2 weeks

December 15, 2014.  Not a lot accomplished today because everyone was extremely tired.  We did however accomplish AAR and Sign Language.  W was not happy about AAR.  We were doing Fluency Sheet and he was tired and not really into it today.  E on the other hand read everything.  This was a first.  I usually just have them read so many lines and then do the "bonus" line if they wish.  So usually they read about half of the page.  Today E read it all.  His choice not mine.  He took breaks in between but that's okay.  Sign Language was Signing Time on Netflix and we went back to the first episode.  I figure we need to review every now and then.

December 16, 2014. Today we did Handwriting, Nutrition, AAS, and Math.  That is all for today.  This week is a slack week.  

December 17, 2014.  Game day.  We played with the Math Balance today.  Actually did our first math balance lesson but they thought it was a game.  We also did puppet bag reindeer.  

December 18, 2014.  We did AAR, Math, and Sign Language.  Math was another lesson on the Math Balance.  They love exploring the Balance. 

December 19, 2014.  Today was Social day getting along and home organization.

Christmas week.  Monday we kept it light.  We did AAR and Sign Language.  I am watching a 10yr old this week.  Today school wise not bad.  W however had a very rough day.  Something is going on not sure what unless he is just hyped about Christmas and the new kid.  Tuesday-Today was aweful.  Tried doing Math.  E was good until the worksheet.  W was not since the start.  I think we will finish up Math and make the rest of the week just a lets get along week.  Start Fresh next week with a new approach.  On Second thought we will not finish up Math we will do that next week also.

Love the flexibility of homeschool.

Not really a good school week but Friday was awesome

December 9, 2014.  Today not such a good school day.  Everyone was out of sorts.  We did accomplish everything except for nutrition.  We started with Sign.  I will give a review of signing time here soon.  It was good.  Then we moved onto Math.  Not sure that got today's lesson.  Will continue it tomorrow as it was ment to be a 1 or 2 day assignment.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  We did AAR now on this one they did good.  A few things moved over to mastered.  I didn't do a lot with AAR today as they are learning the voiced and non-voiced /th/ sounds.  They did pretty good though. We did handwriting.  W did really well with the u and y today.  E did well and continued on to other letters like z and w and a few others.  Last thing we did was FLL.  Today was more contractions when reading.  They were not interested.  Did 3 copy works today to get caught up on copy-work. Think it was too much copy-work for them.  Tomorrow is a new day.

December 10, 2014.  We started with handwriting today.  E again did more than what was required and W did good also.  Next onto AAR.  We continued with the /th/ sounds.  Then we took a break for lunch. Came back and did AAS.  The kids are mastering the sounds pretty well.  We are still working on the last sounds in a word as they still have the tendency to say the first sound instead.  Took a small break and onto math.  Math was aweful again today.  Not sure why unless it is the fact that lately there as been no math games.  They said they did not get today either which was a continuation of yesterday.  I think it is just the presentation of today's and yesterday's lessons.  We will move on but work on games dealing with 10's and adding and trading.  Since I was upset we went ahead and moved onto Spanish and nutrition.  Spanish was labeling a person's ear, nose, hair, face, hand, and foot.  They were able to use the spanish book on the computer and they did good.  We also finished with nutrition and they did good on the fun worksheet book that my mom got for them.

December 11, 2014.  We did the typical school work. Sign Language, FLL, AAS, AAR, Nutrition, and Math.  We did AAS and AAR at the playground.  It was good but windy and cold.

December 12, 2014.  Today was game day.  I made a special entry about today already.

All About Reading Level 1

Just wanted to share.  This year we started All About Reading Level 1 for both of my boys ages 7 and 5.  It takes us about a week to get through one lesson unless it is a reading lesson and then 1-2 days.  I break it up so they don't feel overwhelmed and it also fits their attention spans.  As the year as progressed the cooperation with AAR gets better.  Last year we signed up for Reading Eggs and both kids started on Map 1.  They have progressed to map 3, which means they have taken 2 tests and they both did well on the tests but never received 100%.  Well today is game day.  I had them do reading eggs they took the test at the end of map 3 and both kids received 100%.  I was amazed and shocked.  They did it.  I attribute it to All About Reading.  This program is amazing.  I believe that Reading Eggs has helped to reinforce what they are learning but they haven't been on the program alot recently (we would go months without using Reading eggs).  Just really wanted to share this win and that I am very proud of my boys.

