"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.." James 1:17
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry CHRISTmas
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.." James 1:17
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Long overdo…
It has been a while since we last posted. We are still homeschooling but have not been posting about our adventures online. There have some family events that have taken much of my time online away. Now that some time has been set aside, I can begin sharing with family and friends our studies.
This week we are rowing with Blue Berries for Sal and I plan on sharing our week this weekend. Thank you for sticking by us during the long absence.
This week we are rowing with Blue Berries for Sal and I plan on sharing our week this weekend. Thank you for sticking by us during the long absence.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Week in Review: “Rowing” with Jesse Bear
Finally we much delay due to our recent move, we were able to resume our homeschooling two weeks ago towards to end of October. To celebrate, we rowed our first book this year.
Our first choice for BFIAR was “Jesse Bear Jesse Bear, what will you wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom. In the book, Jesse Bear is excited about his day as he wakes up, gets dressed, plays outside, eats, takes a bubble bat and changes into his pajamas for bedtime.
Here are the highlights of our week
Bible Weekly Character Trait Our Bible Character Trait this week is Joyful.
“Be joyful always; pray continually.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17
We used another bible verse which was found in Proverbs 15:13
”A happy heart makes a cheerful face.”
We followed the character activities in the lesson provided by Hubbard’s cupboard for Bible character. We read the definition of Joyful as being happy in your heart and in your actions, cheerful, inwardly at peace even when things aren’t going how you want.
We also covered a bible lesson on “Worshipping the Lord with gladness” from Ministry-to-children. During the week the boys helping mom or dad by setting the table for dinner and cleaning their room. They learned that when we help others we are also worshiping the Lord. One way my husband and I did this was in sharing our blessing of extra produce by making a large amount of beef stew and sending a large pot to my parents, my younger brother and his wife. The boys learned that there is joy in helping others.
Language Arts We read “Jesse Bear Jesse Bear, What will you wear?” and we used our copy of Before Five in a Row by Jane Claire Lambert for ideas to use. We listened to the words that rhymed in the story. My youngest son loved listening the way the words sounded in rhythm. We clapped out the rhythm to recognize the pattern. We did a fun activity on rhyming pairs of words we heard in the book.
We were not able to find the additional book as recommended by Before Five in a Row. The book recommends the book “My good morning book” by Golden Press. We are able to find a book that we similar by one of our favorite authors. We read “A Child's Good Morning Book”
by Margaret Wise Brown.
We have been using our story
wands after reading each of our books to ask questions about the story, characters, and setting.
The boys have enjoyed using the story wands to answer orally. It definitely has aided them in expressing their thoughts and opinions on the books we are reading. I plan on continuing to use them for our Five in a Row studies. To make your own story wands, click HERE to read our post on them.
Phonics and Penmanship
My youngest son Turtle used Jolanthe’s Read, Build and Write card mats, our letter tiles and vocabulary words to work on words found in the book.; I had made our Jesse Bear
vocabulary cards before our move and before the disconnection of internet (but I have since seen Jolanthe’s vocabulary cards and we have printed hers).
We are using Explode the Code and Jolanthe’s idea (from Homeschool Creations) of the read, write, build mats. I made our a set of word cards large for our pocket chart and small for my youngest to write the words as well as build them with his letter tiles. We have also been using the sight word booklets from Hubbard’s Cupboard.
This week continued working on the short a sound. We used our pocket chart to display words that begin with the long a sound. Turtle used his letter tiles and the read, build cards to work on spelling and writing while my oldest son Godzilla boy created sentences using the words. We used our Ed Helper membership to create our word wall cards. If you don’t have Ed Helper membership, there is plenty of clipart online to use to create your own. The boys enjoyed working on their assignments that coincided with Explode the Code.
Mathematics
We used our foam Patterns set to work on patterning of different shapes. The set comes with different cards and a large number of foam shapes so that Turtle can spend as much time as he needs to work on patterns. A big thank you to my older sister R for giving us the set.
