Weekly Report (2/22 - 2/26)

We had yet another relaxed week since Monday (3/1) is the "big day" to start our new math curriculum. According to Fed Ex, our Sonlight Science is suppose to arrive next week as well! As I type everything out, it seems like we really got a lot done!! It's amazing the drive kiddos have to learn - I pretty much think of this week as an "unschooling" week because Squeak and Piglet led me in all these activities....

Reading- I started keeping a list of our read alouds. I began that list after our library trip last Friday and we've read 15 books so far. Not including the books we re-read over and over! We finished two chapter books - a Berenstain Bear book and a Junie B., First Grader book. Squeak has chosen the Ralph S. Mouse books for our next chapter books. I bought all three from Amazon so we will begin The Mouse and The Motorcycle tonight. Today, we are going to make some bookmarks for our chapter books.

 Math- I put Reader Rabbit away for now. Squeak was getting bored with it and despite wanting to complete the certificate, she asked for her new math. Squeak did a terrific job - she completed about 90% of that 320 page book in one month!!!

I did buy a small Word Problems workbook from the Dollar Tree and it turned out to be an Evan Moor book! It said it was for grade 1-2 but I hope 2nd graders aren't doing that easy of math word problems!! We worked in that book Monday night along with a subtraction book I bought from the Dollar Tree.

Bible- I also bought 4 books at the Dollar Tree for Piglet and I've read those about 100 times to both girls. We still listen to Little Tree in the van and have been going through the devotional. Squeak's prayers have been really cute as she prays how she loves Jesus and that He is in her heart. What a blessing to hear such sweet things come from little ones!!

Science- We conducted an overnight experiment with our Mind Blowing Science kit - we were creating a "sunset in a test tube". So we followed the directions to make our mushy crystals and put them in the test tube to sit over night. We had blue and red crystals and they were going to kind of "bleed" together in the test tube to make a layer of pink then purple then blue. Squeak and I looked at online pictures of sunsets as well. So the next morning, Squeak went to check her experiment and.............nothing happened!! It didn't work! She was disappointed but still had fun doing it.

Projects- Both Squeak and Piglet have been busy all week making projects. I have projects all over the kitchen table! Lots of foam and construction paper projects mainly! Squeak is working on a new project as I type. We are going to make bookmarks today too.

Printing- I also bought, from the Dollar Tree, some simple ABC workbooks so Squeak can practice her tracing and even some writing. Her writing is definitely age appropriate and she gets so frustrated when she can't write stuff. So I thought we can work informally on it now - Squeak working in the workbooks when she wants. She completed a whole book the other day (they are only 32 pages) by tracing all the letters in it! She did miss a couple of pages but I was really proud of her!!!

Other-  I opened Squeak's "Rev Up for Writing" and "Rev Up for Reading" CDROMS and she worked on those through the week.
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I updated our curriculum listing to the left. I included the Horizons/R&S combo and the Sonlight Science (with links!!). We completed one lap book activity and ran out of room in our lap book!! So I decided Peter Rabbit was done. It wasn't the hit I thought but we finished it! I am excited to start the new math and I think Squeak will like it.

Here are some pictures of our week:

Squeak has a "book basket" so I made Piglet her own "book box" this week. It has some of her board books in it (I rotate them) and here she is selecting a book to look at:

Piglet working on a puzzle but I think she was using a piece as a phone to her ear!

The girls are working on their computers:

 

Welcome Sonlight Science K!!*

Squeak's science interest is exploding! Though I kind of figured it would since she loves math - math and science kind of go hand in hand, I didn't think it would be so soon. She has been asking a lot about how things work and what is inside stuff. Squeak has been asking to do experiments and such. Sooooo, I decided to get a well rounded, full science curriculum to use until we start God's Design for Science in 1st grade.

I wanted something cohesive with everything all there for me (not like a science activity book where you put together experiments yourself). I think Sonlight Science has that - books, activity sheets, experiments and supplies - all in one package. I decided on K because it has the experiment kit. I do understand it's considered "advanced" but I'm not worried about following their schedule or if Squeak "gets" 100% of it. It's a filler so even if she gets 50% of it, I'll be happy. It will be a nice introduction.

My plan is to order it soon since we are completing the lap book this week.

*Just a note: Even though I chose Sonlight K Science, I am NOT a fan of Sonlight as a curriculum. When reviewing the reasons NOT to buy a core, too many apply to me!!

Weekly Report (2/15 - 2/19)

We had another relaxed week here. I have been concentrating on getting more read aloud time in with more chapter books. Squeak and I hit the library yesterday and brought home 19 books. We read 6 and are currently reading a Berenstain Bears chapter book.

We did get a few projects in during the week (yes, Squeak is wearing the SAME outfit in the pictures from last week!! LOL). Piglet also was involved. So far, we had one night of math and worked in Reader Rabbit and the Flash Kids workbook. Squeak is asking to start regular math. I think the pages in Reader Rabbit are getting few and far between and the pages left are the ones she is not interested in!!

We have reved up our devotional reading and I found a book with select sections from Psalms in it. And of course, LITTLE TREE!!!!!! haha!

We ordered subs one night and I kept the bag to make a bag puppet:

 

Macaroni collage:

Piglet made a foam sticker collage - I peeled the backing and she stuck them on her paper:

 

Today, we are off to the dentist for Squeak and we will get some read aloud time in and probably some workbook stuff tonight!

God bless and JESUS LOVES YOU!!!!!!!!

BOY, DID I LEARN A LESSON!!!!!