Today was a good day

12/8/14.  After about a week or two of sickness from someone and school being low key-still done but not as much I was very surprised at the cooperation I received today from E.  W was tired but still did the work only complaint was the math.  So today we started with Sign.  For those that do not know we are watching Signing Time on Netflix.  It is great.  The kids and I are learning a lot and they are engaged while watching it.  We watch 10min. at a time.  That seems to be what works best.  We then immediately moved onto nutrition.  My mom gave us a workbook about how to be healthy so right now we do a few pages from that.  I read and they do the activity.  We then moved right onto All About Reading.  I started with W.  Today was a read this story day.  He did pretty well.  He read out loud without me right there.  His choice.  I am very proud.  E did very good also.  I think it might have helped that he heard the story first while his brother was reading but I am still very proud and this time he did remember to ask how many pages.  It was  win.  Then we took a break for Lunch.  Next on the list was Spanish.  We reviewed the words for hands, nose, and ear.  We then learned the words for foot, face, and hair.  Next moved onto All about spelling.  Right now we are still working on the sounds and we started working on the last sounds of a word like mouse (the sound is s).  We will continue with the last sounds as they have a tendency to say the first sound instead of the last.  Then another break.  Next up Math.  Today we had a worksheet at the end.  W was tired and complained throughout the process but did it.  E just wanted help on the worksheet.  My goal is to get the to do those without my help since they have the abacus and know how to use it.  They had a 5 min. break before First Language Lessons.  Today was had some dictation.  E is getting good about doing the writing without hassle I never thought I would see the day.  Both did good writing from dictation.  I only spelled the words and told them when it was a new word.  I am proud.  Today was a good day.

ASL Storytime and the kids didn't realize it was school

Today, the last day of the school week, we took a trip to the library for an ASL storytime.  There we meet an interpreter and a deaf lady.  While my mom had the children outside playing, we arrived early, I talked with the deaf lady and I also spoke to the interpreter some.  When it was time to start I sat down on the floor so E and W would sit on the floor to see the book.  I saw that they were trying to sign once in a while.  It was great.

Hetic Week

Well this week was so hetic with husband on call that I totally forgot to write on the blog.  The kids did good this week so here is how the week ended.

November 6, 2014.  Today was a good day for the kids for school.  I showed them today's lessons and tomorrow's lessons. E did All of today lessons and one of tomorrow lessons he completed 6 subjects when only 5 were required today.  W completed 5 subjects today.  W did not do AAR today and so will double up on that subject tomorrow, he however did double handwriting today so that will not be done tomorrow.  Although it worked for the kids it is hard and taxing on the momma.

November 7, 2014.  Today was long.  Kids not having a good day since they went to bed a little late.  I also think they do better school at 11 vs 10.  We are working on the e as in (echo)  sound.  I can tell this is going to take some work for they both seem to get the i (itchy) and e (echo) sound confused on the e like in bed.  W is a little worse on this than E but we will get it with work.  School is over and I await the weekend. 

Also on another note.  I'm going to say this week, the week of 11/ 9-15/14, was on and off good.  I mainly chose the order of the subjects and the kids seem to do better when they chose the order.  This week we had Thursday off and schooled on Saturday.  Thursday was a trip to the doctor's office as a follow up to husband's blood test results.  The kids did wonderfully.  We made up cards for each child on what to expect at each step.  1) car to building, 2) check in, 3) wait, 4) call back, 5) dad talks to nurse, 6)wait, 7)dad and mom talk to doctor, 8)possible wait, 9)check out, and 10)building to car.  At the end of each step the kids received a ticket if they did good.  Oh, I had an additional 3 cards 1)smiley face, 2) ok face, 3) frown face.  3=no ticket.  So they did really well they did not get a ticket for step 7 but in all fairness it was long with us talking to the doctor, however they did earn enough tickets to stay up late.  I think next time they will have to earn a different privilege.  I do want to say for about 2 days before the doctor's visit we went over manners and how to act at each step and what was acceptable.  It Worked.  YEA!

