For His Glory: school

Showing posts with label school. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

2012-2013 school year review ~ Doodlebug

I'm really on a roll now! :) Doodlebug was only 4 1/2 when the school year started. Technically, he wasn't eligible for Kindergarten until this school year since his birthday is in January. BUT...He's so smart I really hated to wait to start with him. Especially since I knew he would want to sit in on school with Velcro Boy like he did the year before. So I decided to get him started. I don't regret it a bit!

Doodlebug ~ Kindergarten

Math: Math-u-see level Primer. And Alpha. Yup, two math levels in one year. Without pushing him!!! Primer is an introductory level that was really way too easy for him, so we skipped much of it. He already knew how to count and his shapes and all that good stuff. Alpha is single digit (with some multiple digit) addition and subtraction.

Religion: Faith and Life with Velcro Boy. We also read a lot of story books and read devotionals, stories of the saints and celebrated the liturgical year. Since VB prepared for First Communion, so did Doodlebug. Mostly. He understands much of what he needs, so preparing him should be easy when the time comes.

Science: Behold & See 2 from Catholic Heritage with Velcro Boy. It's written on a level that was perfect for both boys this year. Doodlebug seems to have The Professor's aptitude for science. Scary! We also read book based on the letter theme of the week.

Geography: We started covering the 50 states using the same series The Professor used from Sleeping Bear Press. We covered a state each week, so we didn't finish them all. We also didn't do a scrapbook, but used a sticker book I came across.

American History: We covered the 1700's this year. We spent a lot of time on the Revolutionary War. The kids did some projects and a lot of reading. We made some period recipes, made some tri-corn hats and made some games kids in those days played. We even made a lapbook (large book made up of lots of smaller books). They really enjoyed that.

World History: We covered the age of the Apostles. Actually we didn't even finish it, we have 4 more units to complete, which we'll work on this year. We discussed the Apostles, the early Popes, the church fathers and the early martyrs. We learned about ancient Rome. They really enjoyed learning about gladiators. We did several projects as well.

Literature/writing: Doodlebug also used Writing with Ease level 1. He started the year doing a Kindergarten handwriting program and totally rocked it. He has amazingly good handwriting. Especially for a 5 year old boy. I was surprised he could keep up with the questions about the passages, but he did really well.

We're still working on phonics using Reading Eggs. It's a online program and we're also having Doodlebug read to us when ever we can. He reads at least 2 grade levels above where he should be.

Since we were travelling the Alphabet Path, we did a new letter every week or so and based our science books on that letter. We also read about a saint, did a cooking project and art work based on the letter. We had a lot of fun with it, but did get derailed when Pumpkin got really active. I'm hoping to really do the Path well with him when he gets older.

See my post about The Professor for high points and difficulties. Overall, it was a good year.

Monday, September 2, 2013

2012-2013 school year review ~ Velcro Boy

Wow! Two posts in as many days. I'm on a roll :) I really need to come up with a new blog nickname for Velcro Boy. It doesn't really suit an 8 year old, does it? VB completed 2nd grade this year and preparation for First Communion as well! Now he's serving at Our Lord's table every chance he gets.

Velcro Boy ~ 2nd grade
Math: Math-u-see level Beta. This covers multi-digit addition and subtraction with carrying and borrowing. I'm amazed at how well he caught on.VB loves watching the DVD's, even for the lessons he really doesn't need to watch. He also likes the manipulatives. He really needs to "do" something in order to learn it.

Religion: Faith and Life. This was the year the kids prepare for First Communion, so they fairly thoroughly covered Reconciliation and our Eucharistic Lord. Great program! We also read devotionals, stories of the saints and celebrated the liturgical year.

Science: Behold & See 2 from Catholic Heritage. This is a fairly broad overview program that touches on all the general science topics. There were some worksheets and some experiments that the kids really liked. Like making a globe out of ice cream. Yummy! It's written in a conversational style and I really liked it. I'm not sure I would use it for a 2nd grader though. It's probably about a year behind the grade. It worked well because VB isn't the type to sit still for long and it kept his interest. I also used it for Doodlebug, who was able to follow quite easily.

Geography: We started covering the 50 states using the same series The Professor used from Sleeping Bear Press. We covered a state each week, so we didn't finish them all. We also didn't do a scrapbook, but used a sticker book I came across.