Social Studies In the book, Jesse Bear and his family show love between each other. Jesse’s parents show loving affection for him. We talked about families and discussed the ways we have shown love in our family by saying kind words, making something special like a card or gift, Mommy or Daddy reading a story, inviting family over for dinner or on special occasions, spending quality time together as a family.
My youngest son Turtle used our Jesse Bear and clothing to dress Jesse bear according to weather and to the seasons. We talked about the types of clothing worn during the season.
JESSE BEAR Order -. Make a dressing basket. The boys worked on helping Mommy sort laundry and folding clothing to be placed in their dresser drawers. We worked on creating a dressing basket for the boys so that they can pick out clothing to wear the next day.
Health
In the book Jesse Bear eats healthy foods like carrots and peas, celery. an apple and juice from a pear. I introduced the food guide pyramid to the boys using the resources from the USDA’s site choose my plate. We talked about the different food groups. As an activity, I showed the boys different foods from in our kitchen and asked them to identify which food groups they belong to. My youngest son Turtle used our set of matching Fruit and Vegetable cards from Homeschool Creations to identify each card as a picture of fruit or vegetable.
Science and Nature Study
In the book, Jesse Bear says that he will will have stars in the skies and the moon in his bed and dreams in his head at night. The boys and I decided that we would do an experiment to learn more about the moon. Our science experiment helped us understand how moon craters are formed.
Art and Crafts This week we looked at color in Nature. We observed the different colors in the Fall leaves outdoors. We used construction paper to cut out leaves to decorate the window of our school room and our front door. We had enough paper leaves to make paper plate wreaths.
We decorated out Bookcase by making mini fall wreaths and a votive candle holder with artificial fall leaves. We placed them around our family photos. We enjoyed looking at the photos and being reminded of years past.
Resources used: Bible Character and Trait activities from Hubbard;s Cupboard Child Bible Story online: A servants Heart. Ministry-to-Children Lessons
Books used this week:
sandra
Our first choice for BFIAR was “Jesse Bear Jesse Bear, what will you wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom. In the book, Jesse Bear is excited about his day as he wakes up, gets dressed, plays outside, eats, takes a bubble bat and changes into his pajamas for bedtime.
Here are the highlights of our week
Bible Weekly Character Trait Our Bible Character Trait this week is Joyful.
“Be joyful always; pray continually.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17
We used another bible verse which was found in Proverbs 15:13
”A happy heart makes a cheerful face.”
We followed the character activities in the lesson provided by Hubbard’s cupboard for Bible character. We read the definition of Joyful as being happy in your heart and in your actions, cheerful, inwardly at peace even when things aren’t going how you want.
We also covered a bible lesson on “Worshipping the Lord with gladness” from Ministry-to-children. During the week the boys helping mom or dad by setting the table for dinner and cleaning their room. They learned that when we help others we are also worshiping the Lord. One way my husband and I did this was in sharing our blessing of extra produce by making a large amount of beef stew and sending a large pot to my parents, my younger brother and his wife. The boys learned that there is joy in helping others.
Language Arts We read “Jesse Bear Jesse Bear, What will you wear?” and we used our copy of Before Five in a Row by Jane Claire Lambert for ideas to use. We listened to the words that rhymed in the story. My youngest son loved listening the way the words sounded in rhythm. We clapped out the rhythm to recognize the pattern. We did a fun activity on rhyming pairs of words we heard in the book.
We were not able to find the additional book as recommended by Before Five in a Row. The book recommends the book “My good morning book” by Golden Press. We are able to find a book that we similar by one of our favorite authors. We read “A Child's Good Morning Book”
by Margaret Wise Brown. We have been using our story wands after reading each of our books to ask questions about the story, characters, and setting.
The boys have enjoyed using the story wands to answer orally. It definitely has aided them in expressing their thoughts and opinions on the books we are reading. I plan on continuing to use them for our Five in a Row studies. To make your own story wands, click HERE to read our post on them.
