Friday, July 30, 2010

Weekly Wrap up!

Week 4:
We had yet another semi crazy week. Sweetpea broke out with a itchy rash starting on Sunday. I realized on Monday that it was fifths disease. A few of her cousins had it earlier this month. Buster had a baby molar pulled out on Monday. He did great but we didn't do any school Monday because he was a bit loopy. On Tuesday Buster noticed that Sweetpea had a blister on her gums by her dead front tooth. My husband took her to the dentist, and she has an abscess also. We are still trying to get her in to have it pulled. This is one of her front top teeth that she fell on while we were camping last September. We were able to do school the rest of the week, and it went fairly well except for Buster fighting me over math on Tuesday. Some highlights:
We started Stories of the Pilgrims.
Buster finished his Columbus reader and started Sam the Minuteman.
Sweetpea started reading out of Phonics Pathways. She learned about ck words this week.
Buster started Petersons Directed Handwriting with me, and he enjoyed it.
We took a drive through Wildlife Safari.
The kids got to go see Peter Pan at our Community College with my husband. They loved it, and I was surprised they sat through all 3 hours of it.
Sweetpea and Buster both past to the next level in swim lessons.
I hope you all had a great week!
For more Weekly Wrap Ups visit http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Blog Award!


Thank You Apryl at Following Him Home for choosing my blog for these awards!

Here are the rules for the awards presentation:

1. Thank the one who gave it to you and link to their blog.

2. Share seven things about yourself.

3. Choose seven others to bless with the award and let them know they've won an award.


Here are seven blogs I enjoy that I feel reflect the

award titles of "One Lovely Blog" and "Sunshine Award."

A Place For Lady J
Now to Seven things about myself:
1. I'm a curriculum/book addict. I could look at it for days!
2. I love the beach and could not imagine living more than a days drive from it.
3. I love kids and always wanted a bunch of them.
4. I love watching sad, true story, heart warming movies. My mom thinks I'm crazy!
5. I can not stand being scared, and hate scary movies.
6. I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate.
7. I have 7 double cousins.
Wow that was totally random!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Crazy Week!

We had somewhat of a crazy week. Buster has an abscessed tooth, and he will be having it worked on tomorrow. Sweetpea stepped on a nail, and is now taking antibiotics to prevent infection. Buttercup cut her finger with an empty can. Despite all that we were able to get through our school week fairly well.
Today Buddy had his dedication at our church!


Daddy finished the first chapter of Zoology 1 with the kids, and we went on a scavenger hunt on Friday!




Sweetpea is trying out Time4Learning preschool, so I can review it, and hopefully I will actually start trying Peterson Directed Handwriting this week too.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Shining Stars!

For our TOS reviews this year we have been assigned to mini crews headed by a First Mate mentor. My mini crew is called TOS Shining Stars! Have fun checking out the other Shining Star blogs:

Monday, July 19, 2010

"Travel The World" Review!


For my very first TOS review I had the opportunity to check out one of the TOS planner modules. This particular module is from June 2010, and covers world geography. It is called “Travel the World”, and is available to purchase individually for $7.95, or as a package along with the Home school Planner. My kids are very interested in world geography right now, and I had already purchased a few books that went along nicely with this eBook. “Travel the World” is easy to download and use. I found the conversational style that it is written in fun and engaging for both Buster and Sweetpea. I was also impressed with how well scripture was woven in. This study is very versatile and easily adapted for a wide range of ages. Manuscript and Cursive copy work is included as well as even high school extension ideas. I was able to give Buster the manuscript copy work and Sweetpea the coloring pages. It is 56 pages long and includes fun internet links, lap book pages, recipes, and more. The only things you will need to complete this study are: an internet connection, printer, globe(optional), map/atlas(optional), pencils/markers/scissors/glue, and some kids!

Pros:
Versatile
Easy to use
Colorful
Nice conversational writing
Internet links included
Biblical

Cons:
No reference in the text as to when to use lap book pages.
Some of the links were a bit above my kids level.

For more info visit the link by clicking the image above.


“Travel the World” June Module has been given to me free of charge from The Oldschool House Store in exchange for my honest review. I did not receive any other form of compensation for this review.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Weekly Wrap up!

