Final Summer Field trip and Back to School

With the start of school looming- we decided to take 1 last Summer Field trip.  We took a trip to the small local zoo the day before school started.  We love this place, it's not crowded, it's cheap, and fun. 

 My silly animals, Roo- going into 2nd grade, Bug- going into 8th grade, and Doodle- 4th grade

 Cute little Box Turtle

 

 Wallaby- sitting in the shade by the fence

We had a nice field trip! And of course- all you can eat Pizza at Pizza Pie Cafe (my boys favorite- combine all you can eat with Pizza and Pasta- and we're SET!  

And the 1st day of school, Aug 2012-

 

This will be a different sort of year for us! For the past 8 years, Bug has been Homeschooled, the past 2 years he's taken a few classes at the local public school, but this year he (and we) decided it was right to send him to public school full time.  (bittersweet day for this momma- I've always known this day would come- we've always planned on homeschooling until High School, then sending them to public school--  the day just came a year earlier than I'd expected.)  But he was excited and he was ready. 

The classes he is taking this Semester:

-9th grade Honors Math (thanks to Pam, our WONDERFUL, Amazing and special Math tutor!)

- Language Arts

-Brass (he LOVED the Band Teacher at the Intermediate School, and what a blessing, this teacher moved to the Middle school!

- US History

-Health

-Exploring Technology

 

Doodle will again be going to Public school.  He's in 4th grade this year, and I tihnk we have a great teacher- She seems very organized and on top of things!  As hard of a decision as it was for me to make, it's really the best decision for him.  He is doing well, and I think its been good for him to see the pro's and con's of homeschooling versus public school.   

My one lonely little homeschooler! Roo will continue to homeschool this year. I'm excited to get to spend this one-on-one time with him. We have some fun things planned this year. Here's what he'll be using in his school drawers-

Drawer 1- Your Choice from School Cupboard

Drawer 2- Spelling and Writing

 Drawer 3- Pam's Math assignments and Math games

Drawer 4- Computer time- various websites, dance mat typing, math games etc.

Drawer 5- Read a book to mom, and various reading games

Drawer 6- PE and Piano

Drawer 7- Our FAVORITE! Five in a Row- if I had 1 thing to recomment to new homeschoolers it would be this.  We just love the simpleness and fun, and effectiveness of Five in a Row.  Along in this drawer is copywork- a sentence each day from our story of the week, various lapbook and notebook components that include social studies, language arts, art, applied math and science, (and more!)

Drawer 8- Finish up Botany, then start Apologia Flying Creatures of the 5th day-

Drawer 9- Writing Journal

 

We are looking forward to a GREAT school year!

Roo's Math Field trip

We have a wonderful, amazing math teacher. ;) I'm sure I've mentioned it before- but we just LOVE Pam, and all the hard work she puts into teaching math to our boys. She does such a super job, and always find them fun computer games to go along with their assignments.   This year, Roo had a friend join him for math.  Another homeschooling mom in the area has a daughter, S. the same age as Roo.  They have their own little Math Class.   It's so cute the way they work together, and challenge each other.

Tuesday we had our final math class for the year, we went on a Math field trip.   We went to the small local Zoo- Pam made a cute little math page for them. 

One of the questions was how many types of swans are there.

 Are there more Monkeys or Eagles?

 Talley marks- how many turtles are there?

No math questions on Emus- but it would be a good multiplication lesson ;) Notice the 2 baby emus by the fence! So cool!

Counting the Monkeys

 Wahoo! We finished the page! Roo and his friend S.  near the bobcat cage.

After the zoo, they played at the park for a few minutes, and had to figure how many more steps there were on the big slide than the little slide.  And how many swings there are.  Then came Roo's favorite part- Fraction math....what better way to study fractions than to eat PIZZA at Pizza Pie Cafe!   Only, I think if you eat as much as Roo did- you probably didnt' eat a fraction of the pizza- but rather the whole thing. lol 

Thanks SO much Pam for all you do for us!

Doodle's Concert

 This past school year has been a different sort of year for us. Doodle went to public school full time this year.  Overall, I think it's been a positive experience for him.  As much as I wish I could have him at home with me, and homeschool him, the Lord has other plans for him.
  His class learned to play the recorder, and had a concert last week.    sorry- the pictures aren't real great- something about a school gym, and the fact that he was on the back row.

 Here's Doodle after giving his part on the program.

Doodle is on the top row- 3rd from the right. 

I was so proud of him, and the way he worked hard to learn all of his recorder songs, and even SANG the songs that they learned too! ;) 

Rockets to Saturn

We are really enjoying Apologia Astronomy this year.  It's been such a success, and we've learned so much.  We just learned about Saturn, and the hands-on project that goes with that chapter is to make film canister rockets, and use alka seltzer tablets as the "fuel"

Roo and his rocket

Getting ready to launch

I was too slow... lol- here's Bug retrieving his rocket

Filling them up again.  Went through a whole box of alka selter....they were SO fun

Favorite typing resource

One of our FAVORITE resources is Dance Mat Typing from BBC- http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/  Is a GREAT free online typing program.  It starts with the home row keys and moves all the way up to using all the keys. Roo has just started using this, and Bug and Doodle have used it as well.  We give it a huge thumbs up!

