Tot School!

"Farm Week"

Buttercup is 35 months, and Buddy is 14 months

This week I got out all our toys, and books that had to do with farms, and farm animals!

Buttercup loves to read in her bed!

She is really into lacing right now, and had fun lacing farm animals all week!

Buddy just chewed on them!

He loves to dance!

The girls built a farm puzzle!

Buttercup had fun playing Hullabaloo!

Buddy loves our Little People barn!

Having fun pasting a cow picture!

And coloring it!

Some barn fun!

Painting!

Stacking blocks!

Buttercup gets out this preschool workbook everyday when the kids are doing seatwork! She does whatever she wants to in it.

Weekly Wrap up! HOD

Week 23:

We made it through our 23rd week of this school year! I finished reading  "The Railway Children" to Buster last week, and this week we have been reading "If You Traveled West In a Covered Wagon". Buster finished Escape North thus week, and started reading a book about Martin Luther King Jr. We will finish it on Monday. Buster really enjoys reading books about true events, and they bring on some excellent conversations. Sweetpea got really excited about her math book this week, and did a ton of pages in it. She also did much better listening, and reading this week. For Tot School we had fun with Farm animals, and I will post pictures of that separate. On Wednesday night we went to church and heard from Aaron Auer who acting as Jason Lee is trying to revive Oregon's Christian heritage. Here is his website. The girls had fun in their class learning about Hannah, and Samuel. Buster and Sweetpea are both doing swim lessons again, and today Buster started Basketball. Last night Buster and Sweetpea had fun at cousin E's 10th birthday sleepover. Happy Birthday E! Next week I'm planning to start taking the kids to a co-op on Thursday afternoons. They will be studying the Oregon trail for a few months.

The girls made this on Sunday! I bought it on clearence.

Buster has been reading before bed, and he loves his book holder from Aunt B!

Buster made a canoe out of homemaid clay! We were learning about French settlers this week.

Buster's handwriting is really improving!

Sweetpea doing math!

Sweetpea was learning about Jesus healing the blind, and the importance of sight!

Buster learned about clouds!

Sweetpea painted a tree after learning about Zacchaeus!

Watercolor painting outside!

We got some new pets from a lady at my husbands work!

Sweetpea looks crazy for stick bugs!

For more weekly wrap ups visit http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/

Easy Classical! TOS Review!

Are you interested in giving your kids a Classical education, but do not know how to go about planning it? If so you may be interested in Easy Classical. Easy classical sells History schedules for every period of history as well as complete curriculum packages. I was given the opportunity to download, and check out their Early Modern History schedule.This schedule takes you from Explorers to 1820. The Schedule is 106 pages and contains lesson plans for a 36 week school year, and book recommendations for History, Geography, Writing, Read alouds, and independent reading. You will also find supply lists,comprehension questions, quizzes, and drawing lessons, Easy Classical follows a classical education as layed out in the book The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer, and uses her books the Story of the World vols. 1-4. Early Modern History is written to be used with children in the grammar stage(K-5th), and can be used with multiple students of varying ages. You can purchase the schedule from Easy Classical for $35.95 as a notebook, or $29.95 as a download. You can also purchase all the books that go along with it directly from their website. 

Pros:

Easy to Use

Multi Age

Reasonably priced

Cons:
I felt like the product was more geared toward older elementary, and would need to be adjusted for younger kids.  

Need to add in Math, Science, Some language arts, and Bible.

I received The Early Modern History schedule free of charge from Easy Classical in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.  

Be sure and visit the Homeschool Crew Blog to find out more.

Tot School! Finally

Buttercup is 35 months!

With the start of the New Year we finally got back to a devoted Tot time. We had been doing some things but they were pretty random, and not really planned out at all. This week we had a tot time/preschool time every day after lunch. Buttercup was very happy to have her own school time with mommy. Along with the activities below we had music, and story time with this book.

Lacing Beads were a big hit! It has been awhile since we tried these, and she was now able to do them on her own.

Coloring velvet pictures she got for Christmas!

We played Toy Story Domino, and Buttercup did very well!

Thinking about her next move!

Shape pictures!

Buttercup got to do finger prints!