American History: We covered the 1700's this year. We spent a lot of time on the Revolutionary War. The kids did some projects and a lot of reading. We made some period recipes, made some tri-corn hats and made some games kids in those days played. We even made a lapbook (large book made up of lots of smaller books). They really enjoyed that.

World History: We covered the age of the Apostles. Actually we didn't even finish it, we have 4 more units to complete, which we'll work on this year. We discussed the Apostles, the early Popes, the church fathers and the early martyrs. We learned about ancient Rome. They really enjoyed learning about gladiators. We did several projects as well.

Literature/writing: Velcro Boy also used Writing with Ease level 1. Since this is a gradual instruction, I'm hoping not to have the same problems with writing with VB that I have with the Professor. It's going well so far.

Spelling: We started using All About Spelling this year and we're really happy with it! I'm amazed at how well VB has taken to spelling given how much reading has been a struggle. We do some work on the board with magnetized letter tiles, so I think this is a big part of it. Remember how he likes to touch things. We completed level 1 and started level 2 this year.

We're still working on phonics using Reading Eggs. It's a online program and we're also having VB read to us when ever we can. He's made a lot of improvement, but still has a loong way to go.

See my post about The Professor for high points and difficulties. Overall, it was a good year. I also discovered just how good at helping with the baby Velcro Boy is! He's been a life saver. We probably wouldn't have eaten all year if he hadn't been so good with Pumpkin :)

Sunday, September 1, 2013

2012-2013 school year review ~ The Professor

Hi all! I know I've been promising a review of our school year for a while and I keep procrastinating. Sorry. Life's busy and I'm tired by the time the kids get to bed. Anyway...here goes:

The Professor ~ 4th grade
Math: Math-u-see level Epsilon (fractions). As in the past we continue to love the math-u-see program. It's fairly easy for me, since the kids watch a dvd that teaches the concepts. And it's not difficult material that I still remember how to do it. That may change in a few years and Matt will need to become more involved ;)

Religion: Faith and Life. This is an awesome program for learning the faith. They take a spiral approach that breaks everything (the bible and the catechism) down for the younger set, starting in 1st grade, and incorporates more meat each year through 6th grade. They may go higher, I'm not sure. We also read devotionals, stories of the saints and celebrated the liturgical year.

Science: Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology. The authors have a whole series that covers each of the days of creation, about one each year. They're very well written and go very in-depth into the subjects. It's written in a Charlotte Mason style, very conversational. It's broken down for elementary level students without talking down to the kids. My only complaint about the series is that the author follows the young earth philosophy, believing that the earth was created in 7-24 hour days and is about 4000 years old.

Geography: We finished covering the last of the 50 states and completed our scrapbook! And it only took just over 2 years :)

Map Skills: He completed level D this year. This is another series I like a lot. It spirals through reading maps, keys, globes, atlases, different types of maps, etc. Comes in handy when the GPS isn't working ;)

American History: We covered the 1700's this year. We spent a lot of time on the Revolutionary War. The kids did some projects and a lot of reading. We made some period recipes, made some tri-corn hats and made some games kids in those days played. We even made a lapbook (large book made up of lots of smaller books). They really enjoyed that.

World History: We covered the age of the Apostles. Actually we didn't even finish it, we have 4 more units to complete, which we'll work on this year. We discussed the Apostles, the early Popes, the church fathers and the early martyrs. We learned about ancient Rome. They really enjoyed learning about gladiators. We did several projects as well.

Grammar: Level D. He learned more about diagramming sentences and the less known parts of speech.

Literature/writing: We started using a new program this year called Writing with Ease. There are 4 levels and the author also takes a spiral approach (notice a theme here?). There is narration/dictation, handwriting practice, listening comprehension and more. The first level has the instructor reading a passage from a book/story. Then asking questions of the kids. They then need to remember one thing from the passage and write it down (or the teacher writes it and the student then copies it). The idea is to gradually work up to the student finding the main idea in a passage and summarizing stories. The Professor has issues with doing this, so I'm hoping that starting so basic will help him to develop the skills. I'm also hoping that the others don't have the same issue and that this will catch it before it becomes a problem.

Vocabulary: We've been using a series called 240 Words ___ Graders Need to Know. We completed the 4th grade level.

Art: We started using Drawing with Thomas Kincade from Alpha Omega. It's a good program and he finds it challenging. He's learning more about perspective and shading and drawing faces.

We had a good year.

