Pizza Hut Book It for Homeschoolers

Now is the chance to sign up. Click here to join.

Weekly Report for 2/22-2/26

The weekly report for Nathan (1st grade, age 7).

Math: K12 regroup subtraction, problem solving, estimate and measure, Rod and staff, Kumon counting money, kumon word problems, and daily math review

Science: K12
super strong stems, flowers and fruit

History: K12 Trojan War

Handwriting: Handwriting without tears 1st grade book

Grammar: Voyages in English 1 we are learning verbs. We also read If You Were a Verb and To Root To Toot To Parachute, daily language review

Phonics: This workbook and we've been reading Dr. Seuss books.

Literature: Almost done with Farmer Boy.

Geography: learned about grids and how to determine distances on a map using Rand McNally.

Bible: LifePac Bible 1

Logic: Lollipop Logic

Weekly Reader: Finished the Olympic reader and started the Science Spin issue

Health: Learned about being unique and alike and different. Using Horizons K.

Art: Using What's the Big Idea? and we learned about abstract faces and above are pictures of our attempt at abstract pictures. Nathans is the yellow one and his brothers did the other two. Also using enchanted learning for St. Patrick's day projects.

Weekly Report for 2/15-2/19

Again these are just for Nathan (1st grade, age 7).

Grammar- Finished with writing a formal letter and mailed it to Grandma. We also started a unit on verbs. We are using Voyages in English and it's still a good fit for us. Nathan loves the assignments and all the writing provides him with some much needed practice in handwriting. Also we do a daily language review which happens to be one of Nathans favorite things to do.

Literature- Still working our way through Farmer Boy. I think maybe it was a little much for Nathan as he's not wanting to do anything else besides listening to the reading. Hopefully we can get this done this week or next and move on to Mr. Poppers Penguins which I think he'll really like.

Phonics- Working through a workbook that I picked up at Barnes and Noble since every where (okay at least the places I have tried) is out of stock on the Explode the Code Book 3. And now I see a few places that have it in stock again.

Math- Working on adding two digit problems, subtracting two digit problems and regrouping to add and subtract two digit numbers. Still using the K12 program but adding in other practice books. We are using Rod and Staff Math 1 Workbook #2 for review of the basics. We are also using Kumon Counting Coins and Kumon Word Problems 1 for practice and review. We do one page daily and rotate the books. Also we are using the daily math review which again Nathan really loves.

Science- Working on the section on plants from K12. Honestly the science has been so dry its hard to do the work. Hopefully I can find a much more interesting program next year for science.

History. We've started Ancient Greece and have been learning about the Gods and Goddesses. We are using K12 but next year I think we will move on to another history program. Again we just feel like its not very interesting.

Weekly Readers- We worked on the President's day and finished the Olympic one.

Art- Learning about abstract art. Trying to find an art program that we like.

Finally we did a field trip this week. We went to Clark Planetarium. The boys enjoyed walking through the planetarium and doing all the fun activities. We also watched the movie Secrets of the Cardboard Rocket on the dome. It was so much fun. The kids are still quoting facts about space they learned in the movie. Overall it was a tiring day but we really had a blast. We rode frontrunner down (commuter train) and caught trax over to the planetarium. Again the train ride was as much fun for the kids as the planetarium.

Weekly Report for the past two weeks

I've fallen behind on updating the weekly reports so I'm going to do the past two weeks quickly and call it good.

Math- adding and subtracting two columns. This has been a challenge but I "think" we've finally got it down. We've also been working on supplementing k12 math with the rod and staff 1st grade math, and two kumon books. One book is counting money and the other is story problems. Also we are doing daily math review through the Evan Moor program. Also playing the game Sum Swamp for even more math practice.

History- Ancient Greece. We learned about the daily life in ancient Greece and the Greek Gods and Goddesses. This week we will be watching a Jim Hanson Muppet movie about the Greek Gods and Goddesses.

Science- Started learning about plants. We have some baggies filled with seeds in various spots around the house to find out what type of conditions are best for growing plants.

Geography- Working our way through the RandMcNally geography book.

