No More Facebook...

For a variety of reasons I've decided to close down my facebook account which also means I'll be losing my facebook page for this blog. However, to compensate for this I started a new blog called Daydreaming Viking. You can find our more personal stories about our day-to-day life over there since I try not to clutter up this blog with things like that. This blog is just about homeschooling, the other blog is about our life.

Concept Unit #41: Ancient Egypt

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee spent an entire month learning all about ancient Egypt. It was a new idea, spending an entire month on a topic, and to be honest - we hated it. It was just too much doing the same topic day after day everyday. We won't be repeating this again after this quarter. From now on we'll stick to a maximum of two weeks on a topic. A month was both too much information and too much repetition. So many topics overlapped that when we discussed topic b topic a would be brought up again.

Anyway, they learned all about the pyramids, the pharaohs, the gods, the culture, the wars. There was periods of time where Egypt was invaded and foreign rulers reigned so that was interesting. They learned about the female pharaoh Hatshepsut and how the pharaohs that followed her tried to erase her from history. They learned about Cleopatra, the last queen and pharaoh of Egypt who was really a Greek. Famous male pharaohs were covered as well including the famous "King Tut" (who got his own special look at with the book "Who Was King Tut?") who was really a nobody in his time but is famous in ours. Interactions with ancient Greece and Rome, as well as their influence and eventual rule were covered as well. We even touched briefly on Alexander the Great.

Overall it would have been a better unit - and far more enjoyable - if it had been shorter. But it was a very information packed month in the end.

My Little Pony

Synopsis - Each pony gets their own book that follows them around as they face whatever difficulty is currently going on in their life.

Wandering Falcon - "They were cute books. Some of the problems seemed pretty ridiculous and blown completely out of proportion but it IS a kids series. However, they did deal with some real issues like bullying or discovering a hidden talent (in Fluttershy's book), respect or helping your friends (in Applejack's book), and helping your family out or being true to yourself (in Pinkie Pie's book)."

Optimus Prime - "I liked Twilight, Applejack. I loved Fluttershy. Sometimes Rarity is a brat about stuff. She whines. I think Rainbow Dash is awesome! Pinkie Pie is the most funniest pony ever! I like Spike. My very favorite character is Princess Luna and Zecora."

Bumblebee - "I loved the Rarity one! I loved the copycat! I absolutely, really, really, really loved Twilight since she's my favorite character. I loved the Rainbow Dash dares. Pinkie Pie had her nurse a baby balloon!"

My Little Pony*

1. Fluttershy and the Fine Furry Friends Fair
2. Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party!
3. Applejack and the Honest-to-Goodness Switcheroo 
4. Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell
5. Rarity and the Curious Case of Charity
6. Rainbow Dash and the Daring Do Double Dare

* These books are not numbered, so they are listed in the order that we read them. Also, for these books I have not listed an author since they are too much like comic books with multiple authors, illustrators, and creators.

Kindergarten Spelling Units #1-12 Part 3

Here is the third of three spelling units posts.

Each child has their own unique spelling units. I tried to put them all in one post but it was just too much. I decided it was best to break them each up into their own post.

For Scooby-Doo this is his first time doing spelling and it is NOT tied into books we are reading. Instead they are common everyday words we use. When I first did spelling units for Optimus Prime & Bumblebee in kindergarten we did 5 words each week. I decided that was too much for Scooby-Doo so we are going to do three words each week.

Unit #1 - Our Family Part 1
Scooby-Doo*
mommy
daddy

Unit #2 - Our Family Part 2
Optimus Prime*
Bumblebee*
Last Name

Unit #3 - Animals Part 2
cat
dog
gerbil

Unit #4 - Animals Part 2
pig
cow
duck

Unit #5 - Toys
book
toy
movie

Unit #6 - Love
kiss
hug
love

Unit #7 - Things We Do
eat
play
read

Unit #8 - Fruit
apple
pear
orange

Unit #9 - Colors Part 1
blue
red
green

Unit #10 - Colors Part 2
pink
purple
yellow

Unit #11 - The Sky
star
moon
sun

Unit #12 - Emotions
fun
happy
sad

* Real words not listed, obviously.

3rd Grade Spelling Units #1-12 Part 2

Here is the second spelling units post.

Each child has their own unique spelling units. I tried to put them all in one post but it was just too much. I decided it was best to break them each up into their own post.

For Optimus Prime & Bumblebee the spelling and reading units for this quarter are combined so I'm also listing the corresponding books.

Bumblebee has 20 different books, all level pre-1. Each week, for the first 11 weeks, he will read 6 pages a day. There are 1-3 books that go along with each unit and each one will be read twice. After we cycle through all the books and spelling units once we will cycle through them all again - with slight variations to his spelling units. His final unit is slightly different. That unit is based on a different series of level pre-1 books. Also, unit 11 will bleed over slightly into his final week and final unit. After he has finished the unit 11 books during week 12 he has 4 books in the other series to read and since they are easier he will read one a day.

Bumblebee:

Unit #1 - Doc McStuffins

Books:

1. Caught Blue Handed
2. Loud Louie

Spelling words: 

1. blue
2. checkup
3. doc
4. glow
5. life
6. loud
7. magic
8. sick
9. sister
10. spots

Unit #2 - Sofia the First

Books:

1. Sofia Makes a Friend

Spelling words:

1. carriage
2. guest
3. horn
4. music
5. palace
6. princess
7. royal
8. special
9. unicorn
10. visitor

Unit #3 - Minnie

Books:

1. The Case of the Missing Sparkle-izer

Spelling words:

1. bone
2. bow
3. bowtie
4. missing
5. mystery
6. sparkles
7. special
8. table
9. tool
10. twins

Unit #4 - Jake and the Never Land Pirates

Books:

1. X Marks the Croc
2. Jake Hatches a Plan

Spelling words:

1. bottle 
2. doubloons
3. egg
4. gold
5. hummingbirds
6. island
7. map
8. mateys
9. nest 
10. pirate

Unit #5 - Jake and the Never Land Pirates Part 2

Books:

1. The Croc Takes the Cake

Spelling words:

1. birthday
2. cake
3. cannons
4. coconuts
5. crocodile
6. fish
7. happy
8. pup
9. sea
10. wonderful

Unit #6 - Jake and the Never Land Pirates

Books:

1. The Key to Skull Rock

Spelling words:

1. balloons
2. beach
3. key
4. rock
5. ship
6. skeleton
7. skull
8. telescope
9. treasure
10. tunnel

Unit #7 - Doc McStuffins

Books:

1. Caught Blue Handed
2. Loud Louie

Spelling words:

1. bear 
2. case
3. germs
4. giggle
5. horrible
6. laughs
7. message
8. telephone
9. test 
10. touched

Unit #8 - Sofia the First

Books:

1. Sofia Makes a Friend

Spelling Words:

1. carriage
2. dull
3. guest
4. horn
5. lively
6. music
7. royal
8. tutu
9. unicorn
10. visitor

Unit #9 - Minnie

Books:

1. The Case of the Missing Sparkle-izer

Spelling words:

1. bone
2. clues
3. disappeared
4. missing
5. mystery
6. sparkles
7. special
8. tool
9. trail
10. twins

Unit #10 - Jake and the Never Land Pirates

Books:

1. X Marks the Croc
2. Jake Hatches a Plan

Spelling words:

1. bottle
2. burp
3. gold
4. laugh
5. mateys
6. message
7. peas
8. sneeze
9. treasure
10. trouble

Unit #11 - Jake and the Never Land Pirates

Books:

1. The Croc Takes the Cake
2. The Key to Skull Rock

Spelling words:

1. big
2. box
3. cake
4. floating
5. helping
6. nice
7. small
8. stars
9. tonight
10. tunnel

Unit #12 - Biscuit

Books:

1. Biscuit Goes to School
2. Biscuit and the Lost Teddy Bear
3. Biscuit's Day at the Farm
4. Biscuit and the Little Lost Pup

Spelling words:

1. bear
2. farm
3. little
4. lost
5. pen
6. piglet
7. play
8. puppy
9. school
10. wants

3rd Grade Spelling Units #1-12 Part 1

Be prepared for THREE different spelling posts!