ALWAYS PRE-READ THE BOOKS YOU WANT TO READ ALOUD!!!!!!!!

Since it's a "children's classic", I thought The Adventures of Pinocchio was going to be an innocent book that shows how lying and mischief cause nothing but trouble. Well, this book is a terrible, morbid book that completely offends all of my Biblical convictions.

The Pinocchio book currently resides in the trash! I don't even have the Biblical conscience to give it away to someone else.

Lesson learned: Always read the content of the books you are going to read aloud!!

Weekly Report (2/8 - 2/12)

Sooooo....this week, PIGLET wanted to get in on the action!! Very cute and I have pictures....

Bible - Gosh, I think we've listened to Little Tree about 25 times since my last update! Praise the Lord!! We did get to sneak in a CD about a boy named Nathaniel, which was a story about honesty. These CDs are truly a blessing and again, both girls are really enjoying them. We also read more in our devotional book and Julie talks about Jesus all the time!! During our craft time (see below), we read parts of 1 Corinthians 13 and Squeak could easily answer that JESUS IS LOVE!!!!

Math - The pages in Reader Rabbit math are starting to get few and far between! I'm getting antsy to start our new math though!! I also pulled out a "Rev-Up Arithmetic" CD ROM that also came with the multimedia Horizons package. Squeak really took to that and was practicing her math facts. It's a cute program but I need to move ahead to some other material as she can only take so much drill and repetition.

Peter Rabbit/Crafts - So, on Monday, Squeak and I started two activities for our lap book and during the second activity, Squeak walked away!!! She didn't want to do anymore!! So I decided to finish the week with Valentine's Day crafts. By this time, Piglet was up from her nap and I had set Squeak up with a simple construction paper heart to decorate. Well, that little Piglet started crying and pointing at what Squeak was doing!! So I set her up with a project too (I drew the heart!!):

Here they are working together:

 

Squeak working on her project:

Here's Squeak's final project (for Daddy!):

I thought two things when I saw her project:

1. It reminded me of the Breast Plate of Righteousness!

2. Gosh, I wish those were real jewels!

So, our lap book story isn't over yet. Tuesday comes around, and Squeak ASKS to look at her lap book. Then she proceeds to tell me about every little project in there!! AND she noticed that the scarecrow didn't have brass buttons so she drew some in along with the brown shoes (both things Peter lost and Mr. MacGregor used to make the scarecrow). I didn't even notice that AND I copied that page from the lap book activity guide - so even they didn't have it included! I was very proud that she remembered all of that stuff and made a great observation! Here is the lap book (I did take this picture before she corrected the scarecrow):

Singapore Primary Math 1a arrived!

So, it was delivered via UPS today! I quickly looked through the content a couple of times today and immediately decided that I need to tweak my plans a bit. I think if Squeak completes BOTH Book 1 and Book 2 in Horizons K, she will not get so much out of SM 1a. Of course, it includes the introduction to the mental math and works on number bonds but much of the other content may be "boring". Soooooooo, I am thinking about a slightly newer plan:

Begin Horizons K Book 1/ R&S 1 combo on March 1st like planned. Then when HM Book 1 is complete,  begin SM 1a/Horizons K Book 2 combo (dropping R&S at this point). That way, Squeak will get to work on her math facts for a while (using the R&S) without overkilling the math fact repetition.

Weekly Report (2/1 - 2/5)

Our week has been a bit more relaxed as I wasn't as motivated to do so much school!!

Bible - We have been reading out of our devotional and have been listening to the CDs that came with the Horizons PreK multimedia package I bought last year. I forgot I had those!!! What a blessing!! This morning, we listened to the story about the Little Tree about four times in a row. This Little Tree lived in Israel when Jesus was born and was the tree used to crucify Him. This CD had the story and songs throughout. Squeak and Piglet both enjoyed this!!

Math - Squeak finished another section in Reader Rabbit and has three sections complete. I estimate that the workbook is a little over half completed.

I think I'm leaning towards A beka math for my Singapore Math supplement. I really like the workbook and I think Squeak will too. I am starting to think about how we are going to do the first book in the Horizons K too. I can't imagine doing it lesson by lesson so I figured I will preview each lesson and complete the exercises I know Squeak should work on and skip the stuff she knows cold.

Peter Rabbit - I can't remember if I mentioned that lap booking isn't quite the hit I thought it would be! We did get two more projects into our lap book this week: What rabbits are known for and what each bunny ate for supper:

 

Other news -  I decided not to do the Moving Beyond the Page community section until the weather is nice. We can't go walking around the community in the cold! (or at least, I don't want to! LOL!). So I'm going to continue that in the spring. We did begin reading The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlos Collodi. We are currently on Chapter 6!! We also have been painting quite a few pictures with Squeak's mess free paints! Squeak worked in her Never Bored Book (from Evan Moor) and I need to order the next one soon as this one is almost complete!

A Beka Math arrived today

In my quest to find an exciting math curriculum for Squeak, I ordered A beka Arithmetic 1 to preview. Since Rod & Staff didn't pan out like I hoped, I am still searching (and praying) for a good supplement for Singapore PM (which is also on it's way for me to make sure this is the route we are going to take).

I liked the look of A beka and thought the colorful cartoons will surely appeal to Squeak. Now I am at a toss up between Horizons math and A beka math as my Singapore supplement. If anyone has any input, please feel free to comment. This would be for 1st grade math as we are still on course for Horizons K/R&S 1 beginning in March.

I believe Horizons still has the upper edge when it comes to the more advanced curriculum. I printed out the HM Scope & Sequence to compare with the A beka 1 table of contents.