Weekly Review 3/1-3/5

So the preschoolers had a very unplanned week this week. I wasn't able to get to the library at all until today due to my van's battery dying for no reason (its fine now) and the fact that I was cultivating a new habit for myself- exercising....to which they seemed to like also LOL (they literally were Ttapping with Mama for fun ;)

They did the usual, preschool activity bags, played w/ playdoh (decided to make bugs out of it this week instead of apple pie),played games, and built Tranformers out of Legos.
Busy week for them ;P

Middle A especially enjoys spending time with her little sister who is now giggling and cooing at us:

And little A was just a ball of energy as usual.......

Big A finished Unit 22 in CTC

and was very proud of his drawing of the Lighthouse of Alexandria..I was very happy with his careful work and use of a ruler ;)

---started a new cursive program ..I think he's doing great so far.

Next week, the preschoolers will be "rowing a book" and making a lapbook :)
I also have some changes in store with Big A for English.

Have a great Friday! I have some party planning to do.....

Weekly Review 1-4 / 1-8

Not a lot to report for this week other than some changes will need to be made to our curriculum a bit. Nothing major, I dont think. I'll let you know more as I decide what is being changed ;P

So this week was our first week back after a long 3 week break. I decided to do a half unit this week and next to ease us back into somewhat of a schedule and its been going ok. Spending more time online this week (because of being in my recliner to nurse which happens to have my laptop right next to it) is proving to be more of a problem than I like, so that is also going to be changed. It has kept me from doing things I would like to do...so self control is in order here. Today has been great though....house is clean (enough), kids are fed, school that was planned is done, etc etc.......Next week should go alot smoother since we are now getting used to the interuptions that a baby, toddler and a preschooler can bring :)

I'll share more of my thoughts as I get time later.....have a great weekend!

What we've been up to.

These last few weeks have been really busy and posting just hasn't been a priority of mine lately. I do hope to start posting my weekly updates again next week though because we are just so impressed with the way school is going this year!




So lets see..the last few weeks:
We've taken a small break from LHTH to get some other fun things done and to give Mom a small break with several dr's appts and other things we had going on...but plenty of learning was happening, just naturally without any thing preplanned. Middle and Little A both enjoyed our first park day of the year with painting, we've been to the park several times to play while big brother does his soccer class for PE, and have read lots of books and sang songs in between. I received an AWESOME phonics program from a friend (Thanks DAISY!!) and am hoping to get to that in the next week or two with Middle A as well. We'll return to our "normal" schedule on Monday and LHTH so I hope to post lots of pics of that next week (If I can remember to get my camera out!! LOL)

And little A is just sweet as can be still and gonna be two soon...time flies just too fast!




Big A on the other hand:
We have been plugging along with HOD CTC, and I gotta say..this kid is so happy to be doing school! He hasn't complained at all about school and has requested to keep his books in his room so he "could just work on some things while you are sleeping in Mom".....yeah, he's loving this program THAT much! We finished Unit 4 today and will be starting a new unit on Monday (which makes my type- A personality very happy right now..cant stand being on Day 3 on a Monday??) along with finishing up his homeschool PE class this week. It has been a fun class but takes a whole day of school so we are still contemplating starting another session..we'll see.
Here he is on his first day of class:

And myself and the pregnancy:

I am 28 weeks today! I had another ultrasound on Wed due to measuring 3 weeks ahead...but come to find out I am just having a big baby this time O.o She is almost 3 lbs and we still have 12 weeks to go! I am feeling extremely tired (as I always am during this stretch of pregnancy) and am looking forward to that burst of energy I usually get mid-3rd trimester. So for now, I am just making sure to nap daily, drink lots of water and eat as healthy as possible. I havent had ANY cravings with this pregnancy yet (except just loving fruit of any kind..so maybe that IS a craving?) and am gaining weight faster than I would like..lol.
Here is a pic of our baby girl this past Wed (this was a good face shot, dont you agree?)



and one of my belly at 27 weeks....not a great one..but I am pretty huge and have MORE to go!! LOL


I have several things going on in my mind that I need to get down (of course for me that means LISTS!!) and hope to share them soon.....
Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Weekly Review

I haven't put up a review in a while so I thought this would be a good time. Morning sickness has gotten the best of me this week, so blogging has been on my low level list of priorities.