Each child has their own unique spelling units. I tried to put them all in one post but it was just too much. I decided it was best to break them each up into their own post.

For Optimus Prime & Bumblebee the spelling and reading units for this quarter are combined so I'm also listing the corresponding books.

Optimus Prime has 28 different books, all either level 1 or level 2. Each week we will read one book a day. The 2 or 3 books that go along with the unit will be read twice (once at the beginning of the week, once at the end) then the middle 1-3 days will be filled in with books from another unit. This way he will read each book three times over the course of the three months.

Optimus Prime:

Unit #1 - My Little Pony Part 1

Books:

1. Meet the Ponies of Ponyville
2. Hearts and Hooves

Spelling words:

1. dragon
2. friend
3. hooves
4. letter
5. orchard
6. picnic
7. potion
8. smelly
9. unicorn
10. valentine

Unit #2 - Meet the Disney Fairies Part 1

Books: 

1. Meet Zarina the Pirate Fairy
2. Meet Fawn the Animal-Talent Fairy

Spelling words:

1. animals 
2. color
3. comet
4. hawk
5. pirate
6. pixie dust
7. Pixie Hollow
8. rocks
9. ship
10. storm

Unit #3 - Disney Princesses Part 1

Books:

1. What is a Princess?
2. Travel Like a Princess

Spelling words: 

1. adventures
2. brave
3. caring
4. explore
5. kind
6. princess
7. smart
8. travels
9. trip
10. visit

Unit #4 - Pixie Hollow Adventures Part 1

Books: 

1. A Dozen Fairy Dresses
2. The Fairy Berry Bake-Off

Spelling words:

1. berry
2. chipmunk
3. clover
4. cupcake
5. dresses
6. flowers
7. lily
8. muffins
9. queen
10. rose

Unit #5 - My Little Pony Part 2

Books: 

1. Ponies Love Pets!
2. Meet the Princess of Friendship

Spelling words: 

1. alligator
2. castle
3. cattle
4. leader
5. moon
6. pets
7. phoenix
8. princess
9. throne
10. tortoise

Unit #6 - Meet the Disney Fairies Part 2

Books:

1. Meet Tinker Bell
2. Meet Vidia
3. Meet Periwinkle

Spelling words:

1. basket
2. book
3. butterfly
4. cage
5. cat
6. crickets
7. fireflies
8. mouse
9. owl
10. snow

Unit #7 - Disney Princesses & Pets

Books:

1. Princesses and Puppies
2. Snuggle Buddies

Spelling words: 

1. berries 
2. bunny
3. family
4. flowers
5. friends
6. kisses
7. kitty
8. playful
9. pony
10. puppy

Unit #8 - Pixie Hollow Adventures Part 2

Books:

1. The Great Fairy Race
2. A Game of Hide-and-Seek
3. Tink's Treasure Hunt

Spelling words:

1. balloon
2. dove
3. footprints
4. frog
5. hedgehogs
6. mirror
7. snail
8. spiderweb
9. trolls
10. tulips

Unit #9 - My Little Pony Part 3

Books: 

1. Power Ponies to the Rescue!
2. Holly, Jolly Harmony

Spelling words:

1. comic
2. costumes
3. food
4. lightning
5. mailbox
6. superpowers 
7. tree
8. tribes
9. windigo
10. wreath

Unit #10 - Disney Princesses Part 2

Books: 

1. The Sweetest Spring
2. A Dream for a Princess
3. Outside My Window

Spelling words:

1. ball
2. dance
3. garden
4. gown
5. hair
6. lights
7. plants
8. showers
9. sing
10. tower

Unit #11 - Disney Princesses Part 3

Books:

1. Princess Hearts
2. A Cake to Bake

Spelling words:

1. bake
2. brothers
3. brownies
4. day
5. eggs 
6. fairies
7. heart
8. pies
9. sweet
10. valentine

Unit #12 - Disney Princesses Part 4

Books:

1. The Perfect Dress
2. Sealed with a Kiss
3. Sleeping Beauty

Spelling words:

1. baby
2. dress
3. friend
4. gift
5. looks
6. perfect
7. seal
8. spell
9. swim
10. wedding

Month in Review: August 2015

This month started a little rocky. We had just had three months off schoolwork-free (well, Optimus Prime & Bumblebee had to do spelling & reading - but still, pretty much schoolwork-free) and one would think that I would have been FULLY prepared to start our new quarter. What with all the free time off and whatnot. Nope. I was not prepared. Scooby-Doo was eager to restart schoolwork. His brothers, not so much. They wanted another three months off or something. Which was tempting in theory but not in reality.

So, what did we do? We dove in head first even though we were SO not prepared.

In math Optimus Prime & Bumblebee started working on separate stuff. We worked on one of their second grade math books (that we never did during the summer) together, but Optimus Prime worked on some kindergarten/first grade math as well while Bumblebee started working on third grade math. In Spelling & Reading they worked on their reading skills while doing spelling units (that I created) based on the stories they were reading. (I'll get the spelling unit post up soon). In English we had two units that we alternated between each week. For weeks 1 & 3 we focused on nothing but phonics. In part this was because Bumblebee desperately needed to work on his phonics to help him learn to read and also as a refresher and help for Optimus Prime who can read very well but forgets to sound out his words when he doesn't know them. Instead he just makes wild guesses. I figured we needed to put a stop to that so a crash course in phonics would do him some good too. On the alternate weeks we worked on our reading comprehension workbook which used lots of different English skills to support the stories - including phonics.

For History we did ancient Egypt for the entire month - the culture, the religion, the pyramids, the rise and fall, the pharaohs, etc. It was a new idea of mine to spend a month a unit instead of 1-2 weeks. I hated it. Every minute of it. And they hated it too. We'll continue on the quarter this way because that is how I wrote the schedule but next quarter we'll do something different. Anyway, for more information on this refer to our Concept Week posts. Then we had Science which focused on the earth, weather, and plants for the entire month. They enjoyed that. For Logic and Art we did a bit of painting as well as some coloring and activity books.

Scooby-Doo did not have therapy this month. He starts it next month, which I was VERY glad for because he had a FULL schedule - seven subjects, just like his brothers. It was nice to have an entire month to get him used to the idea.

He worked on his handwriting, of course, and he had Logic and Art as always. We also did another Magazine unit which was nice. He always likes those.

We also had some new units this time! We had Spelling, Science, and Reading! Reading was a definite story time this month. I always try to make it stick and it never does. We made it through a whole month of it so hopefully it will this quarter!  For Spelling he refused to write most of the words but he was very willing to spell them out. He does NOT like writing at all. I kept hoping he'd outgrow it but now I'm beginning to doubt that. And he had Science for the first time! I have a book of twelve science books (in a series called "Know-It-All's") so we did a new book each week with a lapbook to go along. The information on those units will also be up on our Concept Weeks page soon.

All in all it was a VERY full month. I'm not sure we were ready to do so much schoolwork after taking the entire summer off and dealing with the move. We had a very rocky start but so far so good.

Quarterly Curriculum: August - October 2015

I was eager to move on to a fuller curriculum after taking the summer off. Oddly enough, though, we did struggle with this curriculum a bit. I don't know if the issue was we were still in Summer/moving mode or if was the addition of Scooby-Doo's full day schedule or the beginning divergence of Optimus Prime's and Bumblebee's schedules. Or maybe it was a mixture of all of that. Certainly the stress of the school district pressuring us to enroll Scooby-Doo in pre-k added to our problems.

They wanted us to enroll him in pre-k and we refused, stating that we were homeschooling him, had been homeschooling him all of this time, and reminded them that they KNEW we were homeschooling him. They responded by refusing all services (except for speech therapy) to him. Whatever their plan was I think it backfired because my husband responded that that was fine. Next thing we knew, about a month later, they wanted to have another meeting with us to set up all the therapy they had just denied our son - while also suggesting that we enroll him in pre-k. We went to the meeting but turned down the offer of therapy AND the offer of pre-k. The whole thing was highly unsettling, very disturbing, and COMPLETELY unprofessional.

