Week 1 2013/2014 School Year

I was in no way ready to start but we did it. The first week is under our belt. This year L is doing online High School so that relieves some stress. F is in 7th, AR is in 4th and AC starts K. We eased into things. CLE for F, Math Mammoth for AR and Rightstart for AD. AR had free reading all week while F started BJU press middle school literature. I'm not a fan of the company but the book was a freebie. Surprisingly he's really liking the stories and hasn't balked at writing up the comprehension questions. It's early days yet of course. We focused mostly on history and science this week. Stone age man was a big hit with lots of Horrible Histories and Time Warp Trio thrown in. The younger girls are doing Magic School Bus of my own invention this year and we started with "For Lunch" and focused on digestion. We did this this experiment by making a stomach from a baggie and an intestine from a panty hose. Pretty cool and I think it'll stick with them. F added in a cool science book about the body from a zombie perspective. We even managed a field trip to the zoo. All in all a good week

Been A Long Time

OK, let's see if keeping a record of the school year can sway me away from the evil FB

Round Up Of The Week

A fun but busy week. If I thought things would be slower post Bible school I was wrong.

L did basket weaving, hemp jewelry and crochet classes. She also took a placement test to see if pre-algebra is where she needs to be next year. She also filled up her library summer reading sheet. She also worked concessions at the ball park.

F-man did a bowling class on Wednesday and of course did vision therapy daily. He also did math, Writing Strands and read, read, read. Yeah!

Miss Mel-she did bowling with F-man along with dance. Math, LA and reading happened and baseball of course.

Miss Ads is quickly working her way through Before Five In A Row books and did dance.

Don't think it's all work though...lots of swimming, playing, friends and ice cream have been enjoyed too.

Week #2

Well, we went from humid, hot August like weather back to cool, sunny May weather. Both of which are fine but it's June. Probably not much swimming this week. Here's what we do have
L-crochet, hemp jewelry and basket making. She's also working concessions at the ball park and orthodontist Thursday.
Miss Mel-two baseball games and bowling and dance on Friday. We'll start CLE math 204 and we're still working on first grade LA
F-man-the boy is lucky enough to have lots of friends in town and at 10 they are all old enough to go off on their bikes. He will also do bowling with Mel. He will continue Math 407, Writing Strands and library reading.
Miss Ads-dance on Friday and listening to library books.

The older kids continue running, dentist appointments and hanging out.

Great

What perfect weather today-sunny and 75! We walked all the Bible School kids between 4 churches to sing. The girls hung out with me while the boys went to see Super 8. I made a fire and we made pudgy pies and s'mores and played badminton. Not a bad summer day.

Rain-Oh Surprise

After a horribly wet May we've had some scorching days but today it's pouring again. I feel so bad for the farmers not to mention my own water logged garden. Luckily today's plan didn't include mandatory sun. The little two have Parks Dept. Dance classes and L has her last drawing class this morning. We'll fit school around that. Yesterday while I was gone Miss Mel did what she thought was her lesson. It was the unit test. She missed one question so I guess we can move on to the next unit! Tonight is the last Bible School. They've done a good job. F-man didn't want to go but by last night 4or5of his buds were there too. If you can get 10yo boys interested you've done a good job.

Summer Day 2

I can't imagine I'll remember to make daily posts, but this will hopefully let me look back in August and remember we did do more that sit around.

Today's Line Up
deliver kid who stayed all night after Bible School
Mel~math and LA lesson, read 30 minutes
F~man~math, writing strands lesson, read 30 minutes, vision therapy

F-man will go to Bluffton MMO with me to hang with a friend while Lily is at drawing class. The weather is gray and drizzly today instead of 100 degrees so we may bake this afternoon. We might fit in a game of science trivia too. Mel has a baseball game scheduled tonight but it's not looking good for that. The day could change though. We also have night 4 of Bible School. They have had fun but it runs until 8:30 which has made for a cranky Ads. We're early to bed, early to rise people. Can't help it.

Summer!

Even though everyone was done with school by the end of May this week feels like the first week of summer. Last week was sort of a long weekend where I let them gorge on TV and computer and video games. This week is different. For starters I've declared no TV between 9 and 4 unless it's history or science. That mollified the older kids who watch that stuff for fun and earned me a rare temper tantrum from the 7 yo. She's the one most likely to sit in a Nickelodeon stupor so mission accomplished. So far since the heat has zoomed into the mid-nineties that means lots of reading and hanging out in the kiddie pool for the 7 and 3 yo. The 10 yo takes off with his friends and mostly just reappears when the pack of "dudes" gets a hankering for a Popsicle. I love he can do that in our bitty town.

