Day 10 and 11 of 180

6/21/11
Day 10
Well today was a bit different. The girls and I helped watch a good friends little girl who is 5 months old. So between Brody at 8 months and Katie, we had to be creative to get out schooling in. While waiting to pick up Katie the girls and I read out of the National Geographic 2011 Almanac. Pretty interesting stuff! Then when we got home, between baby time, we did quite a few worksheet and self driven work. Both girls did a variety of reading comprehension and math sheets, about 5 apiece. Lilly got the bright idea of doing an experiment with a crayon. She wanted to see how long it would take to melt. So we marked the time we put the crayon outside then check the progress in 15 minute intervals. Conclusion: It takes an hour. We did not go to the extreme of calculating the temperature or attempt other factors- maybe a later date.

Finally the girls worked with their spelling words by cutting the various letters to spell the word and pasting.

6/22/11
Day 11


First thing this morning we finished up the spelling word project and then took a break and watched Species Hunter.

The girls seem to be dragging today, so I really had to stay on top of them.
After some food I had them start their math worksheets. Then Riley had to work with reading and reading comprehension and writing and Lilly worked with syllables, reading comprehension and cursive writing. They ended the day by making necklaces!

  This does not seem like much but it was about 5 pages front and back per child plus the other activities. Added to the fact that they are dragging made for a loooonng day. I think we may have a day off tomorrow :)

Day 9 of 180

This morning the girls and I went to clean the VFW post. I really like them coming with me doing this because it teaches responsibility and how to earn money. So far the purchases we've gotten with their money has been mostly driven by me as I am trying to get them on the right track as far as purchaing things that are "Educational".  We have gotten and ant farm, Multiplication rock, binoculars (bird watching) and a compass.  I think we might make milk carton birdfeeders to hand to help our chances of bird watching.
Anywho, I have been using their writing assignments to tach them spelling as well, but I think we need a bit extra focus on reading and spelling so I started the day by asking them what they wanted their spelling words to be. They came up with 12 words; crazy, New York, Tennessee, weird, bottle, baby, funny, alligator, curtain, horse, painting and animals.  They will write those words today and get familiar with them. We may try making a picture out of them or a game with the letters tomorrow. 
Riley is a beginner reader and I am working with her on getting better so she will have more freedom as to what activities she does. We read for 30 minutes out of Barbie Thumbelina, which totaled to 5 pages. She had trouble with some of the simpler words so I had her practice them separately. ( they, are, all, live, three, out, their, truck)
While we were doing this Lilly was working on regrouping addition and subtraction and writing her spelling words. I also gave her a couple sheets for syllabels. It's a new concept so I will sit with her in a bit to make sure she understands.
Both girls seemed a bit burned out from the sit down work so I loaded a www.coolmath-games.com and the girls played feedfribit addition for about 30 minutes. This was REALLY simple math like 0+) etc. yet, every level they advanced a new number was introduced. Lilly was able to get up to level 19 before she got tired and Riley got to level 5 because she had a hard time comprhending the idea of   0 + __= 1. the blank really threw her off.lol  She did her best though. I am not really counting that for math as it was more learning computer skills since their math skills are a bit more advanced.
 Okay Lilly is in complete understanding of syllables now and Riley worked on pattern recognition. They finnished the day with writing the remainder of their spelling words and reading a couple more pages of "America The Making of a Nation". This book is Awesome. I thought it was dry at first because the girls only like a couple pages at a time, but when Lilly came to me and told me about the Liberty Bell later the next day, I was sold!

The girls homework for tonight is reading. Lilly has to read the first 16 pages of "Frog and Toad Together" by Arnold Lobel and Riley "It's a Group" by Bruce Larkin. they can practice it separately but must read it outloud to an adult before the end of the night.

Day 8 of 180

I spent some time this morning trying to find local homeschool groups that we might be able to arrange some get together with. So far nothing has come of my efforts, but I will keep trying.
We started around 10:30 (kind of late) by reading and discussing "America The Making of a Nation" by Charlie Samuels. While this book is VERY informative, both girls had the glazed over, wanna take a nap look, by the third page.

Since it was near lunchtime we gathered a quick picnic of peanut butter and honey sandwiches, juice, and bananas and headed to the playhouse.

 After our picnic we walked the yard looking for interesting plants and trees, gathered leaves and brought them inside to identify with "An Instant Guide to Trees" and "An Instant Guide to Wildflowers" by Eleanor Lawrence and Cecilia Fitzsimons.  I had the girls glue the plants to paper and search through the books to try and identify them, then I labeled them. We are create a field journal of our own with the specimens we locate!

We got a good start to our field journal. we found and identified yellow poplar, Dandelion, clover and a couple more I can't remember off the top of my head. After a play break and some study time for me I wanted the girls to squeeze in their writing and math assignments for the day. Lately I have been testing the waters with the girls on their math skills and they seem to be doing really well. Today, though has been a long day, so I figure we will do a bit of review. Riley had to do subtraction- no regrouping yet some 2 digit. Lilly 2 digit regrouping addition.  Then for writing they had to write "The Declaration of Independence was signed July 4th 1776" and "There are 50 stars on the U.S. flag." It's been a busy day for us all so I am proud.

