled. Computer problems are driving me crazy!  I downloaded a "clean up" tool... so far it's not working. :/  I may not even finish this post before my computer freezes up.

In our homeschool this week…
DS started Algebra officially a couple of weeks ago.  We used Teaching Textbooks last semester, but switched Chalk Dust this semester for Algebra 1.  So far we really like it.  The video explanations are very helpful. And will you believe that I got it all for free?  A friend gave me the videos and I got the student book and solutions book on Amazon.com used and paid with my free Swagbucks Amazon gift cards!  Can't beat that!!

My favorite thing this week was…
Working out!  Really!  I love these Walking DVD's.

Things I’m working on…
I've been doing some sewing for my granddaughter and a few other babies. ;)  I love to sew for girls!! I'll be showing some projects on here soon hopefully.

I’m reading…
Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond (aka The Pioneer Woman) again! It's a fun read.

I’m cooking…
Right this very moment I happen to be making bbq chicken legs!  I'm making extra to freeze for quick dinners.

I’m praying for…
My prayer partners.  I am so blessed to have several prayer partners.

What have we been up to?

Well, I haven't been blogging much. I need to get back into The Homeschool Mother's Journal on Fridays.  I'll try to do that this week.

But right now we are in transition waiting for new math to arrive and trying to find our way around biology.  We haven't gotten very far.  My son doesn't have a good memory (unless it has to do with Star Wars) and so I'm backing up a bit and trying out some hands on activities to help cement these concepts in his brain.

Biology begins with the smallest organisms so I found some projects to build atoms, molecules and cells.

Here is what we are using:


I downloaded them from Currclick.  They have several titles and I downloaded many of them when they were on sale.

Now, for an atom model  I got instructions here.


For marshamallow molecules I found a post here.



I would love to buy these, but the above are more accessible.


For cell models I found this and this.



I found more middle/high school ideas here.


Disclaimer: All these photos are from the original sites, they are not mine.  
But when we make ours I will post pictures!

Looking back at 2011

I've never done a post like this before, but for some reason I just got inspired to recap my year and celebrate the wonderful things that happened this year.

January Grandson's birthday and he had a fun 7th birthday party. We had a family member make his cake. Lots of fun! (I wanted to put a picture of it but I can't find one! It was a Despicable Me cake.)

February brought some ice to the north Texas area and we were kind of at a standstill for about a week! That's what happens in Texas. We're not used to it. ;)
We also had a birthday at the end of February ds turned 13!!! Yes, a teenager. My last child at home is now a teen. :D

March ahhh Soccer season! We are pretty busy each week going to practice and having games on Saturdays. His team was #1!! We also had a lot of doctor appointments in March for some reason???

I attended a WE Conference at Prestonwood in Dallas and it was a wonderful weekend! That is such a HUGE church! Finally a pic!

April Soccer continues and I've been asked to teach a VBS training seminar and I was very nervous but excited! I did it! Whew. I still like teaching kids better than adults. ;)
My mom moved this month into assisted living, her choice not mine. But it will be alright.

May One of my favorite months!  The homeschool bookfair is in May and I had one of the best times yet with friends and all the speakers.  Love it! It's also DH's birthday.  We also did a simple unit study with other homeschoolers during April/March studying "Around the World in 80 Days".  It was a lot of fun!

June I think was the least eventful month for me, except for my birthday nothing really went on.  Just hot.  More doctor appointments.  We had a PIT Crew training day for the puppet team I direct at church.  It's always fun. Well, I almost forgot.  There was one event in June that was so much fun!  Our church helped another church in the area put on a "Backyard Bible Club".  We had such a blast with this guy...

July The best month this year!  Madeleine Noelle was born! Yay!  We won't get to see her until next month though. :(

We also had VBS this week at church. One of my favorite things on the planet!

One hazard of VBS, while Grammy is getting ready for her class...someone was running and ran smack into another running kid. :( It looks really bad, but was better by the end of the night.

August Going to Indiana!!! And DS's first plane trip! (Can't find those pics either! Ack!) But here he is holding his niece for the first time.

And in August my mom turns 76 years!

September Back home, more family doctor appointments, my brother has major surgery, my mom moves again (MUCH better place) we start fall soccer, DS is an 8th grader and DH and I have been married now 25 years!!!  Whew!

October the BIG and BUSY month for me.  We do an annual blacklight show at church with the PIT Crew at the end of October.  Here's a peek at one scene...

And if I wasn't busy enough, we agreed to do a second show for my grandson's school carnival 2 days before our show!  We had a lot of fun though!

November More birthdays, youngest DD is now 21 (no, I can't believe it!), Thanksgiving and FAMILY TIME! DD is in a show "Duck Hunter Shoots Angel" at college, DS and DIL and new baby come to visit.  It was the best!!!

December Was nice and quiet actually.  A friend had extra tickets to the Dallas Museums so we went and had a good time.  It was nice to do something different.

Grandson spent a week with us while school was out.  The kids put the Christmas decorations up for me since I had to work extra this month.  It was nice.  We had some family over on the 23rd had dinner, visited and played "Just Dance 3" So fun!  Then Christmas Eve candlelight service and Sunday morning service.  Nice and quiet.


I left out so much but I just can't fit all in. No wonder I'm tired! LOL
Thank you Lord for a blessed year!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

The Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~

In my life this week…
It's thanksgiving week!  At my house that means my son, dil and new grandbaby from out of state are here, my daughter, sil and grandson were here some too, my next daughter's birthday (she's 21 gasp!) and her college theatre play ALL this week!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
I came across this in a really old cookbook.