Halloween week

October 26, 2014.  So today we did not do Science or Spanish but I feel that the kids getting to play is pretty important.  We did cover the main stuff-Reading and Math with a little handwriting and sign thrown in.  E is amazing himself when he reads the cards off and goes through 10 of them before asking how many did I do.  For math is went over even and odd.  E got it.  W needed a little help but in the end got it.  Yesterday we did place value and W got it and E needed a little help but got it.  Day by day they are learning and getting it.  It is wonderful to see something click and knowing I had a part to play in that.  I would not change a thing.

October 27, 2014.  Today the kids did good in school.  For Science we learned a little bit about Halloween, compared some gourds, and drew in our science journal. Tomorrow we will see if they float or not.  AAR we played bingo and went over words-both kids at once.  I have made up a new bingo game for some sounds and one for words. Math was coins and how much do I have (Pennies and Nickels).  Sign language was on the computer and they learned various words like Halloween and trick or treat.  Spanish both kids reviewed "Can You Can What I am".  Handwriting was the letter o.  I showed W and he did good. E said he knew so I did not show him and he did fine.  The letters a,d,g,q,b,p, and o are all one stroke letter.  We are doing Italics.  School today was good.

October 28, 2014.  School today for E was aweful.  Everything was a struggle.  The only good thing was E did 2 lessons of AAR without realizing it and no hassel.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  E completed all of school today with that extra addition.  W had a decent school day and completed everything.  W was done first. For science today for both children we learned about density and learned that gourds float because they are less dense than water.  E learned that density was how hollow or not hollow something was.

October 29, 2014.  Today I tried something new.  I wrote was was todays subjects and what is tomorrows subjects.  Both had a choice as to what to do and how much.  What does not get done today will be done tomorrow before playtime.  Both E and W chose Science first.  We cut one of the gourds opened and discovered that the bottom part was hollow with lots of seed and the top part was not hollow and had no seeds.  E said that the bottom was less dense than the top.  E also chose to do Sign language, which was a quick review.  FLL will wait until tomorrow and then there will be 2 lessons to do with it. W decided in addition to Science to do sign language, which was a quick review, and Handwriting (which was tomorrows work).  So 2 lessons of AAR tomorrow and 2 lessons of FLL tomorrow.  I tried to encourage get as much done today and have a free day tomorrow but no go.  School today was a very good day for all involved.

October 30, 2014. Today was a good day for all involved.  We did a science experiment.  We made a volcano in a jar so that we could see the reaction happen.  The kids showed daddy when he got home.  They wanted to repeat the experiment over and over again.  I'm not going to write a lot about what each kid did today but I do want to say some of the subjects like FLL for E and AAR for W was doubled up and they did fine.  This pick and choose worked.  Tomorrow trick or treat.  Also for Friday, since I am writing this on Sunday after the fact, we did art.  They painted the gourds and had a great time doing so.   Next month we will do some Thanksgiving art.

The week before Halloween

So we had a full week this week except for Tuesday and we concentrated on Math with a worksheet and All About Reading.  Another week that was not bad.  E is starting to amaze me.  Although he still does not like to Read he is starting to do more with the program before complaining.  Saturday was a reading day (had to read a story) and E read the story with little hassle, he even amazed himself how many pages he read before asking how many pages he read.  He was proud of himself.  Now let's not forget W.  He is excelling.  He is starting to read stories (the one in the AAR book) to Daddy.  He is doing magnificent.  They seem to like the handwriting.  Saturday we wrote in Salt.  Haven't done that in a while and it is good for kenestic learning.  Thursday was the 1st Right start Math test.  The boys did ok.  I am going to spend one day for each one they received wrong to make sure they know it.  When taking the test the boys were unsure of them-self so need to build confidence in that area.  But this is the first true test that W has had and E has not had a test for some time.

