Weekly Wrap-Up: Week 11

Yes, I've been very bad these past several weeks with posting and "wrapping up" our weeks! Please join Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers in their weekly wrap up each Friday!

This past week we began animal classification in Em's science book. She also did this vertebrate/invertebrate wheel from Enchanted Learning and watched a video of a jelly fish (invertebrate) and alligator (vertebrate). Here is a quick and easy quiz.

We began a new read-aloud, The Exiles at Home, which is about 4 sisters who sponsor a boy in Africa unbeknownst to their parents. They have to try and make enough money to send each month and write letters back and forth getting to know him. This is an absolutely perfect read for us right now, as we just started sponsoring a girl in Ghana and a boy from Tanzania. Next week we will start a unit study on Africa.

We're covering the basics in math, grammar, spelling, and copy work. We're reading in the Gospels in the Bible and learning about climates in her history/social studies book.

Em began a Thanksgiving notebook last week. She read a play, colored some pictures, and did some vocabulary sheets.

She also helped pick out items, pack, and turn in Operation Christmas Child boxes. We had a long discussion about how children in other countries live compared to her and how blessed she is here in America. She and her sister made 40 Christmas cards to send to Compassion International for unsponsored children as well.

Next week will be a short week, but I hope to fit a lot in!

Blessings,

Sherry

Week Five Weekly Wrap Up-ish

This post is linked up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers!


This week was a complete hodgepodge. We had moments of brilliance - and a whole lot of 'we'll get to that later'.

Highlights:

The deer have returned to our field. There were two beautiful does in the field this morning and they stayed still long enough for a good look before loping into the tall grass.

The birds have returned to our feeders! This has made our cat Jasper VERY happy - as the feeder is right outside his window! Wrens, sparrows, red-winged blackbirds and lots of pigeons so far.

We had a wonderful nature and art day at the park drawing and observing ducks and geese!

There was also great times with visiting relatives, letters to sponsored 'sisters', and another football game.

Driving through the neighborhoods we've observed changing trees, squirrels and other critters starting to gather food, and have discussed why we have daylight savings time.

Em started two new books, did some math, grammar, science, and spelling.

Home Ec day with grandma was spent putting together a gingerbread house, doing some beading, chocolate chip cooking making, and puppy-sitting!

Next week will focus more heavily on academics - but I think life lessons are important too!

Sherry

Teacher's Planning Day

Here's a quick look at our week five:

Math: Daily multiplication review, chapter one review, moving on to chapter two.

Spelling: Lesson 5 in our spelling book, spellingcity.com

Cursive: Daily cursive pages

Reading: New read-aloud, "The BFG", Em will finish up her current book, and we will read lesson 4 in her reading book.

Grammar: Doing chapter one review and moving on to chapter two.

Religion: Week 3 at Hearts of Wisdom - Cain and Abel. New notebooking pages.

Science: Reviewing chapter one, moving on to chapter two!

Nature: This week's focus is horses. Now I have to figure out where we can go and see one!
We're still working on our nocturnal animals unit study. This week we'll color a few pictures and do a Raccoon lapbook.

Social Studies/Art: Preserving historic places

Art: We will start our study on Degas. We will also learn how to draw a cat.

Socialization: We have a birthday party, art class, and church activities.

1st Birthday

This is my nephew Caleb - and he turned one today! He really enjoyed his cake!
He also loved his little laptop that Auntie bought for him! His favorite gift :)


I caught Emme off guard with this one. She rarely allows photos!



Caleb was all worn out after his big day!


Sherry

Weekly Wrap Up: Week Four

I'm linking up to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschool's Weekly Wrap Up!

MATH: We did a chapter review in our new math book and Emme did well, 90%. The rest of the week we continued with multiplication review with math rockets, worksheets, and flash cards.

SPELLING: Once again Em did outstanding in spelling. She received a 100% on her quiz at Spelling City. I love how you can print out the results or even a certificate of achievement at that site!

HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES: I'm sorry to say it remained boring this week. *sigh* Just finished up the first chapter, all about government. Definitely have to make the next chapter more exciting!

CURSIVE: Did several pages from Mastering Cursive 5th Grade - definitely improving.

GRAMMAR: We practiced run-on sentences and did a full chapter review and quiz. Emme got a 93%.

RELIGION: Finished up week 2 of Hearts of Wisdom study - did another 2 interactive notebook pages.

SCIENCE: Read in the CLP Nature Reader 5 all about how the tongue and teeth aids in digestion, both in humans and in animals. In our science book we read about how plants help with pollution and oil spills. Since it is such a timely subject, I think I will take the time to do a one-week unit study on oil spills. I found wonderful resources at the Tug At Nature blog.

