Quarterly Curriculum May - July 2016

I had to do a bit of reshuffling this quarter to the schedule I had initially written up to ensure that we finished certain workbooks we had started before our move. I did not include page numbers because they varied day by day to ensure we finished our started workbooks.

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee:

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

Subjects:

Science - Learning about different animals (broken into units) with some reading comprehension thrown into the mix.
Days - Every other day.
Textbooks - The Complete Book of Animals Grades 1-3 (American Education Publishing).

Art/Logic - Painting, other activities, etc.
Days - Every other day.
Textbooks - None.

Math - Addition, subtraction, fractions, counting by 5's & 10's, time, money, etc. 
Days - Every day.
Textbooks - ARandom started books.

English - Learning the difference between vowels and consonants, learning how to sound words out, synonyms, antonyms, compound words, rhyming words, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, sentences, punctuation marks, reading comprehension, etc.
Days - Every day.
Textbooks - Random started books.

Reading - Reading books.
Days - Every day.
Textbooks - Story books.

Scooby-Doo:

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

Subjects:

Magazine - His fun character magazines that cover letter sounds, counting, picture finds, etc.
Days - Every Sunday.
Textbooks - Character Magazines.

Art/Logic - Painting, other activities, etc.
Days - Every day.
Textbooks - None.

Math - Basic introduction to math concepts like addition, money, time, etc. 
Days - Every day.
Textbooks - Random started books.

English - Learning the difference between vowels and consonants, learning how to sound words out, synonyms, antonyms, compound words, rhyming words, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, sentences, punctuation marks, reading comprehension, etc.
Days - Every day.
Textbooks - Random started books.

Reading - Every day together.

Final Notes:

• This is our final quarter of homeschooling finishing up our final school year.
• There were only 4 subjects for Optimus Prime & Bumblebee
• I dropped Spelling for our final quarter and we just did reading.
• Science and Art were alternated between

Quarterly Curriculum February - April 2016

Last quarter was very touch and go almost up until the very end. Then, thankfully, FINALLY, everything fell into place. That made me VERY eager to move on to a full schedule this quarter.

This quarter I was very excited to bring back "core" subjects and "secondary" subjects. I had always loved our rotating schedule and was very sad when I had to retire it. It was supposed to be a temporary retirement, no more than a year, but it wound up being longer because I wasn't ready to bring it back until we brought Spanish back and I wasn't ready to bring Spanish back until at least one child mastered reading. Yes, you read that right, we are FINALLY bringing back Spanish! And yes, not only has Optimus Prime mastered reading but Bumblebee has really advanced these past three months. He's not there yet but he is close enough that I feel confident to bring back Spanish!

Optimus Prime:

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

Core Subjects:

Math - Addition, subtraction, time, money, etc. 
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - No workbooks. This quarter to help Optimus Prime catch up he's doing worksheets tailor-made for him.
Number of Pages - 3

Spelling - Spelling words & units practiced in print and cursive.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - None, just loose worksheets.
Number of Pages - 2

English - Phonics and reading comprehension.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - Brain Quest Workbook Grade 2 (Workman Publishing), Comprehensive Curriculum Grade 2 (American Education Publishing).
Number of Pages - 3

Secondary Subjects:

Science - Learning all about animals, insects, and classifications.
Days - Three days a week
Textbooks - Exploring Animals (American Education Publishing).
Number of Pages - 2-3

History/Geography/Religion - Norse Mythology and King Arthur.
Days - Three days a week
Textbooks - D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths (New York Review Children's Collection), Tales of King Arthur (Anness Publishing).
Number of Pages - N/A

Logic/Art - Same/different, mazes, dot-to-dots, coloring etc.
Days - Three days a week
Textbooks - Random books.
Number of Pages - 4

Spanish - Learning Spanish
Days - Every three days
Textbooks - Exploring Spanish (American Education Publishing).
Number of Pages - 2-3

Handwriting - Basic composition and handwriting.
Days - Every three days
Textbooks - Scooby-Doo Printing Practice (Bendon), Spider-Man Printing Practice (Bendon).
Number of Pages - 2-3

Other "Subjects":

Reading - Reading chapter (!!!) books on his own.

