Homeschool Weekly Wrap Up March 16th,2012

This week was a little off due to my sister and her 4 children visiting from out of town. We had great fun playing outdoors in the beautiful weather we have been having, played at the park, and going to the zoo.

Big Man and Princess where so excited to begin our first week of Tapestry of Grace and start their new grade level subjects that they begged me all weekend to "do school". We started our week on Sunday afternoon and finished up this Saturday. So, even with company for 3 days, we were able to stay on schedule and get everything done.

Princess- Even though I didn't care for the Language Arts portion of Sonlight when we did it last year, Big Man seemed to do well with my modified version of LA1, so I decided since we already owned it, I would do the same with Princess. She did really well with the "I Can Read" Book 1 stories since the words were familiar to her from the word ladder activities we did last year. She struggles most with the copywork and knowing how to keep everything in order when she rewrites it.
She also started ETC 1 and did awesome!

Big Man- This week was the beginning of some brand new curriculum for him. He thinks that FLL is way to easy and short right now, but I have thought it has been perfect. He struggled with the first narration we did in WWE, but once he got the hang of it, it was easy sailing from then on. His reading continues to improve every day. We choose books from THIS list that our library has. He reads one book per day to me or Dad and then documents it in his reading log. I have him write the name of the book and the author then he draws a picture of something he remembers from the book.

He started ETC Book 4. I had heard that it was best to skip this one and move on to book 5, but so far, no problems. I plan to just stick in there and see how it goes. We also began Beyond the Code with Book 1.

Princess- Started Horizons K this week. We also are doing the 2 week trial of DreamBox with plans to purchase the subscription through Homeschool Buyers Coop. Both kids have loved the program and I have been very impressed with the level of the content they are learning.

Big Man- Started Horizons Math 1, as well as Math Mammoth 1, and DreamBox. We made these alligators to reinforce the concept of greater than/less than and played a rousing game of war!

We learned about weather in science this week. We started a temperature log and discussed evaporation.

Our first week of TOG was great fun! We read several books about Ancient Egypt. They both loved making the cookie map of Egypt. I think the mountains tasted the best!

We had friends over on Friday that also started this week and made Egyptian Paddle Dolls.

Our read aloud this week is Little House in the Big Woods By Laura Ingalls Wilder. Snuggle time with Daddy is a must!

Curriculum

2012 School Year Curriculum

Together

Bible- Bible Study Guide For All Ages

History and Geography- Tapestry of Grace Year One

Science- NOEO Biology I

Art/Music- Harmony Fine Arts Year One, Piano Lessons

Big Man

First Grade

Language Arts- Spelling Workout, Explode the Code (books), First Language Lessons Level 1, Writing With Ease , reading tons of books by grade level from library.

Math- Horizon 1, supplemented with Math Mammoth, and DreamBox Learning.



Princess
Kindergarten

Language Arts- Early readers, sight word practice, cvc words, etc, and Explode the Code.

Math- Horizon K supplemented with DreamBox Learning.



Why We Homeschool

I know that I took a very long hiatus from blogging, but have finally decided to come back. Why? Well, I thought it might give me the kick in the pants I need to document our lives. Not only our day to day activities, but also our homeschooling journey. So, to kick off my return to Blogosphere, I thought I would start with the basic "Why We Homeschool".

We homeschool for one reason-Because that is what is right for our family. Notice I didn't say that it is right for every family, I said it is what is right for OUR family. When we were considering homeschooling our children, Hubs asked one thing- Can we provide a better education for our children at home than they can recieve elsewhere? The answer was a definite yes. We want to teach our children Biblical truths, we want to protect them from the outside world (to some extent) on our terms and no one else, and mainly because we want to provide a more rigorous education than what is provided at many of our local schools.

Time 4 Learning

Time 4 Learning is a convenient online homeschool curriculum that combines education with online interactive fun. They provide lessons for preschool age thru eighth grade using a combination of animated lessons, activities, worksheets, and quizes or tests. Some people use Time 4 Learning for their complete homeschool curriculum but we have been using it as an enrichment to the curriculum we already use.

We have been using the preschool, kindergarten, and first grade levels that include subjects such as language arts, math, and science. The only drawback I have seen with Time 4 Learning is the monthly fee for students. With 2 children who love every minute of their time spent on the site, it does add up. However, we have justified the cost and added it as one of our homeschool expenses based purely on the fact that they are learning, they are enjoying it, and they are learning computer skills in the process. They do provide discounts for additional students in a family.

We have been very please with Time 4 Learning. For those who are interested, we did find out that the public school system uses a program from the same company designed for classroom use, and that the materials are aligned with our state requirements.

Right now Time 4 Learning is providing a 14 day money back guarantee. So I suggest everyone with homeschoolers try it and see how it works with your family, and if you are anything like us-you will find a way to add it into your schedule and budget!

Time4Learning is an online education program that can be used as a homeschooling curriculum, an afterschool tutorial or for summer learning. As a member, I've been given the opportunity to share my experiences. The content in this review was not written by Time4Learning. While I was compensated, the opinion is entirely my own.

Finally! The Bar Stool......

These have been finished for a long while now. My life got crazy busy and I just have not had time to do any crafty projects or posting. I am ready to jump back in and get my hands dirty now!

After adding the workboxes to our dining room for homeschooling, I no longer had room for all 3 I had made, so I now have 1 unfinished bar stool in our basement. Im a little disapointed in that, but alas the kids eduction comes first!

So, I know we have been waiting FOREVER on these! Hope you like them!

My computer is being weird! So, everybody turn your head completely to the side!

I got the pattern from Ana White. I have talked about her site a while ago. It is amazing! It is full of inspiration and will make a wood worker out of anybody. I started with a doll bed for a Christmas gift and this was my second project.

Coming soon....a headboard I made from cabinet doors!

My Weekend Project

The kids and I will be studying Medieval Times soon, so when I saw this Card Table Castle Fort Pattern on Etsy I just knew I had to make it for the kids! This etsy shop has a ton of very adorable ideas to spark tons of imagination in your kids play.

I will say that overall the pattern and idea were great, but the directions were very hard to follow. For someone who does not have much experience with sewing, I think it might be very confusing. There were a lot of areas where I had to "make it work" so to speak!

Sorry for the poor pictures of this. I could not keep the kids away from it to take any at all. They were running around and hoping in and out as fast as I was snapping pictures!

Front with Drawbridge

Side-These windows are the most adorable thing I have ever seen! The bugs were not included in the pattern, I had some fabric I cut those from and added them myself.

Back with a scary dragon in a cave! I added a nose, a bottom jaw, and the tongue to him which was not included in the pattern.

Other side!

Bar Stools.....

I haven't forgot to post the final pictures of the bar stools I was going to make! I decided to wait until hubby was home just in case there was a mishap with my first time using a saw. Fortunately there was not! I had a small problem with the circular saw at first, but cruised along with the miter saw!

Here is the dilemma I now face...I LOVE the stools. I also LOVE the cushions I made. However, I do NOT love the cushions on the bar stools. I am so disappointed and at a loss for what to do. The fabric choice for the cushions is just way more formal than the actual bar stool itself is. I am frustrated with the money I spent on the fabric and hate to purchase something else, but at the same time I don't really want to leave them the way they are now. What I think I am going to do first it cut down the size of the seat (right now it hangs off the edges about 1". I am hoping that if the seats are much smaller the cushions will not stand out so much? I don't know....suggestions anyone????