Roo's Kindergarten plans

LOL- if you ask Roo is he's going to be in Kindergarten his answer is "NO, I'm going to homeschool" I told him that Kindergarten is "school for 5 year olds" I can't believe my little Roo will be in Kindergarten already. I remember when Bug was just starting out with Kindergarten, and I was SO thrilled to be able to find the perfect curriculum for our family- Five in A Row and here I am starting Five in a Row volume 1 with my 3rd and last little boy. It's sort of a happy/sad idea!

Workboxes worked so well last year- that we will be continuing them. Here's what will be in Roo's Drawers-

1- Math Folders- I love the way these worked last year- so we're going to use them again.

2- Pam's Math assignments- Just a simple Kindergarten workbook, and fun activities that Pam plans

3- School games, (phonics games, math games, puzzles, etc)

4- Five in a Row Volume 1, along with copywork using startwrite, and lapbook/notebook components from my favorite site Homeschoolshare and parts from enchanted learning- decided this one is worth the $20 per year to have access to their maps and such.

5- PE- Get up and MOVE!

6- Handwriting without Tears on MWF and on Tue/Thur he will be joining Doodle for Astronomy

7- Computer time- various online sites and other school games

8- Read to mom/phonics games, library books, easy readers,

9- Explode the code 2 & 3

Planning for the new school year- 2nd grade

More planning posts- Here's Doodle's plans for next year-

Workboxes- I can't say enough about how wonderful our drawers have worked for school time. It's a visual checklist for Doodle so he can SEE when he's finished. No surprises- when he's done with #9 he's done. :D We will continue to use the workboxes- and the order may change around a bit- but it's pretty much the same in each drawer each day. So here's what will be in each drawer-

1- Math Folders- Doodle will also graph the high and low temp each day with a line graph, and count out money to show the number of school day it is- for instance day 132- he counts out $1.32.

2- Pam's Math assignments. Doodle is great at math- he'll be starting the 3rd grade mathbook when we start school up.3- School Games, art projects, nature journals, and Computer Time (cool websites I like will have to be a whole new post!)

4- Five in a Row Volume 4 We LOVE Five in a Row- and vol 4 is one of my favorites. We usually do each book for 2 weeks, as there is so much good stuff I don't wanna miss! He'll also do copywork using Startwrite, and make a lapbook/notebook using stuff from Homeschool Share and Enchanted Learning5- PE- Drawer 5 HAS to be a get up and MOVE drawer- I have index cards in there with various activities for him to do "Ride bike for 10 minutes" "Play H-O-R-S-E" or "Jump Rope for 10 minutes"
6- Explode the Code books 7, and 8 7- School Games, art projects, etc.

8- On MWF Doodle will do Growing with Grammar and on TTH we will do Apologia Astronomy with lapbook components I found on Homeschool Launch

9-Spelling workbook I'm unsure how this will work for Doodle- he may need something more hands-on for spelling- but we're going to give it a try. He didn't do well with the bigiqkids site- because he'd get mad when he spelled a word wrong, and blame the computer lol-
Extras- Gymnastics- Doodle has a real talent for gymnastics- so we'll continue this. Cub Scouts- Doodle is excited to turn 8 in a few weeks, and be able to do Cub Scouts with our local troop. Also Doodle will do Book Club with our Homeschool group.

Planning for the new school year- 6th grade

I am a planner- I LOVE to plan ;) Maybe I have an obsession with planning. I can't plan my whole school year at once- because then I have to constantly re-plan- lol- but I've begun planning for next school year- we go year-round- and usually take July and December off, along with a couple of weeks in the spring, and a couple of weeks in the fall. So we're gearing up for next year soon. Bug will be in 6th grade, Doodle- 2nd grade and Roo will be starting Kindergarten. Here's what we're planning for Bug's 6th grade year-

Bug will be using the following
Language Arts- Growing with Grammar, Online Spelling game- Big IQ Kids, 6-trait writing, I think a few Literature Units from this site, lots of reading great books, and various reports as assigned.

History- Story of the World with notebooking pages from this site-

Science- finish up Apologia Zoology 1, with notebook/journal, (we are LOVING this!) and begin Zoology 2. He will also join in with Doodle and Roo when they do Astronomy because he just couldn't decide whether he wanted to do Astronomy or Zoo2. Math- Pam will be teaching Math again next year- Bug is about halfway through the Pre-Algebra book- and will be using these online resources that go right along with his book. Merit Badges- Bug will also work on Boy Scout Merit Badges as part of school- there's SOO much good stuff to learn in those.