Bumblebee:

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

Core Subjects:

Math - Addition, subtraction, time, money, multiplication, etc. 
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - Sponge Bob Addition and Subtraction (Bendon), Disney Princess Addition & Subtraction (Bendon), Disney Addition and Subtraction (Bendon), Spider-Man Addition and Subtraction (Bendon), Disney Princess Addition and Subtraction (Bendon), Disney Addition and Subtraction (Bendon), Disney Time and Money (Bendon).
Number of Pages - 3

Spelling - Spelling words & units practiced in print and cursive.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - None, just loose worksheets.
Number of Pages - 2

English - Phonics and reading comprehension.
Days - Everyday
Textbooks - Brain Quest Workbook Grade 2 (Workman Publishing), Comprehensive Curriculum Grade 2 (American Education Publishing).
Number of Pages - 3

Secondary Subjects:

Science - Learning all about animals, insects, and classifications.
Days - Three days a week
Textbooks - Exploring Animals (American Education Publishing).
Number of Pages - 2-3

History/Geography/Religion - Norse Mythology and King Arthur.
Days - Three days a week
Textbooks - D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths (New York Review Children's Collection), Tales of King Arthur (Anness Publishing).
Number of Pages - N/A

Logic/Art - Same/different, mazes, dot-to-dots, coloring etc.
Days - Three days a week
Textbooks - Random books.
Number of Pages - 4

Spanish - Learning Spanish
Days - Every three days
Textbooks - Exploring Spanish (American Education Publishing).
Number of Pages - 2-3

Multiplication - Practicing multiplication and division.
Days - Every three days
Textbooks - No workbook. This quarter Bumblebee has a second math class with just multiplication to help him get the concept down better with tailor made worksheets for him.
Number of Pages - 2-3

Other "Subjects":

Reading - Reading level 1 and some level 2 books on his own.

Scooby-Doo:

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

Core Subjects:

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

Secondary Subjects:

Science - Learning all about animals, insects, and classifications.
Days - Three days a week
Textbooks - Exploring Animals (American Education Publishing).
Number of Pages - 2-3

History/Geography/Religion - Norse Mythology and King Arthur.
Days - Three days a week
Textbooks - D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths (New York Review Children's Collection), Tales of King Arthur (Anness Publishing).
Number of Pages - N/A

Logic/Art - Same/different, mazes, dot-to-dots, coloring etc.
Days - Three days a week
Textbooks - Random books.
Number of Pages - 5

English - Phonics and reading comprehension.
Days - Three days a week
Textbooks - Beginning Sounds (School Zone), Letter Stories (Mead), Phonics (Bendon), Disney Phonics and Reading (Bendon).
Number of Pages - 4

Addition - Basic addition problems to help him learn the concept. 
Days - Three days a week
Textbooks - Numbers and Counting (Bendon), Let's Grow Smart Workbook: Numbers 1-12 (Dalmatian Press), Disney Numbers and Counting (Bendon), Mathematics Practice Workbook K (Silver Burdett Ginn)
Number of Pages - 4

Other "Subjects":

Reading - Reading together every day.

Some final notes:

• Spelling units are directly tied to what we are reading.
• For this quarter we have two Concept Weeks and they are tied into our History/Geography/Religion class and our Science class. There were no Concept Week posts.
• One of Optimus Prime's "secondary" subjects was Handwriting because his penmanship desperately needed it. Bumblebee did a second Math class during this time period where he just focused on multiplication. 
• The local elementary school has denied Scooby-Doo all of his therapy since we will not enroll him there in pre-k. He is, however, still doing speech therapy twice a week.
• Even though Scooby-Doo is only at pre-k age he will be doing kindergarten work this quarter as well as some pre-k.
• Scooby-Doo starts Concept Weeks this quarter. They are tied into his Science schoolwork.

Concept Weeks #52-55/21-24: New Years Day and the Chinese Lunar New Year, Rainforests, the Inca, Maya, and Aztec, & Robots

Like I said in my last post, this is our final Concept Week post. For a while now these posts have been out of date but I've been clinging to them out of habit. I'm not sure what direction the new posts will go in but I'll hopefully have it figured out by the end of February.

Now, this month, together Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, & Scooby-Doo worked on four Concept Weeks. They were New Years Day and the Chinese Lunar New Year, Rainforests, the Inca, Maya, and Aztec, and Robots.

For each Concept Week they had a lapbook filled with information and fun worksheets and each day I read them a book (or two or three) pertaining to the topic. Some of the books were fun story books, others were full of information about the topic. It depended on what the library (and we) had.