Phonics and Penmanship
My youngest son Turtle used Jolanthe’s Read, Build and Write card mats, our letter tiles and vocabulary words to work on words found in the book.; I had made our Jesse Bear
vocabulary cards before our move and before the disconnection of internet (but I have since seen Jolanthe’s vocabulary cards and we have printed hers).
We are using Explode the Code and Jolanthe’s idea (from Homeschool Creations) of the read, write, build mats. I made our a set of word cards large for our pocket chart and small for my youngest to write the words as well as build them with his letter tiles. We have also been using the sight word booklets from Hubbard’s Cupboard.
This week continued working on the short a sound. We used our pocket chart to display words that begin with the long a sound. Turtle used his letter tiles and the read, build cards to work on spelling and writing while my oldest son Godzilla boy created sentences using the words. We used our Ed Helper membership to create our word wall cards. If you don’t have Ed Helper membership, there is plenty of clipart online to use to create your own. The boys enjoyed working on their assignments that coincided with Explode the Code.
Mathematics
We used our foam Patterns set to work on patterning of different shapes. The set comes with different cards and a large number of foam shapes so that Turtle can spend as much time as he needs to work on patterns. A big thank you to my older sister R for giving us the set.
Social Studies In the book, Jesse Bear and his family show love between each other. Jesse’s parents show loving affection for him. We talked about families and discussed the ways we have shown love in our family by saying kind words, making something special like a card or gift, Mommy or Daddy reading a story, inviting family over for dinner or on special occasions, spending quality time together as a family.
My youngest son Turtle used our Jesse Bear and clothing to dress Jesse bear according to weather and to the seasons. We talked about the types of clothing worn during the season.
JESSE BEAR Order -. Make a dressing basket. The boys worked on helping Mommy sort laundry and folding clothing to be placed in their dresser drawers. We worked on creating a dressing basket for the boys so that they can pick out clothing to wear the next day.
Health
In the book Jesse Bear eats healthy foods like carrots and peas, celery. an apple and juice from a pear. I introduced the food guide pyramid to the boys using the resources from the USDA’s site choose my plate. We talked about the different food groups. As an activity, I showed the boys different foods from in our kitchen and asked them to identify which food groups they belong to. My youngest son Turtle used our set of matching Fruit and Vegetable cards from Homeschool Creations to identify each card as a picture of fruit or vegetable.
Science and Nature Study
In the book, Jesse Bear says that he will will have stars in the skies and the moon in his bed and dreams in his head at night. The boys and I decided that we would do an experiment to learn more about the moon. Our science experiment helped us understand how moon craters are formed.
Art and Crafts This week we looked at color in Nature. We observed the different colors in the Fall leaves outdoors. We used construction paper to cut out leaves to decorate the window of our school room and our front door. We had enough paper leaves to make paper plate wreaths.
We decorated out Bookcase by making mini fall wreaths and a votive candle holder with artificial fall leaves. We placed them around our family photos. We enjoyed looking at the photos and being reminded of years past.
Resources used: Bible Character and Trait activities from Hubbard;s Cupboard Child Bible Story online: A servants Heart. Ministry-to-Children Lessons
Books used this week:
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Week in Review: changes, family, and 80th birthday
Finally we started back homeschooling after several weeks off due to our recent move.We began with a light week. The time off gave us time to spend together as a family and to explore our new neighborhood. The boys made several new friends close to their ages. They enjoy playing outdoors with the other children and I have meet several parents who welcomed us to the community.Here are the highlights of our week:I started attending a weekly women’s bible study that meets on Tuesday evenings. My older sister “D” hosts the meetings in her home each week. It gives me a renewed spirit and insight through God’s word. On those nights, I attend the bible studies, the time gives my husband an opportunity for some closeness with our sons doing activities.
Earlier this week, Turtle my youngest son received a pup tent from his Aunt R (my sister). We placed the tent in the boy’s room between the boy’s beds. The boys like pretending it is a fort.