A self portrait by Buttercup :)

Vacuuming for mommy!

I bought these soft fruits and veggies at Walmart on clearence.

 Buttercup loved the strawberry!

Buttercup's favorite thing right now is Speekee. She asks for it every day!

Weekly Wrap Up!

It is a new year and we just finished week 22 of our school year! It is always nice to start fresh in January with a less cluttered house, and a newly printed schedule. I also always feel motivated to set some new goals. This week of school has been awesome despite the three sick kids, some sleepless nights, and a couple of Dr. visits. For the new year I'm having the kids start each day out with some exercise(Buster especially needs it to keep him focused) followed by quiet Bible time. This year I really want to read the entire Bible, and so far have been following this schedule, and Buster is reading out of this Bible during his quiet time. The girls are watching this for now, since they can not read on their own. I also revamped our schedule and added a few things. One new addition is a special preschool time just for Buttercup. The other kids are welcome to join in and they usually do. Daddy has been able to get back to his science times as well.

We had a surprise Snowfall on New Years Eve!

Buster had a big snowball fight with the neighbors at 11:00pm! Snow melts so fast around here we didn't want to miss it.

Buddy's first snow!
He loved it.

Buttercup can't take the cold very long!

Getting ready to ring in the New Year!

Happy 2011!

Sweetpea made this creation with her Bendaroos!

So fun!

One other thing I added to the schedule was a daily chore time after school, and before free time!
Here is Buster, and Sweetpea having a great time washing dishes.

The girls adore Speekee, and beg to watch it daily!

Buster doing a bit of work on his bed!

For more weekly Wrap ups visit http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/

Math Facts Now! TOS Review!

Tired of endless flash cards, and wasting paper for math fact drills? Then you may be interested in Math Facts Now! We were recently given the chance to use and review their new downloadable program. With Math facts now parents can set up drills for each of the four math functions +-*/! You can set the amount of problems, how long your child has to answer and what numbers you want covered. Parents can also track the progress of each student. It is super easy to download and use. The program is a basic straight forward no frills kind of program. I appreciate how it eliminates my need to print out drill sheets, and still gives Buster the extra practice he needs. Does Buster enjoy it you say? Well I'm not gonna lie he isn't exactly begging to do it, but I'm not sure that he would ever ask to do math drill. Math Facts Now sells for $15.95 as a download or as a CD ROM. The only things about the program I would change are, I wish you could work on more than one function at a time, and I wish that you could set a lower goal than 50 correct answers.

Pros:
Easy to download and use.
Straight forward.
Can be used with more than one student.

Cons:
Only able to practice one function at a time.
Minimum of 50 correct answer to finish a lesson.

Math Facts Now was given to me free of charge in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

Be sure to check out the Homeschool Crew Blog to learn more about this and other great products!

Positive Action For Christ! Finding God's Promises, TOS review.

Our latest product to review is a Bible curriculum from Positive Action For Christ called, "Finding God's Promises". It is intended for 2nd grade students. Finding God's promises comes with a thick teachers manual in a three ring binder, as well as a colorful student workbook. It is intended to be used for a 36 week school year, and focuses on Creation, and the life of Moses. The teachers manual is well laid out and includes scope and sequence, teaching strategies, schedule options, and weekly lesson plans. Each week has a memory verse a few worksheet pages in the student book, a vocabulary word, a few target truths, scripted Bible teachings, and Quiz Answers. You will also find answer keys for the student workbook. The workbook is colorful and age appropriate for students. One extra the program came with was suggestions on how to use it with homeschool, multi ages, or families. Positive Action For Christ has a whole series of Bible studies available for home use, school, or church settings. I asked Buster what he thought of "Finding God's Promises" and he said he likes it because it is colorful, fun, and it teaches about God. You can purchase the teachers manual for $33.95, and the student workbook for $12.95. They also offer a music program that goes along with the Bible study.

Pros:

Colorful
Easy to use
Fun
Biblical

Cons:
A bit pricey, but not overly so
Need to buy one workbook per student
Have to work to adapt to a multi age group

I received "Finding God's Promises" Free of charge from Positive Action For Christ in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

Visit the Homeschool Crew Blog to read more!