Math Games

The big kids have been working hard on memorizing their addition facts. We do some drilling, and they write them in their journals occasionally, but mostly we play games to pound the facts into our heads.

We play Joey Joey on a regular basis. 

I also made up this tic tac toe sheet. In order to claim the square they want, they have to give the answer to the math problem in that square. And they are not allowed to count. I purposely put hard problems in every row so that they don't choose only the ones they know.

                                            

To make this easy game board I stuck stickers on a piece of cardstock, then numbered them. I added the lines to keep them going in the right direction. The game is simple. I give them a number, say: 3. Every number they land on they have to add to 3. This focuses our learning on the specific fact family we need to work on. After they know all their +3s, then their number is 4. It plays really fast, so we usually play it several times in one sitting. (or until Nate wins, because he HAS to win)

                                

And finally, they really had a blast when I laid out all of the flashcards around the playroom and they were the pieces in their own board game. :) I gave them some huge dice I found at Dollar Tree and they had fun doing flashcards!
                                

                                 

                               

Preschool Science

Science for preschoolers is really really easy. All you need is a yard. I followed my prek's around for about fifteen minutes with a camera one afternoon, and recorded their education.

They explored rolypoly bugs. (Abbie's personal favorite)

hunted snails

and treated them to a helicopter ride

We observed and discussed clouds, sticks, leaves, birds and small children's propensity to get really really dirty.

Good News!

I'm excited because I received an email this morning informing me that I was accepted as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew for 2010 - 2011. 
This means that over the next school year, the kids and I will get to try out and explore a lot of different products and then I will get to review them here for you! 
I can hardly wait to get started. :)

Week Two Review

This is an old post, but I'm trying to keep track of our work this term, so I am going to post it anyway... I'm still working on Week Three and Four...
This was a more, ummm, interesting week. I was sick on Tuesday, and we had a Frog Party to go to on Friday morning, so we had to squeeze all of our schoolwork into the other three and a half days that were left. But we did it and the kids still had plenty of free time to run around outside with their friends. We have quite the crowd in our yard these days: at least two sometimes three or four extra little boys and a girl or two, plus our own four, all under nine years old! They have such a great time that I willingly overlook the dirt and the bruises and the tremendous amount of noise they are able to create.
In math this week, we revisited place value. Every time that we go over it, they grasp a little more of the concept, so I am hoping that they will get it soon. I've also been trying to give them various ways of working on their math facts so that they can memorize them without drilling, but I'm close to the conclusion that drilling is going to be necessary to get them to stop counting in their heads.
Science was fun and easy this week. The kids learned six different ways that insects have to defend themselves, and then they drew pictures to illustrate them. I enjoyed the many different ways they managed to massacre the words "crypsis" and "advertisement". On his own, Nate caught several insects and killed a couple that were menacing his little sister. He considered and discussed the idea that the insect's exoskeleton really did make it hard for him to squash it.
In History, we read about nomads and the kids built a hut in the backyard. I told them they had to use only the materials they found in the yard, expecting, you know, dirt, rocks, leaves, maybe even a brick or two...

well, they DID only use what they found in the yard!
This was also our first week for map work, and I liked it. It was all circling, tracing, and coloring so their limited handwriting skills were not a deterrent and I think it gave my visual kids a good solid peg to hang their knowledge on.
We "visited" Norway this week, reading books, making trolls, coloring maps and looking at pictures of fjords on the Internet. It was not as exciting as Russia, and we are all ready to move on.

We moved ahead several steps in spelling. We only spend a few minutes a day on it, so the kids are not ready to give an opinion on it, yet. We are still in the easy, review part of the book, but hopefully we will start really spelling something next week.
In Grammar, we did a bunch of review, learned a bit more about adjectives, and dealt with some attitude problems because there are those among us who hate First Language Lessons.
Bible, handwriting and art were pretty much more of the same (or not as the case may be) as last week. I wrote out each verse on an index card and they read it aloud every day three times in a row. And by the end of the week, they can say it without looking. This is our most successful Bible memory method to date.

Giving Phonics Another Go

My local homeschool mommy support group had a Curriculum Show and Tell meeting last week. It was incredibly informative and I loved the chance to get my hands on things that one normally only gets to see on a computer screen. I also liked the opportunity to hear real moms talk about curriculum that worked/or didn't for them, and why. But the item that struck me the most was one I had (strangely) never heard of before. The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. It's strange that it was new to me because it is put out by Peace Hill Press, and I use both their History and their Grammar. (For those of you who know me in person, no remarks please regarding how I missed seeing this Phonics book on their website.)
But I liked what I saw, when the other mom let me look in person. So I googled it and found it used for a do-able price... I decided to put in on my list of curriculum for the fall. Then I got a brilliant idea and looked it up on our library website. And they HAD IT! I rushed to check it out today, and Daniel will be starting it tomorrow.
I love the fact that all I need is some sort of representation of the letters. You can buy these in card form from Peace Hill Press, or you can follow their instructions and make your own with index cards. Or, you can be totally rebelliously tweaky like me, and use manipulatives.
I also love the fact that it is scripted. I don't always use the scripts, but scripted curriculum gives me, the teacher, a very concrete idea of what exactly the writer is trying to get across to the child. I love it, even if I ummm, tweak it, just a little. :)
I am totally excited. He has no idea what is about to hit him. :)

