PHOTO PHRYDAE

Sometimes on Fridays, the Homeschool Blog Award place has FOTO FRIDAY. I decided to use the /PH/ for both instead of the /F/ for both. And while I'm at it, why not mess with the spelling of Friday. We all have been taught phonics I think- so should be able to sound it out as Friday.



There is no FOTO FRIDAY on the HSBA memoir blog, but that s just TOO BAD! Because I choose my photo last night.

When Gavin turned 15 (last week), Brian took him to a parking lot and let him practice driving the Miata.

On the Homeschool Memoir Blog there is a Fun Friday Post. A story about a little boy choosing to do less on a test to get into an easy class. I have a story along those lines from when I was in school.

When I was in 3rd grade I was moved to the ‘advanced group’ for Spelling (or reading, I forget). The advanced group- in 3rd grade- had up to 60 spelling/vocabulary words a week. with ALL definitions listed for that word in the dictionary and writing a sentence. After a couple weeks I quickly decided it’d be best to flunk out of the advanced group on purpose. what 3rd grader wants all that work daily and testing weekly? It did NOT seem like a way to reward those who were good in reading and spelling.

(From the best I can remember. My childhood memories are a bit scattered and incomplete)

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IN OTHER NEWS: Brian and Ki left yesterday and are in L.A. They will be flying to Ohio in a couple hours!

Something New

This week's topic at Homeschool Memoirs is "Something New": "This week I hope you’ll share something new you’re using, why you’ve decided to use it, and if you have used it how you like it. Make sure to include the publishing information and where you got it from so others can look into if they like."

We always do something new, but in that sense, it's not new to try something new, because it's the thing we always do- trying something new.

The biggest change this year is that my boys actually requested to try some curriculum. This is our 8th yr homeschooling as we have never really used a curriculum. We have take a part of 2 from a curriculum and made it work for us, but have never just used a curriculum. "Here's the workbook, read and do it daily like it says"

My youngest asked to use a 'curriculum' (something we buy that is all planned out with each page and we just do it like it's written and says). He said he wanted to actually work through the same thing until we get all the way through to the end. I guess he's not as "ADD" as my brain is- always hopping from 1 thing to another in search of that PERFECT lesson.

I decide the best (easiest & cheapest) way to try out a curriculum for a subject would be to just get some ACE workbooks for Social Studies. (I don't want to mess up math and science and Language Arts with a boring curriculum, LOL. I like to mix those up and do different things. I am not good at, nor do I like, patching my own Social Studies together). And a Bible Elective.

So I gave them a list of what was available and let them choose.

Ki choose Missions (a missionary study with is just reading biographies and a lot of boring questions that I decided we can just do orally) and a General Social Studies.

Connor chose Civics and Life of Christ. But I messed up my order and forgot the Life of Christ- Oh well.

Gavin choose Economics and Early Church History.

Also, new this year, is we decided to go with Apologia for the Science that Ki (zoology) and Gavin (physics) chose. Ki with a Textbook and Gavin wanted the CD-ROM course.

So we are going through those and doing them like the book/CD-ROM says. the notebooking, the tests, the questions, the experiments. i also bought the Experiment Kits for them, so they can look in their book, read what they need for the next experiment, go to their kit, and get out their supplies.

Last Spring we found http://www.aleks.com/ for math. Brian really likes it (I do too, but I am happy with our 'uinschooling math') and Brian actually said he wanted the boys to use it. So we use that for math. They can choose their levels and choose which areas they do and what to do first and they can keep track of the progress and play a few games. So it's nice.It's thorough and yet not strictly scheduled. (it's not a 'do this today and that tomorrow'). Ki just used the Multiplication Drill on it and he chooses other things to do for math. So he does the http://www.aleks.com/ quicktables (multiplication drill) M/W/F and I have him work on the regular Aleks stuff for his Monday math. He's perfectly fine doing it like that because he knows his dad likes him to use the ALEKS. And he gets a Chocolate Covered raisin each time he does a problem.

**** ANOTHER NEW THING THIS YEAR: THROWING WAFFLES!!!

Our waffle iron makes round waffles. Today while I was making waffles, Connor called the next waffle. when it was done he told me to throw it to him. So I did. I flung it like a Frisbee. So the other 2 asked their waffles to be thrown, too.