On Wednesday, I went on my first walk testing my legs’ strength. I have not walked in months so I took a slow and steady pace alongside my sister as we walked. Without realizing it, we had walked for over 2 hours and 45 minutes. When I returned home, My left knee (torn cartilage recovery) was little weak from the experience but I was happy that I was able to enjoy walking again. The exercise made me feel better the rest of the day. The boys were happy to see me start walking again. I know I can share nature walks with them this Fall.
This Friday my parents came to visit. We served pumpkin and apple pies in honor of my Dad’s 80th birthday that he celebrated this October 19th. It was wonderful to see my parents. Now that we live closer to my extend family, my sons have been seeing more of my parents.My oldest son is close to my mother while my youngest son considers Grandpa, his buddy. It is a welcomed sight to see my parents regularly (it was something that we had missed out when we lived further away).
pictured above me and my loving husband.My mom decided it was too long since my husband and I had a photo taken together. My hair has grown a bit in the last two years so I agreed to pose before I get the urge to cut my hair. It was nice getting a photo of Timothy and me. I think the years have been kind to us and I thank the Lord for being in our lives.
The more and more I think about it, I know in my heart that it was God’s plan for us to move and live where we are now. Our lives feel richer being close to family and we have made new friends (we maybe finding a new church to attend).
Thanks for stopping by.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Homeschool Mother’s Journal: October 11, 2011
In my life this week... It has been about 10 days since we moved into our new home.Every room has been unpacked except our school room and master bedroom closet. Hopefully both will be completed by the end of the week so that we can resume homeschooling.
In our homeschool this week… we have only been reading books since our move so now much has been happening with regards to homeschooling but that will soon change next week.
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… It’s okay to stop homeschooling when you are in process of moving. No one is a super mom and even the best intentions to school during this transition can be placed on hold until you settle into your new home.
I am inspired by… my extended family who came together to help us move. Thank you Lord for family.
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… we saw plenty of family members visit us during our move and in the days after.It was nice seeing extended family we had not seen for so long.
My favorite thing this week was… attending a women’s faith group meeting this Tuesday. My husband made dinner for the boys so that I could attend the meeting. It was nice getting to go out and meet other Christians.
What’s working/not working for us… We have not been “schooling” for several weeks so there is not anything I comment on in this area.
Questions/thoughts I have… I am hoping that once we resume homeschooling next week in our school room, things will go smoothly without distractions.
Things I’m working on… we are unpacking the last remaining boxes and should have our school room ready this weekend so that we can start our lessons on Monday.
We’re reading… the boys have been reading a few books on various subjects. I recently started reading “Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating Boys"by Hal and Melanie Young.
I’m cooking… little these days as we still have boxes to unpack and finish settling into our new home. Next week, I will start baking and making some good old fashioned home cooked meals that I know my husband and sons have been missing.
I’m grateful for… our home. I enjoy the new neighbors we have met and the children that my sons have made friends with. I know that God had a hand in this transition and I thank Him for it.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
The boys displayed their Godzilla toys on their dresser as soon as we moved into the new home. Boys will be boys…. We are linking this post to: The Homeschool Mother’s Journal at The Homeschool Chick
Monday, October 3, 2011
Finally in our new home
After two days of moving our belongings from our old place to the new home and some momentary rest, we made the transition into our new home. It was a a difficult move mainly because after having two kids and being homeschoolers, my husband and I have acquired more things.
We were fortunate to have the assistance of friends and family in loading and unloading the moving van. On Friday, we had unloaded the last box. Plenty of family members came over (including my parents as well as my younger brother and one of my older sisters (I have three sisters). My mom helped me unpack and set up the kitchen while my husband, brother and brother in law helped arrange the larger pieces of furniture in our home.
As of Monday, we still have the boys room to finish unpacking and then the last room to unpack set up is our school room. The boys are getting new twin beds that are arriving this week! My husband ordered them from a local furniture company and the owner offered us free delivery and set up the the beds.
We just got the our internet service up and running after some technical problems with the phone company (errors with the work order on their part). The days of being offline gave us time to work on our new home.
