Wordless Wednesday: October 26, 2011

Dark, cold, dreary mornings are not fun.  Only 240 more days until summer........

Weekly Review: 10/18-10/21

After a short & rather slow week last week (thanks to Thanksgiving), I was looking forward to getting back on track this week.  The kids did not disappoint.  They worked quite diligently every day and were able to get through this week's schedule fairly well (although fish dissection has been deferred to Saturday). 


My big lightbulb moment this week was all about my curricula choices and my quest for the older 2 to be more independent.  Because of my own demanding work schedule & adding in Hug-a-Bug this year, I was hoping & expecting that Mr R and Miss Muffet would be able to manage some of their subjects independently this year.  I thought that by choosing workbook-type materials that were easy to follow, they would be able to self-teach and still learn lots.  Boy was I ever wrong.  Just because the format is easy-to-use doesn't mean that they can do it themselves (DUH!?!).  I was ready to ditch WWW and GWG and go back to the more scripted FLL/WWE or PLL/ILL or WS/IEW (pick one - I have them all!) - but then realized that it wasn't the books, it was me. 


You know the old saying "a bad carpenter always blames his tools"?  That was me this week.  I was a bad carpenter.  But I am happy to say that, having had my lightbulb moment, I am in the process of adjusting my expectations and figuring out a way to schedule more time with the olders.  I think Miss Muffet would be open to doing some work in the evening......


Chunky Monkey made us laugh this week.  It really is amazing how perceptive these little ones are.  He was being very squawky and whiney for no reason this week, and in a moment of exasperation, I looked at him and said "If you are going to be squawky - then you will need to go in time out".  Well, off he went.  He just toddled off to the time out corner and stood there with his face in his hands.  It lasted all of 5 seconds.  I guess my consistency with the others is starting to pay off :)  The trouble is that now he thinks it is fun to start whining and then he puts himself into the corner........what am I going to do when I REALLY need to put him there?


Here he is:

Off to gather all of the materials necessary to dissect a fish.  Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

How We Schedule the Subjects

A couple of people have asked me how I schedule the daily work for each of the kids.  Here is an example of last week's for Mr R.  I have one for each of the 3 older kids and as they finish each subject,, they show me their work and I check it.  Once it is done, we check it off and away they go, on to their next subject.  We also have our schedule of what gets done when in our day - I will post that as well.  This is done in Word and is very simple to do.  We've used it since we first started homeschooling and it has worked GREAT!  


I just update it for each of the kiddos and tape/staple it into a "homework" book (an inexpensive composition book works well) and then we have a whole year's worth of our weeks - all in one book.  


When all of their subjects are completed, then I put a little sticker on that day to show that everything got done!  They love the stickers (except Mr R) and it helps me to keep track of what was finished and what still needs to be done when I go to make up the schedule for the next week.
 

Monday October 3rd
Piano	Practice for 15 minutes 2X today
Math	Complete Lesson #7
Religion	BC:  Review the Q&A for Chapter 3-5 F&L: Read Chapter 5
Latin	GSWL:  Complete Lesson #15
Grammar	Complete Lesson #2.1 MAKE SURE YOU READ THE TEXTBOOK!
Writing	Complete Lesson #4, Day #1
History	Veritas Press: Lesson #14 – make sure you use the cards!
Tuesday October 4th
Piano	Practice for 15 minutes 2X today
Math	Complete Lesson #8
Religion	BC:  Review Lesson #5 (pages 36-37); write out the main points for each of the main topics – see Mom for help
French	Work on memorizing the verb AVOIR – see worksheet from Mom RS:  Spend 15 minutes
Latin	GSWL:  Complete Lesson #16
Grammar	Complete Lesson #2.2 Make sure you read the textbook!
Writing	Complete Lesson #4, Day #2
Science	Read BIOLOGY Chapter #16. Complete the questions highlighted in yellow as well as ANSWER THESE & NOW TRY THESE.  Write out the SCIENCE WORDS with their definitions.
History	Veritas Press:  Lesson #15 – make sure you use the cards!
Wednesday October 5th
Piano	Practice for 15 minutes 2X today
Math	Complete Lesson #9
Religion	BC:  Read and make sure you know the answers to the questions for Lesson #4 F&L:  Complete Chapter #5, Lesson #3
French	Work on memorizing the verb AVOIR – see worksheet from Mom RS:  Spend 15 minutes
Latin	GSWL:  Complete Lesson #17
Grammar	Complete Lesson #2.3 – make sure you read the textbook!
Writing	Complete Lesson #4, Day #3
Science	Read BIOLOGY Chapter #17. Complete the questions highlighted in yellow as well as ANSWER THESE & NOW TRY THESE.  Write out the SCIENCE WORDS with their definitions.
History	Veritas Press:  Lesson #16 – make sure you use the cards!