Voyages in English for grammar. We just finished the section on nouns and are learning to write a proper letter. Grandma look for a letter in the mail later this week.

Still working our way through Farmer Boy.

Nathan started reading several Dr. Seuss books and is loving them.

Weekly Reader- We learned about the Olympics and President's day.

I'm sure I'm missing things but there you go what we've been working on for the past two weeks.

Toy Story Mania

Nathan had his birthday over the weekend. All he wanted was Toy Story items and somehow he talked my sister into making an awesome birthday cake for him. He was/is thrilled with the cake and is still talking about it.

Weekly Report for 1/25-1/29

Nathan only. Okay I don't know why it didn't highlight all my links but if your interested in looking at the books we are using click on the name to see it.

We finished Stanley and the Magic Lamp. We started Farmer Boy. We are going to put together (hopefully) a little book about our readings with Farmer Boy.

Nathan wrote a personal narrative for English. He worked out ideas, then drew pictures of what he was going to write about and made sure he had a beginning, middle, and end. Then he edited and made a final copy. His personal narrative is the picture at the top of this post.

He has been learning about nouns. We learned about proper nouns and are now working on common nouns. We are using Voyages in English 1st Grade for our grammar and writing program. So far we both are liking the program. It does have loads of writing but he really needs practice with writing.

In math, we are still using k12 and supplementing with R&S Grade 1 book 2, he has been learning how to add and subtract two digit numbers. It's been a long math session each day but I think he is finally getting it. The R&S book is just for practice and its just been doing subtractions with one digit numbers.

He still is working in the Spelling Workbook A. He really likes the program and is progressing quite nicely with his spelling. It's a really simple workbook for him and I probably should have gone a level up but it's really improved his spelling.

I'm looking for a phonics program for him but he's been doing starfall and word girl for phonics this week. Plus he's been reading books from the library.

Science, again it's k12, we've learned about light. He learned opaque, transparent, and translucent and what they mean. We also learned about making shadows.

History, k12 still, he learned about the hanging gardens in Babylon and Ishtar and Tammuz.

We've been doing daily practice from Evan Moor in Language arts and math. This has been a huge hit for us. Nathan really loves doing these.

In music we found a book at the library and we are singing the songs. It's a Peter Yarrow Favorite Folk Songs book and its been a hit with all three kids. Here is a link to the book.

He did memorize some rhymes from an old rhyme book from the library.
I also started him with geography lessons. I found a fun little book and he's really enjoying this workbook.

Finally, and I think this is the last thing, we are working our way through the first grade Handwriting without tears. I have to say I think he is finally getting handwriting. His handwriting has improved so much, even from the beginning of the year. Maybe its all the writing practice he gets in Voyages in English.

Weekly Report for 1/18-1/22

The Well Trained Mind forum, where I am learning loads of info, does a weekly report each week. I've been reading for weeks now and I finally feel ready to share what we do during our week.

Nathan (age 6, 1st grader)
Stanley and the Magic Lamp for reading time
His practice reading he read Fly High Fly Guy and Daniel's Pet.
Finished Explode the Code Level 2. He also worked on Starfall since I'm not sure what we are going to do for phonics.
Handwriting practice he continued working in Handwriting without tears Printing Book.
Spelling: Spelling Workout A, which I shared pictures of above. So far I am liking this program and Nathan loves it. We did lesson 6-10 this week.
Voyages in English 1: We worked on sentences. He's been learning about telling sentences, commanding sentences, questions, and exclaiming sentences. He's at the end of the chapter for sentences and we are working on a writing assignment about personal narratives.
We are finishing up our K12 stuff and then we will be moving on. I feel we just don't click with the k12 program anymore. Math he is learning about probability and chance. History he learned about King Solomon. Science is light.

The twins (5, starting kindergarten work)
30 minutes daily of Rusty and Rosie. This is a free state program that focuses on reading skills with some math and science thrown in.
Horizon Math K
Horizon Phonics K
Handwriting without tears preschool book
Zane Bloser Spelling Connections for kindergarteners
Zach has been listening to books on tapes.
Noah and I read Magic Treehouse book #2 The Knight at Dawn
We started a space themed science study since Noah wants to learn science.