We will be resuming our homeschooling next week and I look forward to sharing how we set up the school room. We finally will be begin ”rowing” our school year this October. I am so glad that we can start homeschooling again!
Sandra
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Homeschool Mother’s journal: September 10, 2011
In our homeschool this week… We have been finishing our unit on families. It was a very light week of homeschooling. Between searching for a new home, making calls and visiting properties, we managed to only get about a week of schooling done during the last two weeks. Hopefully, after the move and once we are settled in, we can resume our homeschooling.
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… When I received the news that we had to move, I knew that I would not be able to continue homeschooling up until the weeks leading to our move. I thought at best that I could cover light subjects and then stop altogether until we settled in our new place.
While searching online for resources on homeschooling during a moving, low and behold I found posts from two of my favorite bloggers on their schooling experiences while moving. Jimmie from Jimmie's Collage wrote a interesting and wonderful article entitled “How to Homeschool through a Major Transition” at the Heart of the Matter. Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations has written a post “Homeschooling while Moving” that discusses her options and plans for homeschooling during her moving process. Their posts gave me insight in deciding what would work best for our family.
I am inspired by… The people in our home state of Texas who have been helping those affected by the fires. Many people have lost their homes. There are so many people who have given to others during this time.
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… Between visiting the property of our new home and our current home, we have had little time to see anyone else. That we change soon after our upcoming move. We will be living closer to my parents and to my siblings.
My favorite thing this week was… Seeing the boys work on their family tree craft. They grasped the idea of our family tree and are eager to learn more about their grandparents and family background.
What’s working/not working for us… Everything was working fine as the boys were getting into our daily routine but this week had been difficult with so many distractions to see properties and making arrangements for the move. We are planning to scale back by just reading books and our bible devotions in our schooling. I have realized that it is okay to let go of our homeschool schedule during this transition.
Questions/thoughts I have… My thoughts have been on the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. I cannot imagine what it feels like for the families who lost a loved one. I have have lost friends from my youth in my twenties and I still miss them at times so I know that those families are dealing with much more. Some people say that time heals all wounds but sometimes it never does for some. If healing comes, it comes from God, love and the support of friends and families who are there for you. My prayers will be on those affected by 911 this weekend…
My oldest niece traveled to Virginia and New York this month, She will see the September 11th memorial on Monday when it is open for the public. She has friends in New York and I am happy that she chose to spend her vacation with them at this time.
Things I’m working on… I have been busy decluttering and tossing our what cannot be donating. I have packed all our winter clothing in a homemade version of space bags. The boys and I have been going through their room organizing what will go with us to our new home and what will not.
We’re reading… The boys are reading books on Families and Grandparents. Their favorite books were Me and my Family Tree by Joan Sweeney and Grandparents are the Greatest because… by Adele Aron Greenspun.
I’m cooking… Oven Fried Chicken and baking homemade Biscuits for dinner. My youngest came into the kitchen and said “What is that wonderful smell.” I guess it has been too long since I made a home cooked meal this week.
I’m grateful for… My brothers and sisters who have been saving moving boxes for us. It is hard to get some where we live and their help is a Godsend.
I’m praying for… Our home to be ready by the end of September so we can begin moving and have a peace of mind that we will get through this together.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
The boys had fun making their family tree and I think they did a great job, It was a wonderful week to share with them photos and stories about their grandparents, especially my husband’s parents who passed away years ago before the boys got to meet them.
We are linking this post to: The Homeschool Mother’s Journal at The Homeschool Chick.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Week in Review: the house hunting edition and family
Our second and third week was a very light week of homeschooling. Between searching for a new home, making calls and visiting properties, we managed to only get a few days of school done during the last two weeks.
Last month (August 22), the boys began working on their “All About Me” book and this month they continued working on them with our Family unit study.
Here are the highlights of our homeschooling:
Bible We continued our reading of the story of Creation (day 3) in Genesis 1:9-13. We discussed the creation of land and oceans. We read two poems: “At the Seaside” and “Poem of a Breton Fisherman.”