NATURE: Lots of nature talk this week with the change of seasons. We started an Autumn Leaf unit study and worked more on our Fall notebooking pages. Went for a walk on a local Nature Trail. Did some drawing in our nature books of tall grasses, trees losing their green color (not yet colorful, just getting more drab) fall wildflowers, and cat tails. We sounds thousands for crickets and three types of butterflies. We got to observe some "talking" crows (they were communicating between a telephone pole and a tree) and watched some cute little sparrows eating berries and chatting happily in a small tree. Will work over the weekend on finding some ducks and geese so we can work on the Handbook of Nature Study Blog's week 2 challenge.

HOME EC & ARTS & CRAFTS W/ GRANDMA: Em stays over my Mom's house every Thursday while I work. This week they baked and decorated Halloween cookies. Emme did everything aside from using the oven. She made a Halloween craft, colored a felt picture with markers, and did a craft of a cat with plastic bead art. Oh - and did a beaded necklace as well. I think the time she spends with my Mom is invaluable and one of the most important parts of her homeschooling!

READING: Finished up "The Witches" and she is almost finished with "Poppy" - next week we will start a new read-a-loud and a new book for Em to read as well. In her free time she is reading fairy books - but I think the next book I will have her read is "Bunnicula"!

Em went to another of her brother's football games this week! Even after how bored she was last week. Even if neither of them act like it, I am sure he appreciates her support!

I hope everyone has an exciting and enriching week of homeschooling!

Sherry

WEEKLY WRAP UP: WEEK THREE

I'm linking up with the Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers and the Weekly Wrap-Up!

Week three did not go as planned. We ended up having to play catch-up over the weekend. We still have a few subjects to make up this afternoon. I just have to do a bit better with planning this week!

MATH: We reviewed multiplication with the math rockets from Practical Pages. In her 5th grade math book we did a mid-chapter review working with decimals, fractions, estimation. Some concepts she is picking up right away and others she is stuck on. We are not going to zoom forward with the math. I am going to find other ways to practice each new idea until she's got it. We will also continue reviewing several times a week too.

SPELLING: We have a 6th grade spelling book and I plug the words into Spelling City for practice and an end-of-the-week spelling quiz. She breezes through them and the grammar work in the spelling book as well.

HISTORY: Em's history/social studies book went further into the details of the US government this week. I'll be honest, it bored us both. I'll have to find a way to make it more exciting this week.





SCIENCE: Very appropriately - we learned about how trees are nourished, the different parts of a tree, and how leaves turn colors. The brighter the sun, clearer the sky, and cooler the weather dictates just how colorful the leaves will be.


LITERATURE: Emme read a story about Wilma Rudolph and we did a notebook page on her and she learned more about polio.

GRAMMAR: We tackled run-on sentences this week. Pretty simple stuff for her. Thank God she has a strong English brain! LOL (as opposed to her math brain)

RELIGION: We did week two on Heart of Wisdom - free Bible lesson plans. This week was Adam and Eve. There was copywork, a notebooking page, memory verses, and coloring pages. If you have not seen this site before, I urge you to check it out!

CURSIVE: She did a few pages in her mastering cursive 5th grade workbook.

NATURE STUDY: We are following along with Harmony Art Mom and the Handbook of Nature Study blog. This week the challenge was to start a nature book. I purchased two artists notebooks along with some colored pencils and a beginning drawing kit along with some scrapbook paper. We decorated the books with the scrapbook paper. Mine is outdoorsy with greens and blues. Emme's has sparkly hearts all over the front of it!

We had to miss out on our field trip due to the weather. We had super high winds and the threat of a thunderstorm. Emme attended one of her brother's football games this week! You can see just how excited she was to be there:



We did some other things, but those are the highlights! I hope all of your school days are blessed!

Sherry

Football

Just a very quick hello to anyone out there that might be reading this! We went to my son's football game tonight and Emme was just SO BORED. I thought I'd share a couple of pictures.

He played defense today. They ended up with a tie game.

Emme is SO BORED

But when she heard it was time to leave - she was all smiles again!

Have a great end of the week!

Sherry

Mamas on Missions

So I am extremely late in finding this - but I tackled two big projects this month that fit into the category of a "mission" - so I decided that I would join in with this wonderful meme hosted by Mama Jen! I'll be set and ready to go for October!

September is a time of organization in our household. I went through the kids' closets and my own, getting rid of the summer items and replacing them with the fall/winter clothes. I did a big clean out of the coat closet, making room for heavy coats, boots, hats, scarves and gloves. We'll be needing them sooner than you'd think!

Besides those two things, I also changed around some book shelves and a bureau to make room for Em's new school books.

What projects did you complete so far in September?

Sherry

A Rare Sight!

I hardly EVER get a picture of Emme smiling! I generally have to take about a dozen shots to get one where she is even facing the camera! This was taken during vacation in July in Washington DC at a museum about George Washington.

