Homeschool Week 2

We're not quite done with this week on paper yet, but I want to get the highlights down while they're fresh in my mind.  Monday was a school holiday, so we sort of started behind the 8 ball with a day to make up come Tuesday.

This week, we learned about Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, and Noah.  We had a couple of hands on activities involving light, but I managed to forget to photograph both of them.

We went outside yesterday and measured out how long the ark was.  It's a little hard to see the tape measure on the left side, but we used 2 tapes and 3 kids, and leap frogged our way down the street until we hit 437'.  

From the end of one to the start of another.

We started at the fire hydrant at the cul de sac at the end of our street.  

And finished here, in front of our neighbor's house.  

I'm standing at one end of our "ark" taking the picture.  Jack is running to the other end.  There's a tiny white dot at the end of the street.  That's the fire hydrant we started at.  I found myself singing God Is Big after this project.  It was a neat way to put a concrete image in our heads of how big Noah's ark really was.  

What do the babies do while we're homeschooling?  

We do most of our book work in the morning between school drop off and lunch.  Katie can play independently for a while, but she eventually wants to know what we're doing.  When she comes into the school room, I occupy her with one of the buckets of manipulatives.  

Remember how last week we tried a homeschool exercise event, and my kids just weren't into it?  It was with considerable trepidation that I packed them all up again for today's homeschool art class.  

However, I needn't have worried that they wouldn't enjoy it.  

They had a great time, and created surprisingly nice artwork.  

Miss Julie of www.justaddart-sac.com is a kind and engaging teacher, and the kids learned not only about oil-water resist techniques, and pastel blending, but they also learned about fish.  

I'm glad someone else was in charge, because giving a roomful of 4-13 year olds oil pastels sounds like a disaster waiting to happen to me, but Miss Julie knows what she's doing.  It went great.

Jack's fish is Bubbles from Nemo, an the orange thing is the bubble chest in the dentist's tank in the movie.  I love the white bubbles that resisted the blue watercolor!  

Eli not only did a colorful and nicely blended fish, but also a sea turtle, an octopus, a couple of jellyfish, and a stingray!  

Most of the projects, drying.  Brianna had put hers in the stroller already.  

After the class, we went outside to play for a little while, and Jack was instantly up a tree.  

  

All in all, it was a good second week of school.  Our math books arrived, much to the disappointment of my students, of course.  We also started our first read aloud, which is always fun.  Our music for this week was the composer Vivaldi, who was better received by some students than others.

Next week looks to be interesting with more about dinosaurs, The Tower of Babel, and a cuneiform project in the works.

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Logic of English

Why is it like pulling teeth to get a child to learn nice cursive?  Not one of my children (out of 7 so far) has ever said to me, "Mom!  Can I do more handwriting?"  But it's an essential skill.  Even in our high tech world, you need to be able to write, and you need to at least be able to read cursive, if not produce it clearly.  

We got to review The Rhythm of Handwriting, from Logic of English, which retails for $15.00.  We received the workbook and a cursive chart.  I like the laminated, tri-fold chart.  It groups the letters by type, and gives step by step instructions how to form them.  I would read the instructions to Jack, as he used his finger to trace the over sized letter on the page, then he would practice writing the letter.  

I liked the 2 pages of Ideas For Handwriting Practice included in the front of the book.  Sometimes we get stuck in a rut, and it's nice to shake things up a little with a game or activity.  Personally, I never would have thought of having the kids lay on their backs and use their leg to form a cursive letter in the air.  

We worked on 2 letters each day.  The book has 2 lines each of small, medium, large, and extra large font practice space.  I knew Jack would balk at doing all of it, so I allowed him to select a line size and do one line.  He would then circle his best letter and show it to me.  For some letters, that was enough to demonstrate mastery, as Jack was starting to work on cursive at the end of last school year.  For other letters, he needed additional help, and we would use another line or more.  Once I noticed that he was always selecting the same size, I had him switch things up a little and do two letters in each size.  

I like that students don't have to learn each individual letter before they start writing words.  After they master the swing letters and the curve letters, they begin words from letters that connect at the baseline.  Initially, when the book arrived, I thought of it as a "no frills" handwriting program, because it doesn't have cartoons or pictures like programs we've used in the past.  However, upon getting into it, I realized that involving large motor skills, and tips for developing fine motor skills trump cutesy images when it comes to getting results.  Reading the front of the book really helped me think about all that goes into learning to form letters correctly and neatly.  I am pleased with this program and happily recommend it.  If I find myself needing a handwriting program for one of the younger kids someday, I will be buying another copy.  

The Rhythm of Handwriting has a suggested age of 7 and up, however, they do offer some suggestions for students 6 and under, if you feel your child is ready prior to age 7.

Logic of English has a website that is well worth poking around.  I was happy to see free handwriting paper you can print.  They offer several other interesting-looking products which were also reviewed by The Schoolhouse Review Crew.  You can read more about those here:  

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Katie's New Leg

We love Mr. Rick at Shriners.  He makes Hannah's legs, and just finished Katie's first leg.  

We picked it up last Wednesday.  

I crawled behind her, moving first one foot, and then the other.  Soon, she took to the idea of the parallel bars and was soon going back and forth holding on by herself.  Watch and see how far she's come in less than a week!  

She's so cute I can barely stand it!

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Time 4 Learning

We had the honor of reviewing www.time4learning.com, an online curriculum/tutoring alternative/afterschool supplement.  I chose Jack to be my reviewer this time.  The older kids already have things they like to do on the computer, and I thought this would give Jack a chance to clamor for his share of time on the computer, too.  (Do you know what it's like to share a computer with 5 other people?)  