Language Arts Since we have not started our Before Five in a row curriculum with my youngest due to our upcoming move (which has been moved up to the end of this month) we began a unit on Families. We read several books including:
“Who’s who in my family” by Loreen Leedy
“Me and my Family Tree” by Joan Sweeney
“Celebrating Families” by Rosemarie Hausherr
We ended this week by reading two books about Grandparents in honor of Grandparents day this coming Sunday which were:
”When you visit Grandma & Grandpa” by Anne Bowen
Grandparents are the Greatest Because…” by Adele Aron Greenspun
We have been using our story wands after reading each of our books to ask questions about the story, characters, and setting. The boys have enjoyed using the story wands and answering the questions orally and I think it has helped them with expressing their thoughts and opinions on the books we read.
Phonics and Penmanship We are using Explode the Code and Jolanthe’s idea (from Homeschool Creations) of the read, write, build mats. I made our a set of word cards large for our pocket chart and small for my youngest to write the words as well as build them with his letter tiles. We have also been using the sight word booklets from Hubbard’s Cupboard.
Health The boys learned about the food guide pyramid and I introduced the food groups to them. We used the handouts and classroom materials provided at Chose my plate,gov/kids.
I printed out food clipart from the Kizclub site so the boys could show me which foods belonged to each food group., We read about eating good foods in our Abeka Health, Safety and Manners book and we discussed what makes a good breakfast.
Life Skills This week we worked on setting the table and Table Manners. It was not easy for the boys to remember what they should and should not do at the dinner table but at least they tried.
Geography We began our geography studies with landforms and introduced the seven continents. We used our Wonder maps to create a map of the world to label the seven continents as well as the five oceans. We used our globe to locate the North Pole and South Pole.
Arts and Crafts The boys did a salt painting of the ocean. We used page 58-59 from the Usborne Book of Art Ideas as a reference for creating our paintings.
For our Family unit study, the boys each made a “my family tree.” I printed photos of my parents, my husband’s parents, a photo of me, my husband and the boys and cut them out. The boys glued each of the photos on the leaf template and them onto their family tree.
Pictured above, Godzilla Boy‘s Family Tree he put together for our Family Unit study.
Pictured above. Turtle’s family tree he put together for our Family Unit study.
My thoughts The last two weeks have been a busy for my husband and I, trying to find a home that had some of the items on our “wish list.” We did not get the ideal location we wanted but we did get three bedrooms, indoor washer and dryer connections, a location near family and walking distance to most places. What we lost was being near a public library, near our favorite parks, our favorite places to shop, and nearby homeschool resources such as our homeschool playgroup/support group and local curriculum store.
The things we’ll miss from our home are the friends we made, the perks of of being near wildlife (deer) and living by the Hardberger Park Conservancy. What we will take with us are the memories that we experienced while living in our North side home. I’ll remember that Godzilla boy (my oldest son) was just a toddler when we moved here and I remember his first nature walk collecting leaves with his Daddy. I remember finding out we were expecting a second son and my husband’s smile as he told Godzilla boy the news. My youngest son took his first steps in the living room and we sat together during homeschool watching the birds and squirrels in the trees.
I have mixed feeling of sadness and gladness as the weeks approach towards our move (the end of this month instead of the end of October). I can only hope that my children remember the years we spent here and the memories we shared. I look forward to the new memories with my children in our new home.
Resources used this week: - Make a word _at game on Star fall
- Hubbard’s cupboard sight word booklets.
- Ed Helper.com Family members unit.
- Chose my plate and Food Guide pyramid from USDA
- Kizclub printable food clipart
- Wonder Maps by Bright Ideas Press.
- The Teaching Resource Center’s Family tree template (PDF file)
Books we read
We are linking this post to: Homeschool Creations Preschool Corner and 5K.
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers Weekly Wrap up.
Last month (August 22), the boys began working on their “All About Me” book and this month they continued working on them with our Family unit study.
