Quarterly Curriculum: May - July 2014

Out with the old, in with the new on their curriculum pages...

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee:

Schoolwork on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday. Wednesday & Saturday off.

Subjects:

Math - Time & money for the whole quarter. 
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - The Complete Book of Time & Money Grades K-3 (American Education Publishing)
Number of Pages - 2

English - Large focus on reading comprehension.  I'm still waiting on our books, once I get them I'll let you know.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - 
Number of Pages - 2

Spelling Review - A review of the spelling words & units from the entire school year.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - None, just loose worksheets.
Number of Pages - 1 1/2

Concept - A three month long Concept Unit that focuses completely on dinosaurs.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - Science Essentials Dinosaurs Grades 1-3 (School Specialty Publishing), DK Eyewitness Books Dinosaurs (DK Publishing)
Number of Pages - Varies day-to-day

Other "Subjects":

Reading - Reading simple storybooks on their own.

Sign Language - Learning basic sign language to help Scooby-Doo communicate better, and to help us communicate better with him.

Some final notes:

• Summer here is June & July, however since we do quarters May gets lumped into summer for us.  So they will have a nice easy schedule for May, which, I won't lie, is a huge relief for me.
• Subjects dropped for the summer?  Handwriting, Science, Spanish, History/Geography, and Logic.  Yes, even the beloved Logic has been dropped.
• Spelling has been turned into Spelling Review.  What does this mean, exactly?  We will review their old spelling words.  I was going to do a whole new set of units, however I realized the other day that I would serve them better by reviewing the words they never got down.  If they get them down, then we'll have some new units.  We'll see.
• Scooby-Doo will not be doing speech therapy during the summer, but he will for May (this really applies to the other schedule).
• We're trying out a new thing for Concept Weeks this quarter.  Instead it will be a "Concept Quarter" with the theme going on for the whole quarter.  I'm going to play around with the Concept Weeks next school year, so this is a prelude to that.
• I've added Sign Language on for the summer.  We're retiring Spanish until third grade rolls around, but we're doing sign language for Scooby-Doo, to help with his speech therapy.
• Baseball will still be going on for May, followed by the pool in the park for June & July.
• Reading Comprehension will still be lumped in with English.  It might stay like this for good, not sure.
• Learning to read will still be our main focus.  
• This (learning to read) is part of the reason for the half days.  The other reason?  It's summer!  My kids should be more worried about having fun.  We are doing schoolwork because my kids like to brain dump, because their schedule is pretty easy in general through the school year, and because (no lie) they get antsy if we take too much time off from schoolwork.  They like taking an extra day off here and there, but when it goes on for more than four days or so they start whining.  

Final, final note?  This is the last quarter that Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are on the exact same schedule.  Next quarter they will have different ones.

Scooby-Doo:

Curriculum May-July 2014

Scooby-Doo STILL isn't preschool age yet (he won't be for more than a year), but he loves doing his schoolwork and it's starting to help his speech so we're going to keep at it.  This quarter we're going to have an actual schedule with actual curriculum which we will try to stick to.

The goal was schoolwork on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday with Wednesday & Saturday off. The reality averaged out to every other day that his brothers did schoolwork.

Subjects:

Numbers - Reviewing the numbers 1-10, reviewing counting, each day will have it's own number that we focus on.
Days - Everyday.
Textbooks -
Number of Pages - 2

Letters - Reviewing the alphabet, each day will have it's own letter that we focus on.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks -
Number of Pages - 2

Logic - Reviewing Colors & Shapes, learning Same or Different and other similar concepts.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks -
Number of Pages - 2

Art - Coloring and painting.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - Coloring books.
Number of Pages - 2

Other "Subjects":

Story Time - Reading a book every afternoon, even on days off.

Words Review - Going over simple words with him to help his speech.  This will be everyday, even on days off.

Sign Language - Learning basic sign language everyday, even days off.

Final Notes:

• Scooby-Doo will not have speech therapy this summer.  He will resume in August/September.  To make up for this we will work on his speech therapy at home the best we can.
• We will try our hand at sign language this summer to help his communication.

Two Week Review: July 6 - July 19

So, these two weeks saw us (Week #1) still on vacation with my uncle, followed by a trip to Carlsbad, New Mexico to see the bats. This was followed by (Week #2) another week of fitness class for the older two (with another week of fitness class next week). So, we were pretty busy.

For all of the above mentioned reasons, Scooby-Doo did NOT do any schoolwork. I wanted to, but we were WAY too busy, and it was a mad rush to keep his older two brothers on schedule. I'm not even sure if he'll do any for the next two weeks. We'll have to see how it all works out. I'm going to be pretty busy with Optimus Prime & Bumblebee as it is, and Scooby-Doo is probably going to be more interested in me chasing him around the house threatening to tickle him than in doing schoolwork with me. Priorities, you know.

So what did his older two brothers do? Math was spent reviewing everything up until this point, as well as introducing the half-dollar and the dollar. Bumblebee mastered the quarter, Optimus Prime mastered the nickel up to the number 50. Hey, almost there. In English we had a "Three Little Pigs" unit, followed by vocabulary and compound words. For some reason Bumblebee LOVES compound words. Don't ask, I have no clue. Spelling was, of course, more review. Lastly, in Dinosaurs we covered the Triassic and Jurassic periods - what dinosaurs lived then, what was plant life like, etc.

