December 2, 2009 - Draw Write Now

We picked up a copy of Draw Write Now, Book One at the library last week... that's the drawing curriculum that I have been eyeing up for C, so I was pretty happy to see it there. I'd like to give it a test run before going out and buying it, you know? So anyway, we did lesson one today and it was a hit :) She wanted to press on and do a second lesson, but A's frame of mind this afternoon wasn't exactly what I would call conducive to productive lesson time. However, the one we did finish went really well!

This is C's finished work. Besides the hen, she also made three baby chicks (one is in a nest and one is on a box). Pretty good, I think! She started out with printing the words herself but decided she needed some help so I made dotted letters for her to trace. I think for the rest of the lessons I'll make up pre-printed pages on the computer with traceable letters and some drawing space above.

"The Insanity of the Right"

The Insanity of the Right:
David d'Escoto asks why conservatives continue to turn kids over to the left
http://www.wnd.com/2009/08/108260/#Vx77o49aip4BSXYe.99

November 16, 2009

Tot School

Play dough, snipping practice, and Letter A Coloring Book - A is for Apple

http://homeschooling.about.com/od/langearlyread/ss/letteracolor.htm

4 Year Old Kindergarten:

Math 

Horizons Level K - Practice making numbers up to 7, Counting to 15, and Pennies and Cents

Reading Dick & Jane, and Lessons 36 & 37 from 100 Easy Lessons

November 13, 2009 - Reflections on Remembrance Day

I sat with C and had a little chat to see how much of our Remembrance Day lessons, talks and experiences registered with her... I think for four years old, she did pretty well :)


Who do we remember on Remembrance Day?
All the soldiers that died.

Why did the soldiers die?
Because they were fighting.

Why?
They were protecting good people.

Who were the soldiers protecting the good people from?
Bad guys.

What were the bad guys doing?
Not letting kids go to school and church.

Why do we wear a poppy?Just because.

What does the poppy mean?
It means it's Remembrance Day and we're remembering the soldiers that died.

Can you think of anything else about Remembrance Day?
I don't know.

What do we do on Remembrance Day?
Go to special places.

What do we do there?
We just sit.

Why do we want to remember the soldiers who died?
I don't know.

Does the Remembrance Day poppy say anything about soldiers who are in the army now?
No.

What do we wear to show we're proud of the soldiers we have today?
Poppies?

So does the poppy show that we're proud of soldiers today, AND that we remember the ones who died?
Yeah!

The poppy also means that we hope there is never another big war where all the soldiers have to go away and fight.
Oh. You know, if the soldiers ever have to fight again, I hope that they win, because that's just what has to happen.

November 12, 2009

C doing her math pages... "Mommy can I do one more? two more?"

November 11, 2009 - Remembrance Day

Poppy Cross Craft: http://www.kinderplans.com/admin/images/poppycross.pdf


Poem:

I'll wear a little poppy,
As red as red can be,
To show that I remember
Those who fought
for me.

More poems here: http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems10.html

Handwriting fonts can be downloaded for free from here:
http://desktoppub.about.com/od/freefonts/tp/Free_Handwriting_School_Fonts.htm


More activities here:
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/remembrance/index.html
http://www.themeunits.com/Remembrance_bk.html

November 10, 2009 - Check out NeoK12.com

Educational Videos, Lessons, and Games for K-12 School Kids

http://www.neok12.com

November 9, 2009 - Harmony Fine Arts at Home

A really nice fine arts curriculum to follow for kids, grade 1 - 12.  Something I want to come back to in the future.

http://www.harmonyfinearts.com/

October 29, 2009

Bingo Dauber art page from here:
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/halloween/daubers/

Pumpkin Dot-to-Dot from here:
http://www.edhelper.com/teachers/dot_to_dot_Pumpkin.htm

Coloring Page from here:
http://www.edhelper.com/teachers/dot_to_dot_Pumpkin.htm

Scarecrow Dot-to-Dot from here:
http://www.first-school.ws/t/dot-to-dot/scarecrow-1-to-10.htm

Happy Shapes Worksheet from here:
http://www.tlsbooks.com/happyshapes.pdf

How Many Bats? Worksheet from here:
http://www.tlsbooks.com/howmanybats.pdf

Autumn Tree Bingo Dauber Art
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.dltk-holidays.com/fall/daubers/bdauber4.gif

October 27, 2009

Math

A couple of the pages we did today in Horizons Level K

Reading

These pages are from C's reading program at MindSprinting, which is one of the best websites I have come across to date. Well, this one and also I adore StarFall's website for exercises in early reading.