Best discoveries:
I spent our last summer break (4 weeks or so) making copies and print outs of everything I would need throughout the entire year. In years past, I would do this during our weeks off. Usually on Sunday night before starting school Monday morning :) Doing everything in advance really worked well. That way I knew it was all done and didn't have to stop what I was doing to make a copy or print something out. As we all know, when you need to do something in a hurry, you can't find it or the internet is down or the printer is broken or something. It also made less to do during the weeks off, which made life easier.

I also changed the way I do my lesson plans. In the past I would lay out exact page numbers, worksheets, etc to do on specific days. Every week off I would do the plans for the next 3 weeks. This was time consuming and would get thrown off when someone was sick, or there was an appointment or we just decided to scrap school for the day. This year I just planned each subject and what would get done on a daily basis. Example: 1 page per day for math, 2 pages per day for grammar, x many weeks per unit for history, 1 state every 2 weeks for Geography, etc. Then I made a checklist for the kids with their chores and their school work so we could see what had been done and not done.

Hardest part of the year:
A growing toddler. That likes to climb. And get into everything. It's amazing how much harder it's been keeping Pumpkin out of things than it was with the other three. He's been an easy baby and a pretty easy toddler and he's such a happy boy, but he is a toddler. So our routines got shifted around a lot and lots of things got put off to nap time when ever possible.

All in all it was a good year. We all learned a lot and got a lot done.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

First Day of School 2012

So, for the first time I actually thought to capture the kids on the first day of school! I've been meaning to do this for quite some time :)

The Professor (never can get a "normal" expression on him)

Velcro Boy


Doodlebug

And because he's just soooo cute...

He's trying to get Doodlebug's puppy.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

2012-2013 planning post

Warning: very long post ahead!

We're planning on starting our school year on August 27th and working for 34 weeks, finishing on or about July 12th. We school year round, taking a week off every 4 weeks or so. 2 weeks at Christmas and Holy Week/Easter. This year we have a family vacation planned to the Smokey Mountains to see fall leaves. We school 4 days a week, taking Wednesday off. This works extremely well for us. It allows time to get work done, but a day for shopping, errands, doctor's visits, household projects, etc.

A few years ago, I got an idea off a blog about planning a school year with Post-It's. I thought about it, and it just seemed like a really good idea. I only had 2 students at the time, and it worked great! The world has gotten more complicated :)

I have columns for each child on each day (Monday for each, Tuesday, etc). In years past I've put the kids down the side and the days across the top. Down the side are the times. Each Post-It has the subject written on it.

This year when I went to plan, I was going to just lay out the Post-It's on the desk. I finally got it cleaned off and it's big enough :) But hubby was going to work on schedules for work and I didn't want ~~him to mess it up~~ to be in his way. In looking around for another way to do it, I found a board that is going to be used for another purpose. Perfect!

I was planning on making a household schedule after I got the school schedule done, but everything just started flowing. So, I let it flow around the school schedule :)

The Plan... (do you hear God laughing???)

The Professor ~ 4th grade (though he's doing mostly 5th grade work)
Math ~ Math U See level Epsilon. The focus is fractions.
Religion ~ Faith and Life 4
      reread of Baltimore Catechism 1
      Stories of the Saints and celebrating the Liturgical year
      Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls
      More Catholic Tales
      Rare Catholic Stories
Science ~ Finish Physics
       Exploring Creation with Anatomy & Notebooking Journal (I'm really excited about this program.)
   We ordered the lab kit from Rainbow Resources so doing the experiments should be a lot of fun.             There are a lot of supplies called for in this program. I'm also thinking about getting models of the    heart, the eye, and the ear.
World History ~ Connecting with History book 2 63 BC to 1066 AD. He'll be working at the Grammar
      level, reading lots of books and completing several projects.
American History ~ We'll be covering the 1600's and 1700's. I have 5 units planned:
       American Government~ this is a brief overview of how our government works. I'm going to tie it in with
the upcoming election.
   The Colonists~ The Pilgrims as well as the other colonies that have settled here.
   Colonies ~ how the colonies were established.
       The Revolutionary War
       The Constitution ~ The conventions, writing, the signers.

