Weekly Wrap up!

Summer is here! I just wish someone would tell the weather man. We have had a fun week so far. The kids are both doing well with their daily reading time, and getting lots of stickers for their efforts. I also put together a summer adventure box. The theme is weather by the kids request. I got the idea for this over at The Homeschool Classroom.
We have only used it two days so far, but the kids are enjoying it anyways. On Monday I attempted to start potty training Buttercup. Needless to say it was a no go, and she begged for her diapers back. She has absolutely no interest in Potty training, which is very different for me since Sweetpea and Buster were both trained by her age. Oh well I'm not going to stress over it at this point. I also discovered a free math program online this week. It is called MEP, and it is a maths program used in England. You can use and print it all for free. After looking it over I was intrigued, so I printed out some lessons. Buster, and Sweetpea have been doing it with me for 2 days, and so far it is going well. Sweetpea told me it was better than her other math because it was so fun. Buster does well with it, but it is school work so he is not singing the praises. I think the best thing about it is it makes you think outside the box. I have been doing it with both kids together. We are going over math concepts with manipulatives first and then they do separate worksheets with me. Anyways if we like it we will continue it along side Horizons this coming school year. Daddy and Buster have one more chapter in their Science book to cover, but other than that everything we are doing is pretty laid back for the summer. Tomorrow we are just going to go hang out with my sister and her kids.

Our Weather stuff!

Sweetpea doing her MEP math!

My almost 7 year old playing with cars.

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Weekly Wrap up!

Week 36!

We went to our local Safari again last weekend as part of our year end Science project. I printed off a list of all the animals they had that we had studied this year. With a little help Buster had to identify all of them that we saw. I then took a picture of each one, and we are making a book about them. This week we finished History for Little Pilgrims, and Buster's CLP nature reader book 1. We also started our summer schedule. Each day we have reading time. Buster read to me for 20 minutes, and Sweetpea worked on Phonics with me for 15 minutes. She really enjoys reading the words when I use our wooden alphabet letters, so that's what we did. I looked at Phonics Pathways for the words and made them on our magnet board. Buster finished his last Frog and Toad book, and had a blast reading the first Amelia Bedelia book. For math this summer we are doing math games. I had these giant foam dice from the dollar tree. One day I had the kids roll them Buster had to call out the math fact for the number he rolled, and Sweetpea counted the dots. I then assigned them an exercise to do as many times as they rolled. They both loved it! We will be doing this for the rest of May and June, and then starting next year in July. I will be posting soon about everything we are using next year soon. Last night I found out I was selected to be a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew for 2010-2011, and I can't wait to find out all that will entail. I hope you all had a great week too!

Buttercup Loved the goats!



We finally got to ride the train!

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Weekly Wrap up!

Week 35:

We had a great week wraping up the school year. Buster finished Phonics Pathways, and Horizons Math 1. He got 100% on his final test, and was pretty excited about it. We spent this week studying Australia with "Expedition Australia". You can learn more about it here

Sweetpea started working on Phonics Pathways, since Buster is done now. Next week we will spend finishing Science, playing math games, and reading.

Buddy turned 6 months old on Mothers Day.

Here he is enjoying a bite of his half birthday cake.

"Download N Go, Expedition Australia"

"Do you come from a land down under?"

I had the opportunity this week to check out and review a “Download N Go” Ebook by Amanda Bennet called “Expedition Australia“. Generally I’m a do- it-your self type of person, so I have not tried one of these types of EBooks before. The name “Download N Go” fits perfect, because that is exactly how this EBook works. After downloading the book and printing out the lapbook pages we were off and running. This is a 5 day unit study on Australia, so each day the kids and I gathered around my laptop, and went through the daily lessons. Each day is planned out complete with internet links, and accompanying lapbook pages to complete. There is also a list of suggested reading materials for each day. I did not get the chance to go to my library this week, but we did use a Children’s Atlas, Apologia Zoology3, and our CLP K nature reader. All three of these books went along great with the study especially Zoology 3 which we have been studying this year. This EBook is intended for grades K-4th. My 1st grade son and Pre K daughter both enjoyed this study, and I was easily able to adapt it to their level. Even my 2 year old hung around for the videos and reading. You could beef this study up for older students or even extend it beyond five days. We had a lot of fun ourselves adding to it by checking out extra YouTube videos, and watching some movies we had about Australia. Expedition Australia cover Science, Geography, Social Studies/History, and even a little Vocabulary. You can find this EBook, and many other “Download N Go” topics at The Old Schoolhouse Store for 7.95 each, or they even offer bundle prices. This study has really made our last week of school fun, and it was great having it all planned out otherwise we would have stuck to the basics. If you have younger students I would suggest printing and cutting before you start, because the cutting can become a distraction if you wait until you need it. The only other con I could see with this EBook is if you had slow internet the videos may not work for you. You can easily do without them though if you have books that cover the topics studied. Be sure and click on the "Expedition Australia" image for more information!

Weekly Wrap up!

Week 34! Buster had a soccer game on Saturday at 9, then we decided to head over to the beach. The kids had a blast playing in the sand, and we even got in some nature study. Buster finished his HWT workbook, and did great with his math this week. On Wednesday we had some fun with Cinco De Mayo. We read about Mexico in our Atlas, and also practiced some Spanish words by finding objects around the house and yard. The kids colored Mexican flags, and watched Dora. For dinner we had homemade tostadas, some funky Mexican pop, and fruit filled empanadas. Today we started an Australian study that I was given the chance to review. Be sure to check back next week for my full review.

Goal kick!

Waiting for Buster!

If you want to know more about these sandy toes check out my last blog entry. http://bobandabbies.blogspot.com/2010/05/day-at-beach.html

A beautiful rainbow that we saw on the way home!

Buddy has been all over the place this week, which has made school very interesting.

Cinco De Mayo!

The girls love Bella Dancerella Swan Lake!

Thank you cousin E for passing it on to us!

Science time with daddy! Buddy loves to listen.

Getting ready for Expedition Australia!

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A day at the beach!

Last Saturday after Buster's soccer game we decided to take a trip to the beach! The weather report said it might be rainy, but we decided to throw caution to the wind. It turned out to be a lovely day, and the kids had a blast. We all love the ocean, and we were even able to get in some nature study/journaling! Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

They can't resist even though the water is icy cold.

Gorgeous Sky!

Buddy's first sandy toes!

Sand Castle!

Little decorator!

We ended the day off with this beautiful rainbow on the drive home.