Big A 4th grader:

Math- Plugging along in his R&S. Seems to be breezing right through lately, which is a big help to me!

Grammar/spelling/reading- Queens Language Lessons is going great still and is going to finish this early. He is also on track with his spelling curriculum and will finish that in the beginning of June. What's most exciting is reading. Big A has been reading lots of various books and is becoming quite the voracious reader! At the beginning of the year it was just a struggle to get him to read a CHAPTER of a book...now he is reading a whole book in a day! I remember telling him that books were like movies, except you can play it all out in your own head and make up things as you go. Seemed to work because he really enjoys books now! I do, however, allow the dreaded "T" word (for those of you who don't know....twaddle) and that was to just wet his appetite a bit to get him ready for next year's real books.lol......Here are his "free reading" books that he read this week:
On Thursday, after parkday, we spent the afternoon watching the movie based on the book he read "How to Eat Fried Worms". It was one of my favorites as a child and I love that he enjoyed it also :)


History (the last few weeks):
I gotta admit. I have been slacking on reading "The Story of the 13 Colonies" by Guerber. Reading aloud while nauseous is not easy so I may just make this required reading for Big A to do on his own a few times a week. I would like for him to finish it at least by June. I will step in and read whenever I feel up to it so I can help him finish. If we don't get to it its no big deal, he's learning a ton from these wonderful picture books :)



Artist :
we have been focusing Benjamin West and he read this book last week:


Science:
Science was pretty scarce last week except for doing his daily weather charting etc. We also have been trying to just get back into a groove after being on Spring break, so we'll be adding in more "scheduled" science next week :)

That was our week for the most part! How was yours?

Weekly Review

I haven't done a weekly review for a while so I thought I would this week. I have tried some new things to be more organized and thought I would share.

I have realized that in order for my son to be more accountable and do his work more independently, he has to organized. I can't function when there is clutter or without some sort of list, and he is proving to be like me in this area. So, I made a weekly notebook complete with a checklist each day.

I just took a regular old binder we had sitting around:


Added some dividers with each day of the week, Mon-Fri. There is also a tab on the end for "extras", that is for extra paper, penmanship worksheets, reading lists etc. This is the first day (I had to crop his name out so the pic is a little crooked). I spent a couple of hours last Saturday putting this together and actually plan on doing it again today. It should take less time now though, since I already know how I need to put it together. I just printed off a list from master planner and wrote in each subject and what he is to be doing that day. I also have some instructions next to his subject that may require something he is known for forgetting..like accidentally forgetting to read his bible lesson before completing his workbook *rolls eyes*..lol I had to cross out some of the subject headings but other than that the list seems to work well for him. I actually have my own lesson plans in my planner that coincide with his, so I know he's on track without having to look at his list :) I also add any worksheets for the day that need to be done under the appropriate daily tab..(which happen to be done so they are in the "completed work basket")..lol


This day of the week, we had parkday and after that we go to the grocery store so I don't schedule any school that day. I like to put his activities in his notebook so he can be aware of what else we are doing throughout the week and its something to look forward to when he is completing each days work :)

Behind the daily tabs I keep extra paper or anything else that doesn't belong under the daily tabs.

This is the back pocket of the notebook. Here we are storing our memory cards that he is working on for History (these just need to be cut and put on a ring). Other projects will be stored here as we work on them.


So far this system is working very well for him and for me. It helps to just pick up the binder, a few books and leave the house if we need to.

As for the rest our our weekly report:

Math has gone very well. Big A seems to really enjoy reading problems and his understanding of them is awesome. I couldn't stand them in school, so I am glad he finds them fun..lol!