Whatever the reason was we seriously struggled this whole quarter and didn't wind up finishing on time - we ran over into our week off. But, since we homeschool for almost twice the number of hours the state requires that was no big deal.

Anyway, our curriculum:

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee:

Schoolwork on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday.

Subjects:

Math - Addition, subtraction, time, money, etc. 
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - Comprehensive Curriculum Grade 2 (American Education Publishing), Brain Quest Grade 2 (Workman Publishing Company Inc), Let's Grow Smart: Addition (Dalmatian Press), Disney Cars: Math (Bendon)
Number of Pages - 3

Spelling & Reading - Spelling words & units practiced in print and cursive that tie into the books they are reading.
Days - Five days a week for Spelling, Seven days a week for Reading
Textbooks - None, just loose worksheets and story books.
Number of Pages - 2

English - Phonics and reading comprehension.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - Let's Grow Smart Phonics 1 (Dalmatian Press), Let's Grow Smart: Phonics (Dalmatian Press), Dora the Explorer First Words (Bendon Publishing), Let's Grow Smart: Rhyme Time (Dalmatian Press), Let's Grow Smart: Reading Readiness (Dalmatian Press), Listen, Read, and Learn Grade 2 (American Education Publishing).
Number of Pages - 2-4

History/Geography/Religion - Three units on Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - Egypt and the Middle East (Carson-Dellosa Publishing LLC), Ancient Egypt: Tales of Gods and Pharaohs (by Marcia Williams), Who Was King Tut? (by Roberta Edwards), Greek and Roman Civilizations (Carson-Dellosa Publishing LLC), Tools of the Ancient Greeks (Nomad Press), Greek Myths (by Marcia Williams), Tools of the Ancient Romans (Nomad Press), The Romans: Gods, Emperors, and Dormice (by Marcia Williams), What Was Pompeii? (by Jim O'Conner), Who Was Julius Caesar? (by Nico Medina)
Number of Pages - N/A

Science - Learning about animals, the earth, the solar system, and insects.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - Random story books, Big Workbook 2nd Grade (School Zone Publishing Company), Brain Quest Grade 2 (Workman Publishing Company Inc), Planet Earth: Animals of the Water (Modern Publishing), Planet Earth: Animals of the Air (Modern Publishing), Planet Earth: Geography (Modern Publishing)
Number of Pages - 2-4

Logic - Same/different, mazes, dot-to-dots, etc.
Days - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
Textbooks - Random books.
Number of Pages - 3-4

Art - Painting, etc.
Days - Sunday
Textbooks - None, just projects.
Number of Pages - N/A

Some final notes:

• For the first time ever, spelling units are directly tied to what we are reading.
• For this quarter our Concept Weeks were Concept Months and they were tied into our History/Geography/Religion class. In the end I decided I did not like this system and we will not be using it again in the future any time soon.
• Starting this quarter Optimus Prime & Bumblebee's schoolwork is diverged to better suit their needs. Optimus Prime did easier Math and harder Spelling, English, and Reading. Bumblebee did harder Math and easier Spelling, English, and Reading. I will no longer be holding back one child in the hopes that the other will "catch up" soon. We did that all last year and it made everyone miserable. 
• Under "Textbooks," the textbooks in red were done by Optimus Prime, the text books in green were done by Bumblebee, and the textbooks in black were done by both.

Scooby-Doo:

Schoolwork on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Subjects:

Handwriting - Practicing handwriting, letters, sounding out letters and words, numbers, and counting. 
Days - Four days a week
Textbooks - Complete Book of Preschool (school Specialty Publishing), Comprehensive Curriculum Pre-K (American Education Publishing)
Number of Pages - 4

Spelling - Spelling words & units.
Days - Four days a week
Textbooks - None, just loose worksheets.
Number of Pages - 1

Science - Learning about animals and insects.
Days - Four days a week
Textbooks - Random story books and worksheets.
Number of Pages - N/A

Logic - Same/different, mazes, dot-to-dots, etc.
Days - Four days a week
Textbooks - NEED Fisher-Price Little People Kindergarten Workbook Volumes 1 &2 (Modern Publishing), Comprehensive Curriculum Pre-K (American Education Publishing), Disney Junior Deluxe Sticker Book (Phidal Publishing Inc)
Number of Pages - 4-5

Art - Painting, coloring, etc.
Days - Five days a week
Textbooks - None, just projects.
Number of Pages - N/A

Reading - Reading poems and short stories together.
Days - Seven days a week
Textbooks - Various.
Number of Pages - N/A

Magazines - Scooby-Doo is subscribed to a pre-k character magazine that covers letters, numbers, mazes, picture finds, reading comprehension, etc.
Days - Once a week
Textbooks - Character Magazines
Number of Pages - N/A

Final Notes:

• The local elementary school denied Scooby-Doo all of his therapy since we would not enroll him there in pre-k. A month later they re-offered that same therapy. We turned them down. He is, however, still doing speech therapy twice a week.
• This is Scooby-Doo's first full quarter of schoolwork.
• Even though Scooby-Doo is only at pre-k age he will be doing kindergarten work this quarter as well as some pre-k.
• One day a week we focused on Magazines, doing an entire magazine that day. The other four days we did regular schoolwork.
• Scooby-Doo started Concept Weeks this quarter. They were tied into his Science schoolwork.

Superman

Synopsis - Clark Kent, survivor of the planet Krypton, comes to Earth as a baby and is raised human. While growing up he learns that our sun gives him super powers. As an adult he works as a reporter for a major newspaper and on the side he uses his super powers to fight evil as Superman.

Wandering Falcon - "Superman's always been meh to me - I was more of a Batman fan - but these books were really good."

Optimus Prime - "I liked them. I liked the guy who shocked people and took their energy (Parasite). I like Lois Lane."

Bumblebee - "I like Superman. And there's lots of stuff I like. I like the part where he threw one of his enemies into space. And I liked to robot with kryptonite (Metallo)."

Superman*

1. The Menace of Metallo
2. Last Son of Krypton
3. The Stolen Superpowers
4. Museum of Monsters
5. Toys of Terror
6. Under the Red Sun
7. Meteor of Doom
8. The Deadly Dream Machine
9. The Shadow Masters
10. The Shrinking City
11. The Deadly Double
12. Bizarro is Born
13. Little Green Men
14. The Kid Who Saved Superman
15. Live Wire!
16. Super Villain Showdown
17. Parasite's Power Drain
18. Prankster of Prime Time
19. Cosmic Bounty Hunter
20. Deep Space Hijack

* These books are not numbered, so they are listed in the order that we read them. Also, for these books I have not listed an author since they are too much like comic books with multiple authors, illustrators, and creators.

3rd Grade/Kindergarten Reading List Part 1

Last quarter was a bit of a bummer for our reading list. After reading 32 in our Spring Quarter I was hoping to at least meet that goal in our Summer Quarter, but no such luck. We were just too busy. It really was a good thing we only did spelling and reading - we had no time for anything else! This quarter we'll just have to try and do better! And at least we did met the goal I set last quarter...

Anyway, onto reading goals:

• Optimus Prime is reading a mixture of level 1 & level 2 books. Mostly level 2 books but I did buy some new level 1 books. I decided to move our schoolwork away from so many worksheets and focus more on reading so we needed new books anyway. Plus, Bumblebee will need them for when he finally gets to level 1 & level 2 reading. Next quarter we should certainly be on chapter books if I could just find what I'm looking for...
• Bumblebee is still reading level pre-1. We did tackle some level 1 books at the end of last quarter but he still wasn't ready so I switched him back to level pre-1. HOPEFULLY we can get him up to level 1 by the end of this quarter. 
• Scooby-Doo has some reading goals too! Since I've decided to start him in kindergarten this upcoming quarter (as I was writing up his schedule I started thinking maybe he's becoming bored with pre-k schoolwork...) I decided it was time to make him a reading list as well. He and I are going to be reading a lot of short stories and poems, one a day, every day, even on days off.

