Hello again!

Finally...update to follow!! =)

Pre-K/Kinder Curriculum

Peanut is has a fall birthday, so we are thinking we may stretch out kindergarten to 2 years so she graduates when she is 18 instead of 17. Dad worries about his little girl going away to college or wanting to go out on her own at 17! Of course, we are learning at her pace and not holding her back in her academics.

Here's what we're using...

Language Arts

Phonics Pathways

Starfall.com

Reading For All Learners readers (I See Sam books)

Various children's classic stories with narration and copywork

Poetry from various sources

Free D'Nealian handwriting worksheets at http://www.learningpage.com/

Math

Mathematical Reasoning Level A, The Critical Thinking Co.

Games--board games, cards, counting money

Social Studies

Various topics studied from library books and other sources we already own...community, family, friends

Tagalong with Almond...

Science

Tagalong with Almond...

PE

Dance 4 hours a week--jazz, lyrical and ballet

Swimming lessons 30 min a week

Fine Arts

Come Look With Me

Classical music/compose studies using online sources such as http://www.classicsforkids.com/

Artist and picture studies using various sources

We do a lot of free art but no formal instruction...lap books when we can, creative cut and paste, making "books," and drawing...

Where has the school year gone???

Wow! It's March now and time is flying by! Life has been waaay busy, so I haven't been online much...missing out on blogging, homeschool forums, and online friends. We sold our house, moved, and now preparing for another deployment. Hopefully (like I'm always saying!) I can update at least monthly. hahahaha! We'll see! I'm glad I'm back and look forward to sharing our homeschool adventure!

A New School Year with New Changes!

Ahhh...so here we are! I know I haven't been the best about keeping this blog up to date. I kinda gave out by the holidays! Well, hopefully that will change! So much going on, with not enought time to get all of it done...the story of my life!

Well, we started "school" a couple weeks ago...no exact date, since we've kinda trickled into it and are still trickling in.

Cashew has since graduated from our private homeschool! He is now attending a junior college, which he started last year in his senior year of high school. He's doing well...I'll write about his classes later...He's now able to drive himself to school with his own car (thanks grandpa!). The newest discussion is whether he should get a job.

Macadamia is in public high school. She survived last year and is now getting the hang of it. She's on the dance team, which she is enjoying, but misses being at home and hates the homework! Her grade point average has been about a 3.5, so no complaints from mom! She is still doing ballet outside of school.

Pistachio has decided he wants to postpone going to high school. The plan was to go to 9th grade public school this year. He was excited to play football. He has a fall birthday, so technically, or even legally, he qualifies to actually be in 8th grade this year. After thorough discussion, he decided he wants to wait one more year. Many factors swayed his decision, including playing college sports...he'd rather be 18 when he graduates instead of 17. Makes sense, and honestly, there's no rush to make them grow up fast! He's playing in a football league and training at an athletic gym designed to groom college athletes.

Almond is now in 4th grade...finding a writing curriculum is my biggest challenge. She's taking ballet at one studio, and jazz, tap, and lyrical at another. This year she is trying a jazz performance team.

Peanut is officially in Kindergarten! Well, that could change too, since she has a fall birthday, but for now, we are doing K level work. She's following her big sis and dancing ballet once a week, then jazz and tap, also trying the performance team!

I'm still working part time night shift, 2 times a week. My biggest challenge is making our schedule work! The gas money is killing me! Not to mention I don't get enough sleep!

My hubby is currently on shore duty. We are waiting for new orders, and hoping we don't have to move! If we don't move, we're looking at another deployment next year! Such is the life of a military wife!

Whew...well, there's my update! Hopefully I will blog at least once a week...once a month minimum! I have so much to say, just not enough time to write it! lol... Hmmm...I have't tried mobile blogger. I may give that a try too!

Slacking and lacking in the humanities department!

Confession...we've not had the chance to learn as much as I had planned for. Part of the problem was that teaching math has been an unpredictable event! Now that we are moving on with TT, I'm excited to get to more fun and exciting things! Shakespeare, art study, composer/music study, Plutarch, nature study... I'm going to go do some planning right now!