"We may live without poetry, music and art;
We may live without conscience, and live without heart;
We may live without friends; we may live without books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks."
-Owen Meredith

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

The Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~


In my life this week…
Well, I totally missed posting last week, so today's journal may include some of last week's happenings.  Although I don't really remember what went on!  I'm getting old and if I don't write things down right away, they just get by me.  I do know we performed our black light show on the 31st and it was a huge hit!  Everyone loved it. :)  This week, it was time to put everything away and start focusing back on school and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.  I have a lot of planning to do.  My kids are coming from out of state and will be staying a week. YAY!  I get to see my new granddaughter!!

In our homeschool this week…
Surprisingly we got almost everything done this week.  We are still dragging our feet in biology.  I really just need to take a day and go over it and get those lesson plans done!  But enough about what we didn't do, what we did do was DS finished his math program!  Now, I don't have the money to get the next level right away, so we are going to spend some time on drills.  He really needs that anyway.  I think I will make some powerpoints too for him.  I like making powerpoints, they are just so time consuming.

I am inspired by…
Prayer.  Isn't prayer just the most amazing thing?  At our church we are going to have a churchwide prayer and fast in December but people are praying fervently NOW.  We are posting prayers for each other on facebook and just really lifting each other up to the Lord.  AWESOME!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
We saw a lot of people come to our show last week, this week, this morning in fact we are going to see the orthodontist!  We'll find out if DS needs braces.


My favorite thing this week was…
NOT the time change.  I mean I know this is the "real" time, but I feel like I'm sleepy at night, sleepy in the morning, sleepy all the time!

What’s working/not working for us…
We are still doing the schedule where we do a chore, do an assignment, take a short break.  Kind of a rotation.  It's just helping us stay on track where we would rather be sleeping. :)

I’m cooking…
I'm going to be doing some freezer cooking for the upcoming holiday season.  Not so much the holiday food but the daily meals so I can stay sane!

I’m grateful for…I’m praying for…
(These go together for me this week.)
My husband.  He has been sick a lot and without getting too personal, I am so grateful that he is still here and tries to be a good father and husband when he does feel good.  We've been together 25 years and I still love him.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
"Living He loved me
Dying He saved me
Buried He carried my sins far away"

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week…
I had soooo much to do this week.  Our puppet team performances are Saturday and Monday.
Almost there!
I got new glasses this week.  Yay!  I had gotten my contacts earlier but I needed new back up glasses badly, not to mention the new prescription change. Yep. Bifocals. They've arrived.
But the neat thing I want to share is the place that I got my glasses.  I ordered them from http://www.zennioptical.com/.  I got frames #717121. I got the progressive lenses, anti-glare and all the trimmings. Total cost with shipping under $45!!! Amazing!  I would recommend this site to anyone except maybe if it were your very first pair of glasses.  But having worn glasses since the 4th grade myself, I know what styles and sizes work for me.  I will order from them again.  So many cute glasses and the prices just can NOT be beat!
I brought home groceries this week and we put everything away and went about our business.  Only the next morning I noticed a bag in the corner of the kitchen, by the desk.  Hmmm..what is this doing here? When I opened it... TWO GALLONS OF MILK!!! I was so upset!  That's a fortune you know?  Oh well, nothing I can do about it now.  But boy was I really mad at myself for not noticing that!

In our homeschool this week…
It was so overwhelming trying to get everything done this week.  We took  a little different approach to our schedule.  So we made up a list each day of what needed to be done for our home and outside projects (like the puppet team stuff) and divided it up school assignment, chore, assignment, chore, school assignment. etc. throughout the day with a few Skip-bo games thrown in for good measure. ;) It certainly helped!  Many times when DS had an independent assignment I could do an extra chore or even just a short break to clear my mind and check the list.  I prioritized them throughout the week and we really got so much done!  Even some mopping and the sheets got washed and changed!  Anyone that knows me knows the three chores I hate are cleaning the tub, changing the sheets and mopping.  I don't know why but I'd rather clean a thousand toilets than clean one tub. LOL.  I'm weird maybe but that's the way it is.  So if those chores get done, well it's an awesome week in my book. The one thing that did not get done was biology.  I'm working on some more planning.  This is one subject that takes a bit more planning on my part and I'm the one who's fallen a bit "behind" on it.  I'm getting ready to incorporate some Simple School units I downloaded from Currclick.  I'll report on those as we go.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
My advice is if you're overwhelmed with life, just break it into bite sized pieces and spread things out through the day like I did this week.  It really works wonders for your state of mind.

My favorite thing this week was…
Dark chocolate.  Need I say more?


Questions/thoughts I have…
Anyone else doing something different than the usual texts in upper sciences?  I'd like to learn about some plans with low budget and less texts.

I’m reading…
I didn't read much of anything this week except 1 Samuel.  I'm reading through this in my quiet time.

I’m cooking…
Enchiladas for the Lord's Supper.  At our church we "sup" together as the disciples did (although I doubt they ate enchiladas ;)).  I love doing it this way. It's so personal and such a loving, and family oriented atmosphere.

I’m praying for…
A friend.  There is a history of breast cancer in her family and she is having some issues there.  So far good news, mammogram was clear! Praise the Lord.