Now, our reading list. Last quarter I set a goal of 19 and we read 23. This quarter I'm setting a goal of 19 again. I'm worried of a repeat of last quarter:

• My Little Pony: Fluttershy and the Fine Furry Friends Fair
• My Little Pony: Applejack and the Honest-to-Goodness Switcheroo
• My Little Pony: Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party!
• My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell
• My Little Pony: Rarity and the Curious Case of Charity
• My Little Pony: Rainbow Dash and the Daring Do Double Dare
• The Haunted Library
• The Haunted Library: The Ghost in the Attic
• Magic School Bus: Dinosaur Detectives
• Magic School Bus: Expedition Down Under
• Magic School Bus: Electric Storm
• Magic School Bus: Butterfly Battle
• Magic School Bus: Food Chain Frenzy
• Magic School Bus: Fishy Field Trip
• Magic School Bus: Color Day Relay
• You Choose: Can You Survive a Zombie Apocalypse?
• You Choose: Can You Survive a Virus Outbreak?
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Pirates
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Twisters and Other Terrible Storms

Month in Review: July 2015

Final summer quarter post! Yay!

I have their curriculum planned out for the next three months but I won't get into that here. It'll all be up on their respective Quarterly Curriculum pages soon.

Optimus Prime has been doing great. So far no luck on finding chapter books for him so I think instead our fall quarter we will work on harder level 1 & 2 books. I'll have to buy some new ones. Bumblebee is still struggling so next quarter we'll jut keep with the level pre-1 books but we'll try out the harder ones. Hopefully that won't blow up in my face... They did their final two spelling units and finished their cursive handwriting unit. I think next quarter I'll combine cursive, spelling, and reading all into one unit. We'll see how that works.

Scooby-Doo is getting antsy to get back to doing schoolwork. I was worried he'd refuse to do it since he was enjoying his summer off so much but he's gone back to asking to do it. He's now jealous of his brothers again.

I can't wait to start our new quarter! It'll be nice to get back on track!

Month in Review: June 2015

Like I warned you in the May post, be prepared for some skimpy information and a distinct lack of goings ons!

So, Optimus Prime & Bumblebee continued to work on their reading. Optimus Prime is doing really good. I want him to start chapter books next quarter but I'm hitting a wall. I want ones that are easy enough for him that have large print, lots of pictures, and very few words each page. Also, preferably something that we have read before. The he could do a chapter or two each day. But I'm having a hard time finding what I want. Bumblebee is still struggling. My goal was to get him up to level 1 by the end of the summer quarter but I'm thinking that is not going to happen. We have some harder level pre-1 books. Maybe we'll do those next quarter? Spelling was units 39 & 40 and for Handwriting we still worked on cursive. The more I look at Optimus Prime's handwriting the more I think I might have to bring that subject back full-time... but just for him. Bumblebee's handwriting is very nice for his age and I think a Handwriting course would bore him to tears.

Scooby-Doo is enjoying his summer off being a kid. He's not even jealous that his brothers are doing schoolwork and he isn't.

More at the end of next month! I'm looking forward to going back to a full schedule!

Month in Review: May 2015

Gonna be honest - these three posts are going to be VERY bare!

For the month of May Optimus Prime & Bumblebee worked on their reading, spelling, and cursive. Optimus Prime read a mixture of level 1 & level 2 books and he did very well. Bumblebee read level pre-1 and struggled a lot. Where Optimus Prime had to read me a book a day Bumblebee only had to read me half a book a day. He is trying but he's not as good as his brother when it comes down to reading. For Spelling we did units 37 & 38 and for Handwriting we started the cursive alphabet.

Scooby-Doo still had therapy for some of May but other than that (and reading him library books) he had no schoolwork.

As upsetting as it was to take the month off it was also a bit of a relief. I want to try some new things next quarter and this will give me time to really plan things out.

Quarterly Curriculum: May - July 2015

This quarter we pretty much took it off. I was really upset about it but we had too much going on in our lives and we were getting ready to finally, officially, move. It was a very stressful summer and taking it off was the best choice for all involved. I was very upset about it but in the end it was for the best. Even if I STILL feel guilty about it all these months later. However, all was not lost. Optimus Prime started to seriously excel in his reading and we read an INSANE number of library books. Anyway, here's our meager curriculum for that quarter:

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee:

Schoolwork on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday.

Spelling - Spelling words & units
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - None, just loose worksheets.
Number of Pages - 1

Handwriting - Cursive handwriting
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - Brain Quest Workbook: Second Grade (Workman Publishing).
Number of Pages - 2

Other "Subjects":

Reading - Reading simple storybooks on their own.

Some final notes:

• After JUST dropping Handwriting it was reintroduced this quarter in the form of cursive. 
• We alternated each week between Spelling and Cursive since I didn't have a full unit for either of these.
• Reading was done every day, including Week 13 a.k.a. the week off.
• Sign Language was dropped for this quarter. There was just too much going on.

Scooby-Doo: 

No schoolwork at all.

Some final notes: 

• He did not do speech therapy during the summer.
• This was his last quarter of pre-k. It would have been his 8th quarter of it. Next quarter he'll start with kindergarten. 

Quarterly Curriculum: February - April 2015

I never realized just how far behind in my blog I was, until I realized I hadn't even posted our curriculum for February, March, & April! Holy smokes!

I had really appreciated the light workload the previous quarter, but by mid-December I was getting itching to get back to our regular schedule so this quarter we did far more.

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee:

Schoolwork on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday.

Subjects:

Math - Addition, subtraction, time, money, etc. 
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - Scholastic Success With 1st Grade (Scholastic), Number Stories (Mead), Disney Time & Money (Bendon), Disney Princess Addition & Subtraction (Bendon).
Number of Pages - 1-3

English - Learning and reviewing first and second grade language and phonics concepts, etc.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - Summer Link Math Plus Reading Grade 2 (Brighter Child), Brain Quest Workbook Grade 2 (Workman Publishing).
Number of Pages - 2

Spelling - Spelling words & units
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - None, just loose worksheets.
Number of Pages - 1

History/Geography - The 50 states, how humans have impacted the earth, the U. S. presidents, etc.
Days - Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday
Textbooks - 50 Great States (Let's Grow Smart), Down to Earth Geography Grad 1 (Teacher Created Resources), Hail to the Chief (Let's Grow Smart) .
Number of Pages - 2-3

Logic - Same/different, mazes, dot-to-dots, etc.
Days - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
Textbooks - Random books.
Number of Pages - 3-4

Science - Learning about animals, the earth, the solar system, and insects.
Days - Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
Textbooks - Random books.
Number of Pages - N/A

Art - Painting, etc.
Days - Sunday, Tuesday
Textbooks - None, just projects.
Number of Pages - N/A

Religion - Current religions, mythologies, and holidays.
Days - Friday.
Textbooks - None.
Number of Pages - N/A

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:

• Handwriting has been dropped. It may be reintroduced in 3rd or 4th grade when we get to cursive, but for now it's gone.
• To begin getting ready for 3rd and 4th grade and the major changes coming then I'm going to begin phasing out workbooks and shift more of a focus to reading and writing.
• I'm also going to begin phasing Concept Weeks into our units. This quarter our Concept Weeks are the same as our weekly Science Units.

Scooby-Doo:

For this quarter I blended the last two quarters. There was be a numbers unit and a letters unit like usual, but the logic unit was be split into two - one covering just colors and shapes, the other covering everything else. The magazine unit also stayed for this quarter.