Month in Review: January 2016

This month we finally, finally, FINALLY got our act together! I'm so proud of us!

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee worked on Math (Optimus Prime on 2nd grade math with a little bit of 3rd grade math, Bumblebee on 3rd grade math), English (phonics, consonant blends, alphabetical order, logic problems, riddles, comparing and contrasting, and reading comprehension), and Spelling & Reading (see this post for Optimus Prime and this post for Bumblebee).

Scooby-Doo worked on Handwriting (the alphabet, letter sounds, numbers, and counting), Art (coloring), and Logic (same and different, mazes, dot-to-dots, look and find, etc).

Together they worked on four Concept Weeks. They were New Years & the Chinese Lunar New Year, Rainforests, the Maya, Inca, & Aztec, and Robots - all of which I will cover in the Concept Week post (hopefully) tomorrow.

Also, I have decided that this is our final Month in Review post - and tomorrow's Concept Week post is our final one as well. I'm not sure what I'm going to do instead. I'm thinking of maybe doing posts about each unit after they are completed. I haven't decided yet. What I do know is for a while now these posts have been pretty obsolete and I've been clinging to them out of habit. I need to let them go. I'll let you know when I've decided what I am going to do instead.

Concept Weeks #48-51/17-20: Farms, Oceans, Arctic and Antarctic, & Yule and Christmas

Together Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, & Scooby-Doo worked on four Concept Weeks. They were Farms, Oceans, the Arctic and Antarctic, and Yule and Christmas.

For each Concept Week they had a lapbook filled with information and fun worksheets and each day I read them a book (or two or three) pertaining to the topic. Some of the books were fun story books, others were full of information about the topic. It depended on what the library (and we) had.

Month in Review: December 2015

This month we were a bit better off, but we still had a hard time keeping it together. We finally had our act together then we took a week of for Christmas & Yule, so that set us back a bit and had us scrambling to get back on schedule.

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee worked on Math (Optimus Prime on 2nd grade math, Bumblebee on 3rd grade math - he really is loving his multiplication), English (phonics, punctuation, adjectives, paragraphs, antonyms, synonyms, homophones, contractions, dictionaries, rhyming words, and reading comprehension), and Spelling & Reading (see this post for Optimus Prime and this one for Bumblebee).

Scooby-Doo worked on Handwriting (the alphabet, letter sounds, numbers, and counting), Art (coloring), and Logic (same and different, mazes, dot-to-dots, look and find, etc).

Together they worked on four Concept Weeks. They were Farms, Oceans, the Arctic & Antarctic, and Yule & Christmas - all of which I will cover in the Concept Week post (hopefully) tomorrow.

Concept Weeks #44-47/13-16: Halloween, Dinosaurs, After Dinosaurs, & Thanksgiving

From here on out any Concept Weeks will be done by all three of them together (except for one final quarter that I'm planning on for our Summer quarter). Obviously Optimus Prime & Bumblebee had harder work than Scooby-Doo but overall the work was more or less the same.

Together they worked on four Concept Weeks. They were Halloween, Prehistoric/Dinosaur Era, Prehistoric/Early Man Era, and Thanksgiving.

For each Concept Week they had a lapbook filled with information and fun worksheets and each day I read them a book (or two or three) pertaining to the topic. Some of the books were fun story books, others were full of information about the topic. It depended on what the library (and we) had.

Month in Review: November 2015

I'd love to say that this month we had our act together. But alas, no. We did better than all of last quarter put together but we were still all over the place. Part of the problem was Halloween, a family visit, a family birthday, and Thanksgiving. Part of the problem was just plain us.

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee worked on Math (Optimus Prime on 2nd grade math, Bumblebee on 3rd grade math), English (phonics, sentence structure, nouns, poems, verbs, and reading comprehension), and Spelling & Reading (see this post for Optimus Prime and this one for Bumblebee).

Scooby-Doo worked on Handwriting (the alphabet, letter sounds, numbers, and counting), Art (coloring), and Logic (same and different, mazes, dot-to-dots, look and find, etc).

Together they worked on four Concept Weeks. They were Halloween, Prehistoric/Dinosaur Era, Prehistoric/Early Man Era, and Thanksgiving - all of which I will cover in the Concept Week post (hopefully) tomorrow.

3rd Grade/Kindergarten Reading List Part 2

Last quarter was another bad quarter for reading books. We only did 20. *shudder* So this quarter I'm making our minimum goal 20.