Roo playing Dance Mat typing (YES- that is one o-l-d computer- but it works great for kids school games)

Doodle playing Dance Mat typing.

You might be a mom of boys...

If you find This:

In your refrigerator- and spend the morning researching Worms with your 5 and 8 yr olds.   Fun Worm Website that explains all about worms- did you know that worms have 5 hearts, and no eyes?! http://urbanext.illinois.edu/worms/neighborhood/01-intro.html

"New" school ideas for Doodle

After trying Time4Learning- We've begun to "tweak" Doodle's school assignments-  He really likes doing things on the computer- and I found some NEAT sites- http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/ks2_lessonplans/ is an awesome site- with all sorts of links, interactive stuff, ideas and fun.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/ is a great help with our history plans.  Here's a few things we've found, and basically this is his assignment sheet for today-

Doodle School Assignments:

• Calendar Math
• Pam’s Math & PT Sheet
• Spelling-  http://www.spellingcity.com/student-spelling-practice.html TEST today- do test online or on paper-
• English- Power point presentation-  Game on types of sentences and types of sentences worksheet
• Handwriting- Cursive workbook
• History- (he wanted to learn about the Romans  do a  Lapbook piece- home, family, food, clothing  Read from bbc website - about the Romans, and book.  Doodle read the Magic Tree House Book Vacation under the Volcano and will do the quizzes found on this site
• Science-  Read, play, quiz Do activities on this page and worksheet

Then together as a family today, we'll do Apologia's Astronomy (LOVE IT!) and writing journals.

Time 4 Learning Review

We were able to try the online curriculum time4learning free for 1 month in exchange for a candid review of the program on the blog- so here goes. First off, a bit about time4Learning- It's an online curriculum covering math, language arts, science, and history. It covers pre-K through 8th grade. When we decided to try time4learning- I decided to only put Doodle (2nd-3rd grade) on this program. Bug (6th grade) and Roo (K) were left out. Poor Roo- he loved watching and listening in on the Time4Learning video clips and such, and was wishing he could do it too. We didn't use the math portion of the program at all- as we have a wonderful math thing going on- and ya know- if it ain't broke- don't fix it. :D Pros-

• Doodle LOVED it. He liked the fact that mom was taken out of the equation (I'm not so sure that I liked that part of it) But there was definitely less head-butting and frustration when it came to school time. Doodle liked the fun interactive Language Arts lessons.
• There were fun lessons on synonyms, antonyms, and homonymns, complete with cheesy movie clips, and quizzes for each one. There were reading comprehension activities that were great for Doodle to work on. *He never once complained about the Language Arts protion of the program. (If LA was offered seperately- I'd be SOOO tempted to get a subscription to the site.
• Site was easy for Doodle to navigate- it had "done" stamped on the lessons he'd completed, and arrows to show what he should do next.
• We had no problems at all with the connection to the site- I worried if the internet was down, what we'd do, but no worries there. :D
• Doodle Loved being able to play games in the Playground (many of the games are educational too ;)) and I liked that I could set a time limit for how long he could play the games- lol

Cons

• We found the science and Social studies sections very dry and boring. (sorry- but they were!) After the fun language arts, we were both disappointed in the other subjects. I realize that they are added as a "bonus" and not really part of the program- but that was the part of what I was most searching for something "more" for.
• I would like to be able to go in and pick and choose assignments and put them in a "folder" or something for him, and pick my own order. I guess I could pick my own order now, but I'd have to show him which ones I wanted him to do. I'd rather do a few reading comprehension at a time, a few grammar type lessons, a few lessons on different topics, rather than all one topic, then all another topic.
• cost- although it's only a small monthly fee- it adds up, especially since we would only use the LA portion. IF they were to offer just the language arts section for a reduced price I'd really be thinking seriously.
• Lots of time on the computer- Doodle learns well with the interactive type stuff on the computer- but I didn't like him being on the computer quite that much.

This review is entirely my opinion, I was offered a free month in exchange for this review. Time4Learning was a nice shake-up and change of pace in our school. Will we continue- no probably not. Though I have learned that since Doodle learns so well with this type of cirriculum, I will try and add a bit more interactive things to our homeschool.

Annual Science Fair

Yesterday each of the boys entered a project in the Homeschool Science Fair on the other side of the mountain. They all did an amazing job, and I was so pleased with the way they told the judges about their projects.

Roo did a Science project on growing borax crystals. He hypothesized that the crystals would grow better under a heat lamp. He put them to grow in the window, under a heat lamp, in the freezer, and outside. His hypothesis was wrong- after weighing his crystals, the ones outside grew the most and biggest crystals.
Doodle did a great project on microwave popcorn. He thought that the more expensive popcorn would pop better, and have more to eat, and less that remained unpopped. His results showed that the more expensive brands didn't pop any better than the cheap generic brand.