There is still learning going on. We are working through math, grammar and reading each morning. F-man is also trying Writin Strands. He is working hard on his vision therapy. Next week is his 8 week evaluation. I feel there has been improvement. We are taking full advantage of free programs this summer. The library reading program of course, which includes a story/craft time for littles and other activities for the older kids. L is taking a drawing class through the parks dept this week. We'll be picking her up, having a picnic and going swimming today. I've got to make a trip to the "big town" worth it. Actually after pricing art/drama classes the gas to drive her to free classes is a bargain. The youngest three are also going to Bible School this week ( I'm helping with snacks) and L is helping to corral the pre-schoolers. Lastly we are still playing soccer and baseball. I've booted the yard work to the teen boys and Emma is taking classes and working. The first one who tells me they are bored gets sold to the carnival.

Um, ok ....

We'll just ignore that three month gap. Suffice it to say life has gone on, we are busy, school has been going well and seven older kids are easier than littles in some ways and harder in others. Our biggest news school wise is that I took a deep breath and spent actual money for a curriculum. I've decided we will all benefit from a year that doesn't include mom cutting out down to the basics once winter hits. We get plenty of academic work done but fun is important too, KWIM? I've chosen Heart of Dakota Bigger. Miss Mel needs to be the focus for a change. She has tagged along with F-man her whole school career. He will do extension pack activities. Another read on for the change is F-man and his eyes. He will be having vision therapy 1xweek for the next ten months. That'll mean 3hours out of our day every Tuesday. We will also be doing therapy at home daily. Miss Ads will start pre-school in September and I'd like to spend a little more time with her the other days of the week doing story time at the library and learning very casually at home. Miss L will also be home next year, which won't require too much from me (for 12she's pretty directed and responsible) but it will change the dynamic during the day and I for see some adjustment. And then there's scouts, cubs, carefree, daisies that I somehow end up leading or co-leading and sports and piano, band, choir, the girl's wanting to do another play... Oh, and cooking and laundry and my poor dh who actually likes my attention too...I just think a year with no planning worries will benefit us. If I can go with the flow.

Week #21~Cookie Edition

I apparently didn't take one stinking picture this week. That's because
Yep, Girl Scout cookie time. I've got two scouts sellingand evidently both troops mistakenly think I'm good with this sort of thing so I've been banking and selling and delivering and sitting with girls doing all of the above

It's also We love scouts of all kinds but it can be overwhelming. I am NOT going to the Klondike Derby next weekend. I just can't fit it in. We've also got play practice and basketball games.
We did manage to do some school.

Miss Mel finished her reading primers and moved into the 'big' story book. She is thrilled. She worked on more math facts. We learned about plants and seeds in science and she and I read Dr. Doolittle and Raggedy Ann & Andy.

Fman is working on decimals, mixed fractions and dividing with remainders. He read some of Baldwin's Fifty Famous Stories Retold. In history we finished the Revolutionary War. We enjoyed

. We finished the read aloud Toliver's Secret and he read
Paul Revere's Ride. He read about oceans for science. I let him pick the topic this week and that was his choice.

Week #20

Well, I've been off the posting band wagon because nothing we've done has had any pictures or been especially interesting but if I don't get back on the band wagon I won't at all (d*mn Facebook almost makes blogging pointless).

Our big news is that Miss Mel and L have gotten parts in the local production of

They have never even tried out before so I was shocked. Miss Mel is a mouse and L is one of the step-sisters.
What else? Miss Mel began piano lessons so I'm thinking her performing arts are covered. F-man had no interest in either but he is all prepared for the Pinewood Derby so I guess we can count woodworking among his skills.
The weather has been crazy which hasn't helped our outdoor time. Monday it shot up to 40 and the snow melted. Wednesday we had ice, ice, ice and we couldn't get out. Last night it snowed and now we're back to about 4 inches.We did get out to the spot we're observing in all four seasons. Today is -12 so that may be it for the week.
We also began . So far so good. I just wanted an easy introduction to Latin to add to our Spanish study. F-man will begin studying Latin in earnest in June. Otherwise we're just chugging along through grammar, reading and math. We're sort of stalled in history at the revolution right now because it's interesting. I plan on moving on next week though. We still are reading Toliver's Secret aloud. F-man read Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys, This Time Tempe Wick and The Bears on Hemlock Mountain this week. Science is still scattered. I just can't find something they like so we'll just go on researching things as we find interest.
The older kids are all fine. J-term is almost over for E and then she'll start second semester. High school is high school for the boys. L is the lucky one this week. Not only did she win a part in the play but she received a Kindle for having the highest lexile at the school. I'm still not clear on who donated this or why she was chosen. The principal has not returned my e-mails. I guess I just won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Oh, and it's Girl Scout Cookie time. Ack! See I told you we didn't have much to report. I need to get out the camera.

Solstice

The Shortest Day
by
Susan Cooper

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.