Thursday October 6th
Piano	Practice for 15 minutes 2X today
Math	Complete Lesson #10
Religion	Read about Saints
French	Work on memorizing the verb AVOIR – see worksheet from Mom RS:  Spend 15 minutes
Latin	GSWL:  Complete Lesson #18
Grammar	Complete Lesson #2.4 – make sure you read the textbook!
Writing	Complete Lesson #4, Day #4
Science	Read BIOLOGY Chapter #18. Complete the questions highlighted in yellow as well as ANSWER THESE & NOW TRY THESE.  Write out the SCIENCE WORDS with their definitions.
History	Veritas Press:  Lesson #17 – make sure you use the cards!
Friday October 7th
Piano	Practice for 15 minutes 2X today
Math	TEST #1
Religion	Read about Saints
French	Work on memorizing the verb AVOIR – see worksheet from Mom RS:  Spend 15 minutes
Latin	GSWL:  Complete Lesson #19
Grammar	Complete Lesson #2.5 – make sure you read the textbook!
Writing	Complete Lesson #4, Day #5
Science	Science Project needs to be done this weekend – see Mom for details J
History	Veritas Press:  Lesson #18 – make sure you use the cards!

BOOK OF THE WEEK:  Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff

Things to Remember for Grade 5:

·        All written work is to be done in CURSIVE.

·        All written work is to be done in PEN.

·        Only Math should be done in pencil.

The Very First Post

After surviving our first year of homeschooling & jumping (ok maybe not jumping exactly but certainly with some left-over enthusiasm) into Year #2, I thought now would be a good time to start blogging about our adventures.  

I thought that Year #1 was a HUGE success.  We were all very enthusiastic to start and I think that everyone really enjoyed being together (most days!).  I loved that we could go at our own pace and at our own levels; some weeks we were whipping through our subjects, and other weeks we had to slow it down a little.  But everyone learned a LOT - mom included.  Who knew that the King of Assyria, Ashurbanipal, was the first librarian ever?

In addition to their schoolwork, the kids were also able to learn how to do simple chores like cleaning a bathroom and doing laundry.  I don't think any of us would have had the time or energy to do this if they had been in school.  They understand how important their contributions are to keeping the house running smoothly & how much work it is to maintain a home.  I am very proud of them for being so helpful.  

I am very pleased with how well our first year went and feel so blessed that we are able to continue.

Unfortunately, this year hasn't been as "magical".  We were off to a bumpy start back in August; but things are going more smoothly now.  Between the changes I made to some of the curriculum, and trying to juggle the demands of working from home, plus a VERY busy toddler and schooling 3 kiddos rather than 2......well let's just say that I over-estimated my own ability to manage everything and under-estimated the amount of time that everything would take.

But, onward and upward & here we are in October (ack!!) and I think we are starting to find our groove again (finally). 

My goal is to post every week......and try to figure out how to load pictures, and try to post our curriculum, and learn how to follow others blogs, and ............well, I think that is enough for now :) 

So welcome to the REAL Jellybean Clubhouse, we are glad you stopped by.