Beyond week 1:
We had an awesome week! I can not say enough about how much we all enjoyed Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory. Both Buster and Sweetpea enjoyed everything we did from the guide. I only heard one complaint when I said we were going to make a timeline, and that was because Buster didn't know what it was. He did get in trouble for it though complaining is not tolerated around here. Other than that it was so nice hearing the kids ask for more. I will give you a quick run down of our week:
Bible Verse for the week: Psalms 4:8
"I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;
For You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety."
Bible: Psalms 4:8, Hide Em in Your Heart vol. 2 song 20(the kids really enjoyed this CD, Morning Bells, Psalms 18: 1-6.
Math: Sweetpea is doing Singapore Math 1a right now along with the Math Exploration included in BLHFHG. We practiced number words with cards, counting and numbers to 10, greater than less than, number sequence, and adding to six( with marshmallows as bunnies in a garden)
Buster is doing Singapore Math 2a, and I'm using the HIG for him. We did review of place value, greater than less than, and place value to one hundred. I also quizzed him on his addition facts, which he has pretty much down. Buster loved all the little games in the HIG.
History: We started reading American Pioneers and Patriots, and read about Columbus and sailing ships, and three stories about two children sailing from Spain. We also started our timeline.
Geography: I taped a big circle on the floor for the world and we practiced continent names by placing papers around that had the names on them.
State Study: We read about Delaware, colored a map, and did State motto Copywork.
President Study: This week was George Washington. We read about him, and copied a quote from him.
Story Time: We are reading "Squanto Friend of the Pilgrims" for our first read aloud. It is our Biography choice. Buster is really enjoying this book, and with the help of HOD suggestions he was narrating by the end of our first week.
Poetry: We read "The Storm" this week, and the kids had fun acting it out everyday in different ways.
Art: For art we are using "Great American Artists for Kids". The first one we studied John Singleton Copley, and the kids painted narrative paintings. Also Buster and Sweetpea drew pictures of Columbus from DWN, and made shield to go along with our Bible study.
Reading/Phonics: Buster did some work in ETC book 5, Sweetpea started crying every time she saw ETC book 1 this week, so we put it away temporarily. Instead we practiced reading with word cards, white board, or one of her readers.
Readers: Buster read out of CLP nature reader 2, History Stories for Children, a cute bible reader I found at Salvation Army, and started reading a book about Columbus.
Spelling: We used BLHFHG's spelling list a bit. Buster spelled the words from dictation, and Sweetpea read them to me. For our main spelling Buster is using All About Spelling. We are starting with level 1, because we haven't really done spelling before. It is pretty easy for him so far and we already made it to step 6. We both really enjoy it so far, and I would definitely recommend it. Sweetpea is eager to do it herself. I will start her on level one when Buster is done with it.
Grammar: Beyond has grammar once a week, and we did that orally as well as Primary Language lessons twice.
Music: We started listening to Wee Sing America
Handwriting: Buster and Sweetpea are both using Handwriting Without Tears. I just downloaded Peterson Directed Handwriting that we will begin soon for review.
Science: We did two experiments this week from our BLHFHG guide, and read out of "God's Wonderful Works". We learned about oceans and currents by putting a boat in a tub of water and moving it around by squirting water under it. We also learned about blubber. The kids coated one hand in butter and held them in cold water to see which one was colder. Both kids loved these experiments. Daddy also started reading from Zoology 1.

The kids learning about currents!

A car ramp Sweetpea made!

Coloring their shields.


God is our shield!
For more Weekly Wrap Ups visit http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/ for more wrap ups.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Happy Birthday Buster!

My first born son turned 7 on Monday! I can't believe how grown up he is. We had a party for him on Sunday, and it was a lot of fun.

Here is a picture of Buster the day he was born July 12th 2003!


Picture I took for his birthday card.


The Mario cake!

Birthday Boy!


Pinata fun!





Friday, July 9, 2010

Weekly Wrap up!

Week 1:
Well we started our school year on Tuesday, at least partially. We started Math, Science(with daddy) Grammar, Phonics, Spelling, Art, and Music. I just received our Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory guide yesterday, so we will start that on Monday. It covers History, Geography, Bible, Poetry, Spelling, Grammar, Copywork, Math, Science(with mommy), Story Time, Art, and Music. I was able to look through the guide yesterday quite a bit, and it looks great. I'm excited to be able to do all those fun hands on things I always intend to do, but never get around to. It is going to be right up Sweetpea's alley. In other exciting news Buddy is 8 months old today! He had his first finger food this week(cheerios), and got his first tooth.

For art this week we looked at "Girl With a Watering Can" by Renoir. The kids painted their interpretation of it yesterday. Here is Buster's:

Buttercup loves to paint!

Sweetpea was a little out of sorts, and didn't finish.


Grandma, and Papa brought the girls some rainbow makers!

My Brother in law has been hard at work, and is almost done with the dry rot repair.

Next is finish sanding and painting.

I hope you all had a great Fourth of July!



We sure did!


Friday, July 2, 2010

Weekly Wrap up!

This week was our last week of school vacation. My plan is to start school back up on Tuesday, but since I decided to switch some of our curriculum last minute we will just start with a few things. I ordered Singapore Math for the kids and the Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory guide. I'm excited about trying these out. If we like it we will most likely stick with Heart of Dakota. I sold my first item on Ebay on Monday, and I have a few things closing this afternoon. This week Buster did some reading, and we did some of the Ebook I'm reviewing "Travel the World"
For a complete list of the curriculum we will be using this coming year click on the Curriculum tab under pages.

Buster and Sweetpea have decided they love Buzz and Woody again since we saw the movie in 3D. It was our first 3D movie, and since we go to the movies so rarely the kids were really excited about it.

Buddy started saying Mama, and likes to stand now!


I took some pictures for Buster's 7 year old birthday. I can't believe how big he is now.

The kids had a blast last Saturday with their cousins A and T. I watched them while their mom was at a wedding.

A, T, and their family are moving to Mexico on the 12Th to be missionaries for our church.
http://allfourhisglory.blogspot.com/

I hope you all have a great Holiday weekend!