Week#17~Lookin' Like Christmas

Long time no blog. Frankly we took the week of Thanksgiving off and everything else was rather a long trudge. Nothing to take pictures of and I'm sure you don't want a list of tests/quizzes/readings. Now I've got some fun pictures!

Fman~He is finishing up math right on time and will start the 400 level after Christmas. He's moving nicely through LA and Reading.

Miss Mel~She hit the half way point in CLE math early so we're using some MEP and Rightstart until the 'new' semester. She is in the last unit of Learn to Read. She's excited that she'll get to move to a 'big book' with a hard cover. Oh joy, LOL.

It's been unusually cold so far this month. We still get out but when it's 7 degrees you don't stay long. The Wii is filling in for activity we're missing.

Spanish~We finished up co-op for the year. We had a little fiesta that was fun. The kiddoes will be practicing with BBC spanish games and Tumblebooks read to them in Spanish. (Thanks to the library, oh yea!)

We made a trip to see Santa of course.

We even hung out with the elves. Note the one on the right is her sister. She was thrilled to find out her sister knew Santa personally.

History~We finished with the New England and Middle Colonies. Hopefully we can finish the Southern Colonies next week. I plan on watching The Liberty Kids over Christmas for history.

We took an evening to go to a local church that had A Night in Bethlehem. One of the very nice people let Mel try to weave. Miss Ads was worried about the tax collectors and kept telling people to stay away from "the bad man who wants your golden coin."

Science~We did a quick unit study on bears and animals that aren't really bears that we call bears. Fman decided he liked polar bears best and Miss Mel liked pandas.

Yesterday was the best part of the week, at least for mom. We went to the I like the ballet and the girls were liking it but Fman wasn't as impressed.

We also got a new Life Scout. The Court of Honor was followed by a gag gift Christmas party. Here he is with his friends goofing off with their presents.

Tonight friends are coming over and we're scheduled to go to a swimming party. I sincerely hope it makes them very, very tired. Mama must get some gifts wrapped and cookies baked or the festivities may stop here.

And Now For Something Completely Different

I just wanted to share this free movie list. There's great stuff on here if you (like me) have eclectic taste in movies. Film noir, French films, early German films, short films, Oscar winners and Cary Grant (which is always a good thing.) Oh, and Monty Python!

Week #14~We Need A Break Addition

Four more weeks to the half way point! Yeah! Though we work all year but technically you get what I mean. This week just seemed to be a slog. Nothing horrible but a grumpy mom and poky children resulted in something like this

F-man~He got a 98 on a LA test which is awesome. LA is, well let's say it's far from his favorite subject. We're at the halfway point in his LA books so right on schedule there. Math is going well. He totally has his multiplication/division down. We're finishing up a reading book he started last summer and then we'll go back to his CLE reading.

Miss Mel~We're pushing to get her LTR books done so we can start her reading textbook in Jan. That is my fault because I think they cram an awful lot into one lesson. Of course if we're not right on target it's not a crisis. How many PS teachers are off their syllabus too? Math is fine though I'm trying to add in more math games for fun.

History~We're still working with the Pilgrims. We've spent a lot of time on day to day life so they get a better sense of what things were like and not so much time on dates. This site has really given us fun stuff to do and a quiz to boot. We've also been watching videos from various places and doing the Magic Treehouse study guide. This was the favorite book of the week

Of course we've done umpteen art projects and crafts and a thankfulness tree.

Science~Insects were the topic of the week. Along with our science book we used this site from the University of Illinois. There's lots of other stuff there. We also watched

We finished up insects and watched the Magic Schoolbus Bugs and played this game.

In addition to our co-op Spanish we've been watching these programs from GA public television. They are extremely well done and are a nice complement. Of course there were lots more art projects and walks and read alouds but I'm to tired to remember them or go take pictures now. Here's to next week and only having two days in the schedule.

Week #13

We spent last weekend at Pokagon State Park camping with my older boys Boy Scout Troop (thus no time to post last week's review). We had a great if chilly time. We totally enjoyed their bird watching window and nature center full of interesting things to touch and lots of animals. Of course we also hiked (PE) , cooked s'mores (home ec) and played games (taking care of that negelcted socialization).

We've used this handout this week to research all the birds that come to the nature center window.

On the academic front

F-man~He finished another LU and began math 309. We started in 305 so he's moving right along and will be ready for 402 after Christmas. He also started a new LA LU. FOr reading we've been using a vintage Open Court Reader A Trip Around the World which is full of good literature bits and geography to boot. He also completed a 5 paragraph report on praying mantids. I hope to do a report on something weekly to build his shaky writing skills. He rocks the history and science so I hope to make those the topics to make the writing palatable.