I Went to Convention in my Jammies

Sorry that I haven't been around. Not, of course, that anyone missed me. But I have spent the last three days juggling housework, school, four kids, and... and... and... The TOS EXPO!!! It was a struggle to deal with the kids and stay glued to the computer, and we eventually just plumb gave up on school, but it was oh, so, worth it! I live in a smallish town and have never been to a "real" Homeschool Convention, so I don't have that to compare to. But I gotta say it would be hard to beat the last three days. For less than $30, I got to hear, live and on my own computer, the people that wrote the curriculum I use to teach my kids. People like: Susan Wise Bauer, Sue Patrick, Amanda Bennett... As well as people that I had never heard of before but in one hour or less profoundly altered the way we will do school and live our lives! I am so grateful for the opportunity to listen to the Clarksons, Diana Waring, Jill Novak and Carol Barnier. It was an awesome three days. And links to download the talks to listen to again and again were included in the price of the Expo.
In addition to the speakers, was the live chat with fellow attendees as we listened and were inspired together. It was a chance to compare notes, fellowship, and pray with and  for each other, even though we were scattered all over, not just the country, but the world.
I'm not even going to talk about the doorprizes...
Nor the pages and pages of links to websites to explore...
If you missed this wonderful opportunity, you can still purchase the MP3s to be heard at your leisure. AND they are planning another Expo for the fall, so be the first in line to get your ticket! Well, no, second in line, because I am going to be first. :p
Because I am tired, and my kids are wacked out of control, and if it weren't for my awesome, wonderful, much-better-than-I-deserve  husband my house would be horrible, but it was incredible and I can't wait to do it again!

Term Three, Week One

School last week was actually kinda fun (if you discount Thursday, which we are). It always feels good to come back after a break and get busy again.
The big kids' math journals were full of review of the first few lessons from Math U See Beta. We are really loving this curriculum. It gives us just enough direction without bogging us down. I set them a minimum of two math games a day, and this week we focused on games that drilled math facts. All of these games are "old" games so they can set them up and play by themselves with me in a supervisory/ referee role. It works really well for us.
In Grammar, we also had a bit of review (that worked out nicely) and began learning about contractions and adjectives. Contractions made them say "Meh." But they loved the idea of adjectives and now I am hearing a lot of, "This box is heavy! Heavy is an adjective!!" Which can be annoying, but at least I know they "get it".
Focused handwriting went over much better than I thought it would. I expected Nate to rebel at the idea of writing the same letter over and over until he got it "perfect". That is the sort of thing that usually drives him crazy. But he seemed a little relieved, actually, at only being expected to work on one letter at a time. :) Kaytie thought she was being promoted because I wrote out short sentences and she copied them.
In science, we continued with our insects. We covered metamorphosis pretty thoroughly, and by the end of the week, they could narrate whole chapters of info on Complete Metamorphosis and had a working idea of the two types of Incomplete. I, for one, am ready to move on...
We visited Russia, which meant making Matryushka dolls, watching a bit of The Nutcracker on Youtube, and enjoying Russian folk dances. Nate was intrigued by a National Geographic video on volcanoes in Russia. And we played with the Russian alphabet a bit. We read lots of Russian folktales and discussed Tsars and Communism just a tad.
In Bible, we are wrapping up Joseph (FINALLY!!!) and memorizing Phil. 2:14-15. Their first box every morning is their Bible which they are required to read to themselves. We also started working on the Books of the Old Testament. I stole/created a game to help with this. So far, we haven't made much progress beyond convincing Nate that it's FIRST Samuel (or whatever) not ONE Samuel. Kaytie still says it wrong.
We never got around to art or our Catechism question. I'm about ready to give up on this art book. If I dread getting it out, it must not be going to do us much good, right? 
They thoroughly enjoyed their first week of Story of the World. We talked about historians, archaeology, and the beginning of history (Creation). I'm a little irritated that this book sidestepped the Origin of Man issue, but it was easier to add it in than it is to leave bits out. They had a great time filling in their personal timelines (Although Nate was highly embarrassed that I wrote "potty-trained" on them!), drawing a picture of Creation for our first Timeline Card, and sneaking our library books into their beds to read at bedtime. ;) Oh, and we also played this game, although it didn't truly have a lot to do with archaeology. Nate had a great time, though! They don't even know that the best is yet to come... tomorrow, Dad is supposed to bring home a bag of sand for their sandbox and we are going to bury stuff in it and have a Dig of our own!
All About Spelling was also enjoyable. They breezed through the first two steps, and are now waiting on me to finish the letter tiles so we can move onward. (I am making my own instead of buying them. I know that shocks you!) We did falter a bit on the first step, because she puts every possible sound every letter will ever make on the backs of the flashcards and that confused my kids who have been taught "O" says "ah" and "o", but were unaware that it also says "oo" and "uh". I must admit that I was unaware of that. But I quickly decided that we were not going to linger there until they learned it and we moved on. I might just regret that decision later.
The little kids' math focused mainly on counting and an introduction to addition. Both of them need a little help counting past 14. Abbie is working on number identification for below ten, while Daniel has moved on to the teens. And they both played with our new Pond Math Mat.
They also did a lot of fun alphabet work, and a TON of creative coloring, cutting, and gluing. Daniel spent a good deal of time putting rubberbands around the geoboards to create totally useless but utterly intriguing simple machines.