Tuesday, October 28, 2008

1/3 of the way through our school year

We have finished the first 12 weeks! Some days we've soared, others we've just survived. But I honestly LOVE this adventure!
Here's what fill the moments (around 4 hours a day):
Devotion
~The Jesus Storybook Bible
Warm up Hands activity/ Lydie Joy's learning time
Calendar timeCircle time
~Memory verses, poems, hymns, Jaybird's spanish flashcards, and Toot's speech exercises
Jaybird (2nd grade)
Math
~Saxon 2: 3x a week (On lesson 36)
~ I Love Math! cd-rom: 1 or 2x a week
~ practice on math websites: occasionally
~board games: at least 2x a week
Grammar/Writing

~BJU Press English 2: 3x a week (Dropped First Lang. Lessons this week. On lesson 3- LOVE IT!)
~Creative Writing in Journal: 3x a week
~Creative Writing at co-op: 1x a week
Vocabulary/Handwriting
~words chosen from science or history lesson: 3x a week




Reading
~suggestions from Veritas Press and Sonlight's 3rd grade list + my own fun finds: 4x a week
~How To Report on Books, 1-2 grades: 2x a month

Spelling
~Spelling Workout B: 4x a week (On list 13)






Music



~Story of the Orchestra: read 2 pages 1x a week

~piano lessons put off until next year






Art history




~Come Look with Me: read 2 pages 1x a week with a picture study

~Sister Wendy's Story of Painting: read occasionally




Drawing
~I Can Do All Things: 1x a week (On lesson 13)

History




~The Mystery of History, Vol. 1: 4x a week (3 lessons, 3 projects, 1 day of review/timeline/folder/maps) (Dropped Tapestry of Grace, on Lesson 13)
Science



~Christian Kids Explore Biology: 2x a week (1 lesson, 1 project) (On lesson 10)



Geography
~Geography songs cd: 1x a week
~Cantering the Country at co-op: 1x a week
~Discovering Maps: read 2 pages 1x a week
~Mapping of ancient sites in history: 1x a week
Spanish
~Lessons at co-op
"P.E."
~Exercise cards: The boys pick 3 a day and mark the chart. When they have marked all the numbers, they get a trip to play mini-golf. They have 10 exercises to do, 10x a piece.
~Running and playing and trips to the park all the time
~Basketball starts in November
~Swim lessons: 1x a week
Read Alouds/ Misc.
~Books from Five In a Row- bake 1x a week
~Seasonal art projects
~Chronicles of Narnia at bed time


Toot (kindergarten) (Only the differences)
Math
~Horizons K: 3x a week (Lesson 80- we started last year)
Grammar/ Writing
~First Language Lessons (Lesson 33)
Handwriting
~Zaner-Blozer first grade (Lesson 30)
Reading
~Veritas Press first grade list and comprehension guide
Spelling
~Spelling Workout A (List 12)
Fun trips together

Field trips
~the art museum, pumpkin patch, apple orchard, farm
Parties with our group
~back to school, fall, Halloween

Favorite

Favorites




~Mystery of History, Reading




Not so favorite

~Science
Overall, the year has been a lot of fun! We found our groove in about week 5. Lydia Joy has adjusted to not being the center of attention better than I imagined she could. I am disappointed that I have not been very enthusiastic about science, especially because my husband is a scientist! Maybe we should not save it until the end of the day. But overall, the kids enjoy their school work and I am seeing them grow! I am honored to be a part of it all.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always enjoy seeing what others are doing and enjoying. You know what? We dropped First Language Lessons, too. I couldn't tell if you were dropping it "forever," or not, but I found it rather boring and too slow for Jack. How many days in a row can you talk about what a noun is, when the kid gets it on the second day? :)

I ended up ordering some books from Rod and Staff. I love their grammar books - they are VERY thorough (maybe too much, I don't know, but I have a "thing" about grammar!) - and I figured their primer books would be up my alley. They aren't fancy, but they do the job.

I don't love science, either. Which is why I gave up on it until necessary (which is middle school, I guess). Courtney is the only one doing science right now, and she is using apologia's general science. It's a good bit of material, but not overwhelming - and most importantly, the labs are not a big deal. We almost always have what we need.

Your classroom looks great - what a sweet way to learn for the kids. :)

Heidi said...

I enjoyed your updates! We are getting such a slow start, but I hope to rev it up in the next few weeks. :) Like your new blog look, too!

Alicia K said...

Congrats Renee on making it through 1/3 of the school year!! I loved seeing what you all are doing. You are such a wonderful Mom!!

We are still doing First Language Lessons but, some days we are doing 2 or 3 lessons as it can be so repetitive. The funniest thing though is to listen to Ava Mae correct Devin and Lexi on poem memorization or what a proper noun is.