Good Week

School this week starts Sunday.

October 12, 2014.

October 13, 2014.  Today was a great school day.  Both E and W did fantastic.  We completed all assignments in record time.  We started at noon and was done around 2:30 and that included a little bit of copy work.  I got no hassel on the copy work. I only received a little hassel on AAR.  I could not have asked for them to be any better.  I still get frustrated with them when we are doing the Math games but part of that is they have to share and part of that is I don't want it to take forever.

Well it looks like I have fallen behind again.  Life just gets you sometimes. The kids actually did very good this week.  My husbands job kept changing is days off and we school on the days he works, so that means that we would have been schooling for 7 days in a row since they kept changing his day off.  I decided that was way to much.  The kids have been doing so good this week that I gave them Wednesday and Thursday off.  Well Thursday they did one lesson on Reading Eggs, played at the play ground, and socialized.  Friday was an "official" day off (husband did not work) but we ended up using that day as a field trip day and went to the Tallahassee Jr. Museum.

It was a good week

October 6, 2014.  Today handwriting was the lowercase letter g.  We listened to At the Zoo in spanish and are learning the word look. Science today was look at something outside and draw it.  E drew a bumblebee and we will research it on Wednesday.  W drew the sun and we will research it on Wednesday.  AAR today was review some words.  Math today was working on Thousands.

October 7, 2014.  Today was a good day with the children even with the setbacks we ended up having.  Set backs include my allergies were very bad so no Math today will do math tomorrow instead.  Also a set back would be the work they are having done upstairs.  Lots of noise.  So today was Fluency reading sheets with AAR.  E hates these however I used a highlighter blue and yellow and marshmallows.  He chose to read the blue lines and did great no hassles guess marshmallows are a winner.  W also chose blue and he received M & Ms at the end of each  line.  We reviewed signs. Baby, grandmother, grandfather, mother, dad, brother, sister, toilet, cousin, television, bed, and telephone.  W knew most and will move on to more signs.  E knew some.  I think he knows more than what he was letting on but we will review and add an additional sign, unless he shows me he knows them and in which case we will had more signs.  FLL lesson 9 was a Camels Nose.  They were able to answer the questions and name one thing that they remembered.  W remembered the camels nose being cold. E remembered the whole camel going inside.

October 8, 2014. Today another good day with AAR fluency sheet.  Both kids are responding well to the Marshmallows (E) and M&Ms (W).  They even chose to do an extra line.  E also started to move the window on his on.  The window shows one word at a time.  We worked on Math today.  Thousands, place value, and how to write the number (example: 1432).  Slow progress but I think they will get it.  It is just learning to replace those zeros.  Sign Language:  W learned some new signs.  E showed he new brother and is only learning 1 new sign.  Handwriting was the letter q.  E and W did a good job with this letter today.  Next handwriting will be the whole family (a, d, g, and q).  Spanish we heard "Come to the Zoo".  Learning the word Look in Spanish.  E did a really nice pronunciation of a whole sentence after the computer said it.  Science today was Wild Krattz on Ottors.  No School tomorrow as Daddy is home.

October 10, 2014.  Today not so good.  We started with Math working on Thousands.  Started with W first.  For some reason he was not cooperating.  We took a break for bkft and then finished up the math.  It seemed like it took forever.  Next was E.  Same thing although I think he understood the thousands a little better.  W had some trouble with the worksheet whereas E did fine.  We finished our AAR fluency sheet and earned our sticker for completing the whole lesson.   Last thing was handwriting.  We wrote a, d, g, q.  I think they still need some practice on those letters.  Tomorrow, Saturday, another school day.