 

Shape Matching...

Sheets for this came from here:

http://abcteach.com/directory/childhood/cut_and_paste/

Arts and Crafts time...

http://www.activitypad.com/child-activity.html

October 26, 2009

Math

C - Cut & Paste, Putting numbers in their correct order
A - Matching numbers that I cut out for her

These worksheets came from here:
http://abcteach.com/directory/childhood/cut_and_paste/


Arts & Crafts

Making Pumpkin Faces...

We got the patterns from here:
http://www.makingfriends.com/preschool/pumpkin_faces.htm

Other designs can be found here:
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/halloween/mpumpkinfaces.htm

June 10, 2009

God Made Light - Day One of Creation

Discuss different kinds of lights - compare brighter/dimmer
Talk about pioneers and how they didn't have lights like we do, they just had candles and oil lamps

Art project - cutting out a circle of white paper, gluing onto black paper to represent light and dark. Write out Genesis 1:3 - Then God said, "Let there be light, and there was light."

Concept of "One"

Phys Ed / Language Arts - poem about body parts and what they can do

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons - Lesson 30

Reader Rabbit Math K - pages 39-51

Read four stories out of the Dick and Jane Storybook Collection

June 5, 2009

Free creative time - she wrote a story for baby sister:)

"Once upon a time there was a princess who lived in a castle with her Daddy, and there was a fox in the woods."

Baking Time!!

Finished biscuits

Purity Cookbook - Puff Pudding
Make a basic biscuit dough, then cut in a mix of 1 egg yolk and 1/2 cup sugar + 2 cups cooked or fresh fruit.

Bake 10-15 minutes at 425 degrees.

Good for a snack as-is, or especially good served warm with fruit sauce or stewed fruit over top!

June 3, 2009

The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit are all our special friends
We have friends here, too!

Creative project - making cards for friends to tell them what we love about them or love to do with them:




Shorter Catechism #1-24
Lord's Prayer
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, Lesson #29

Dick and Jane Reader - C read 4 or 5 stories, we're into the blue section now!

May 28, 2009

Big and Small
Memorizing Genesis 1:1
Catechism Questions #1-20
Reading - 100 Lessons, lesson #28
Coloring contest entry for Splish's Summer Reading Splash

"small"

May 25, 2009

The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit are all One, but individuals
We are one family but we are individuals and all have special things to do in our family
Rectangles
Memorizing Genesis 1:1
Catechism Questions #1-20
Math - observation skills; introducing counting tally marks
Reading - 100 Lessons, lesson #27

"where's the triangle?"

"where's the square?"

May 21, 2009

The Holy Spirit helped God create the world, and He is our helper, too
God always tells the truth
Squares
Reading Genesis 1:2
Memorizing Genesis 1:1
Catechism Questions #1-17
Phonics - "in" sounds
Math - introducing counting by tens, counting backward from 30
Reading - 100 Lessons, lesson #26

This is the software I'm using to track our homeschool activities. It's called, appropriately enough, Homeschool Tracker :) I'm using the free Basic version, but they also offer a paid version with more bells and whistles. So far, I'm happy with it - it allows you to track multiple students, create and track assignments in multiple subjects, keep track of resources, keep a daily journal, record field trips, etc. Grading is optional, which is nice since I am not scoring anything yet, you can just mark an assignment 'completed' if you don't want to assign it any points.

You can download the software here: http://www.homeschooltracker.com/tracker_basic.aspx

May 19, 2009

God the Father, and God's Special Gift of Creation
Jesus and God are One
Fathers
Triangles & Circles
Our Home Address
Reading John 14
Memorizing Genesis 1:1
Catechism Questions #1-17

Drawing pictures of our house and building block towers

"My House"

Reader Rabbit Math

May 18, 2009

God the Father, and God's Special Gift of Creation

Fathers

Triangles

Genesis 1:1

"me and my daddy"

copying patterns with shapes

cutting out triangles

gluing triangles

'round and round and round and round'

phonics pages - short i

  

Reader Rabbit Math - K