Trey's Lesson Plans October 26 - 30

We were supposed to attend a play about the Jackie Robinson Story this morning, but I wasn't feeling well, so we ditched. I felt horrible all day about it, but thankfully Trey and Lindsay had forgotten about it and never mentioned it. I just hate to disappoint them on field trip days. :(

We also have a field trip planned at the Fire Station on Wednesday. We're really looking forward to that. It was a last minute decision to go, so I don't have any fun fire activities officially planned. But seeing as how October is Fire Safety Month, I'm sure I will be able to come up with some fun activities for our specials.

Our Learning Objectives for this week:

Math: Estimating Sums and Differences using 2 different techniques - Rounding, and Front End Estimation. Practice Multiplication Facts.

Science: The Digestive and Nervous Systems, and How Our Bodies Defend Themselves. Discuss the functions of each system, main parts of each system, why they are important and how they work together with all the other systems studied thus far. Discuss how microorganisms inside our bodies called pathogens cause disease and how our immune system defends us. Discuss various ways we can help our immune system by staying healthy and making good life and food choices. EXPERIMENT: How some diseases can spread. Using flour, dark paper and a hand lens. Dip hand in flour. Shake hands with someone else. Both people press hands to dark paper to show how pathogens (like flour particles) can transfer to others.

Spelling: Focus on spelling words in which the base word drops its final e to add ed, er, or ing.

Grammar: Adjectives and Adverbs

Social Studies: Focus - Northeast Region. Land and water in the NE; Niagra Falls - a place of beauty and power; St. Albans, VT - the NE produces many products, such as maple syrup; Chesapeake Bay - crabs and shellfish help support the economy of the NE region.

Reading Skill Lesson: Drawing Conclusions (Winter of the Snowshoe Hare by Gillian Richardson)

Reading Selection Focus: Marven of the Great North Woods by Kathryn Lasky

Specials: Health/PE (Sense of Smell, Touch), Creative Writing (write your own ghost story), Handwriting (cursive practice), Art (Free Art - Halloween Theme), Cooking (Catty Cupcakes - Halloween)

Lesson Plans Trey- October 12 - October 23

Wow! Have we ever been busy for the past 2 weeks!! Field trips, bowling days, holidays, you name it - it's probably found it's way on our calendar! And we're also still in the last stages of selling our house, so we've had inspectors, realtors, insurance guys, appraisers, and I'm pretty sure someone's grandma, show up unexpectedly for various house-selling-required visits.

October 12 - 16

Monday was Colombus Day, so since the public schools were out for the day, we also took the day off. We did discuss some of the facts that we learned during the prior week's Columbus Unit Study, but for the most part, it was a FREE DAY and we love those!!

Tuesday was our field trip to the Police Department. Unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs, so we didn't get to do some of the things they had planned for us due to the department having to pull all boots to the streets to help fish people out of ditches.

Bowling Day was Thursday.

Our Learning Objectives for this week:

Math: Review Comparing Numbers, Order Numbers, Problem Solving, Rounding Numbers. Review Multiplication Facts, and Column Addition/Subtraction.

Science: Begin Study of Human Body Systems. Discuss the Skeletal and Muscular Systems, their functions, and how they work together. Identify the difference between organs, cells, organ systems, and tissues and how they work together. Identify18 different bones in the human body. Discuss the different types of joints and their functions. Review the difference between voluntary and involuntary muscles. Discuss different types of muscles and their functions: Skeletal Muscles, Smooth Muscles, and Cardiac Muscles.

Social Studies: GOOD CITIZENSHIP UNIT: Police and Our Community.

Reading: Discuss Different Poetry Selections

Grammar: Action and Linking Verbs

Spelling: Focus on words with silent letters.

Specials: Handwriting (cursive practice), Art (word line drawing), Map Skills (directions - N,S,E,W + NE, NW, SE, SW), Health/PE (Bowling, Fingerprinting Activity / Stranger Danger - Police Unit Tie-In).

October 19 - 23

We had a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch planned with our homeschool group, however we got rained out, so we were sad we didn't get to go. We are rescheduled for November 11, but that's the day before we close on our house. So we don't know how that will go yet.

