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!
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Friday, April 24, 2015
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!"
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*
- The Fog of Fear
- Poison Ivy's Deadly Garden
- Five Riddles for Robin
- Fun House of Evil
- Emperor of the Airwaves
- My Frozen Valentine
- The Revenge of Clayface
- Catwoman's Halloween Heist
- Bat-Mite's Big Blunder
- The Puppet Master's Revenge
- Mad Hatter's Movie Madness
- Harley Quinn's Shocking Surprise
- The Man Behind the Mask
- Arctic Attack
- Catwoman's Classroom of Claws
- Two-Face's Double Take
- The Maker of Monsters
- Robin's First Flight
- Scarecrow, Doctor of Fear
- 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.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
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!
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!
Monday, April 13, 2015
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!
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!
Thursday, March 26, 2015
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:
Scooby-Doo is not his disease. Stop treating him like he is.
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.
Friday, February 27, 2015
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!!!
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!!!
Sunday, February 15, 2015
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:
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.
Overall I would say that both units were a huge success.
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