Showing posts with label homeschool highlights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool highlights. Show all posts

Saturday, August 20, 2022

First Week of School!

I think we had a very productive first week of homeschool this week! So far, I'm really pleased with all of the curriculum choices we made and how well they're working with my boys. I'll break it down into each grade level and try to hit on the highlights of the week. This first week may be a bit lengthy.



First day of school breakfast - you can tell who looks more excited!

SILAS - 7th GRADE

I can't believe he is in middle school this year! He is really taking ownership of his schoolwork and doing most of it with zero help from me. 

Physical Science - He had several fun experiments/demonstrations this week that helped him visualize the concepts he is learning (the different types of energy). He completes his workbook pages with minimal help from me and does the experiments totally on his own (while I try to snap pictures!). 

shooting a rubber band at a target 

he made a ramp for a toy car

swinging a tennis ball around his head

learning about momentum with dominos, golf balls, and ping pong balls

World History - He reads the assigned pages on his own, gives me a narration when prompted, and completes his workbook pages all on his own. He brings them to me to check before putting them in his binder.

Writing Strands - Again, this has been done completely by him. It's a bit easy right now, but I want him to start slow with writing instruction. I do want to add in some grammar review each day, even just parts of speech.

Progeny Press - He finished reading chapters 6-8 this week and completed most of the questions for these chapters. We do this together for the most part, while he answers aloud and I help him condense the answer into a short enough response to write down. He loves the book he's reading - The Last Battle - and his comprehension of the story has really surprised me. 

Saxon Math 7/6 - He is using Nicole the Math Lady with this, and he says she makes things so simple to understand! He completed six lessons so far. I do not make him work all the problems in the problem set.


TITUS - 5th GRADE

So far, I've been sitting with him for his lessons, but I hope to be able to give him a bit more independence as time goes on. 

Science - He had a few experiments this week to show air pressure and that air has weight. I was really surprised how he read all of the lessons aloud in their entirety to me because he hates to read. he remembered so much from each lesson! He completed his workbook pages with little help.

learning that air has weight

air pressure

American History - He learned about Native Americans this week, one of his favorite topics! He also read these pages aloud and remembered quite a bit! He really enjoyed these workbook pages, including researching a tribe of his choice and writing a mini-report! 


Language Lessons for a Living Education - I like this workbook so far, and he can do it mostly on his own. He liked reading the Bible story, drawing the picture, and the copy work on Day 4! It is quick but looks like it's going to be a good variety of topics. 


Language Smarts E - This was a review workbook that I wanted Titus to keep using. He did some worksheets on prefixes and suffixes this week. 

Math Lessons for a Living Education - We love this series, and he was reviewing addition and subtraction this week, so it was totally on his own. 

Progeny Press - We finished reading the assigned chapters in Farmer Boy and finished the corresponding pages for those. He remembers a lot from this book, even though we take turns reading pages because he finds it challenging. There are a lot of details and descriptions in this book!

ZEKE - PRESCHOOL 3

The Gentle + Classical Preschool - We read Last Stop on Market Street three times this week. He enjoys this book! He learned the letter L and reviewed counting to five and counting five different objects. We did his memory cards each day, and he liked being able to hold them himself and recite the information. His nursery rhyme was Rain, Rain, Go Away and he would randomly recite it throughout the week!

counting five crayons


he can recognize the numbers 1-5

We did a fun rain in a jar experiment that I've done several times with my kids. He loved it!

We mixed red and yellow and made orange! He also did a red and orange sorting worksheet I created for him.


He also completed some worksheets from my Preschool Learning Journal and some that I created for him to go with his theme and letter this week. He loves worksheets and wants several a day.

he put a sticker in each circle

he filled the L with leaf stickers

he traced his letters and gave the lion a mane in an AB pattern

reading numbers and placing leaf stickers on the tree

he cut and glue a tiny green leaf to the tree - can you spot it?


this set is available in my Etsy shop - alphabet collage worksheets


he made this adorable paper plate lion! He drew the whiskers and mouth himself

he cut the edges to make a mane

Mercie starts her school Monday. It's going to be weird to have her gone during the day four days a week, but I know she is going to love it. Eli had his last first day of high school this week. It's bittersweet! Have you started school yet?

My high school senior!

?

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Week in Review: 2/21/22 - 2/26/22

This week was full, as usual! On Monday, I went to the doctor and found out that I am pregnant. This was very unexpected, and I'm still in shock! Baby Russell #7 is due on October 1. The kids are excited - well, all except Zeke. He is not happy about this news! 

Eli played his last basketball game of the season Friday night, but baseball season begins Monday! Mercie has a tennis match next week, but this week we had to deliver the 29 pizza kits she sold as a fundraiser! Titus also had TKD twice this week, and a belt test next Saturday. He is testing into yellow!

In science the boys and I read about Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. They made the planets from modeling clay and we will be putting our solar system models together next week. We've learned quite a few interesting facts about the planets with this Gather 'Round Homeschool unit.


In history we are finishing up the book "Raiders from the Sea." This has been such a interesting book and the boys love listening to it each day! We've also been reading in "A Child's History of the World" about different emperors and kings. We read about the first monks and the contributions to society they made. I love the fact that I learn so much while homeschooling my children.