Numbers - Working on numbers 1-12.
Days - Every other day.
Textbooks - Various.
Number of Pages - 4

Letters - Working on the alphabet.
Days - Every other day.
Textbooks - Various.
Number of Pages - 4

Logic - Dot-to-dots, mazes, etc.
Days - Every other day.
Textbooks - Various.
Number of Pages - 4

Colors & Shapes - Working on colors and shapes.
Days - Every other day.
Textbooks - Various.
Number of Pages - 4

Magazines - Scooby-Doo is subscribed to a pre-k character magazine that covers letters, numbers, mazes, picture finds, reading comprehension, etc. We'll do one section a day, every schoolwork day.
Days - Five days a week.
Textbooks - Character Magazines
Number of Pages - N/A

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's is still doing speech therapy, however he is only doing it two days a week now.
• We're still working on sign language to help his communication.
• Scooby-Doo was just diagnosed with Autism, so things may change in regards to his schoolwork and his therapy.

That was it! I'm glad I got this out of the way!

Hiatus

I know there has been a lack of posting lately. Truth is, after writing up a summer schedule we decided it would be best to take the summer off. Lately it had seemed like things were just pilling up too much and trying to stay on top of it was just too hard. In the end we figured a summer off wouldn't hurt the boys so we took it. Optimus Prime & Bumblebee still had to do their reading and spelling, while Scooby-Doo got the whole summer off.

We've started school work again. Actually, we started it last month. I'll fix the post about our summer schedule and post our new one in a few days here. And I'll get around to updating all of our pages and posting what is going on as well. It's just going to take a bit of time to get the blog back on schedule!

As for Scooby-Doo's therapy, I have no idea what is going on there. We somehow seemed to have gotten into a fight with the elementary school because we are choosing to homeschool instead of sending him there. They are now denying us services. I'm a bit confused. All along they knew we were homeschooling and they said it was no issue. Now all the sudden it is. Wednesday when my husband picked him up from therapy he was given an ultimatum about enrolling Scooby-Doo in Pre-K (which, Scooby-Doo is currently homeschooling in Kindergarten). He opted not to enroll our son. Later that day I received an email from them saying our son now no longer qualifies for therapy. I'm a bit confused, and I'm not entirely sure if it is legal. However, all of this is for another post after I get everything with them straightened out. 

So, we have quite a bit going on in our lives right now so posting will be a bit spotty for this quarter. However, I will try to get everything up and get this blog back on track by the end of October.

2nd Grade Spelling Units #37-42

Here it is, the final 6 (not 12) spelling units of second grade! Come third grade we will be doing something different, so this could very well be my final spelling post ever!

Unit #37 - Short u Words Part 2 & Long u Words Part 2
bust
crust
dust
gust
just
must
rust
trust
truth
youth

Unit #38 - Short u Words Part 3 & Long u Words Part 3
but
cut
gut
hut
nut
rut
fuse
muse
ruse
use

Unit #39 - Short u Words Part 4
bug
chug
dug
hug
jug
lug
mug
pug
rug
tug

Unit #40 - Short u Words Part 5
bump
clump
dump
hump
jump
lump
pump
rump
stump
trump

Unit #41 - Opposites
cold
bottom
happy
hard
hot
quick
sad
slow
soft
top

Unit #42 - Learning Words & Time Words
finish
listen
start
watch
write
afternoon
evening
morning
today
tomorrow

On the opposite weeks we are going to work on handwriting and introducing cursive to Optimus Prime & Bumblebee, so this quarter it will be more of a spelling/handwriting unit.

Month in Review: April 2015

This month Scooby-Doo took a step back developmentally. I'm not worried about it since that is a normal pattern for him. He takes a step or two ahead, then he takes a step or two back. It's like a security blanket for him. So, for this past month, he refused to do any schoolwork on his own and some days he even refused to do any schoolwork. We did it anyway, even though he didn't want to, to keep with our schedule. Sometimes, with kids with autism, schedules and rituals are very important. So, we did (and, more accurately, some days I did) letters, numbers, dot-to-dots, mazes, shapes, etc as well as some fun magazines. Next quarter I was planning on continuing on with pre-k, however, I've been thinking maybe he's a bit bored with pre-k work. So, starting next quarter he'll begin kindergarten even though it is a year (plus a quarter) early. He also went to his therapy twice a week.

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee were pretty busy. Between Reading, English (largely phonics and making up silly stories), Math (money, addition, and subtraction), Spelling (long e words, verbs, short i words, long i words, location words, and beginning both short u and long u words)), Art (painting), Geography (well, actually, History this time around - we started and finished a new book that covered the presidents), Religion & Mythology (we covered Kuan Yin & her festival, Sif & the full seed moon, Gaia & Earth Day, and Danu & Beltane), Science (with units each on ants, butterflies, bats, and salmon using Magic School Bus books and lapbooks), and Logic (more coloring and activity books).

Lastly, we planted a garden.

I know, that's the short short version, but I'm busy trying to write up a new schedule so it'll have to do...

2nd Grade Reading List Part 4

This last quarter was a HUGE quarter for reading! We have read 34 books! We probably would have read even more but we had company...

Anyway, onto our goals and plans:

• Optimus Prime is NOT going to start reading chapter books. I don't know what happened, but he's seemed to backslide a little. I have no idea why or how, but we are going to keep working on level 2 books to help strengthen his skills. I don't understand what happened, he was doing so good! But, this past month he's been tripping up left and right in his reading. Hopefully another quarter of level 2 books will help him out. If it's just a little glitch and he's back on track soon then we'll see about giving it a go with chapter books. I hope this is just a temporary hiccup and he didn't backslide or something.
• Bumblebee went to the eye doctor's. We finally got an appointment! Turns out he has two problems. One is that he needs glasses. The second is that he might have dyslexia. The eye doctor noticed that he was having a hard time reading the letters in order. He could read them correctly, but he read them out of order. Meanwhile, I have written up a VERY easy schedule for him. He is basically going to focus on level pre-1 for most of the quarter with shifting into level 1 towards the end of it. Hopefully this will help him to build the skills he needs to read. I'm starting to get worried here.

Now, for our reading list. I've decided to up it to 19 books for this quarter:

• Magic Tree House: Seasons of the Sandstorm
• Magic Tree House: Night of the New Magicians
• Magic Tree House: Blizzard of the Blue Moon
• Magic Tree House: Dragon of the Red Dawn
• Magic Tree House: Monday with a Mad Genius
• Clue Jr.: The Case of the Clubhouse Thief
• Magic School Bus: Polar Bear Patrol
• Superman: Bizarro is Born
• Superman: Cosmic Bounty Hunter
• Superman: Deep Space Hijack
• Superman: Little Green Men
• Superman: Super-Villain Show Down
• Superman: The Kid Who Saved Superman
• Superman: Parasite's Power Drain
• Superman: Prankster of Prime Time
• Superman: Live Wire!
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Pandas and Other Endangered Species
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Ancient Rome and Pompeii
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Snakes and Other Reptiles

That's pretty much it for our reading goals.

Month in Review: March 2015

Another busy month! Actually, truth be told, I think all of our months are pretty busy...

Scooby-Doo had his therapy. He also reached another big step developmentally. He always sits on my lap for his schoolwork, but he has started sitting on his own! My little baby is growing up! He worked on his letters, numbers, colors, shapes, mazes, dot-to-dots, etc.

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee had a pretty packed schedule. In English we covered sentences. Sentences, non-sentences, statements, telling sentences, asking sentences - I'm sure you set the idea.We also covered following directions and classifying. In Math we covered basic addition and subtraction, followed by addition and subtraction with double-digit numbers. Then we started a new book that covered calendars, time, and money. We'll finish it next month. In spelling we finished short i words and started long i words.

Art was painting. Geography focused on people - on how people settle on the planet, natural resources, how people change the planet, how people adapt to where they live, how people evolve, etc. Science was four units covering Animal Habitats, Food Chains, Decomposition, and Spiders. We used Magic School Bus books and did lapbooks as well. Religion covered Matronalia & Juno, St. Patrick's Day & Saint Patrick, Ostara & Eostre, and Solitude Day & the Goddess. Logic was pretty easy, we just did coloring & activity books. They had fun with the mazes, word scrambles, coloring in the pictures, etc. Super easy? Yes. Lots of fun and a nice break from traditional schoolwork? YES! Plus, we did reading, reading, reading!