This quarter I'm determined we'll do better!

Now, for our reading goals:

• I STILL cannot find what I'm looking for for Optimus Prime. We'll just work on level 1 and level 2 books for now. I am so annoyed. He is beyond ready to tackle chapter books. I just need to find what I'm looking for. I have to this quarter, otherwise I'll start him on our Scooby-Doo chapter books. 
• I'm going to have Bumblebee work on level 1 books. Optimus Prime reads a book a day, I'm going to try for half a book a day for Bumblebee. We'll see how that works. 
• Scooby-Doo has no actual list that I'm reading to him this quarter. I'm bringing back Concept Weeks for this quarter, I didn't care for my "experiment" with them last quarter where I turned them into Concept Months. So, we have to read a book every day, seven days a week for our Concept Week. So for now that doubles as Scooby-Doo's book list.

Our 20 book long reading list:

• The Dark Knight: Batman and the Villainous Voyage
• The Dark Knight: Batman vs the Cat Commander
• Magic Tree House: Dark Day in the Deep Sea
• Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew: Double Take
• Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew: Unicorn Uproar 
• The Hardy Boys Secret Files: The Bicycle Thief
• The Hardy Boys Secret Files: A Monster of a Mystery
• The Hardy Boys Secret Files: The Missing Mitt
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Pilgrims
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Titanic
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: American Revolution
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Rags and Riches
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Dog Heroes
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Dolphins and Sharks
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Vikings
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Leonardo da Vinci
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Leprechauns and Irish Folklore
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: China
• The Flash: The Attack of Professor Zoom
• The Flash: Captain's Cold Arctic Eruption

Concept Weeks #9-12: Butterflies, Horses, Kittens, & Wild Cats

* You have no idea how relieved I am that this is my FINAL post for our August/September/October quarter. With this put up I can now work on getting the blog up-to-date with our November/December/January news which will hopefully be done by the end of January/first week of February. I am SO happy and SO relieved!!! *

Scooby-Doo's final four Concept Weeks for this quarter!

Honestly, it was a bit of a relief since he really wasn't too interested. Optimus Prime & Bumblebee enjoyed the books, as always, but Scooby-Doo was still completely indifferent.

For the month of October we had four Concept Weeks:

• Butterflies
• Horses
• Kittens
• Wild Cats

This month we used the same story collection book as the last two months. Scooby-Doo also had a lapbook for each week. 

Week One covered butterflies. Even though we had just done an insect unit (and butterflies were covered) we had another book just for butterflies. The book went over the life cycle and body parts of the butterflies. It also went over the journey that some take to warmer weather and disguises and defenses they have.

Week Two was all about horses. First we went over horse relatives (which include zebras, donkeys, and mules), then we went over the different breeds (heavy, light, and ponies). This was followed with basic information about horses, how they live, what they eat, how they have babies, etc.

Week Three covered kittens (which I thought he would get really excited over but he didn't). The book went over the family tree of cats and how it included the larger (and smaller) wild cats. This was followed by a bunch of basic information about domestic cats and kittens. 

Week Four was like an extension of the kitten unit. Some of the stuff covered in the kitten unit applied to this one. This unit covered individual types of wild cats such as lions, tigers, etc.

I think next quarter we'll still do concept weeks but they'll be the same units that Optimus Prime & Bumblebee are covering. 

Month in Review: October 2015

Well, we were still a bit of a train wreck this month but we seem to be slowly getting our act together.

I read somewhere once that when kids take the summer off they lose some of their knowledge, that when school starts up again in the fall it actually takes them 2-3 months to catch up and relearn all they have lost. This is part of the reason why we always do a summer semester, and I think that is part of the reason why we are all having such a hard time getting back on track.

This month we started bringing in 3rd grade schoolwork in the subjects where we were previously doing 2nd grade work. In Math we started bringing in multiplication on top of reviewing 2nd grade math. Optimus Prime isn't ready for 3rd grade math so he did a little but mostly focused on basic math. Bumblebee, meanwhile, is enjoying multiplication. Spelling/Reading was the same as it was last month. I think I like this new combination of spelling and reading so we'll keep doing it. Not next quarter, but maybe the following one, I'll start bringing English into that combination, writing up English pages to go along with what they are reading.