Our Learning Objectives for this week:

Math: Mental Math Strategies (addition/subtraction), Review Multiplication Facts

Science: Continue Unit on Human Body Systems. Focus: Respiratory and Circulatory Systems. Discuss functions and how these systems work together to deliver oxygen and nutrients to cells throughout our bodies. Talk about the heart. Identify the 4 chambers of the heart and their functions. Identify the 3 main parts of the circulatory system, and explain why it is so important to move blood through the body.

Spelling: Review Lessons 7 - 11. Cumulative Test on 100 Review Words

Grammar: Main Verbs and Helping Verbs / Irregular Verbs - Present, Past, and Past Participles

Social Studies: Regions of the United States, Regional Resources, Climate

Reading Skill Lesson: Making Judgements

Reading Selection Focus: John Henryby Julius Lester

Specials: Creative Writing (If you could have any X-Men power, what would it be and why), Handwriting (cursive practice), Art (Paper Torn Pumpkins), Cooking (Making Play Dough), Map Skills (continue directional studies).

Here We Go Again!

Well, it's that time of year again! Addison and I went for Meet the Teacher Night on August 19, and she started the 3rd grade on August 24th. She is still attending the Math and Engineering school. She loves her new teacher (although she really misses her teacher from last year). She loves being in school - I think she has a certain (hereditary??) obsession with school supplies. Since this school works a year ahead of other public schools, we had a long talk about how much faster the 3rd grade moves than the 2nd grade. I'm not worried...she's firecracker smart. She's constantly blowing the curve, and she loves learning new things, but I felt a responsibility to at least make the speech, you know?

Addie before Meet the Teacher Night

Also new to her this year is the bus. Mind you, we live maybe a mile from the school...if that. And if they had sidewalks, she could, theoretically, walk - if I wasn't such a paranoid parent who refuses to let her children out of her sight by themselves. I rather enjoy our short trips to and from school because we always act silly and I inevitably embarrass all the kids with my somewhat rusty 80's dance moves, so I was a little reluctant to give up our little trips! But Addison really wanted to ride the bus like a "big girl," so I chose to let her ride.

This picture perfectly captures her personality!

This has actually turned into a blessing for both of us. Addison loves being able to gain a little "big girl" independence and walk in the front door and say, "I'm Ho-ome!" And I love being able to let the other kids sleep while Addie and I spend quiet time together eating our breakfast and doing her hair. Our mornings are not as rushed, and I'm not as stressed. So what first began as a guilty feeling of lost time with Addie, turned out to be a blessing of more one-on-one time together. I still secretly wish I could homeschool her, but I am content that God has a plan for us all and for now His Plan has her in public school.

First Day of School!!!

Trey will pick back up on his lessons on Sept. 14. For those who don't know, he began the 4th grade back in April. We took a couple of months off over the summer so we could focus on remodeling our house. We're almost done with the house, and we can't wait to get back into the swing of homeschooling again.

Our first Homeschool Association meeting was held on September 3rd. It looks like there will be a LOT more field trips, learning opportunities, elective classes, choir opportunities, etc., and LOTS of new members! So we can't wait! Trey will be a member of 4H this year, as well as Choir. We're looking into Orchestra, as well; although we're not sure if we can afford it yet. We will also be attending Park Day and Bowling Day-each once a month. Who says homeschooled kids aren't socialized?? I swear, Trey and Lindsay's social calendars are more full than Addie's. Crazy, right?


The only thing I really worry about with Trey is his dress. He would stay in his pajamas all day if I'd let him! And some days he has! I'm thinking of enforcing a dress code this year! How funny would that be?

Here's wishing everyone a wonderful school year!!!

The Big 4th Grader!!!

Well, it's official! Trey has begun the 4th grade!! I'm so proud of him! He really buckled down and finished the 3rd grade curriculum, and is ready to begin the 4th grade. Of course, I was really hoping and praying that he would do so, and he didn't let me down!!

You see, I thought I was being really proactive and organized, and ordered our 4th grade curriculum early so we could beat the rush. When I got to the Homeschool Curriculum Shop website, I was pleased to find that they now offer a lease option. Gary and I decided that this would be a good option for us because we don't have the room to store all those textbooks anyway. The website stated that "upon returning the required materials," we would receive a credit towards next years purchase/lease. I thought WOW...you can't beat that, right?? Well, I was wrong.