Today was Waffle Throwing Wednesday.

http://homeschoolblogawards.com/ for other Homeschool Memoirs

Listening and Memory Skils

A repost for someone:

these can be played very, very simply or made as complex as your child likes.

1. Play ‘Repeat’ – Tell your child you are going to play a secret game. A game with a secret word and she can’t tell anyone else the word but you and she has a mission to tell you this word anytime you ask her. say a word (like ‘cookie’)and have your child repeat it. Have a secret code word that whenever you say, she knows to say her secret word. Like whenever you say “poppadiddle’ she says her secret word. . Tell her the secret word and have her repeat 5 times in a row. Wait 10 seconds –say YOUR secret word and have your child repeat HER secret word. Increase the time between “Secret Word”. Go for 10 secind, then 15 seconds, then 45 seconds, then repeat it over and over and tell her you will ask her again in 5 minutes…… then 15 minutes
Go as long as you and she want and have time for. Later increased from 1 word to a 2 word phrase.
You can also use just SOUNDS.. have her secret word be the making the sound of a car or dog, or making the sound of a secret letter. (boys are good with this one)

2. .Play the classic simple game of Memory Match- with the cards that you have to find matching pairs by remembering what you have turned over.. but start with half the cards. Or 5 pairs- something smaller- with less to remember.

3. Play “Hidden Treasure”—hide 50 cents. Show her the money first. Then hide it. Tell her where it is. Have her repeat back where it is. Ask her to draw where is it according to what you have told her. Wait 20 seconds (OR however long you think would be good for her) then tell her to find the hidden treasure by remembering where you told her it was. Gradually increase elapsed time and details of where it is hidden (like instead of “under the blue pillow on the couch” have it be “ 5 feet from the cat’s bowl”… or “turn LEFT at the chair and walk 3 feet then turn right and measure 18 inches”…

4. Play the word Card game (or picture card or number card).. have a card with a word/picture/letter, etc…. show it to her, have her tell you what it is. Then turn it upside down on the table and have her tell you what it is and turn it over to show her. Then wait 20 seconds and ask her what is on the upside down card. Turn it over to show her. If she got it correct, wait longer next time, if she got it wrong, don’t wait as long for the next time.

5. Hand Letter- write the letter of the day on her hand. Frequently throughout the day ask her to look at her hand and go over the letter sound with her. Soon, JUST ask her the sound of the letter in her hand without going over it with her.

6. Put a little red X on one of her toes . Just one toe, either foot. Throughout the day ask her which toe it is (without her looking), then she can take off her sock or shoe, etc to see if she is correct.

7. “What’s Next” At the beginning of the day give her a small itinerary. “after breakfast we will read a book. After we read he book we will go for a walk” While you eat breakfast talk about what is next (the book) and what is after that (the walk). Then when breakfast is done, ask her what is next--- see if she can remember it is the book. If she can, ask her what is AFTER the book… the walk. Increase your list as she gets better with it.

8.“what’s missing”—have a tray with 3-5 items on it (unless your child can handle more). Take the tray away- remove one item, show the child and have them tell you what is missing. As you increase, you can have 10 things and remove TWO and see if the child can tell you both missing items…..and increase as your child is ready

9. “Sequence”—have 3-5 items. Call out the names of two items (make sure they are NOT next to each other) and have your child touch them (or pick up and place in front of them) in the order you called them out. Increase to saying 3 things in order, then 4 then 5…… We do this with letters and numbers and words, too. OR, instead of calling out the names of the items, have your child carefully wacth as YOU touch a sequence of items and then they have to touch the same things in sequence.

10. “What did I say”? Say a list of 3-5 words to your child and have her tell you the FIRST word you said. Make sure you tell her how to play the game first- tell her- “This is a game where I say 4 words and you have to tell me the first word I said.” Then give her an example. “If I say the words ‘cat, bear, cup, ball’- the first word I said is CAT- so that is what you need to say back to me.” ---If 4 is too many, start with 2 or 3.