English was more phonics (weeks 9 & 11) and reading comprehension (weeks 10 & 12). The phonics have been really helping Optimus Prime but not Bumblebee who is the one who really needs it which is the whole reason we were doing this. History was ancient Rome which finished up our ancient empires for now. Science finished up our animals of the water unit and then we moved on to two new workbooks, one that covered animals of the air and one that covered animals and geography. Logic & Art was more painting, coloring, and activities.

Scooby-Doo is just doing speech therapy now. The whole situation has me so disgusted however after their unprofessional behavior I'm glad that he's only doing speech therapy instead of both therapies.

Scooby-Doo still had his Spelling, which I think I'm going to drop next quarter. I'll probably bring it back after that, but I think he needs a quarter off from it. For Science he had his last four lapbooks. Handwriting was more practicing his abc's and numbers. Once we run out of all of those sheets I already have for him I think we might drop the subject. We still had our daily story time, and he also had his Art and Logic as well as Magazine days.

All in all it was our best quarter so far even if our game was still off. Hopefully next quarter we'll get back on track. Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to a week off and Halloween.

Concept Weeks #5-8: Fish, Snakes, Spiders, & Bugs

For the month of September Scooby-Doo had four Concept Weeks:

• Week #1 - Fish
• Week #2 - Snakes
• Week #3 - Spiders
• Week #4 - Bugs

Week One covered the basics of fish - body parts, where they live, how they breathe water, what they eat, protection, etc. 

Week Two talked about how snakes are cold-blooded, where they live (some live in water), what they eat, how it takes a long time for them to digest their food, how they protect themselves, how they are born, etc. 

Week Three talked about the difference between arachnids and insects then we covered how spiders eat, where they live, their webs, their egg sacks, etc. There was even a spider mentioned that could breathe underwater by making a giant air sack.

Week Four was just like the Spider unit, only it covered insects - where they live, what they eat, how they protect themselves, etc.

These Concept Weeks went along with the same book as last month. Again, I'm not sure that Scooby-Doo cared about the stories but his brothers loved them. I also made a corresponding lapbook for him for each unit - and again, he went back & forth on his lapbooks, just like last month.

I am hoping as he gets used to the lapbooks he'll warm up to them and find them to be more fun.

Month in Review: September 2015

This month started off much better, but things were still a bit rocky for which I largely blame the school district (see more below). Hopefully next month will be better.

This month was pretty much the same as last month as far as curriculum went. In Math Optimus Prime & Bumblebee worked on the same stuff, all 2nd grade math. Spelling/Reading was more spelling units based upon the books they were reading. In English we alternated again between reading comprehension (weeks 6 & 8) and phonics (weeks 5 & 7). History was spent on ancient Greece. For Science we finished up our earth, weather, and plants unit then we moved on to a new workbook that covered animals that live in the water. Logic & Art was spent with more painting, coloring, and activities.

Scooby-Doo went back to therapy. We seem to be having some issues with the school district so I'm not sure what is going to happen. Legally, they have to give him speech therapy. But now, since we won't enroll him in pre-k (even though we told them about twenty dozen times he was going to be homeschooled) they are refusing him all other services. We'll have to see what happens. Either way, we are homeschooling him.

Scooby-Doo still had his spelling, which he is largely uninterested in. For Science he had his four Concept Weeks. He also had his usual subjects of Handwriting, Art, and Logic. And we had story time, which he goes back and forth on each day - some days he likes it other days he doesn't. He, of course, also had his magazine days.

It was a very full, very chaotic, and very stressful month.

Concept Weeks #1-4: Dinosaurs, Whales, Seals, & Sharks

I debated how to go about doing a post on Scooby-Doo's Concept Weeks. Do I want to follow the same format I did with Optimus Prime & Bumblebee doing a new post week by week? Do I want to start numbering them at #1 or skip ahead to the same number that Optimus Prime & Bumblebee are on (which, for the record, is #41)? Do I want to combine all Concept Weeks into one post? Well, since next quarter their Concept Weeks are going to be the same that would make sense. However, nothing says the following quarter it will all be the same again.

I really went back & forth on this and finally decided that I have no idea what the future will hold. So, for this quarter, Scooby-Doo will get his own posts. And they will start at the #1. However, since his Concept Weeks are watered-down compared to where Optimus Prime & Bumblebee were at at his age I'll just do a monthly post for him. So, four Concept Weeks in one post, starting at the #1. For now. Who knows what I will do next quarter.