Sherry

Sometimes It's Hard to Have a Big Brother!

Emme's had a hard day - and luckily she has a pretty hard head. Big brother Jake (almost 12) was trying to get into her bedroom (which he knows better!) and they were fighting over the door and the door smacked her in the head!



A lot of ice and a Littlest Pet Shop Band-aid later, she's back to her normal self - albeit with a goose egg on her head!

Just three or so months ago she was walking through the living room with a large, open laptop (mine) and she tripped over the rug and slammed into the wall, hitting her head on the corner of the laptop. She had a very similar bump on the other side of her head!

Poor kid!

Weekly Wrap Up: Week Two!

I'm linking this post up with the WeirdUnsocialized Homeschooler's Weekly Wrap Up Meme!

This was one crazy week! We homeschooled at work, in the car, at the kitchen table, and at Grandma's - but there was a lot of learning going on! That's the point, right?


MATH: Em is catching on to new concepts pretty well, but her times tables seemed to have slipped right out of her head over the summer. *sigh* TH and F we did some review sheets and some online multiplication flash cards. I think I'll have to keep doing review and build on it slowly with new things. How does one find their math brain?

GRAMMAR: We did a review of simple and complete subjects and predicates and worked on punctuation.

SPELLING: Our spelling words of the week were geographical words - which fit right in. The seven continents, four oceans, mountain ranges, etc. At the end of the week we do a quiz at Spelling City.
HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY: We had some important concepts and discussions this week regarding immigration, ethnicity, and prejudice. We also learned about different types of maps, made some vocabulary cards for our first 2 lessons, and did the hemisphere mini book
thanks to Practical Pages!

SCIENCE: In our main science book we learned about woody stems and soft stems. We also drew leaves and labeled them. In the CLP Nature Reader 5 Emme read up on the similarities between blood and sap. We also started a nocturnal animal lapbook. And please forgive me for forgetting where this link came from - but some other wonderful blogger directed us to nature footage and I was able to find all of these videos on nocturnal animals!

LITERATURE: We read an excerpt from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and did a notebook page on CS Lewis and one on Viking Ships along with a coloring page. Oh, and also watched the movie trailer!

READING: Emme is reading the book "Poppy" and we are reading aloud "The Witches" - and we are both loving it!

RELIGION: I was so excited to find the Heart of Wisdom Bible lesson plans! It' just what I was looking for. There are lessons, memory verses, handwriting practice, mini books, games and more. We also do one weekly lesson from our Women/Young Women of Faith Bible Study.

CURSIVE: Em's writing still isn't very good. (Neither are her brother or sister's!) I found a 5th grade version of Mastering Cursive and she does one page per day. She seems to be taking her time more and it is improving.

HOME EC WITH GRANDMA: Emme made some cupcakes with grandma yesterday and then went to the store with her to help pick out candy molds for the upcoming holidays. They will be learning to sew and making candy in the weeks to come! (I'll take pictures next time)

I wanted to share a resource that I found sometime last year that has come in really handy for us, it's called the easy test maker. Now I know a lot of people don't like worksheets, quizzes, etc., but it can be used in many different ways to work with all types of curriculum! I've been using it to make review sheets and vocabulary sheets so far, but I can see how it will be a big part of our school year.

I hope you all had a very blessed week with your homeschoolers!

Sherry

Weekly Wrap Up: Week One

I am joining in with the Weekly Wrap Up over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

This post sort of rambles, so I apologize in advance!!! I'll do better next week, promise!

We had a short week for our first week. 3 whole days and one 1/2 day.

My work schedule has changed, so school doesn't happen the same time every day.

Mondays we have school in the afternoon at home.

Tuesday Emme comes to work with me and we have "work school". I plan on burning CDs of audio books starting next week as we have a 30+ minute drive to and from work.

Wednesday is school at home in the morning.

Thursday is school at grandma's house.

Friday is school at home in the morning or a field trip or nature walk with a shortened school day in the afternoon.

Homeschooling while working is difficult, but it can be done! Especially now that she is older and can work independently for longer periods.

Tuesday - Sept 7th: First official day of school, 1/2-day. We did a review in math, started learning about maps in history/social studies, read some poetry in language arts, learned about plant cells in science, and began reading "The Wind in the Door". In our Bible study we learned about why it's important to trust Jesus and not rely on ourselves. We read the study and the corresponding verses.

Wednesday - Worked on estimation to the billionth place in math, compared animal cells to plant cells and learned about fungi in science, read more of "The Wind in the Door", more about maps in history, and read a Japanese fairy tale with narration in reading, reviewed declarative and interrogative sentences in grammar. We read about how Jesus was baptized and talked more about the importance of baptism.