11. how to make a sandwich- Pick a task (making a peanut butter sandwich or making a bed) and have her describe EACH STEP involved. Write down the steps she says, then do them like she said them. So if describing a sandwich and she says- get out the bread and put peanut butter on it” you would get out the LOAF of bread and set the peanut butter jar on top the loaf- Then help her learn the specific steps in detail—you get the loaf of bread out of the drawer. Set the loaf on the table, open the bag, take out a slice of bread, put it on a plate. Get the jar of peanut butter out of the cupboard and put the jar on the table. Get a spreading knife out and set next to the jar, take the lid off the jar and set it down. Pick up the knife and scoop peanut butter out of the jar with the knife….”

Tuesday Tour and Monday's Update

Our First Day Of Homeschool (click road sign link get to other blogs with this theme)

was nothing fancy or exciting. Last year for our first day we walked to the park to see a juggler and as we were the only ones there, he gave all my boys lessons and let them use his stuff. When the boys were younger we always started with a fun short unit study. There were a couple years we statrted with a homeschooling camping trip with other homeschoolers and fun activities (F.I.R.E. Camp)

This year there was nothing like that. We have just moved from Ohio to California and were still in boxes. We moved into this house around July 9th and school slowly started the first week of August. Due to moving issues we didn't do much school as of April last year. Once we got to April the boys just read daily a did multiplication drills on the computer or the Leap Pad.

Over the late spring and early summer they decided what they wanted to study and what kinds of things they wanted for a couple of the subjects. Gavin wanted to do physics to get ready for his career in robotic engineering and Connor decided on geology as he has always liked shiny rocks. So I gathered some websites that talked about different careers in those fields. Ki choose aquatic animals, zoology.

The 1st week of school all they did was read and do 30 minutes of math every other day. The 2nd week they did 30 minutes math daily, read, I read to them from Story of the World and Gavin and Connor read through their websites about different careers in their fields of science they are studying. By then the things I had ordered had mostly come and we took time to look through our schooling stuff and wrote names on notebooks, etc.

By September we got pretty much into school full swing. Ki has a daily list of work in the areas he asked to study. He can do them in any order. Connor has a weekly list (math and reading daily). Gavin has a list that is due Jan 1st with math and reading daily.

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Monday- Gavin finished his physics test quickly. We walked to the coffee shop down the street and had muffins and a hot drink while he took his test. He had a blueberry muffin and Mexican Hot Chocolate. I had a blueberry muffin and Chai Latte.

Ki and I read in his zoology book some and I helped with making his notebook. He read part of Gloria Rising which is a book by the author who wrote the short story he read last week. This is about the same character. Then we looked up how to make a paper kite. This is an activity he choose from the story he read last week. I really do not know what Connor did. He did his daily stuff and a bunch of push ups for extra computer time. I don't know if he did Social Studies or Geology.

I had a nice little bike ride. I rode to Target to buy some flea drops for the cat. Then I stopped in a fabric store on the way home to get the other fabric I need for my sewing project.

In the evening I went to a Homeschool meeting to get tips on filing the Private School form for homeschooling in California.

SIMPLE WOMAN'S DAYBOOK

FOR TODAY Sept 8
Outside My Window... Tree tops and some roof tops. The bedroom is above the garage, I just see treetops, wires and a couple roof tops right now.

I am thinking... That I am tired of hearing people worry about what curriculum they need to use to homeschool their 3 yr old and where they can get workbooks and worksheets to do with their 2 yr old. Threatening to spank a 5 yr old daily when he gets frustrated with homeschooling that doesn't work and upsets the mom.

I am thankful for... Opportunities (to homeschool, to be a mom and wife, to live in a new place, everything is an opportunities.

From the kitchen... I can hear the dishes calling-"Please Clean Me!"

I am wearing... my Salwar Kameez from India (pic not of mine, but similar)

I am creating... a plan for my Sewing Project

I am going...to take some Excedrin soon

I am reading... right now? This meme. I am about to start a new book for a ladies book club called Three Cups of Tea

I am hoping... Ki has a great trip and a great birthday in Ohio with his dad and grandparents!

I am hearing... the neighbor's gardening with the weed whacker thingy, Connor Playing Regnum, a ball bouncing, the dishwasher, occasional car

Around the house... things are getting organized.

One of my favorite things... my olive tree.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Do some gardening, help Ki get packed for his trip, buy some fabrics and have my sewingmachine cleaned and tuned.

Here is picture thought I am sharing:

Brian took this picture. I like how it did a double moon picture.