So, for the month of August, Scooby-Doo had four Concept Weeks:

• Week #1 - Dinosaurs
• Week #2 - Whales
• Week #3 - Seals
• Week #4 - Sharks

Why these four topics? We have a book called "Know-It-Alls Treasury of Animals and Nature" that has exactly 12 books in it. Which is perfect - one for each week. These were the first four books.

Week One covered the very basics of dinosaurs (carnivore vs herbivore, extinction, fossils, etc) and then talked about some of the more well-known dinosaurs out there.

Week Two covered the basics of whales (what they eat, how they breathe oxygen, birth live young, etc) and then talked about some of the different whale breeds. 

Week Three talked about how there are actually three different types of seals (eared seals, earless seals, and walruses). Then the book covered seal basics such as food, swimming vs. walking, blubber, babies, enemies, etc. This one did not go into different seal breeds.

Week Four covered shark basics then talked about different breeds of sharks. 

For each unit I also made a lapbook for him which was more like a mini-workbook dedicated to the animals we were learning about. Some of the lapbooks he enjoyed, others not so much.

The books were a bit beyond him, however his brothers enjoyed sitting in and listening to them. 

Overall I'm not sure if our first four Concept Weeks were successes or not, but I'll push through for the rest of the quarter and next quarter I'll have it match up with what his brothers are doing. 

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.

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.

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

Concept Week #3: DInosaurs

Well!  All that hype and here we are onto our last Concept Week from kindergarten!

Bumblebee loves dinosaurs.  Dinosaur toys, dinosaur books, dinosaur movies, dinosaur documentaries... I'm sure you get the idea.  Optimus Prime & Scooby-Doo love dinosaurs too, but not nearly as much.

When we first started talking about taking a family vacation this past summer, and our initial plans were scrapped for costing too much, I decided that what we needed to do was something both closer to home and lots of fun.  So I planned a dinosaur trip.  There are LOTS of dinosaur museums here in Texas, I didn't realize just how many until I started looking into them.  We had a blast at two different dinosaur parks and the Dinosaur State Park, and we even decided to expand our trip into two zoos and an aquarium for some variety.

My kids purchased little dinosaur toys almost everywhere we went (because what we REALLY needed in this house was more dinosaur toys!), as well as dinosaur puzzles and dinosaur eggs (that "hatched" in water).
They learned lots of stuff about dinosaurs and saw lots of animals and fish.  All in all the trip was a total blast.

Then, when we got home it seemed only fitting to do some dinosaur themed schoolwork for a week.

I had some dinosaur maze books I had picked up on our trip, as well as some dinosaur dot-to-dots and coloring pages I printed up from education.com.  We also had some dinosaur schoolwork books I had picked up from Target's dollar section back when they were babies and a book of jigsaw puzzles ("Discovering Dinosaurs!") I had picked up at a Waldenbooks back when they were going out of business.  (A side note - if you have never seen jigsaw puzzle books before they are really awesome and you should pick them up.  They are big board books that have a half dozen or so puzzles in them and on the opposite page is a few educational paragraphs about the puzzle, we are going to be using them a lot for first grade.)

So our "textbooks" about the subject were the books I had bought during our trip and from Target, as well as the worksheets I had printed up.  Our activity was the puzzle book (we got to do a puzzle a day), and our book was "The Magic Schoolbus in the Time of the Dinosaurs" by Joanna Cole.

The workbooks from Target were grades K-2, but I have to be honest some of the activities were more geared towards second graders.  However, they still had fun and the book introduced them to codes, which we had never done before, and they caught onto that pretty quick.  Each dinosaur that was covered had a code at the bottom to translate to find out what the dinosaur's Latin name meant.

By the time the trip and schoolwork was over we had been on dinosaurs for almost two weeks, and we were definitely all ready to give it up, but everyone had lots of fun.

Last Day...

Tomorrow is the last day of kindergarten and I'm very excited!  We're going to spend the day doing a bunch of fun stuff.  I have hand print molds for them, memory books, paint-by-numbers, statues to paint, snoopy wreaths to make, new Scooby-Doo stories to read, etc.  We're going to have a fun day doing arts & crafts, then we'll go to the pool and swim for a couple of hours!

Then the next day first grade starts and I'll hopefully get around to polishing off my post about Dinosaur Week.

But for now, it's the final hours of kindergarten for Optimus Prime and Bumblebee - and we're going to have some fun!