October 11, 2014.  Some days it is hard to separate the home behavior from the school behavior.  The kids had a hard time sleeping last night.  Luckily they did wake up a little later but not late enough.  Today I let them pick the order they wanted to do the assignments.  First up was Science.  W watched a video about the sun and learned that when the sun "sneezes" it is called gas.  I watched the video after he did and it was interesting.  E watched a video on pollination.  Not as fascinating of a video but it worked.  Next on the list was FLL.  We reviewed "The Goops" and started the poem "The Year".  Next the kids started their year book.  After that onto Math.  Today was Triangles and the importance of practice.  We learned about parallelograms, how to fit triangles together, and practiced adding 1+_ and _+1.  E then went onto Spanish and review signs.  We listened to "Come To The Zoo".  For sign language: I signed and he had to tell me what the sign was.  Next and last on the list was AAR.  Today was read a story.  E did not want to he threw a fit, sounded out the words (not read them just sounded them out) however eventually he read (with and without sounding them out).  W chose AAR as his next one and did well.  He even read a whole sentence without sounding it out.  Then he chose Spanish:  listened to "Come To The Zoo" and quizzed Daddy on the word Look.  Last was Sign.  We went over door, mirror, and refrigerator .  All in all school was a good day.

Friday was fun

October 2, 2014.  Today we worked on All About Reading, spanish with some signs, First Language lessons, and Handwriting the letter d.

October 3, 2014.  Today each child did one lesson on Reading Eggs.  The rest of the day was PE and socialization at Tom Brown Park with the local Homeschool group.  It was great.  The kids really enjoyed meeting other children there age and all had fun. 

Next week I will post at the end of the week.  Our week will me school M,T,W,F, and S.  Husband has H off.

Waiting

So this is the 1st day of October and we were suppose to have a visit at 9:30am from the office and now it sits 3:00pm and no one has come by.  Not wanting school to be interrupted I was waiting for them to come by and then start school.  So I decided for school we would do AAR.  That is all that was accomplished today.  I am very irritated that school could have commenced had the office done what they said they would do.  I would do school tonight except for we have to go to the gym (we have playcare reserved for the boys).  That's it for today.

Last day in September

Tuesday 9/30/14.  We started school at 1pm today.  We began with AAR finishing up lesson 5.  E was up first.  After some struggle to get him started he did the sounds and read some words.  Now on to the story.  He refused to read but sounded out the words.  OK he sounded them out I read the word unless it was the word "the" or "a" in which case he had to read.  1 penny for each page=6 pennies.  Got it done.  Consider it a win for he sounded out each word fine.  Now on to W.  He did the sounds, I helped with the words.  He is great with individual sounds but still needs some help with sounding out words.  Doesn't pay attention to the ending.  Now on to reading.  W did great.  I helped some put there was a sentence or two that he read by himself.

Next was First Language Lesson (FLL).  E refused so on to W.  W listened and did fine.  Working on linking verbs.  Will do enrichment tomorrow.  We are going to start Math now.  E has a meltdown because he wants to do FLL and then math but W wants to do math and be finished with school. W and I win.  E has a meltdown while W and I go to bedroom and finish math.  RightStart lesson was on Right Angles, triangles, and learning numbers like 11, 56, 34.  1 ten 1, 5 ten 6, ect.  Great Lesson.

Now for E.  We start will FLL.  E still acting like he doesn't know but we talk and all he has to do is repeat.  Working on linking Verbs.  E does fine.  Will do enrichment tomorrow.  Now onto Math.  Same lesson as W.  Still working on math when Daddy gets home but that's okay we were almost done.  E does great with tangrams, the one thing that W and I were struggling with.

Tomorrow is a new day.

Start of a New Week..9/29

So this week school will be M-F.  Yesterday was our first day of official Handwriting.  We are using Gettysburg Italics.  The program is a little difficult to follow for level C.  So I have devised a way that I will use it.  My oldest E does not want to write.  He wants everything perfect, so we are starting with 1 letter, the letter a.  This is also the letter I started with W who is on level B.  Level B seems to be easier to follow.  All went well with Handwriting. 

