January Review

January In Review

In order to bring the joy back into our homeschooling journey I have switched to a six weeks on and one week field trip schedule. This allows me to plan six weeks of work and a week to be off enjoying what it means to homeschool. Also it allows me to add or alter lessons based on the progress of the pervious six weeks.

So far is it working very well because I print the weeks schedule out in advance. He knows what we have to do and I leave enough time in the schedule to follow what I call “Popcorn Subjects”. Subjects that just POP into your schooling adventure that beg to be investigated.

Co-Op

Co-op is going well new year we will be looking for something in the area of two or three days a week.

Bible and Character Building

January we studied the concept of Self Control with Studio 252 as well has studying his T&T AWANA book. Our memory verse for the month was .

Our big self control challenge was building a tower out of our favorite candy (gum drops) without eating them. It was fun to work together and talk about what it means to have self control.

We also talked about how to bring self control into our daily lives through prayer and practice.

Science

We are wrapping up our study of the human body with the Digestive and Nerverous System with an introduction Genes.

Our primary resource is R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life program with additional information from Usborne Science Encyclopedia.

We used resources from Bill Nye as our video portion.

It was fun to discover just how long the digestive track is in the average human.

We had a lot of fun doing the bar chart of reaction time of catching a ruler.

Music

This month we studied Mozart. Again we used Classics for kids as our resource along with books from the library and Brain Pop.

Our local classical radio station celebrates Mozart's birthday all month long playing every piece of Mozart music available. It was great to see his eyes light up as we drove around town to our different errands as he recognized a music concept or just enjoyed the music.

Next months goal is to attend an actual concert and find a percussion class.

Art

Epic Fail on art this month. We were suppose to finish Leonardo Di vinic but art kept getting moved to the back burner. I need to find a more interactive outlet for art.

Math

We have finally breached the walls of double borrowing and multiplication. He loves it. We are using Mammoth Math and Teaching Textbooks 4. TT is only one day a week when we have a lot of outside activities. He see it as a reward.

Handwriting

I decided we need to review some basic concepts of HWOT but did not want to take him back to the “ baby” books in his words. We found a good bridge in the form of HWOT's Can-Do Print. It is recommended for 5 ^th graders but it fits our needs and he loves the Greek and Latin elements.

Product Description:

Can-Do Print is for fifth graders or older students who prefer print to cursive, but still need practice.

• Students receive a quick, thorough review of printing.

• Practice pages reinforce other language arts lessons (grammar, Greek/Latin roots).

• Printing skills are used to write paragraphs, poetry, plays, autobiographies, and thank-you notes.

So once a week we do cursive and the other days we do CDP.

History

This month has been a study in Roman for SOTW. He finally got his question answered about the tow children on the front of the SOTW Volume 1 book. We will be focusing more on the time in in February.

Language Arts

I finally broke down and bought Sonlight LA for Grade 3. Simply because nothing else worked and we fast approaching boredom with LA. It has some good elements but it is still not as exciting or challenging as FIAR. The components are not holding his interest and the stories either bore him or depress him.

So I will be using it as a spine and incorporating BYFIAR into our six weeks schedule.

He still loves Worldly Wise 3 and at this rate might finish it by April which is when I will begin All About Spelling.

“Not” Back to School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week

Thanks to the good folks at Heart of the Matter is hosting a "Not Back-to-School Blog Hop. I so love this time of year. It has become a tradition as well as a necessity in our adventure. Because this Blog Hop always helps me organize my plans and is the skeleton for our required state yearly Notice of Intent (NOI) homeschool documentation.

The theme for this year is character building and simplicity. We did not finish some core programs last year due to hospitalization and family issues. We needed this summer off and I did not want to rush through the material in May. Some of what you see may look like a little like last year.

I will be trying something new this year. I call the concept layering. Instead of starting with all six subjects on the first day of school I am going to start with three basics and add on one additional subject in three weeks. This allows us to slowing expand the day as opposed to just jumping back into the jammed back schedule which leaves me wiped out and the family in chaos.

Here we go....

Bible and Character Development

Positive Action for Christ's program Growing with God. And weekly review with church provided material from Studio 252.

We are considering AWANA, but it may make the schedule to intense and not leave time for play dates and down time.

History

Will continue with Story of The World program Volume I, Ancient Times. We stopped with the Phoenicians and will be picking up with the the Greeks and Rome. Then we will move into The Story of the World Vol. 2 (The Middle Ages) with the accompanying Activity Book and CD. Volume 2 covers world history from the fall of Rome to the rise of the Renaissance (AD 400-1600).

The projects and Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History links were a big hit last year. We will start a Timeline Notebook this year and using the first week for review parts of Volume 1.

Language Arts

Sonlight Language Arts for Grade 3 will include good literature and

“ Includes full schedule, teaching helps, separate parent instructions with full answer and definitions, reader schedule, dictation, spelling, creative expression, and student activity sheets.”

Grammar
We will still use living books from the series “ If you were” to supplement Sonlight grammar.

Spelling
We began http://www.all-about-spelling.com/in late September.

Handwriting

Handwriting without Tears Cursive Writing

Additional resources for literature Beyond Five In a Row and what ever takes our fancy at the library.

Math

We went through two different mathematics curriculum last year until we found our solution with Math Mammoth.

We will add if need with lectures from Khan Academy , Math Games and Stuart J. Murphy Math Start for Visual Learners .

Fine Motor Skills/ Life Skills

This is still an area of concentration we will :

• Creative coloring

• Learning Chess (pincer grip)

• Knot So Fast (Think Well Game)

• Free Typing Game

• Montessori Activities and even more and just a little bit more

Geography

This was difficult because I did not want to max out on the states at his age. He loves playing Scrambled States of America and absorps facts fast. He is addicted to How the States Got There Shapes .

So I was going to leave states as just fun time and do one country a month for world geography using Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God’s World . We will listen to music of the country a couple of times of the four weeks and end the month with either dinner out or homemade meal from this country.

Physical Education

We are enrolled in a Homeschool Physical Education co-op class and martial arts. Whew!

Music/Drama/Art

Our primary resource will be Grace Abounding The Core Knowledge Anthology of African-American Literature, Music, and Art (AAALMA).

We are enrolled in a local art co-op class and visiting museum exhibits throughout the year. The National Gallery of Art has a great homeschool program were you can borrow material and get free online tours

Still need to find a music class we can afford but we will be taking part of in free concert/play venues in the area. The search is still on for individual instruction but we do have an at home drum program. As well as alternating sources with a musician month using Classics for Kids and AAALMA.

Science
We are enrolled in a accelerated local co-op class and visiting museum exhibits throughout the year. We still have Real Science 4 Kids Pre-Level Biology to complete but we will take our time. We have a month of things to do just with the microscope.

Remember plan subject to change due to real life events.

Blessings