Day 7 of 180

June 16th, 2011

Well I guess from all of my unplanning of the days events and the fact that I rely on no one curriculum to teach the kids, that I am an eclectic homeschooler. So now that I have correctly identified my label I can tell about todays events. :) 
We needed to make a trip to the Gaffney, SC library since our books are due back tomorrow so I gathered them up and we read a handful that had been negelcted. They were " I Can Read, Too #1 by Dave & Pat Sargent and also #3, "Watch Me Throw The Ball" by Mo Willems (Love this author), "Butterfiles & Moths" by Bobbie Kalman and Tammy Everts, and "Little Tiger" by Barron's.

After dropping the books off we went to Education Express so the girls could see if they found anything educational to spend their money on. They did really well, and ended up getting an Ant Farm and Multiplication Rock! Then of course they took their money and gave it to the cashier.

Then we headed to the playground to burn some energy before heading to the Blacksburg Library to watch a magic show with Sarah Dippity.
The magic show was AWESOMELY (not a word, right?) cute.  Anywho, they enjoyed it and then we proceeded to check out as many books and movies as we could carry and headed home so we could play with them.lol
After supper we popped in a movie called Species Hunter. Pretty cool tale from National Geographic about a biologist Marc Van Roosmalen and his journey through forests of Brazil looking for new species of animals.
As if we didn't do enough for the day we took a couple minutes to set up out ant hill. The ants that you get from Insect Lore do not include a quessn ant as that is apparently against the US department of agriculture. I had some trouble with their website insectlore.com in trying to get the ants so I am thinking about headed to our backyard..hmmmm  Despite the trouble with the site theire are very cute and educational activities galore on the site! Definately going to be checking that out again.    Ok time for mommy time,,,,

Fathers Day!!

Had to share this cute song:

To the tune of you are my sunshine

I love you daddy
My dearest daddy
You make me happy
When I am sad
I want to tell you
I really love you!
When I'm with you
I am so glad.

I also found a cute cupcake recipe.  GRILL CUPCAKES- Too Cute Check it out!!
http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/dessert-recipes/cupcake-recipes/holiday-seasonal-cupcakes/





This site has a lot of cute EASY craft ideas for kids to make:
http://crafts.slides.kaboose.com/283-quick-easy-father-s-day-crafts

The girls seemed to like this poem the best-
http://crafts.kaboose.com/i-love-you-daddy-poem.html



Our cupcakes:

Day 6 of 180

I got the bright idea of making the one blog for the required 180 days of the home school year as opposed to making separate blogs for the months through out the year. I know, I know, If only I had that bright idea from the start. But I didn't so the first 5 days are under the June 2011 blog.

So before I track todays activities I just wanted to add some "general information" about home schooling for those who might not know. Which I feel the need to do in light of recent conversations and common misconceptions.
1. It has been shown that home school children have higher success with education than children in private schools.
2. Home schooling does NOT mean your child will lack in social skills. They are not locked in the dark. They do have field trips and plenty of outings that allow them to have social interaction.
3. Different states and different types of home schooling have different requirements. We are not required to take tests and a report card does not have to be letter grades. For their bi-annual progress report I can provide a summary of the topics we have covered in each of the areas; Writing, Math, Social Studies, Science and Reading and that pretty much covers it.
4. In order to home school, I am registered through the Palmetto State Association of Homeschools. this fulfills my legal obligations.
5 Finaly, The other things I need to keep on hand is a journal of our activities (this Blog) and a portfolio that includes samples of their work ( which is also partially fulfilled through this blog) including handouts, pamphlets from field trips, reading booklist etc.
Useful Link for the beginning homeschooler: www.hslda.org

Day 6 of 180
6/15/11
We started today around 10am, since we had a meeting at 9am at the Cherokee county WIC office in Gaffney, SC.  On the way home the girls said they wanted to learn about bats, deer, bugs and Hawaii. Quite the array of topics, but I'm game.  When we got home they made themselves a turkey and cheese sandwhich with mayo and mustard (only minor assistance) and I picked out some books.  We read " Where's that Bat" by Barbara Brenner and "Bats A Nature-Fact Book" by D.J Arneson, to cover their first request and fulfill our science requirements.
  Since I feel like we are always lacking in Social Studies I picked "Career Day" by Anen Rockwell to discuss different types of jobs that are available. then we read "Stranger in the Woods" by Carl R. Sams II & Jean Stoick, which is a cute story about a snowman that these little kids made that has nuts, seed and carrots to feed animals. Ther is also a movie that goes along with this book which has beautiful photography.
Onto Writing- I had them write "Call 911 in an emergency" and "Bats are mammals." 10 times each.I am hoping that the writing helps them retain this information. Yesterday they wrote their phone #'s for the second time and I gave them candy if they were able to correctly repeat it.
After a movie and lunch break the girls got out the crayones and drew pictures of what they want to be when they grow up. After all the careers we talked about they are going to be a princess and a rockstar, Classic! 
We still needed to do some math so I pulled out some worksheets I made up awhile back. I gave Riley a sheet on regrouping two digit addition and regrouping math. That is a second grade activity but I just wanted to see how she would handle it. Can you say SUPERSTAR.lol  she had a small amount of hangups, but really did good for her first time doing it. Lilly worked on her regrouping subtraction and writing cursive letters b and c.
This is a lot for one day and we have more than met out requirements but I had Riley do some flashcards to help read basic words and threw in a dvd of 1000 places to see before you die that told about Brazil and Italy. Thats all she wrote for day 6. I'll try to add some pics for the day a little later. :)