We also did ALL About Reading Level 1.  Today was the first day that the kids needed to read a "chapter in book".  The book is All About Bugs and the first "chapter" was JAM!.  Although E did not want to read he finally did so.  He did pretty good.  Both E and W are still in the sounding out phase but this book will help.  The book covered y sounds and also repeated some words.  We will read the next "chapter" tomorrow.  My motto is Slow and Steady and maybe they will be an avid reader like Daddy. 

For Sign Language we went over some signs that they should know.  I plan to test them on those here soon.

For Math we use Right-Start Mathematics level B 1st edition.  The children learned about thousands, how to read, write, and recognize.  We also briefly hit on patterns but the children know all about pattern.

Now for Science.  I found a website called NeoK12.com.  They have short videos about different topics.  W chose How Dinosaurs Fed and What If Dinosaurs Hadn't Been Wiped Out.  I asked him to tell me about the second one.  He was able to tell me that Dinosaurs were wiped out by a comet but they exist on another planet.  E chose Inside The Head Of A T-Rex, Dinosauar Egg Fossils, The Smell Of Prey Dinosaurs, and Carnitorus VS Iguanadon.  I asked E to tell me about the 2nd one and he said that one dinosuar stole the other dinosuars egg.  He actually stated the names of the dinousars but I forget what those names are.  

Getting Caught Up on Posts

So this is a quick post to say what we have been doing from Sept. 15-26.  Last 2 weeks.  We have been doing AAR M-Fx2, Sign 3 days, Math 5 days + 1 day for worksheet + 1day for game called Go To The Dump.  The kids loved the game and didn't even realize it was school.  That is how we started out last Friday.  Science-3 day, FLL-6x, Handwriting-informal 3x, spanish 3x working on the spanish phrase This is my...., and W did a lesson on Reading Eggs one day.

The First Week

So we started homeschooling on the 1st of September.  That was last Monday.  We reviewed math, we played around with handwriting, we did some signs, and some learning to read.  For playing around with handwriting I had the kids make squiggly lines and circles on a white board, first with their right hand and then with their left hand.  For Sign we started learning 0-10 and A-Z.  We also started the new program All About Reading Level 1.  Well W. gave no hassle but E. on the other hand hassle, however in the end he did the work.

That was day 1.  Now for day 2.  This time I did things in a different order.  Instead of starting with All About Reading I started with Sign language, then we reviewed 0-10 and A-F, next we reviewed more math, we moved onto First Language Lessons level 1 (also a new program) it went well, and finally we did half of All About Reading lesson 2.  That went great.  No hassles.  I have learned each lesson is not necessarily meant to be completed in one day.  Depending on the lesson you can take 1-5 days to complete it.

Day 3 and 4-Chris had off so no school.

Day 5-I was sick no school of any kind.  Day 6-I was still sick but we managed an assessment for W. in Math and a lets go learn session for E..  Some school accomplished.

Next week (Sept. 7-13) school days would be Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Chris has Wednesday and Saturday off.  No school happened on 9/7 kids weren't feeling well.  On 9/8 we managed a little bit of All About Reading lesson 2 but everyone is still sick.  On to this week.

When is the first day and what we will be using

So the first day of school will officially be September 1, 2014.  I have made a little welcome package for the kids.  This year we will use an eclectic style.  The programs we will use are:  All About Reading Level 1, All About Spelling Level 1, First Language Lessons, RightStart Mathematics 1st edition Level B (we are continuing with this as we switched shortly before our summer break), Sign Language (starting with the basics first), Spanish (I forget the name but it is made for children), Italics handwriting level B for W. and level C for E, Story of the World 1, and for science/geography we will use a bunch of stuff that I have accumulated.  I plan to take a picture of the kids on the first day receiving their goodies.  I will also post a schedule as to when certain things will be accomplished.  That's it for now.

Starting the Journey

This blog is for friends and family to see what the kids and I are working on with school.  This is our 2nd year.  2nd year for the oldest and officially the 1st year for the youngest.  This is my first blog and I hope everyone enjoys it.  We are starting "2nd grade" and "K" September 1st.