Week 5- N,Nest, God takes good care of me, review week next week

Obviously this was the N week. We made nests and colored nests. we sequenced birds making nests and laying eggs and the baby birds growing up. We made nests with the mud and then took yarn and glued them to paper to make nests.

Ry is doing better with time but her being distracted is going to be issues but we will work with it. Emma is just like her dad, she is exceptionally smart. I cant WAIT  to get a printer and start printing out these other activities to take up her time. I mean lap book mania here. I am hoping.

Next week we are reviewing and I think I have decided to do it every 5 weeks. We took a test on friday. They had to write their alphabet letters both capital and lower case. and numbers 1-5. Now, i have the letters on our white board to help them understand how to write them correctly. Ry, looking at that, made a 100. Emma missed 12 because she was just speeding through and not paying attention. It was so hard not to correct her and when she asked me if it looked right i asked her what she thought and she would either erase it or keep going. So she made an 80 or so. OH Funny thing. She went to do her numbers and instead of writing her numbers what did she do?? EX. 1. | 2.|| 3.||| etc. to get the All the way to 5. We put the tests on the fridge along with their paitings from art class.

Any way. Next week is review/make up week. We will do a few more things with the apples. And a few more things with the Leaves. We will go and look up more stuff for the sun and the moon and really focus on writing those letters.  (S,M,L,A,N). Week 6 starts the in depth blending of phonics so we are going to just work on review this week before we jump in head first. Love homeschooling. No one is left behind, we review. We get it in our skulls and then we go on when they are ready and have got it down instead of pushing.

Thats the update for the week.

Week 4- A, Apples, If I stay in Jesus I will have much fruit

This week went by too fast. We had a lot of fun though learning about apples. And And about learning about fruits of the spirits. We made a apple tree. And we will get different kinds of apples and taste test them and then make apple sauce but did not get to it this past week. Thats the beauty of homeschool is we can make up at any point. They have really been spending a lot of time on the Elementary Advantage computer game. We start a new schedule monday and are literally putting in PE as part of school. Emma is progressing emmensly. I cant believe my 4 year old is adding like 4 plus 2 is 6, Its blowing me away for real. Ry is doing better with a time limit and i am working on patience.

For october we are also throwing in a study of native americans since thats the kind of birthday party Ry wants. We will spend time on studying them and their culture and beliefs and the dances and possibly get some movies.

Lesson 3-L,Leaf I will Live and Grow in Jesus

Sorry it has been so long. Monday was a field trip to the Mid-America Museum is Hot Springs ,AR. If you havent been it is the best place. So many hands on activities and the kids (of all ages) love it. I even saw teens running around squeeling with delight at the *underground Arkansas * tunnel.

We grouped Monday and Tuesdays days together to get it all done. I learned something new. With Ry being a perfectionist she takes FOREVER to do/finish something. And tuesday with the consitensy help of her daddy she was given a time to do her coloring (3 min) and if she wasnt done we had to go on and she would have to go back and finish at free time instead of having free time. Hurt to do it but it was necessary and please dont think it was easy. There was a melt down when she realized she couldnt finish her work and had to go on to the next. It Got done but it took awhile and she did not get the free time she loves and treasures.

On a better note i think every week i get a bit more excited. Its so much fun. And so hands on. I have spent more time outside this week then we did all summer i think lol. We have gathered leaves every day, the first time was to trace them. Then yesterday we made leafe rubbings and today we pained leaves. It was so delightful. I have really enjoy the plant part. I will add pictures (if I cant and Explain them as I go. )

We are waiting to eventually get a printer and be able to print out ideas. tomorrow we will work on clay prints of leaves. possibly go to the library, Make a leaf lap book, i dont know possibilities are endless. I have a hard time because I am a very * stay to the curriculum/guidlines* kinda person. there fore i do not have a mind for crafts or other time consuming projects that arent already (said) to be in the curriculum to actually do which makes it so very difficult to think out of the box which i think every home school mom BUT  me can do. We did purchase the Elementry Advantage for 2012 from www.encore.com which is AMAZING! I cant NOT  wait to get it. It contains encarta britannica which we need and a whole lot of other stuff we will be able to use for computer time ( which Ry has stressed often that she misses her old school because they had computer lab time) So we are getting the program and also purchasing one for Emma that is the Kindergarten one. WOOT!!
Any Way I guess I will get to the pictures of what we have done tomorrow because Hubby has his phone. I hate not having a picture phone... puts a damper on life lol

Lesson 2- M,moon, I am the light of the world

Today was awesome. I really enjoyed today. We learned about the moon, and much to my surprise the girls soaked that information up something fierce. The phases of the moon. And Emma. She LOVES to sound out words and come running to me and say " momma you know what makes the /b/ (buh buh) sound? bubbles and bear" And it goes on and on through the alphabet. For those of you that saw the curriculum and saw the " /a/ /a/ apple song" you know this, but i was just not confident in it and it has proven to be fabulous! The girls LOVE IT! And its not near as hard as I thought it would be. Its a lot of fun actually.

