8/6/13 school update day 12

Howdy, all of you who care what we do!  Thanks for stopping by.  We haven't blogged in a very long time so I thought we would do an update today.  It's rainy here.. that's an understatement.  There is thunderstorm rolling through and I sure hope it is all the way through by the time we go to speech in a little while.  Anywho!  Today we did school. We are on day 12 of our school year.  The kids were begging to start.   Big P has a job babysitting for a family so it's been different with her not around.  I guess at some point the 16 year old has to fly might as well be sooner than later.  right?
I had all intentions to buy My Father's World this year.  It was even in the shopping cart but, we did a total 360 and are doing something different.  We are using a lot of the Easy Peasy homeschool curriculum this year.  I have looked over a lot of it and we love it!
Little P, who is 7 and a very advanced reader doing the third grade material on the site and working from her Spectrum math book.  We are also using a lot of worksheets from Enchanted Learning for her as well since she loves busy work.    I will tell you what things we have done with the other ones later.

Today we learned about tall tales.  The kids loved the story of John Henry.  Here is the video they watched that kept buffering because our internet does not like storms.

It was a perfect video to watch on a stormy day with the kids.  It was also a great intro to our opening study of African American history.  We plan to spotlight at least one African American person per week for them so they can have a better grasp on their own history and that of their ancestors.  I am not following a specific curriculum so you will have to just check back and see who we learn about next.  

Of course Little P heard James Earl Jones on the clip and instantly said is that Simba's daddy?  

baha ha ha!  I got a kick out of that one from her!

Until I blog again.

Blessings,

Toni

Day 2

Usually day 2 goes horrible because the kids figure out school is in and it's such a sad day. Maybe that will be day 3 this year. We started the day pretty late because I had homework and I was selfish and let them sleep in. Can you believe no one complained? :) Any who, today we reviewed math facts, and added our grammar studies, did more Mystery of History, and the younger ones worked on phonics.

Preston, at seven years old, is just now doing some early reading. I am so happy! He is reading Away We Go, which is one of the books in the Dick and Jane series and is almost done with it. It will be his first book to complete that is not one of the printable type or Bob Books. I am so happy he is progressing finally. I listened to all of the other mothers who had boys who read at their own pace and drew from their experiences and stayed patient. We just continued to read lots of literature to him to increase his knowledge base while he learned on his own time.

Precious, our ninth grader, is reading the unabridged version of Huckleberry Finn and is very shocked by the language. Tre', our 5th grader, is enjoying a children's classic version of Ben Hur.

Patience, our 5 yr old, is not classified by a grade yet. She learns so much from her older siblings. I would place her at 1st grade or so. She is reading better and better by the day. I didn't teach her to write last year but, she has taken it upon herself to learn. She copies the names that are on everything into her drawings as she did in the one below.

If you look hard enough you can make out the words"Toshiba", from Daddy's laptop where Tre' did his Rosetta stone Spanish this morning. "Mississippi history" from Precious' History book, "pencil tablet" from her writing tablet, "crayon" from the box, and some other assorted words. Just in case you were wondering this picture is of her daddy driving in "BIG MAMA our conversion van. She said that is her at the table playing cards with her brother.

Tomorrow is the first day of our co-op, C.H.O.I.C.E. The kids are looking forward to their classes and spending time with their friends. I am teaching only two classes this year. One is a creative writing class for high schoolers, the other an art class for 4yr old-2nd graders. I always finish these classes wishing they weren't over. I'm looking forward to school tomorrow since we had such an awesome day today. I love homeschooling! Patience says Hill house school is the best.

Toni

2011/2012 school year has begun!

Today marks our first "official" day of school this term. We normally "school" all year around but, this summer we were so busy with camp and short trips, we never got around to doing much of anything other than reading. The pupils at Hill learning academy decided to do the Pledge of Allegiance (which we do every school day) outside. It was the first chilly day of the season and I was wondering why would they want to do that but, who am I to extinguish their right to pledge where they feel comfortable. We are still waiting on a lot of our books to arrive so we are starting the term off mainly with review. We completed lesson 1 in Mystery of History volume I. Precious and Tre' both got started on their reading for the month in hopes to get ahead so they can earn some time "off" in the near future. We missed xc practice today but, Precious did run at the park to make up for it. Overall it was a good day.

Art

Yesterday and today I prepared for art for all of the kids. We do art year around so the art area is looking pretty bare. Our staples are:

• paper w/one clean side recycled from someone's job usually
• 20-25 magazines for picture cuttings
• about 10 bottles of glue 3-4 glue sticks(Precious is the only one that uses glue sticks)
• clay (I make my own recipe later), cookie cutters, etc.
• plaster of Paris
• scissors, markers, crayons, colored pencils, enough so each child can work at the same time
• construction paper, tracing paper, and sketch pads
• paint, washable of course and brushes, (we make those too)
• paper bags, fabric and yarn scraps, stickers, pill bottles, bottle caps, plastic lids, egg shells, etc.
• lots and lots of tape electrical, masking, and invisible
• spray bottle w/vinegar and water and cleaning rags
• apron per kid

I have also decided that I am selling the school desks this year. We don't use them much. It seems the kitchen table works fine for us although we do have a classroom it's crazy! Precious has a desk in her room and so do the boys so we are downsizing them since they seem to stay in the way. Also we are setting up centers all over the house, (well in the living room, hall areas, and kitchen anyway). This may become a disaster later we'll have to see but, this way each child can have their personal time without distracting the others who maybe working. More later.

Shalom,

Toni

Skool supplies

It's time to stock up on school supplies. Staples has penny stuff already. I need more pencils. I don't know why they go through so many pencils. It's insane how many I buy. I think I will try to stock up and maybe have about 200 or so total. Here is the staples link if you don't have it.
http://staples. shoplocal. com/staples/ default.aspx? action=entryflas h&adref=staples_ right_hand_ nav&cm_sp= merchandising- _-Specials% 20Page-_- Local%20Circular