Survey Explanation

The survey on the sidebar came from a suggestion from princess. She believes that for the narrations the pictures should be on the same page already in the box so they they don't have to be cut out. Now I realize that she is 5 yo but the curriculum is written for her age group. So I thought before I put my new(Earth Science/Astronomy) curriculum up for sale, I would poll you guys! So tell me what you think, should they be on the same page like as shown in the sample or on a separate sheet, the way it actually is now? What would your kids prefer? Thanks for taking the time to answer!

Blessings...

Weekly Report Week 28-SL Core C

This week has been a very busy week for me! I was able to put the finishing touches on the Astronomy part of my Earth Science and Astronomy curriculum. Now I just have to finish Earth Science in the next two weeks or so. It takes so much more time than I thought to put these things together, but I am very pleased with how it's coming together. Hopefully I will be able to put some samples up this weekend on my website. Aside from that, I was proof-reading my hubby's thesis about poultry biosecurity. I'm so proud of all the work he has put in to it, after reading it, I know it's worth the sacrifice. Let's hope the committee thinks so too! In spite of all our work writing, I have also managed to do school with princess. Here's our week in review...

LA: Princess has been progressing well through long vowels and vowel combos in the HOP green book. We have also been moving throught ETC which has been easy and a confidence builder for princess. I think that we will be continuing with books 4-6 next year.

Math: We finished up addition/subtraction within in 10 and ordinal numbers this week! Princess is flying through 1A, for the second time. Princess has also taken to copying down her favorite problems so she can remember them. I'm not sure where this came from, but it's kinda cute!

Core C: We started studing deserts this week with Core C's history and it has been interesting. More than that, princess has been really enjoying Wizard of Oz and so have I. I've been tempted to stay up all night just to finsh it, but I need the sleep!

Science: We have had a week long experiment this week in which we measure the rate of daily growth of two sections of a bean plant. The first day we divided the section between the seed leaves and the other leaves in half. Section 1(closer to the seed leaves) has barely changed while section 2 has tripled. It has been amazing to see how quickly it has grown. We also had time for a nature walk and some flower picking this week.

Hope you all had a wonderful week! Thanks for reading, blessings...

Wordless Wednesday

We planted this a week and a half ago...

Weekly Report-Week 27 SL Core C

We had a quick week because we doubled up on Wednesday so that we could take off this Friday! I spent my free time this week researching curriculum, why do I do this? What we have is working and I had plenty of things I needed to be doing, like finishing my next curriculum, but there I was. This past week I have been very intrigued by Tapestry of Grace, I have come to the conclusion that in our current situation it's not a good fit for now. So we are going to stick with Sonlight, which by the way I am very happy with! I am posting this publically so that I can't change my mind again. Whatever happened to "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!". Anyways, here's a recap of princess' week, sorry no pics because the camera grew legs and walked off!

LA: We spent the week going back over HOP red books to help princess gain more confidence in her reading. When we did them the first time, it took her all week to read one book. This week we read a book a day. She was excited to see how much progress she has really made.

Math: Princess is making strides with her math facts and skip counting. We started subtraction again and it's going much better. I feel more equipped to teach the Singapore way this time around and princess is really making the connections between addition and subtration. I am so glad that we decided to repeat 1A!

History: We finished mountains this week and are looking forward to deserts next week. Also princess has really been enjoying Wizard of Oz, we are about half way through the book. It's so much better than the movie and I am so glad that we are reading it.

Science: We are still studying plants using the plans I have written. This week we studied nuts, cones and spores. Princess enjoyed taking apart a pine cone and seeing what was inside. It's so need to see her fall in love we science.

Hope you had a wonderful week too! Blessings...

Wordless Wednesday

Another side of Tibet...

Blessings...

Weekly Report-Week 26

This week we started reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which princess was sure she was going to hate because she didn't like the movie. Well, she has been totally mesmorized by the book, go figure! Otherwise, we had a regular week, which was nice. Here's a summary...

LA: This week we started working on memorized the poem "Work" from FLL. It has been interesting to hear all the version princess is coming up with! I'm glad that she is enjoying it though. She has been doing well with the HOP green book and learning long vowels, ETC has really been reinforcing what she has been learning.

Math: We began the 1A workbook again this week and have flown through it, we just finished Ex. 19 today. This time around princess has been able to most of the work on her own, so I am glad that we decided to review it again before moving on. I feel like she is really getting it all this time around.

History: We have spent this week reading about mountians. Today we read about Sir Hillary and his ascent on Everest. Princess was familiar with Everest because I am addicted to the show Expedition Everest on Discovery. I dream that one day I will have what it takes to summit Everest, but I doubt it! Anyways, it's been a fun reading about mountians.

Science: We have talked about seeds and fruit this week. Princess found it amazing that a seed contians a tiny plant waiting to grow. It's so neat to see the joy of discovery on her face!

Here's another butterfly picture from our trip last week.

Blessings...

Wordless Wednesday

A princess's version of homeschool!

Blessings...

Weekly science experiment...

This week experiment can be found through this link http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/spinningball.html. It will help you to see how you can defy the laws of gravity.

First talk about forces, especially gravity and centripital force, as these are the two forces you will be working with. You could also read about forces from a book from the library. Then get the ball and jar and put the ball inside the upside down jar and slide it to the edge of the table, which way does the ball fall? Ask, what force is at work here? Next, follow the directions for the experiment found in the link. What happens to the ball now? Ask, what force is at work this time? Hope you enjoy!

Weekly Report--Week 25 Core C

Not to much to report this week as we spent most of it in Washington, DC. We walked around and saw the monuments, went to several musuems and to the zoo. Princess and I are working on creating a book about our trip, so I guess that counts as school! We were able to keep up with our History and Read-Alouds, but we took the natural approach the math and LA this week. Here are some of the highlights from our trip...


At the Natural History Musuem we got to go into the butterfly dome. There were hundreds of butterflies and we got some really great pictures. Here's one of the best shots...




Princess's favorite animals at the zoo were the snakes, the panda and the girl lions!


At the art musuem princess wanted to copy every painting, so we took lots of pictures and let her copy her favorite one, The Dancer by Monet. Here's her version and the real thing(Guess it's time to start Drawing with Children!)...

Wordless Wednesday

Like father, like daughter...

Science Experiment of the Week

Waxy Coating: This was a favorite of ours from several weeks ago...

• paper towel, cut in the shape of two leaves
  
• wax paper, one about 6"x11", folded in half
  
• paper clip

Wet both the paper towel leaves. Cover one with the wax paper and use the paper clip to secure it. Put both in a dish and set it in the sun. Check them after 40 min. The leaf in the wax paper should still be damp while the other leave should be dry. This shows how the waxy coating on leaves in the desert helps them to retain water. You could check out a book from the library about the desert(such as Desert Plants), read it and then do the experiment. Hope you enjoy!

Blessings...