Miss Mel~She finished CLE 105 math and is ready to start 106 so she's basically done with her first semester of 1st grade. She's way ahead in Learn to Read too. I think she would be bored in public school but I know she misses the kids. She goes to Daisies, Kid's Klub, HS Spanish and PE and goes to Boys&Girls club afterschool programming and she still wants more kid contact. I think unless she lived in a dorm she would feel it wasn't enough. Quite the people person Miss Mel.

History~I structured it so that this week and next we are studying the Pilgrims. Here are just some of the things we're using

Science~We've worked with the above mentioned birds and also studied insects. We've also experienced them as all the nasty Japanese Beetles have woken up in the Indian Summer we've been having. Of course that same Indian Summer has let us be outside at parks and the reservoir so I can live with a few insects.

What would first grade be without art projects too? F-man has no interest in this stuff, much preferring to go build something out of legos but Miss Mel has made turkeys galore and this pilgrim mouse and cornucopia. The mouse goes along with our viewing of The Mouse on the Mayflower.

We also went to L's Veteran's Day choir and band concert. For family viewing here's a very short video. She's the one with the dark hair right above the director's head.

Thank You Veterans

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army


In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

Week #11~Pumpkin Fever

The week started off with my dad's 83rd birthday party on Sunday. That's a high point right there. I hope I'm as full of p*ss and vinegar as the old man is when I'm that age.Monday was our 24th anniversary. Phil's sister sent us these beautiful flowers.Monday and Tuesday were normal days. We did school, starting new light units for math and LA. Monday before the weather turned ugly we visited a local pond.

We continued through the week with our science unit on pond habitats and studied pond plants, the life cycle of dragon flys and mosquitoes and how beavers change an environment.

We also had Daisy and Cub Scouts and went swimming Monday night. Tuesday we had some kind of weird gale force winds (tornados in the area) and rain and so I was glad we went Monday.

When planning last week I totally forgot we had a field trip planned for Wednesday. We went to a pumpkin patch with a group of local homeschoolers. It was a very good trip. We had an explanation of how pumpkins are planted and grow along with some cute poems and finger plays for the littles along, a hay ride,
time to pet the donkeys and goats,

several games, a hay maze,

a corn maze, a pumpkin bounce house and oh yes, we got a pumpkin.

As much fun as that was it put us a day behind and then Thursday dawned with the dead. The tummy bug dead and that shot down Thursday. The only thing that got done was them listening listlessly to this

We are going to continue our study of Jamestown next week because we just didn't get it done this week.

Luckily today everyone felt better. We did our regular work (two days behind but oh well) along with some special Halloween/pumpkin activities.

They tested whether pumpkins, apples, lemons and grapes sunk or floated. They estimated circumference and length of pumpkin vines and then figured out how to measure those items with curves using yarn. They listed all the things they could think of that pumpkins can be used for and completed a Venn Diagram comparing apples and pumpkins. We also played Halloween matching game, wrote about our trip and created some paper mosaic art.

Tonight is our town's local Scarecrow Festival and we have three friends coming to spend the night. Saturday dh and I are going out with friends and we've also been invited to a Halloween party and Sunday is church, youth and trick-or-treats of course. I'm thinking I will need next Monday to recover.

Week #10~Birthday Fun

Last Saturday my kids participated in a homeschool science fair. There were 10 entries which isn't bad for the first year trying it. At least I exposed my kids to the scientific method.
Wednesday the big news was that Mel turned 7. SEVEN! Eeek! Here we are having her chosen supper of frozen pizza.

We also had cupcakes with our friends at Kid's Klub at church. We didn't have a real party because we'll be going to celebrate a combo grandpa/Mel birthday Sunday. Her big present is we are going to go see Cinderella on stage Saturday.
In school

Fman~

Math~He worked with graphs and division and aced his math quiz.

LA~He did lots of sentence conventions, quotations and paragraph writing involving transition words and describing a process. He wrote on making a peanut butter sandwich and taking a shower.

History~We discussed LaSalle and Sir Walter Raleigh and Roanoke Island

Science~We did pond habitats. We studied cattails, dragonflys and beavers and did a dragonfly lapbook.

We worked on the world's ugliest Halloween House. The icing was too runny so

We ended up with something like this.

Miss Mel ~

Math~She took a LU 104 test and got a 94%. She missed two she knew. Not sure if she wasn't paying attention or what.

LA~She began primer 3 in LTR and worked on sentence ending punctuation

Science&History~She does the same thing as F-man

She also did a blue million crafts and played train with Miss Ads

Not to mention worked on her engineering skills.

The older four continue to be busy. E is working three jobs and keeping up A's as of her college mid-term. The high school boys each had all A's for the 9 weeks. L had one B+. She sure got kidded about being the 'dumb' one in the family. She is going to a middle school dance tonight. Luckily she's in student council so will have to spend time taking tickets, thus cutting into possible boy time.

I Am This Crotchety Guy