Silas is still working with decimals in math, and Titus has been introduced to decimals, fractions and percents. They're both doing really great! In grammar, Silas has been reviewing all of the punctuation and capitalization rules and started learning how to make good paragraphs. Titus has also been reviewing the capitalization and punctuation rules and is almost finished with his unit.

Mercie had a few fun experiments this week in her science! She is reviewing a new math program, His Vessel Textbooks Algebra 1. She has completed two lessons so far, and although it's a little harder for her because she hasn't finished Pre-Algebra yet, she said she likes the curriculum better than what she's currently using.

We did school on the couch several days this week since I've been so tired. The boys really enjoyed being in the living room! We may keep doing it this way.


We didn't do any preschool with Zeke this week, but he did find the bag of fine motor tools, pull out the syringe, and ask to do that activity. I gave him so green water and a few silicon ice trays and he played with this for about half an hour!


Mercie has still been bottle feeding our calf, whom she has named Stewie. He's doing great, eating two full bottles a day! We may move up to three bottles.


The boys have been practicing Bible Drill, since our church drill is going to be March 27. They are so goofy as soon as I try to get a picture! Zeke always grabs his Bible and wants to do exactly what his "best friends" (as he calls them) are doing.

How was your week?

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Saturday, February 19, 2022

Week in Review: 2/14/22 - 2/18/22



Monday was Valentine's Day! I gave the kids each a little bucket of candy and a funny card. We don't go all out for Valentine's Day. Rod and I exchanged cards and that is about all we do each year. We had a regular school day, too.

Tuesday morning Zeke had speech, so he and I made the hour long trip there and back. He does really well at speech! He goes back all by himself, which is very surprising if you know Zeke. He normally doesn't go anywhere without me! We always stop at Burger King on the way home, and he never lets me forget. Mercie, Silas, and Titus stay home and do schoolwork. Mercie does hers on her own, and Titus and Silas do a math lesson, language lesson, and art lesson.

lesson from Art Achive

Tuesday night Eli had a basketball game, and Titus had Tae Kwon Do. My mother-in-law helps me get Titus to TKD when Eli has games, otherwise I wouldn't be able to swing it.  

Wednesday night we had our Team Kid Valentine Party. The Acteen girls cooked for them, we had a photo booth, I gave a lesson on God's love, and then we played Bible Bingo with conversation hearts. It was a fun, but a bit chaotic, night.

Thursday night was another basketball game about half an hour away, and Titus had TKD again. My mother-in-law took Titus and Silas rode with them, while Mercie, Zeke, and I went to Eli's game. Mercie had her first tennis match scheduled, but it was cancelled due to rain and bad weather predictions. Instead they practiced inside the gym. 

Friday night was yet another basketball game, and now they're in the play-offs. Basketball is almost over and baseball is almost here. There is no real break!

We continued learning about Space with our 'Gather Round Homeschool unit. The boys learned about asteroids, Jupiter, and Saturn this week. They used modeling clay to add to their solar system models.

Silas's Jupiter

They also worked in their student workbooks - five pages a day. They actually enjoy completing these pages, and it doesn't take them long at all.

Titus - 4th grade

Silas - 6th grade


We continued reading in "Raiders from the Sea" which is a really good book so far! The boys never want me to quit reading after the daily chapter. We are also reading in "A Child's History of the World" about different Germanic tribes and the Vikings. 

How was your week?

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Friday, February 4, 2022

Week in Review: 1/31/22-2/4/22

This week was a little bit quieter than last week for a couple of reasons. First of all, Zeke's speech appointment was canceled since his therapist was sick. Second, Eli only had one basketball game because his Tuesday game was canceled due to other team being in quarantine. And lastly, Mercie only had one tennis practice this week and Titus only had one TKD session. We still had a nice, full week, including Wednesday night church. Eli also got a much-needed haircut!

We started our Space unit from Gather 'Round Homeschool this week, and we just loved it. The boys really like the student workbooks, where they have five pages a day to complete. The diversity of the pages is nice!

We began a project this week - making a solar system model. We made the Sun and Mercury this week, and we will add planets as we learn about them. We painted a styrofoam ball for the Sun and made Mercury from modeling clay.

They also made paper plate sundials, but we haven't had a sunny enough day to test them out yet!

In history we learned about Paul, Peter, and the persecution of the early church. The boys made cross mosaics from construction paper. They also added to their timelines, defined vocabulary words, and did written narrations. We finished reading "Grandpa's Box", and the boys were a little sad. They've really loved reading this book! We also have one more chapter in "Fountain of Life."

Silas is doing really great with decimals! He hasn't needed much help at all this week in math or grammar. He is reviewing comma rules in grammar. Titus had a review week of multiplication, division, fractions, and word problems. He is learning all of the punctuation rules, especially quotation marks, in grammar.

Mercie learned how to work complicated word problems like time and distance. The books she is currently reading are: "Candy Bomber: The Story of Berlin Airlift's 'Chocolate Pilot,'" and "Atoms in the Family." She also read from Story of the World Volume 4. She compared different religions on a chart: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. 


Zeke learned about the letter E in The Peaceful Preschool this week. I'll have a more detailed post on that later.

How was your week? 


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