Like I said a pretty packed schedule all in all!

Batman

Synopsis - (Do you really need this synopsis?) Bruce Wayne's parents are killed when he is a child, so as an adult he becomes Batman and goes on to fight super villains and crime in Gotham City.

Wandering Falcon - "I love Batman! (Who doesn't?!?) I'm glad we read these books, especially since my kids loved them too! Now they want me to find a new Batman series to read to them..."

Optimus Prime - "All of them were great! Bat-Mite was my favorite!"

Bumblebee - "The one with Nightwing and Robin in it, I think it was ridiculous that Batman acted like a criminal!"

Batman*

1. The Fog of Fear
2. Poison Ivy's Deadly Garden
3. Five Riddles for Robin
4. Fun House of Evil
5. Emperor of the Airwaves
6. My Frozen Valentine
7. The Revenge of Clayface
8. Catwoman's Halloween Heist 
9. Bat-Mite's Big Blunder
10. The Puppet Master's Revenge
11. Mad Hatter's Movie Madness
12. Harley Quinn's Shocking Surprise
13. The Man Behind the Mask
14. Arctic Attack
15. Catwoman's Classroom of Claws
16. Two-Face's Double Take
17. The Maker of Monsters
18. Robin's First Flight
19. Scarecrow, Doctor of Fear
20. Killer Croc Hunter

* These books are not numbered, so they are listed in the order that we read them.  Also, for these books I have not listed an author since they are too much like comic books with multiple authors, illustrators, and creators.

Month in Review: February 2015

A nice, normal month! Of course, everyone was sick, making it harder to get work done, but we made it.

Scooby-Doo worked on his letters, numbers, and colors. He also worked on dot-to-dots, mazes, picture finds, and his magazines. He went to therapy twice a week. Also, BIG BREAKTHROUGH, he has started using his markers and pencils on his own!!! He always makes me hold his hand while he writes, sort of like a safety blanket, but he's been starting to write completely on his own.

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee had a FULL schedule. In English we covered handwriting, abc order, beginning and ending sounds, rhyming words, capital letters, plurals, action words, predicates, nouns, antonyms, synonyms, etc - all basic English class stuff. It was a lot of review, but review never hurts! In Math we covered handwriting, counting, addition, money, calendars, time, graphing, measurements, counting backwards, addition, and subtraction. Again, basic math stuff that was largely review. In Spelling we finished long e words, worked on verbs, and started short i words.

In Art we painted, in Logic we had random pages that covered a variety of topics (like Math, English, Spelling, etc). In Geography we worked on the 50 states and finished an entire book on that topic. We also started up our old Geography book which we'll finish this quarter. We talked about people patterns.

In Religion we covered Candlemas along with the goddess Brigid, Valentine's Day along with Saint Valentine, the Chinese New Year along with the Goat (this year's animal), and The Chinese Lantern Festival along with the story of the Jade Emperor and the Crane.

 Science covered four different units. This quarter we merged our Concept Weeks with Science to move us towards a schedule where we do more Concept Weeks and less classes and subjects. So, we covered Stars  the first week, Space Rocks the second week, Germs the third week, and Desserts the fourth week. We read Magic School Bus books that covered these topics and then I made lapbooks filled with worksheets, coloring pages, and activities for them to give us a further look into these topics. Lastly, we read a LOT of books, and they read me a lot of books too!

It was a BUSY month! But, it was nice to dive back into things!

Long Break = Big Changes

So, I know I've been pretty absent for these past two months. The reason why was a lot of big changes going on in our house and in our homeschooling that kept me from blogging. I've been pretty busy, busy, busy.

These changes are going to be reflected on this blog pretty soon.

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee are at the point in their homeschooling that they are ready to move on and do different things. Even though they are in the same grade they are at different levels in some subjects and they have different interests in general. I've been trying to keep them on the same schedule, but that is starting to hold them back in areas where they are ready and eager to excel. It's time to let them move on into new territories on their own. This has effectively doubled my workload as I now have to write up two different curriculum's for them in some subjects!

Scooby-Doo is going to be preschool age in August. He still goes to therapy, and the school district is willing to let him sit in at preschool for an hour a couple of days a week, so his schedule is going to be VERY busy outside of our home. Likewise, he'll be officially starting pre-k here at home, so my workload just doubled! I wanted him to t-ball this year, but he is STILL too young according to the slip. They probably would have made an exception if I had asked them too, but with us packing and getting ready to move I had to make the tough choice to not sign him up.

So, changes in the blog and curriculum. What are they? I'm beginning to combine subjects for Optimus Prime & Bumblebee. Geography will be combined with History, Mythology, and Religion. These subjects really overlap so much already, and there was some overlap in our curriculum as it was, so now these subjects will be completely combined. Likewise, Reading will be combined with English, and after our summer quarter so will Spelling. This will help me to make Spelling and English units based on books we are reading.

Optimus Prime will be moving ahead in English/Spelling/Reading. I've been holding him back for too long waiting for his brother to catch up. He needs to start moving on to chapter books. Likewise, Bumblebee will be moving ahead in Math. He's been held back too long waiting for his brother to catch up. He needs to start multiplication.

Concept Weeks are going to be retired for Optimus Prime & Bumblebee. Or, I guess, it would be more accurate to say that they are going to be assimilated into History/Geography/Mythology/Religion and Science. All of our previous Concept Weeks have been based on these subjects, so from now on units in these subjects will be weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. For example, this summer in Science we'll be covering weather and the earth for a month and a half, followed by birds, fish, and water mammals for a month and a half. In History we'll cover ancient Egypt for a month, followed by ancient Greece and ancient Rome for a month each. When we cover these History units we will also go over the geography of the region as well as the religious beliefs and myths of those regions.

Another big change is retiring our workbooks for Optimus Prime & Bumblebee. This isn't to say we'll never do workbooks any more, but for most subjects they are going to disappear. Math will still be largely workbook based, but Science and History will largely be reading and lapbook based and English will be based entirely around books we are reading.

Everything is getting combined and shaken up.

Scooby-Doo's workload is going to change too. We'll start covering more things than the basics. Counting, the alphabet, colors, shapes, same or different, mazes, dot-to-dots, picture finds, etc are all important but it's time to start expanding his horizon in his schoolwork. Yes, I do read to him a lot (when he's in the mood for it, which is NOT everyday) but he really loves worksheets, so I'm going to take advantage of that and start introducing other subjects into our curriculum. I haven't planned out all the details yet, but I've begun playing with some ideas (like giving him Concept Weeks) and should know what I'm looking to do by the end of next week.

Lastly, our Two Week Review post is getting retired. I'm still going to give updates on how they are doing, but it'll be a monthly post instead of every two weeks. Also, this will retroactively start this current quarter! In the next few days I'll try to get our February and March post up so you know what we've been doing.

Like I said, big changes!

Scooby-Doo

I know I'm very behind on my blog posts, and I apologize for that. I'm very busy right now with homeschooling, therapy, packing, job hunting, and planning a move. I have been taking notes, and those notes will be turned into posts and published as soon as I have a chance.

This post, however, has nothing to do with any of that. This post is about my youngest, called Scooby-Doo (his favorite cartoon at the time of the creation of this blog) on this blog. I believed I've mentioned before that he was recently diagnosed with autism. If I didn't for some reason, you now know. It's honestly not something that crosses my mind much, so I do forget sometimes that people don't know.

His autism is the reason why he needs therapy, and is the reason why he is now on meds that he needs to take everyday. These meds help him cope with being easily overstimulated and overwhelmed.

While our family has had no problem adjusting to the news about Scooby-Doo (actually, there was no adjustment) others in our lives HAVE had a hard time adjusting. This has been causing me a lot of stress lately, which prompted me to make the following post on my private facebook page.