Grammar- I have been having him do one of these R&S Grammar worksheets a day. He is also continuing with his Language Lessons for the Elementary Child by Sandi Queen.

Spelling/Penmanship- Spelling is going well as usual. This is a strong subject for Big A, so he's just keeps plugging along. Penmanship is still a difficult task and he is slowly learning cursive. I have also been cracking down on the neatness of his writing.

American History-

This week I had planned on starting a Native American History Pocket but weren't able to get to them. Big A did read "The Double Life of Pocahontas" by Jean Fritz and really enjoyed it!

World History- We are now reading MOH as a read aloud and doing some of the activities and memory cards. We didn't do much in this this week and hope to return to it more next week as time allows.

Science- As usual this is mostly interest led. We started a daily weather log/chart and Big A has been checking his rain gauge daily ;) He also started reading about the Planet Mercury in his Apologia book and will continue with his study of it next week.

This is the last week of our 2nd term and I hope to be doing lots of planning and organizing for our final term, this week!

Have a great weekend!

End of the week -Plan for today.

I am really trying to get our school room TOTALLY de-cluttered and am making GREAT progress! I am not just surface cleaning but really digging into getting old files from our ex-business filed away, Christmas decor purged and sorted, baby clothes stored away, and homeschool materials organized! I HOPE to finish this by tomorrow night, so I really need to get crackin the a.m.

So what are the children of Maranatha Prep doing while I am working so diligently on my school room...other than school, of course?


Middle A is playing with her Farm log set from Melissa and Doug....she really does love that thing! (no my tree is not still up..lol..this is the only pic I have of her playing with it..lol)


Big A is helping out with the little one as always..but don't let him fool you...soon as he can he jumps on his Wii, says he's helping me by staying out of my way..lol...there may be some truth to that.



And the littlest A? He's helping out the most! By taking a snooze here and there. Of course this is not often...but hey, I'll take what I can get!




Have a BLESSED weekend!

Weekly Review

I haven't posted a review of our school in a long time so I thought I would post a little of what we did this week.

Biggest "A"-

Bible- He is still doing R&S BNRS and I was having him do only one lesson a week, but this week bumped it back up to two in order to finish this curriculum by the end of the year.
He also is reading his Bible in the morning on his own and journaling what he has read. Once a week he does a Bible study with his dad and right now they are studying Revelation. He is enjoying it to my surprise!

Math- We needed to go back into the last chapter and do a bit of review this week. Big A had trouble with it because he learned a new concept before break and not much practice was done for him to retain it prior to our Christmas break. He is catching on well though and we are going to move along as usual next week.
Grammar- We have started back with R&S English but not doing it according stringently yet. I just had him do some of the worksheets and the rest of the lessons were done orally. He also is doing some pages from Language Lessons as I see fit.
Spelling and Handwriting- We are still using R&S for spelling and moving along just nicely with it. I did , however, drop their penmanship and am using a modern penmanship book workbook for cursive. Sigh, he just really isn't catching onto writing in cursive yet, but I hope to work more with him and get him writing it by the end of the year. Do lefty's have more trouble learning cursive? If you have one and are experiencing the same trouble leave me a comment!
Reading- I really am a bad read-aloud type Mom...I am working to step it up in that area next week though. This week he has been reading books on his own, nothing assigned. What's been great is that this week he has started writing his own stories!! They are about a character he's made up and boy does he have a great imagination!!

Science- Big A received some books about Weather this Christmas and is reading those on his own and actually writing his forecasts down daily still. He is adamant that he is going to be a meteorologist so I am letting him continue to study the weather as he feels led. We will get back to reading Apologia next week, but I don't want to discourage his interests either, so I have been giving him plenty free time to pursue his interest.

History- Sad to say we haven't touched our history books this week :( Next week we will be hitting the books harder and witnessing History first hand so we'll have lots going on in that dept next week!