Here are the highlights of our homeschooling:
Bible We continued our reading of the story of Creation (day 3) in Genesis 1:9-13. We discussed the creation of land and oceans. We read two poems: “At the Seaside” and “Poem of a Breton Fisherman.”
Language Arts Since we have not started our Before Five in a row curriculum with my youngest due to our upcoming move (which has been moved up to the end of this month) we began a unit on Families. We read several books including:
“Who’s who in my family” by Loreen Leedy
“Me and my Family Tree” by Joan Sweeney
“Celebrating Families” by Rosemarie Hausherr
We ended this week by reading two books about Grandparents in honor of Grandparents day this coming Sunday which were:
”When you visit Grandma & Grandpa” by Anne Bowen
Grandparents are the Greatest Because…” by Adele Aron Greenspun
We have been using our story wands after reading each of our books to ask questions about the story, characters, and setting. The boys have enjoyed using the story wands and answering the questions orally and I think it has helped them with expressing their thoughts and opinions on the books we read.
Phonics and Penmanship We are using Explode the Code and Jolanthe’s idea (from Homeschool Creations) of the read, write, build mats. I made our a set of word cards large for our pocket chart and small for my youngest to write the words as well as build them with his letter tiles. We have also been using the sight word booklets from Hubbard’s Cupboard.
Health The boys learned about the food guide pyramid and I introduced the food groups to them. We used the handouts and classroom materials provided at Chose my plate,gov/kids.
I printed out food clipart from the Kizclub site so the boys could show me which foods belonged to each food group., We read about eating good foods in our Abeka Health, Safety and Manners book and we discussed what makes a good breakfast.
Life Skills This week we worked on setting the table and Table Manners. It was not easy for the boys to remember what they should and should not do at the dinner table but at least they tried.
Geography We began our geography studies with landforms and introduced the seven continents. We used our Wonder maps to create a map of the world to label the seven continents as well as the five oceans. We used our globe to locate the North Pole and South Pole. 
Arts and Crafts The boys did a salt painting of the ocean. We used page 58-59 from the Usborne Book of Art Ideas as a reference for creating our paintings.
For our Family unit study, the boys each made a “my family tree.” I printed photos of my parents, my husband’s parents, a photo of me, my husband and the boys and cut them out. The boys glued each of the photos on the leaf template and them onto their family tree.
Pictured above, Godzilla Boy‘s Family Tree he put together for our Family Unit study.
Pictured above. Turtle’s family tree he put together for our Family Unit study.
My thoughts The last two weeks have been a busy for my husband and I, trying to find a home that had some of the items on our “wish list.” We did not get the ideal location we wanted but we did get three bedrooms, indoor washer and dryer connections, a location near family and walking distance to most places. What we lost was being near a public library, near our favorite parks, our favorite places to shop, and nearby homeschool resources such as our homeschool playgroup/support group and local curriculum store.
The things we’ll miss from our home are the friends we made, the perks of of being near wildlife (deer) and living by the Hardberger Park Conservancy. What we will take with us are the memories that we experienced while living in our North side home. I’ll remember that Godzilla boy (my oldest son) was just a toddler when we moved here and I remember his first nature walk collecting leaves with his Daddy. I remember finding out we were expecting a second son and my husband’s smile as he told Godzilla boy the news. My youngest son took his first steps in the living room and we sat together during homeschool watching the birds and squirrels in the trees.
I have mixed feeling of sadness and gladness as the weeks approach towards our move (the end of this month instead of the end of October). I can only hope that my children remember the years we spent here and the memories we shared. I look forward to the new memories with my children in our new home.
Resources used this week: - Make a word _at game on Star fall
- Hubbard’s cupboard sight word booklets.
- Ed Helper.com Family members unit.
- Chose my plate and Food Guide pyramid from USDA
- Kizclub printable food clipart
- Wonder Maps by Bright Ideas Press.
- The Teaching Resource Center’s Family tree template (PDF file)
Books we read
We are linking this post to: Homeschool Creations Preschool Corner and 5K.
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers Weekly Wrap up.
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