Art- hopefully we can find a better time to fit this into our schedule better- but Ben will teach art. :D (delegate!)

Music- If we can get it to work like I want- Bug will take Band at the local intermediate school, and he'll also continue Piano lessons.

PE- Karate, Swimming- using our family pass, and he will probably play Basketball in the winter.

Extras- Field trips with our wonderful homeschool group, PE days, Book club- I'm excited about this year's club- another family will be doing the Famous Americans books- and I'm going to do a group with older boys- more info to come!

Adventures in Zion

We were planning on taking our "Yellowstone Adventure" backpacking trip this past weekend- but after Bug and Ben's trip to Shoshone Lake- with the hoardes of mosquitos- we decided to try something different. So Wednesday after Ben got off work- we headed South- planning to make it to Page, AZ Friday night- and the rest was just take it as it came. Poor Bug- who is SO much like his mom was a little nuts without a plan all laid out.

We spent Wed night up the mountains from Cedar City somewhere ;) The next morning we got up and headed to Zion's National Park. The last time we tried to go- there was too much snow for much hiking- so we were excited! Bug- as we were headed out on our Hike up the Zion Narrows Me and the boys- not too far up the canyon- A neat waterfall along the way
Silly Roo with his Water Backpack

Bug riding the river back down the canyon. Doodle riding the river.

Bug found a few deep holes that he liked to swim in- jump off a high rock and spash down. What Gentlemen- holding up the rock for me to go under- lol ;)
Us- after hiking the narrows- dripping wet.

Thursday night we found a nice campground east of Zion's- and we relaxed.

Ben and the boys roasting Hot Dogs for dinnerBreakfast the next morning Friday we head about a nice little slot canyon near our campground that we decided to go check out.

Watch out for the cactus! These were growing everywhere near the trail head.

The Boys and me at the Entrance-

A little way up the canyon- it was SO neat- pics just don't do it justice- The canyon sort of dead ends a little way up- there are webbing attachments for those climbing down the canyon- but we decided this was a good stopping point.After hiking we headed the rest of the way to Page- and met up with Ben's mom and Dad, and his Brother Bill and their family. Also- his sister, Amber and her family were down visiting. We went to Lake Powell to do some swimming. The water was SO warm and wonderful!

Tim and Doodle wrestling in the water.Some of the crew swimming
Then we had a nice cookout with everyone- and got to meet Nick's girlfriend Amber- she's sooo sweet and nice!Some of the crew at the cookout We spent Friday night at a campground in Page, and went to Amber's baptism Saturday morning. What a neat day it was! Congrats Amber!

After the baptism we had a wonderful meal at Bill & Raellen's house- then headed for home. We stopped at Cedar Breaks National Monument WOW!! What a view!
A nice picture of our little family. We had a super adventure! And can't wait for the next big adventure....somewhere!

July 4th Cabin Trip

As usual we had a great time at the cabin- The weather was just right, and the company even better- with Pam, Amber, Tim and their boys W and L, and our family.
Uncle Tim wrestling with the boys- my boys think Tim is just the coolest!

Bug caught a couple of fish- David and Goliath ;) The big one is a beautiful brown trout- the small one a nice pan-sized rainbow
When we were fishing at a new spot- Bug and Doodle went exploring, and before long- they were across the river on top of this Beaver Dam.
Doodle came in the cabin all excited- "Mom, come look- it's a doe!" And he was right- a Doe walked right through our yard.
Roo and his cousin W sharing cheese at the fish bridge. These two are so cute together!

Amber and Tim went home- and left their boys at the cabin with us for the week- they had a super time with the cousins.

Pam, the Boys and I and their cousins went to Virginia City, Montana to take a little train ride The Boys and their cousins sitting on an old train car The Playdough got plenty of use this trip

Wednesday night- Ben came back up, and took Bug and the Boy Scouts from our ward backpacking in Yellowstone- here's the whole crew Thursday morning as they are setting out-
Playing in the water
At Lone Star Geyser

Unfortunately the mosquitos were TERRIBLE for them- and they cut their trip a day short. After looking at Bug's arms- the mosquitos really liked him- he's like one huge bug bite. ;)

Now back to real life and LAUNDRY!