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!