Geography ~ We'll be completing the rest of the states in order of statehood and completing our
scrapbook(s).
Map Skills ~ level D
Writing with Ease ~ level 1 The Professor has been having trouble summarizing and narrating from his
          reading, though he answers questions without difficulty. Hopefully this will help.
Grammar ~ Language of God level D
Vocabulary ~ 240 Vocabulary Words 4th Grade Kids Need To Know.
Art ~ Drawing Basics
   ArtPac 2

Velcro Boy ~ 2nd grade
Math ~ Math U See level Beta
Religion ~ Faith and Life 2
              Baltimore Catechism 0
              Celebrating the Liturgical year and Stories of the Saints
              Devotional Stories for Little Folks & Devotional Stories Too
             We'll also be preparing for First Communion, so I'm sure there'll be some projects :)
Science ~ Behold & See 2. We've been using the Exploring Creation series with The Professor, but I
             don't think it will hold Velcro Boy's interest. In reviewing this, I think it's just perfect. I'll also
             supplement with other books and we'll be dong the experiments.
World History ~ Connecting with History book 2, he'll be doing the Beginner level.
American History ~ same as The Professor, just with books geared to his level.
Geography ~ Same and above, just doing a sticker book instead of a scrapbook and cooking projects!
Phonics ~ Reading Eggs
Writing with Ease ~ also level 1
Spelling ~ All About Spelling level 1
Art ~ Art Pac 1
          various projects I have around the house

Doodlebug ~ Kindergarten (like the Professor, this kid is too smart)
Lucky little Doodlebug gets to walk the Alphabet Path (again)!!!! I say again, because he tagged along when Velcro Boy walked it 2 years ago. It's going to be so much fun (and work) and fun, but so worth it!
Math ~ Math U See Primer. Since he already has a good grasp on the work in this level, I'm sure he'll fly
through and move on to Alpha.
Religion ~ with Velcro Boy
Science ~ with Velcro Boy and alphabet themed reading
World History ~ with Velcro Boy
American History ~ with Velcro Boy (Doodlebug loves to read, so there's no getting rid of him when a book
is out)
Geography ~ with Velcro Boy
Phonics ~ Reading Eggs
Handwriting ~ Catholic Heritage Handwriting level K
Art ~ Glitter letters
   projects
coloring pages (saints, virtues, and alphabet)
Alphabet Path ~ a new letter every week or so
a Mrs. Applebee story
An Alphabet of Catholic Saints
My ABC Bible Verses
          different animals and topics each week based on the alphabet letter we're covering
          several kitchen projects

Pumpkin ~
learning to walk
learning to talk
learning to climb stairs
learning to dress himself
learning to feed himself
learning to handle a cup
learning not to eat the books!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

State by State Scrapbook ~ Maryland

Whew...almost done (catching up that it :) )

We completed our Maryland scrapbook pages...

state flag

state information

USA location map

state map

state flower

state bird

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Home Makeover...the school room edition~completed!!!!!

It's done, it's done, it's really, really done!!!!! Insert happy dance here :)

I'm soooooo glad to have this project done.

Doodlebug's area. The cards on top of the bookcase aren't normally there. *Someone* just had a birthday!

Velcro Boy's area. We refer to them as cubicles :) The small bookcase on the right holds my lesson plan book with my scheduling calendars, etc hung over it.

The Professor's with our "altar" on the left

The new table and chair. They look really tiny in the pictures, they really are bigger :)

Our t.v. area. On the right is our "tv" (actually an "old" computer monitor). We can also connect the laptop to watch DVD's back here. Excellent lighting for reading, painting, sewing, etc back here!

Not sure how long the play kitchen will stay here. Maybe Doodlebug's room, maybe elsewhere...

This is the corner where the bookcases used to be! This desk is huge!!! Almost triple the space we used to have.

The Professor made this decoration all.by.himself.!!! (It's a stand up skeleton and black cat on a fence.)

So, that's our makeover! Now on to the next BIG project.

Planning curriculum for Velcro Boy (and overhauling the schedules and plans for the rest of the house). Having him in school wasn't working out. They weren't giving him the speech therapy he needs, so Friday was his last day! I've ordered a few things and I have a bunch of workbooks to go through, but we'll take it easy the first week or two. I also have to find some speech exercises that I can do with him here at home.

After that we need to go through everything in the attic and purge some things. I also need to go through the kids clothes for winter stuff. The Professor is all set for winter, but I realized yesterday afternoon that he needs new shirts for church. His current ones are about as tight as they should get and still look OK. He can't grow more then 1/2 an inch or so this winter, or his pants will be too short :) These kids need to stop growing :)