I keep thinking that there needs to be more but i think starting slow and making it minimum is what will work best for us at the moment. come week 4 and 6 and 9 things will be added in more according to the curriculum. Its more of a science thing and Im wondering is there something i am forgetting to add in perhaps? History, geography, more math?

All in all i have loved this first day of lesson 2 ( week 4) I have enjoyed it so much.

Day 4 of week 1

Well, its been a down couple of days. I do exactly what i am supposed to and then a bit more because they speed through it.

I feel like we aren't doing enough compared to others. They are more advance or whatever. I feel sooo incapable big time. Not only have i been a bit stressed over a few things but the power of comparison and questioning what i am doing, not enough, good enough, are they even learning??

Just been a down few days of inadequacy.

Lesson 1- S,sun, Jesus is the Light of the World.

So today was Lesson 1. The beginning of the Lessons. I found I could have had more stuff together and been a bit more organized. But it was a learning day for all. I found out that The letter sounds and all will be a breeze. I mean Part 2 which should and would probably take a good 10 to 15 minutes for one kid took about 5 for both. The thing that just dragged on was the coloring and cutting out.

After the textured letter, then saying the letter with the sound it made, putting it in a bag, And finding a dark room and questioning what the suns purpose was. What did it mean. And going into why Jesus is the light of the world. I realized it was again only going to take an hour to hour and half... So They already have the key words memorized that are for the whole week. And we did the tactile lettering. (I got shaving cream on purpose for Emmas sendory) Much to my surprise she loved it. SO they have spent more time drawing the letter s and things that start with the letter s in the shaving cream then we did with the whole lesson. LOL So we decided to expand it. We had some little plants they came in a little pot, you add water to pellet and squish in seeds, etc. So i decided we should throw that in and see what the  sun has to do with it. And i think this evening with require a walk and we will come home and they will draw what the sun does for all different things. *heat,growth* etc.

So all in all i should have could have been more organized but I think we all enjoyed our stuff.

Day 9

Our day was 1 hour and 17 minutes long. And that was before i added the alphabet craft. lol. As usual Emma zooms through her work while Ry is very careful to do stuff right.

I am looking forward to starting our actual lessons. However, i have come to realize it will not be near as hard as i thought it would be. What do i mean? Well for instance i decided t go over what we would be doing the first day of lesson 1. And as i went through each step it was obvious that we would zoom, litereally through the alphabet sounding thing. And in fact things will probably stay very minimal until week 6 when we begin using the Blend Ladder.

I am proud that we have the whole letter sounds down already. Emma is stubborn but very scary smart. She i very confident in what she says is right and even when she is wrong she does not seem bothered about it. I correct her and tell her try again and she does. Or she will catch it herself and smack her forehead( there is no study yet that says smacking your forehead when you realize you got the answer wrong causes brain damage (( thank you rylie for teaching your sister that technique of *duhness)).)Ry is insecure of getting things wrong. I need to help her build up her confidence and learning. I need to make sure that it is ok to make mistake, its just like spilling juice, we clean it up and try again. She is a perfectionist like me. If i am going to do it i want to do it right. And thats how she is. I need to find away to let her know it doesnt have to be perfect which is great because i can tell her what i think would have helped me. or does help me LOL

First post, 8th day of homeschool

So on the 7th day God rested and on the 8th a name for the school was established. haha. The girls have spent 2 weeks arguing so we dropped it. And today i asked if they decided and Voila! here we are.

This is just a blog to help keep me accountable mostly. But to also record our days, how they are growing and what they are learning, if they are. And also, to gain feedback from other homeschoolers and any one with advice or encouragement.

We are taking it one day at a time and one year at a time. We are using the My Fathers World curriculum and thus far are loving it a lot. As of today they girls have made a Creation number time line as well as a creation book where they color what happed on each day. They are very proud that they made their first book.(: Until day 10 we are just simply reviewing and doing the ABC cards and chart.

I'm hoping Monday we will start Lesson 1 but if Emma has her way we will start Friday. I don't know if she just really enjoys school and being busy or if she just enjoys the school room. Either way its a good thing.

I don't really consider special needs but people consider SPD to be a special need. I'm in the process of finding things that will work for her, to calm her in times of distress and looking into probiotics that she can take. Right now she is taking an Omega 3 and Vitamin D combo squeeze.

The differences between her and Ry are great. Ry is a perfectionist. Color everything and try to do it right. Emma is just like me. She does what she has to do/needs to do and moves on.

This is the ending of day 8. Thanks for hanging in there!