A friend of mine said she wished the post was on a public blog so others could read it. I decided to take up her advice and to share it here:

Lately I have been very stressed out. The reasons why are many, and, yet, at the same time… not. All of you know (since I posted it on facebook) that Scooby-Doo has been diagnosed with autism recently and is now on medication for it on top of his therapy. What many of you probably don’t know is that nothing has changed. And I don’t mean nothing has changed with Scooby-Doo (after all, the medicine and therapy are helping him) what I mean is nothing has changed with me (or Coffee Hound, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee). There were no breakdowns, no sorrow, no denial, no self-blaming, no anger, no… anything. Life continued on as normal for us. Scooby-Doo has autism. So what? Last time I checked he was still the same kid I tucked into bed the night before we got his diagnosis. Nothing has changed.

Does his autism stress me out? Nope. You know what stresses me out? The fact that he could touch a piece of food and die because two epi-pens are not enough medication before an ambulance gets there. I’ve been told, because of my attitude, that I’m “in denial” or that it “hasn’t hit me yet.” No. It “hasn’t hit me” because there is nothing TO hit me. I’m not “in denial” because there is nothing TO deny.

Let me tell you what Scooby-Doo is.

Scooby-Doo is, and has been for his entire life, an AMAZING boy.

Scooby-Doo is the most loving, sweet, affectionate child I have EVER known. I have known some kids (who are now grown) who were glued to my hip so bad I considered major surgery. Let me tell you, they had NOTHING on Scooby-Doo. As a baby all he ever wanted to do was cuddle and be loved, and as a four year old boy nothing has changed.

Scooby-Doo has major hero worship for his big brothers. As far as he is concerned, if they can do it, he can do it too. Which, has led to me getting quite pissed at Optimus Prime and Bumblebee a few times...

Scooby-Doo has no fear. If he thinks he can do something (whether or not it is something he has previously seen his big brothers do) he is determined to prove to me he CAN do it. He is an incredible swimmer - far better than his brothers are. He is eager to get better so he can swim without his swimmies, and he LOVES leaving the shallow, kiddie section of the pool to go swim and stretch in the deep, adult section.

Scooby-Doo loves cartoons. Scooby-Doo, Snoopy, Care Bears, Thomas the Tank Engine, Dora the Explorer, Diego… he loves them all.

Scooby-Doo loves animals. He loves petting and kissing our “kee-kat”s and trying to ride (our very poor, very old, blind) “dog-E”. He has recently discovered that he likes dinosaurs, and is trying to learn the names and features of them.

Scooby-Doo loves schoolwork. He loves soaking up new knowledge. He loves counting, he loves singing his abc’s, he loves practicing his abc’s. He is crazy about dot-to-dot’s (which, he sometimes likes to do backwards) and mazes. He loves having books read to him. He loves memorizing books so he can read them to himself or me.

Now, let me tell you what Scooby-Doo is not.

Scooby-Doo is not autism. Scooby-Doo is not speech therapy. Scooby-Doo is not a string of milestones that need to be met before a certain age.

So stop treating him, and talking about him, like he is.

His disease does NOT define him, he defines his disease. And you need to realize this. And you need to stop this.

I have been very stressed out and very busy lately. And what I realized is, what is stressing me out, is everyone else’s reactions to the news about Scooby-Doo. What is stressing me out is how Scooby-Doo went from a little boy who was normal to a little boy who is “sick” and “needs to be fixed”.

No.

Scooby-Doo is fine.

What is wrong here, is everyone else.

I’m not “in denial”. There is no news that “hasn’t hit me yet”. I’m fine, Scooby-Doo is fine. What is going on here is YOU have a problem. And you need to fix it.

I get it, it’s hard trying to figure out how to handle a situation where someone is sick or has a disability. No, wait, it’s not that hard. What you do is start by NOT harping on that fact. It’s pretty simple, actually. So, no, I don’t get it.

What I have come to realize here is that I’m not the one with the problem, it’s you.

So, let me tell you how it is now going to be from now on. I won’t be answering any more questions about Scooby-Doo that have to do with his autism, his speech therapy, his doctor appointments, his psychiatrist appointments, his ANYTHING autism related. If you feel that it is your business and you have every right to ask these questions, let me assure you right here and right now that it is NOT your business and I WILL end any conversation with you immediately if you bring it up. If you are reading this and you feel that it does not apply to you, let me assure you that EVERY WORD I have written here DOES apply to you.

Scooby-Doo is not his disease. Stop treating him like he is.

Two Week Review: January 11 - 24

Our final two weeks of this super easy schedule!!! Thank goodness... Of course, we also spent these two weeks sick, making it hared to get things done, and it looks like our week off is going to be spent sick as well... Hopefully we'll be better in February...

So, I have nothing to talk about. I'm just so happy this quarter is OVER with that I'm going to breeze through everything.

Scooby-Doo finished his magazines. He loves them a lot, but I think he'll be happy to see a return of worksheets.

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee learned about Ancient China & Chinese Mythology (both are in the same post like our Native American units). They also had their easy math pages, number review, spelling, made some color books, did some dot-to-dots and mazes, had story time, practiced their reading, etc.

A very nice, easy final two weeks. Which was probably good since we were so sick.

Next quarter, here we come!!!

Concept Weeks #27 & 28: Ancient China and Chinese Mythology

My kids love the Disney movie Mulan so I figured it was time for some units focusing on that era of China. We actually could have turned this into a three week unit while also focusing on Modern China or even a four week unit with another week on Chinese Holidays, but I think for now two weeks was good.

For our Ancient China half we had three books:

• Our Cultural Heritage: Chinese Americans by Lucia Raatma 
• Country File: China by Michael March
• DK Eyewitness: Ancient China

The first one really wasn't relevant to our unit, I just picked it up because our library had pretty much ZERO books on China for kids. The second book focused more on modern China, but it did talk a bit about history with things like the Great Wall. So, it was slightly relevant. I did find some worksheets covering traditional clothing, important landmarks, famous women (Wu Zetian), the flag, etc. So, the unit didn't focus entirely on me reading to them. Some parts really bored them, some really interested them. When it came to the third book they were really fascinated about some of the things we learned. They loved the Chinese invention that detected earthquakes, and they loved looking at the pictures.

They REALLY liked the Mythology half. Our book was Chinese Mythology by Irene Collier and they LOVED the stories in it. Most of our mythology units have covered European mythology. When we did Egyptian mythology in our Ancient Egypt unit they really liked that, and when we did Native American Mythology it was pretty much 50/50 on what they liked and didn't like. But for Chinese mythology, they really loved most of the stories we read. This unit was a MUCH bigger hit than the Native American one. So much of that they just couldn't relate to or get. Clearly I need to go buy a Pocahontas movie or something...

Overall I would say that both units were a huge success.

Two Week Review: December 28 - January 10

These two weeks were pretty much the same as the last two weeks. I can't wait for our workload to increase in a month here, I'm going crazy with this super easy schedule!!!

So, Scooby-Doo adjusted to his autism medication. We went back to the doctor's and he thinks we've found the right dosage. He's still been working on his magazines. Some days he is really into it, other days not so much. I think he was happy to have a lighter workload for a bit, but I think he's ready to move on to more pages. Now, I'm not sure he actually wants to DO those pages, but he likes to sit on my lap while I talk to him about them.

As for Optimus Prime and Bumblebee for our Concept Weeks we covered Horses and Volcanoes & Earthquakes. We also did easy math pages, number review, worked on their letter book, did some fun dot-to-dots and mazes, and read some Scooby-Doo and Thomas the Tank Engine stories. And, of course, they practiced their reading. I think Optimus Prime might be ready for chapter books soon!!!

Another nice, easy two weeks. They might like this easy schedule, but I am BEYOND ready to move on!

Concept Week #26: Volcanoes & Earthquakes

Okay, I'd be lying if I said I had a ton of stuff to talk about, here. I'm not even sure I can fake it.