Thursday - Had "home ec" with grandma. This wasn't planned, but just sort of happened naturally, as my mother likes to teach my girls about cooking, cleaning, sewing, etc. Emme wants to learn how to make doll clothes next week. In the evening we started reading "The Witches" by R. Dahl, did more science, grammar, reading, math, and history. We read how Jesus was tempted.

Friday - Lots of science today. We reviewed all we learned about cells, different types of plants, and learned about algae and other protists. Em started reading "Poppy" and another book I can't remember the name of, but was recommended for 5th grade.

Now, for the life of me I can't remember the blog - but it was a homeschooling blog - but they mentioned "selective mutism". I read up on it at Wikipedia, and I am pretty positive both Emme and Jake are afflicted with this. I had to pull Jake out of preschool after a month because he wouldn't talk to a soul. It took him nearly as long to talk in kindergarten, and about 2 weeks every year since. At our family reunion he stood stiff as a board apart from everyone else for several hours and would not utter a word to anyone. Emme is much the same. In social situations they seem to freeze up and are unable to talk to anyone. We've just said they are shy and sometimes they come off as rude and I am really apologetic. But after reading this - it just FITS! They are so talkative and personable at home and at their grandparents and with friends. Jake has been seeing the same pediatrician for his whole life and he has never said one word to her. We took him to get a hair cut the other day and he wouldn't even respond to the stylists questions. He's not mean, he's not rude, he just freezes.

Ok, 'nuff about that. The reason I mentioned it is because I am working with Emme on that. Since she is homeschooled, she is not in as many social situations as Jacob is. Today she responded with a "hi" to one of the people I work with and I praised her for it. Yesterday I said that maybe we could go inside of a McDonalds and she could tell the employee which drink she'd like. She said "no! I can't!" and then she became logical and said "Isn't it strange that I am afraid to say what drink I want?" So she is aware of her behavior and finds it odd, yet continues to do it. We'll keep working on it!

So that's our weekly wrap up. I am really happy about how well she's taken to our new curriculum and

5th Grade Plans

(8/21) I am so excited about so many things coming up this year of homeschooling! I received my curriculum yesterday and I am going to go about the job of getting my lesson plan done in the next few days.

We just started at a new church and I'm hopeful that it will bring Emme out of her shell a little bit. She also is taking an art class and a dance class. I think it will boost her confidence and help her to make some new friends.

I ordered the secondary planner from The Homeschool Store to organize everything this year. I'm using printables from Donna Young as well.

(9/6) Well tomorrow school starts for all three of my kids. The two older kids have their backpacks filled up and their clothes laid out for tomorrow. Emme doesn't have 1st day jitters. She'll sleep just find tonight! LOL Don't get me wrong, my older two do GREAT in public schools overall. They are nervous but happy to go back.

Since public schools have a half day, Em and I will too. We are following the same schedule - makes things a lot easier for Mom!

Most of her new subjects will be introduced tomorrow. We have new math, reading, English, US history/geography, and science books. I have the 6th grade spelling book she started the last term of 4th grade. She is going to start reading "The Witches" by R. Dahl and I found this resource pdf online. We'll also be doing a unit on the Salem witch trials and I found a lens on Squidoo. We visited Salem, Mass this summer and visited the museum and she is very interested. There is also a Squidoo lens on Roald Dahl.

For religion we'll be following a weekly Bible study that partners the Young Women of Faith Bible and the Women of Faith Bible so we can do the study together.


"Created to instill in young girls a habit of studying God's Word, the NIV "Young Women of Faith Bible" is filled with cool in-text features. Fifty-two weekly studies are thematically tied to the NIV "Women of Faith Study Bible" to encourage a time for mothers and daughters to share in God's Word. "

Well it's time to make sure everyone is in bed! Best of luck with your new school year!

Sherry

The Time is Upon Us!

I am switching to Blogger from Homeschoolblogger.com simply because latter site felt "clunky" to me. This will be easier!

I received a wonderful blessing this week. Emme goes to work with me 3 half days per week and she has her own desk with school supplies and everything she needs to do her school work while we are there. My boss GAVE her a mini notebook computer! It's only about 3 months old. She is so excited! She was asking for one for Christmas. She loves playing on Poptropica and several other websites. Plus I can download books for her to read on it as well. Yay! It's portable enough to bring back and forth to "work/school" (that is what we call it).

My good friend from high school and college is coming over tomorrow night. I haven't seen her in at least 6 or 7 years! I'm really excited to see her. She is a public school teacher in our city. She used to teach 5th grade and now she teaches 3rd. She is going to bring me some of the school books they are using for 5th grade this year! I'm happy about that as well.

I'm just starting to work on our lesson plan for this year. We start school on the day after Labor Day, just like my other two who are in public school, 7th and 9th grade. I love the planning phase, it's so fun.

Well, this is really my "testing" post - so I should see how it looks on the new blog!

Have a wonderfully blessed weekend!

Sherry