5 weeks after ordering, we received our curriculum (just about the time I was beginning to panic). We opened it up to find that the Math books we ordered were on backorder with no idea as to when they would arrive. On the invoice, they had also noted where I had ordered Saxon Math instead of Harcourt Math- which I didn't...Trey does not do well with the Saxon learning style. Thankfully, I saved every page of my online order as I completed it and was able to convince the customer service representative that THEY were the ones that had made the mistake. (They tried to tell me that there was no such option on the order form!!) Anyway...they also included on the invoice that the lease is only for 13 months. Which, even in my own opinion is a fair amount of time, but their website led me to believe that we could keep it until we were finished with the grade and return it in order to receive the credit. After all, the lease option WAS the same amount as the purchase price...you're just given a list of items you have to return, like the hardback textbooks and (photocopied) teacher's guides in order to receive the credit. So they wouldn't be out any money if we decided to keep them forever! Actually, they would make money, because all of the teacher's guides and answer keys were photocopied. If we had purchased them, we would have received the full color paperback or hardback editions.

Back to the original problem...the lease is only good for 13 months. I did the math, and found that there was no way that Trey would be able to finish the 3rd grade and the 4th grade in that amount of time. ALSO...we still don't have our Math books! So how is he supposed to start the 4th grade without the Math books?? I was basically informed that we could choose to extend our lease for $20 per month, and the 13 months on the math will begin upon receipt of the items (whenever that is). So we're supposed to go ahead and begin the 4th grade without math, OR we can choose to spend $20 per month to extend the lease however many months it takes them to 1) correct my Math order, and 2) ship them from the backorder log.

I chose to go ahead and begin the 4th grade without the Math. I went ahead and tested Trey out of the 3rd grade minus Math. He will continue to work on his 3rd grade Math until the 4th grade materials arrive, and begin 4th grade work on all other subjects. He will not get the summer break that he was looking forward to, but we will only have school 4 days a week...for the exception of online math games and occasional unit tests.

So I am not exactly thrilled with my experience with Homeschool Curriculum Shop, and they are aware of my feelings. I should have done more research, or called and spoken with a rep before I placed my order...but you live and learn right? I DO however LOVE the quality of the books - everything is brand new (which coincidentally would not have happened had I not ordered early). I also like the option of choosing the secular package: only because it coincides with the public school scope and sequence. There is a possiblity that Trey may end up going back to public school in the future and I wasn't impressed with the Christian core curriculum I ordered last year. As stated in a previous post, all of the material in that curriculum was a review from the 1st grade of public school, and it didn't work for his style of learning. For $579 (including tax/shipping), we received all core subject textbooks, workbooks, answer keys, as well as a guide for Physical Education and Health. I will just teach Bible lessons separately. I will have to return everything except the consumable workbooks we received. The P.E. book will also have to go back. We will receive $110 towards next years lease, or we will have the option to "cash out" and receive half of that. Which looking at the photocopied answer keys, and everything we have to return, I don't think is a fair amount. That means we're paying over $500 for workbooks. I'm not sure how we will handle this yet...luckily, we've got 13 months to figure it out. LOL! In my opinion, the Purchase Option is a good deal...the Lease Option is not. Shoulda known, right??

Moral of the Rant: Don't trust website descriptions! RESEARCH AND ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS!!!

I knew that homeschooling was going to be a learning experience for me...since I've never done this before. I had no idea, however, that so many lessons would be learned so quickly. :) I continue to be extremely thankful for the opportunity that I've been given to homeschool my son. We have grown so much closer, and I can see the light returning to his eyes as we reverse the damage done by the one particular public school teacher who found pleasure in humiliating him at every opportunity. He truly believes that he is JUST as smart as other kids, and now understands that his learning style is different, but his learning capability is JUST THE SAME!!

I am also very thankful for the many resources available nowdays for homeschool parents! I can't imagine doing this without the homeschool support groups, internet, or the awesome curriculum that is now available. I am also very, very thankful to my husband for working as hard as he does so that I could quit my good-paying job and stay home. Without him, I don't know what we'd do!! I thank God every day for allowing us this amazing time together!! It is such a wonderful blessing!!!