“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” ~Albert Einstein

Teaching Textbooks 4

Math has been a struggle for Almond. Not that she isn't good at it, she just doesn't like doing it...Somewhere in the process, she decided it was too hard, and didn't enjoy the daily drill. In first grade she began the complaining, whining and crying. I tried to switch curriculum to find the right fit... I know I've made mistakes, which probably didn't help the issue! I also went back and forth about really wanting a mastery program vs. spiral approach. I've tried Singapore, MUS, Developmental Math, Houghton Mifflin Math, unschooling with games and activities, a tutor, and Horizon... What I realized was that dd does need a spiral approach, or we'd be stuck in the same place for a LONG time! My other kids weren't that difficult...Pistachio used Saxon up until Algebra, and now uses TT as well (I never pushed the mastery thing with him because he is very gifted in math, and MUS annoyed him).

So I guess with all that rambling, I wanted to say that we have been doing TT for the last 2 weeks, and she loves it! She's been doing at least one lesson a day, without any coercion, tears, or complaining! Yay!

Monthly Learning Report-November

The past month has been challenging... With hubby on a short deployment and illness, I'm pleasantly surprised that we have learned a thing or two! =)

Read Aloud

PISTACHIO

Language Arts

Literary Devices—compare and contrast, cause and effect, categorizing to organize and recall information
Vocabulary-Vocabtest.com Unit 1-2
Grammar—participle phrases (parsing and diagramming sentences)

Math
Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1, Lessons 37-46

Science
Plate Tectonics
Atmosphere, Weather & Climate
Metamorphic Rocks, Landscapes & Biomes
Grassland Landscapes
Arctic Tundra
Tropical Rainforest
Deserts

History
Settling the Northern Colonies
Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts Bay, Philadelphia “The City of Brotherly Love”
Pilgrims, Puritans, Quakers, William Penn, young Benjamin Franklin

Physical Education
Pop Warner Football

Music
Electric Guitar, private lessons
Solo techniques, song-Canon Rock

ALMOND
Language Arts




Reading Comprehension—recalling details (narration), story sequence (using various readers and poetry)

Grammar—Plural Nouns—adding s; adding es to words ending in sh, ch, x, or s; nouns ending in y

Poetry—rhyming pattern, content and meaning, “Young Night Thought” and “The Sun's Travels”

Handwriting—cursive letters (upper and lower case) g,h, I, j, k and review b, e, f

Spelling/Phonics—long “a” sound-"ai" and "ay"

Composition—dictation, literature response, sentence structure, punctuation

Math
I've been using various workbooks as well as internet resources

Money—value of $10 bill, $5 bill, $1 bill, 50 cent piece, quarter, dime, nickel, penny, adding up change, buying with money and making change, word problems

Multiplication facts for 3, 4, 5

Division-concept of, using linking cubes—dividing into equal groups

Telling Time-reading time, understanding hours later, word problems

Science
Mercury
vocabulary—asteroids, crater, elliptical, gaseous, terrestrial

salt dough model of Mercury


Social Studies
medieval castles-moat, drawbridge, knights, keep, boarding house, castle walls, manor, portcullis gate, enemy attacks on the castle

feudal system, lords, nobles, serfs

Ballet/PE
Level 2 ballet class, 2x a week
rehearsals for The Nutcracker ballet, cast as a party boy and school rat

Equine Science/Horseback Riding
horse breeds, colors, tack—bridle, bit, reins, saddle pad, saddle, stir-ups

jogging, walking forward and backward with better control of the horse



PEANUT

Thanksgiving-we read several library books for both Almond and Peanut
Alphabet/Phonics-we've been making an "ABC" book, inspired by Homeschoolshare's Alphabet Lapbook (I will post pictures at a later time!).

We continue to read many books, some from the library, but most from our own collection. This past month, these were her favorites.




Math
This is a fun and colorful workbook...and it only cost about $6 from Barnes and Noble! She is working on counting, identifying and writing her numbers 1-10.
Peanut also follows along with Almond in social studies and science when she wants to.

Ballet
Pre-ballet 2, 1x a week
rehearsals for The Nutcracker as a Santa Helper

She hasn't been interested in much formal learning this past month, but is enjoying playing and dancing!