Bug's project was on heat absorbtion of different colors. He dumped some ice on pieces of plastic tablecloth, and thought that no matter where he put it, the ice on the black plastic would melt the fastest. His results were interesting, the black definately melted faster in the direct sunlight, but indoors and in the shade, it didn't hold the same results. He did a great job with his project, and took first place in the older kids division. Because he's in 6th grade- he gets to go to the state science fair next month. It'll be a great experience for him, and we're all excited.Roo got to set up his project right by his cousin H- who did a fun volcano for his science project. Here's Bug getting his award- Way to go Bug! We are so proud of you and your hard work with this science fair.

Blading fun

We had a wonderfully fun homeschool party today at the roller rink. We had some fun science experiments and demonstrations (more fun with polymers- Roo really thought it was cool!) After the science stuff, we were able to go roller blading.

Doodle has his own pair of roller blades he got for his birthday- and he was fast and furious on them. Roo did great for just learning. Bug was so neat, helping his little brother. Roo would skate along the holding onto the wall, until the wall ended. Then he would wait for big brother Bug to come along and hold his hand and help him the rest of the way around the rink. Then he'd skate along the wall again, while Bug got his chance to go fast.

Thanks Tammy for planning such a fun day!

Getting ready for the Science Fair

We are getting excited for the Homeschool Science Fair over the mountain. Last year, only Bug did a project. This year- their teacher (aka- ME!) decided that each of the boys needed to do a project and enter it in the fair. So we've been busy. A HUGE thanks to Pam who is always so willing to help with Math and Science in our homeschool. She's judged many science fairs, and is able to tell us what sort of things the judges are looking for.

So here's a sneak peek at the boy's science fair projects:

Roo's experiment:

Checking his results

Doodle's experiment- it was delicious- leave it to my boys to find a way to make science Edible!Bug- you are so cool- lol- found this pic on my camera-

More on the science fair- to come!

Polymer Science fun

For Christmas Doodle and Roo both got some cool science kits from my grandma. Roo has had a blast with the kit- one of the tubes had some tiny polymer beads. He soaked them in water- and they grew to the size of marbles. We all spent Saturday trying to find ways to make them shrink back to the small size quickly. We tried the blow dryer, the food dehydrator, putting them in a pan on the stove, dumping salt on them (Bug's idea- he said it worked for slugs- it might work for polymers- good hypothesis- but no luck!)

The beads- about the size of a pinhead- (not a real good picture- they are inside an orange plastic cup- lol)

Here's the "marbles" at various sizes- the ones in the ziplock bag didn't shrink at all. The circle of balls on the right were Doodle's experiment- he put a glass over the top of them. It slowed their shrinking.In Roo's kit also were some "Ice cube" shaped polymers. the left is before, and the right is after soaking in water overnight. They more than doubled in size.Roo- writing his observations We have had a blast with Polymers!

Online learning games

In Doodle and Roo's workbox drawers each day- one of their drawers has "Computer time" written on a card for them to do. Pam usually has some fun math game for them to play, and I have a few other websites I rotate between- and I thought I'd share some of our favorite online learning games. (ha! This also puts all my links where I can find them when I forget where that fun game was!)

First off- Ones Roo likes-
Starfall.com is one of my favorites, it's a complete reading program, lots of games, books to read, alphabet games
Fun4theBrain has a bunch of fun games- along the top click addition, Roo especially likes the Monster dentistry (he answers 10 add problems then gets to clean the germs off the monster's teeth) silly- but he likes it. Another favorite is under English at the top- there is a popcorn words game that works on sight words.
BBC has lots of fun and simple games
Sight words with Samson is a simple sight word game, it goes through 4 steps- learning, the spelling of the word, identifying, quizzing, and a fun ocean themed game of recognizing the word
UEN has links to other games that are helpful (a lot of them are pbs games)

Doodle's websites-
Multiplication.com - Melinda over at Homeschooling a Houseful introduced me to this site- and it's perfect for Doodle who is just starting learning multiplication this year in math
Academic Skill builders is another great site with math games for multiplicaiton, as well as addition. They also have a few English games that are fun.
Dance Mat Typing- is SUPER for learning to type correctly. Doodle has just started working on this game- but it goes through all of the keys on the letters on the keyboard. I don't think it does the numbers.
A few others that Pam has assigned Doodle to play games on are mathplayground.com and coolmath4kids

Bug uses many of these sites along with bigiqkids (just the free version works great for us)

We are loving astronomy

Or as Roo calls it "Pastromomy" For a bit of extra sicence fun we are using Apologia Astronomy We finished the first chapter this week- and made our model of the solar system. The distances to the sun are not right- and the sun should be Bigger- but we had a fun time with it.

Boy- some of those planets were tiny! The boys keep asking "When can we pop the balloons?" I told them after we study about each planet, they can pop it. Luckily The Sun is the next chapter.

Doodle tying a string onto Jupiter

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