Next week will be the final week of fitness class for the summer, followed by a week doing a mad rush to get everything finished by next quarter. So, yeah, you know, busy.

Two Week Review: June 22 - July 5

First of all, the first week here Optimus Prime & Bumblebee had a fitness class at the local gym. Yay! Burn up some of that energy :) Also, my uncle came to visit us the first week of July, so there was a mad scramble to get everything done ahead of schedule.

Secondly, Scooby-Doo did NOTHING for schoolwork these two weeks. It was both really depressing and really nice. Depressing, because I wanted to do stuff with him, and there were moments when he wanted to do stuff with me, but nice because it was just nice for me to take a break from homeschooling him and he was happy to not be constantly pushed towards the table by me. I think he would of liked to do some schoolwork, but that's okay. I really needed the time to focus on his older brothers, and Scooby-Doo won't actually start pre-k until next next school year. He'll still be three when this upcoming school year starts. So, you know, no pressure.

Meanwhile, Optimus Prime & Bumblebee have been doing real well. Optimus Prime especially. In Math we covered dimes and quarters, counting by 10's and 25's. Bumblebee did great, of course, however Optimus Prime FINALLY got counting by 10's down. It was a big moment, with lots of praise (my part) and pride (his part). He was doing great until we added quarters into the mix, then he started getting confused again. I told him it was no biggie, he'll get it eventually after all. Meanwhile, for all the math problems where you had to say what coins you would use if you were spending 75 (or whatever) cents on something, I just got him to do the problem sans quarters. He did fine once the option for quarters was eliminated.

In English we covered short and long vowels and consonant blends. We also had a story unit on "Little Red Riding Hood." Spelling was, of course, more review. Optimus Prime had another major victory here. He got about half of his missed spelling words down, almost 20 total. Bumblebee isn't doing so hot reviewing his spelling words. Spelling, and reading, are DEFINITELY his weaker subjects. Meanwhile Optimus Prime is kicking butt in that field... And, as always, any day now they are going to get their reading down... (Also, book reports are going fine.)

In Dinosaurs we got to learn about other animals that lived during the same time, as well as the extinction of dinosaurs, dinosaur descendants, and we learned just what the Mesozoic Era means. I forgot to say last post that we've taken a break from learning more Sign Language. We've done quite a few weeks of it, and they've learned a ton of new words, but the rest of the summer will just be a focus on retaining those words and not adding any new ones.

Well, that sums up these two weeks. Next week we'll still be on vacation with my uncle, then we go to Carlsbad to see the bats. Can't wait!

Two Week Review: June 8 - June 21

* Okay, been really busy but that will all be explained as the posts come up *

First Scooby-Doo. He's doing great with his numbers. Of course. He's also doing good with his alphabet. We finished it this week and started from the beginning again. He did his coloring and seemed to really like it. As for Logic, we did colors. He really didn't understand the concept of only coloring something a specific color, but he did it to humor me. I also decided this week that Scooby-Doo's a bit burnt out. So, I'll let him take the next two weeks off. Also, I wrote up 13 weeks of schoolwork for him, just like I did for his brothers, but I'm going to spread the remainder of his schoolwork out over this quarter and next quarter. He's still 3, and I honesty don't think he's ready for an everyday pace like his brothers do. When they were 3 they did schoolwork everyday and (mostly) loved it. They were in a rush to grow up. Scooby-Doo isn't, so I'll let him be a toddler for a while longer.

Now, Optimus Prime & Bumblebee. Reading and book reports are both going great. Soon, for reading. Soon... Soon they will have it down. I can't wait! I'm really hoping by the end of the summer... Optimus Prime, maybe, which is kinda surprising. I thought it would be Bumblebee first...

For Math we are FINALLY done with time (think I mentioned that last post...), and started money. Yay, pennies! The easiest money schoolwork ever! Optimus Prime was BEYOND thrilled! We also did nickels, he wasn't so thrilled with that... He still doesn't have the whole counting by 5's and 10's thing down. But we're getting there. Meanwhile, Bumblebee has counting by 10's down (has for a while) but needs help counting by 5's. We'll get there! In English we got to read "The Gingerbread Man" and do a unit along with it. Then we started a new English book, which started with some REALLY easy stuff. They were bored. Seriously, it started with the alphabet, reviewing colors, and counting. Kinda kindergarten level... Now, the stories we are doing is also a kindergarten book, but while that is below them it doesn't bore them because there are fun activities (like making gingerbread cookies, only I didn't have all the ingredients so we made a cake instead) and a story they like (that they don't have to read, if you know what I mean...). However, the new English book FINALLY picked up and we got to do some opposites, abc order, story order (which they LOVE), and rhyming words. All's well that ends well, I guess.

Spelling was review, of course. I swear, their refusal to get these words down is driving me crazy... Dinosaurs was, of course, fun. We learned about paleontologists, fossils, and dinosaur theories (including skin types, warm- or cold-blooded, eyesight, vocal capabilities, and intelligence). We also did a craft and played some dinosaur games in the book.

Lastly, this last week Optimus Prime and Bumblebee had a fitness class at the local gym! It will also be for next week too. Wear 'em out ;) Too bad Scooby-Doo is too young...