Time 4 Learning offers programs for preschool through high school.  The monthly cost for subscribing is $19.95 for the first student and $14.94 for each additional student for the pre-K through 8th grade levels.  High school students are $30/month.  Last year, we were paying a monthly subscription fee for 3 students to work on an online math-only program, so to get all subjects for about the same price seems like a better bargain to me.  

This is Jack's 4th grade year, but since he is reading delayed, I started him in the 3rd grade level.  Unfortunately, the reading was still above him, which meant he needed a lot of help to work through the lessons.  Even math, he was unable to read the directions alone.  This was frustrating and disappointing, but it gave me the chance to see what he was doing, and how the program worked.  

This is a report of part of his work.  There is a great report section for the parent or teacher, as well as a parent forum so you can connect with other users for questions or support.

Our computer was in the shop for a week, and we were out of town for a funeral the week prior to that, so I didn't have him on the program as much as I had originally intended to, but I know Jack learned new things while using www.time4learning.com.  He printed a few things, too, such as a poem about volcanoes and a foolish rainbow story starter.

He particularly enjoyed the "playground" feature.  Once a child has put in a parent-determined amount of time working, they are allowed a parent-determined amount of time at the playground.  Jack liked the Arthur videos best, but there are many other entertaining options for play.  

Time 4 Learning can be customized to suit the needs of each individual student.  The parent or teacher determines which materials the student will learn.  I eventually decided to bump him down to the second grade materials in everything but math, so the reading would be easier for him.  Moving him to a new level was easy to do online, and my request was granted in about 12 hours.  

I'm so glad I switched levels!  I wish I had swallowed my mommy pride and done it sooner.  After changing to materials more appropriate for him, he spent more than double the time each day on the program and enjoyed it so much more, since he could work by himself.  Since we received a 6 month membership, my hope is that he'll work his way back up to the 3rd grade level before it's time to renew.  

You can check out your own customized demo here:  https://www.time4learning.com/curriculum/demos.html

To see what other reviewers had to say about Time 4 Learning, click below:  

Home 2 Months

This milestone actually happened a few days ago, but I was without my computer at the time, so pretend with me.

Two months. Wow.

25 appointments, just for my China kids.  That doesn't include the older kids things like youth group, or football.  That doesn't even include lab work, now that I think about it.

Hundreds of pictures.

 

And lots of milestones.

What has changed in the last 2 months?

Our first day together in China

Well, for this little girl, she's speaking more and more English all the time. She asks me to identify Ev-ery-thing she sees.  Hair, panda, and banana are popular words with her. She's finally saying "Night night, Mama!" when I say "Night night, Katie!" instead of repeating, "Night night, Katie."

at the park in August

We are almost finished with the babies' bedroom, and in fact, it's done enough that they're now sleeping in there. I can't wait to show pictures when it's all finished.

at the breakfast buffet in China

This little guy has changed, too.  He's eating a wider variety of foods, and starting to move his mouth more while eating.  He doesn't throw fits nearly as often as he did when we were in China.  And he's finally starting to use his mouth to receive input.  He doesn't yet put toys in his mouth, but I have finally seen him touch them to his mouth.  It's a start.

at the park (same day as Katie's photo)

Lukey, unfortunately, often has a boo boo on his face, because he has no self preservation instinct yet. When he falls, he doesn't try to catch himself. In fact, when he's tired of sitting, he usually goes straight over backwards, which freaks me out a little. The current owie on his lip isn't healing because he keeps rubbing the scab off and bleeding up his nostril. Gross, right?

So we're settling in.  It's easier now than it was when we first got home, and I know it will be easier still in another few months.


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Our first week of school

I like to do a weekly wrap up post each week to share what we've been learning. My fear is that this year I'll be harder pressed to find blog worthy moments and photos because we are no longer learning about a different country every two weeks. But I'm sure I'll find something.

Our art curriculum this year is God & The History of Art Volumes I & II Set (includes 35 Paint Cards and 36 Postcards).  Our first project was drawing with our teeth!  I pulled up a YouTube video of Joni Erickson Tada drawing with her mouth, and then we gave it a shot. 

It was quite a challenge!  It made me thankful for my hands.  While I'm not a great artist by any stretch of the imagination, I draw better with my hands than with my teeth.  

One thing that flopped for us was Homeschool PE. 

I thought they'd enjoy it. I was wrong. Ah well, I guess I can't win 'em all.  

Our schedule has to stay flexible, as we had 3 appointments for the little kids this week. Katie got her prosthetic, Hannah saw the ophthalmologist, and Luke had his "not therapy" appointment.

This week, we learned about the days of Creation, dinosaurs, and we celebrated the Sabbath.  

We made a challah cover (Brianna's corner, prior to hemming), and Brianna made challah.  The boys helped me make the stew to go with it.  It was a lovely celebration, complete with readings and blessings, and candles, but I didn't take a single picture that night, sorry!  

    

Catching up

Do you know how hard it is for a blogger to be computerless for a whole week? And not just any week, but the first week of school!



Sam started back to his private school, and the rest of us began our homeschool year. (Hannah continues her weird schedule, and will be going "off track" for a month right about the time we get our routine down. Sigh.)



This week, Hannah had her eye doctor appointment. She did poorly on the eye exam at her recent check up, so this was a follow up visit. Time to change her prescription.



Fortunately, she's an easy patient, and did really well at the exam.



One very exciting thing to occur this week was Luke's first visit with the physical therapist. This right here is something we have not been able to get Luke to do before. She gave us some pointers and techniques to try, and we've been working on helping him learn the motions to sit up.


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