My kids find volcanoes exciting (who doesn't?!? - from a safe distance) so I went to the library to look for book on them. Most of their kids books were not on the same level as Optimus Prime & Bumblebee so I took out DK: Volcano & Earthquake. We read that book, they learned quite a bit about earthquakes that they didn't know before, but they really didn't learn anything new about volcanoes. They already knew the difference between magma and lava (one is under ground, the other above ground), they already knew that ash comes out of the volcano too, they already knew about the moving plates under the earth, etc. They did not know that ash is good for the soil (so long as the soil isn't incredibly buried by it) or that volcanoes don't have to be mountains, so there was that, but most of what we learned about was review for them. Even the earthquake section of the book didn't have much information in it that they didn't already know. Don't get me wrong - it was a great book filled with incredible information & pictures - it was just all stuff they had already learned on their own. I also had a hard time finding ANY age appropriate worksheets for them. In the end we did a volcano dot-to-dot and a maze to help lava reach the ocean. I know, not exactly second grade material.

With that said, I AM glad we did a unit on it, I just wish we had learned more.

Concept Week #25: Horses

We had a LOT of books for this unit! Not so many worksheets, though.

For our main books we had DK Eyewitness Books: Horse, I Wonder Why: Horses Wear Shoes and Other Questions About Horses by Jackie Gaff, and DK See How They Grow: Pony.

Then, we had these other books in the Horse Breed Roundup series:

• The American Paint Horse 
• The American Quarter Horse
• The American Saddlebred Horse
• The Appaloosa Horse 
• The Arabian Horse
• The Clydesdale Horse 
• The Shetland Pony
• The Spanish Mustang
• The Tennessee Walking Horse
• The Thoroughbred Horse

Those books we did not read cover to cover, we just enjoyed the pictures and read the parts we wanted to.

Then, they read to me Farm Animals: Horses by Emily K. Green.

Like I said, a LOT of books!

So, we learned about horse babies, horse shoes, the different horse breeds and why they were created (horses for war, horses for speed, horses for endurance, horses for trails, etc). We learned that horses prefer to live in groups instead of alone, we learned that horses develop strong bonds with their humans, and we even learned about some of the prehistoric horses out that used to be out there (and, how they had more than one toe/hoof on each foot!!!). It was a GREAT unit packed with so much information I don't even know what to mention in this post! There was just too much!

2nd Grade Reading List Part 3

YAY! Reading List! I got nothing to say, except:

• Next quarter Optimus Prime is going to try reading chapter books on his own!!! This quarter he's doing mostly review for his reading.
• Bumblebee STILL isn't reading good. I'm beginning to suspect dyslexia, but we're taking him to the eye doctors to rule that out first.

Also, somehow we missed these two books from last quarter (though, we still surpassed our goal of 16 books):

• Magic Tree House: Revolutionary War on Wednesday
• Magic Tree House: Twister on Tuesday

And, here is our reading goal (still 16 books):

• The Berenstain Bears and the School Scandal Sheet
• The Berenstain Bears and the Wheelchair Commando
• Clue Jr.: The Case of the Mystery Ghost
• Clue Jr.: The Case of the Karate Chop
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Ghosts
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Dinosaurs
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Ninjas and Samurai
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Space
• Batman: Killer Croc Hunter
• Batman: Scarecrow, Doctor of Fear
• Superman: The Deadly Double
• Superman: The Shrinking City
• The Magic School Bus: Voyage to the Volcano
• The Magic School Bus: Rocky Road Trip
• Ballpark Mysteries: The Pinstripe Ghost
• Ballpark Mysteries: The L. A. Dodger

We also have a new book report layout. I'm going to do a post on our changing book reports once I get a chance.

2nd Grade Spelling Units #25-36

This is our last quarter of real spelling units. Next quarter I will begin to combine our English, Spelling, and Reading units together. Before this every day they had a sheet of writing up their spelling words plus one other sheet of spelling activities. This quarter they will be doing just one of those activities each day, not both. So, here it is, our final, "normal," spelling quarter.

Unit #25 - Long e Words Part 3
beat
heat
meat
neat
seat
treat
wheat
feel
kneel
wheel

Unit #26 - Long e Words Part 4
deal
heal
meal
peal
real
seal
teal
veal
heel
peel

Unit #27 - Verbs
break
build
carry
clean
cut
drop
fix
help
play
work

Unit #28 - Short i Words
bin
din
fin
kin
pin
sin
spin
tin
win
yin

Unit #29 - Short i Words Part 2
dip
flip
hip
lip
nip
rip
ship
sip
tip
whip

Unit #30 - Short i Words Part 3
dish
fish
squish
wish
ditch
hitch
itch
pitch
stitch
witch

Unit #31 - Short i Words Part 4
kick
lick
nick
pick
quick
sick
tick
wick
rich
which

Unit #32 - Long i Words
bide
glide
hide
ride
side
tide
wide
high
nigh
sigh

Unit #33 - Long i Words Part 2
blight
bright
flight
height
light
might
night
right
sight
tight

Unit #34 - Long i Words Part 3
pipe
ripe
swipe
wipe
dine
fine
line
mine
pine
vine

Unit #35 - Long i Words Part 4 & Short u Words
bike
dike
hike
like
pike
cub
dub
rub
sub
tub

Unit #36 - Location Words & Long u Words
across
around
behind
beside
between
inside
outside
cube
lube
tube

Two Week Review: December 14 - 27

Like I said last post, we took Scooby-Doo to the doctor's office to begin testing for autism. The doctor told us that yes, he does have autism and after the holidays are over he's going to look into a child psychiatrist for us. He also gave us a prescription for him to take to help his panic attacks. Meanwhile, I'm not sure how this will effect his speech therapy. After the holidays I'll talk to them about it. We just worked on his magazines for his schoolwork. Colors, letters, numbers - things like that.

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee had finished up their magazines, so we did schoolwork based on the formula of their magazines. They had some basic math and started work on a letter book. They also had some dot-to-dots and mazes, and we also read a bunch of stories. For our Concept Weeks we did Prehistoric Life and Elephants.

A nice easy two weeks. :)

Expanding the Concept Weeks

Concept Weeks are something that have been slowly evolving since they have started. It began as an additional unit the first week of each month to help us cover things that they were either interested in or things that were not covered in our workbooks but I felt were important. However, I've wanted to expand them for a while now. Then, last summer the first opportunity came about when we spent three whole months working on dinosaurs. Then, this quarter another opportunity came about with a new unit each week.

However, lately I was thinking I'm tired of doing workbooks. Then I realized that most of our Concept Weeks revolve around either science, holidays, history, or mythology. And then, a new idea popped into my head.

Starting next quarter I'll be assimilating the Concept Weeks into our regular units, starting the process of phasing out workbooks and shifting the emphasis towards more reading - whether it is me reading to them or them reading on their own.

The ultimate idea here is two-fold:

1. Come 3rd or 4th grade most of our focus is going to be on reading with less time spent on workbooks. This will help prepare them for that.
2. Concept Weeks are blended units, a single theme or idea covering a wide range of subjects. Once Concept Weeks are fully blended into our regular units this pattern will continue. For example, for 3rd grade science I have a book similar to our 1st grade Science book covering animals by continent. Once Concept Weeks are assimilated into our regular units when we do this Science book we will also be covering Geography, making that Science unit more like a Concept Week that covers multiple subjects while remaining in the same theme.

So, next quarter all of our Concept Weeks will be science based. 12 separate science units that will be treated more like Concept Weeks. The following quarter we will begin switching over more subjects that way so that by the time they are ready to begin chapter books on their own all subjects that can be switched will be switched. 

Concept Week #24: Elephants

This unit was pretty easy and fun. We had two books and a few worksheets that I found online. The books were DK Eyewitness: Elephants and Picture Library: Elephants. The second one was FAR more kid friendly!

We learned some neat facts - like how elephants are pregnant for almost two years! - and we also learned about how elephants can be trained for military use as well as other jobs such as hauling logs. This prompted Optimus Prime to tell me he wished we lived in India so he could be trained to be an elephant handler like the 8 year old boys there! I told him maybe his son would get to be one.

I actually don't have anything else to say about this unit... which is kinda odd since we talked about nothing but elephants for a whole week!