Sounds and Hearing Lesson Plans (Trey)

I realized not long ago, that I've not been posting on Trey's progress. This is in part because I just can't find but a few extra minutes in my day to blog, and that's usually spent posting about Lindsay's Tot School progress. I know that I said I wasn't going to post Trey's lesson plans because he is doing a pre-packaged curriculum, but I've recently decided that I really would like to keep an online record of everything we're doing just in case we ever need it. So I will do my best to post our weekly lesson plans / activities.

I will begin using a system called "Workboxes," as soon as I gather all of our necessary supplies. (I have everything except velcro...of all things!) I don't want to mention too much about them yet, because I'm not sure if I'll hate them or not. It seems to be working beautifully for everyone else that is using them, so I'm really hoping they'll help Trey stay on task and more focused on his work. He seems to have a bit of Spring Fever and it's sooo hard trying to get him to sit down and do his work! So I can't wait to get started on this new system. Stay tuned for further review!! :)

Science: Sound / Hearing

Discuss How Sounds Are Made, What You Hear, What is Sound, and The Study of Sound. Discuss sound and the important historic figures that helped contribute to the study of sound; discuss frequency, pitch, and noise.

Activities: Make a drum and guitar to illustrate that sound is caused by vibrations. Go on a Listening Walk and chart the sounds that we heard and whether they were caused by people, animals or things. Play Marco Polo and fill water glasses with different levels of water to show that sounds are different and how they can change. Listen to sounds made through a hollow tube (paper towel roll), and one stuffed with paper towels to demonstrate quality of sound changes according to different factors. Stretch out a slinky between 2 partners - gather large section of coils and let go to demonstrate how sound waves move.

Discuss How Sounds Are Different, How Sounds Travel, How Sound is Used By Scientists, and How God Helps Us With Sound. Sound can be used to help find oil and minerals. Discuss Sonar, and Ultrasounds. Discuss God's love for us and that he gave us 2 ears so that we may hear all the wonderful sounds around us.

Activities: Go out to the boat and discuss how sonar can be used to find fish. I also showed him a copy of my ultrasound pictures from when he was a baby.

Discuss How Sounds Are Heard, How Do You Hear?, How is Hearing Helped?, and How Do You Make Sounds? Discuss the three parts of the ear: the inner, middle and outer ear. Talk about hearing aids and how they help some people. Talk about how we make sounds using our larynx and vocal chords.

Activities: Make a model ear using a large bowl, plastic wrap, uncooked rice, and a tin pie pan. Stretch a piece of plastic wrap over the bowl. Make sure it's stretched tightly. Place about 20 - 30 grains of rice on top of the plastic wrap. Hold the pie plate (or other noisemaker) close to the plastic wrap. Hit the pie plate hard to create a loud noise. Note that the loud noise that we made produced sound waves. The sound waves caused the plastic wrap to vibrate. When the plastic wrap vibrated, the rice grains jumped. Sound waves cause your eardrum to vibrate in much the same way.

Reading: Helen Keller - Toward the Light

Math: Continue working on fractions, equivalent fractions; Roman Numerals: I, V, X, L, C, D, M and combinations of each; adding money; graphing; angles; temperature; 4 digit addition and subtraction.

Language Arts: Homographs - tear, read, live.

Spelling: ie / ei

believe seize piece die
ceiling receive eight sleigh
thief fries eighty weigh
neither pie eighteen field
either lie tie chief

Chart each word by the long vowel sound that it makes (A, E, I). Discuss that the long /a/ sound is made when the gh is added behind an ei.

Poetry: Haiku - Japanese poems that don't always rhyme. They have 3 lines with 5 beats in the first line, 7 beats in the second, and 5 in the third (17 beats total). At least one word in the poem must refer to a season of the year.

Trey's Haiku sample: (I gave him an extra-large bank of words from which he should pick)

Sprinkle, splashing, splat!
Boots are dripping, and drops drumming.
Springtime begins. Splash!

I thought this was AMAZING!!!

We're starting a collection of our favorite poems - and he will start including these on his personal blog.

Mini-Lesson on Japanese culture / customs (I even taught him what few Japanese words I remembered from my foreign language requirement in HS!!)

Science/Reading tie-in: Discuss how Helen Keller was an amazing poet. Read Autumn by Helen Keller and talk about the wonderful descriptive language used in this poem. ALSO: discuss how Helen Keller actually dedicated that poem to her good friend, Thomas Edison (one of the historic figures mentioned above)!

History: continue work on Texas/Texarkana Lapbook