Middle A-

She has been having a ball this week with her playdoh, watercolors, farm activity set..etc etc.
She also has been practicing writing her "letter A" and here's a couple of pics of what she's done:




And this ..sigh....she thought she needed makeup I guess?



And little A? He's just been learning alot. How to climb on things, throw things, hit things..you get the idea ;)

Hope you had a great week!

Been Busy and more to follow :)

I haven't been blogging very much due to just being busy with the day to day stuff and trying to get this year finished out! I am going in for Gall bladder surgery (removal) this Thurs so I have been preparing for that as well...I will be doing lots of planning for the summer and next school year while recovering from the surgery, so look for lots of posts on that soon :D
So some updates:
Baby boy is crawling around EVERYWHERE! He's a ball full of energy and boy am I in trouble when he starts walking..lol! Add teething into the mix and that will make any baby's day full of the crankies :)So I have been very busy with him..
Big brother ds is working hard and getting his 3rd grade year wrapped up. He's soaring through Math and pushing through English. He'll keep working while I am recovering and will finish up sometime in June. I have some fun things planned to add to his American History study and Science for this summer and will post on that soon!
Big sister has been a handful :) She is almost potty trained (ptl!) and is ready to start doing some "pre-school"..she is starting to write her letters (without my help)and is trying to learn to read...I am going to just continue to read to her and wait to do anything formal til mid school year (09).

OH! Our tomato plants are all dead...well except for a couple of them..we have had some serious heat (105 degrees) and ds wasn't watering them enough...I am trying to salvage whatever ones I can..but not sure If it's possible..He did learn a valuable lesson tho...and thats learning...right?

Pray for me as I go through surgery in the next couple of days and I will be back soon!
Love in Christ,

Week In Review

This week has been a fun week for us :) Ds has been breezing through his Math, English, and Spelling!
He finished his Rod and Staff Bible Reader and has moved onto reading "The Story Of Davey Crockett" (pub in 1952) and narrating it back to me (telling me the story in his own words). He is doing well with naration and we will comtinue with it over the summer with his summer reading. I LOVE our library..I picked up that book (among others) for only .25 cents!

Science:
We have been doing a tomato seed project from Tomatosphere for science this week. He is responsible for the graphing/charting and watering of the seeds. I am happy to report that we have had some germinated! Here what they look like, although the pics aren't showing them at a great angle :-( They are about 3-4 inches tall!

The tomato seeds are on both the far right and left sides and in the middle we are growing watermelon (the biggest ones so far!), eggplant (this hasn't germinated yet), Dill, and bell peppers. This has been a great way to show how wonderful and yet so delicate God's creation is :-)

History:
Ds has been just reading though his BJU textbook about the Explorers and Early America..I have him do vocabulary and some of the comprehension questions. This was an add in after ECC didn't work for us and so far he doesn't mind just reading through it. It's also been a nice overview of American History before we start in with Ancients next year

Nature Walk:
Today we went to a real working dairy as a field trip and who woulda known it was goign to turn into a nature walk? We sighted an oil that is on the endangered species list! It is called the Burrowing Owl. I really loved reading up on these owls after finding out they are monogamous! HEHE....
Here's a couple of pics that I was able to catch..they aren't that great but if you look close you'll see it :-)



And here's a pic of it's burrow:


Like I said we went to the Dairy and the kids were able to feed the baby calves, learn about how the cows and milked, processed and packaged, and they also had a petting zoo with goats, chickens, peacocks, and rabbits (among other things too long to list..lol)
Here are a few pics of our day: (it was chilly out!)

This is a pic of Eeyore, His friend "Sky" and Tigger :-)

I think this peacock was trying to impress the females cuz he kept shaking a tail feather ;-P

Notice how "snug" my lil piglet was? It was pretty cold this a.m.

Eeyore really enjoyed feeding the calves :)

So did Tigger :-)


Isn't she just absolutely a doll....(gushy mom moment)


Hope you all had a blessed week as well!