SL Core D- Week 14 July 4-July 8 th 2011

We have had a big activity week; which is so unlike our normal schedule.  In the winter, we can go a week without any 'event'.  This season of 'go' is about pushing me to my limit!  Here is our weekly activities:

Saturday (7-2) We found some things on sale at Lowe's so we  planted more blueberry, strawberry, blackberry bushes, fig tree, and we still have a grape vine to plant.

Sunday (7-3) Church and then off to Randy's house for his annual fireworks party.  This year there were lots of children and dd really got to play a lot.  The fireworks were loud; but fun.

Monday (7-4) Dh off work so he taught dd how to change oil.  Dd pretty much did everything and changed the car's oil with minimal help.  She was ready to play (on her 'razor' scooter) while I did pretty much the whole van's oil change.  Dh was there to guide me through the process.   I hadn't changed either of these automobile before and was rusty. No formal lessons today-holiday.
Then we (all 3) went to the new YMCA and swam and swam!

Tuesday (7-5)Dd and I went to the YMCA and swam laps.  They have flippers for anyone who wants to swim with them; so she was having a great time.  With the flippers on, she could swim all the way to the bottom of the pool - 7 feet down!   We went to the library after swimming; b/c I forgot we had a class there in the afternoon.  So we ended up going to the library twice! We headed to our library for a class called : Travel Club: Russia.  It was okay; not as exciting as the one on India.  We fit in our lessons.  Dd checked out the "playaway" (book-on-tape) Little Women and is really, really enjoying this story. 

Wednesday (7-6) The pool at the YMCA was closed for technical difficulties.  So, we did our lessons and waited until it was after 5 pm (didn't want to burn) and rode our bikes to the neighborhood pool.  It was jam-packed.  We had to dodge people like crazy.  It made me glad for the Y, where we usually have a little space.  We managed a good amount of reading and lessons in our day.  We watched the Narnia movie: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  We love Narnia!  We've read or listened on audio to the whole story at least once or twice already.

Thursday (7-7) This was our whopper of a day.  In the morning we went to our friend's house for her Girl's Bible Study.  They also made a craft - decorating flip-flops.  Then we went home and had lunch.  Then we went to the library for a class called: "Trash to Treasure".  They made flower cups out of recycled plastic bottles.  Then Dd played on the library computers while I met with my friend to enter a class for the HBHE (Heritage Builders Home Educators).  I am planning a field trip for children Dd's age with the homeschool group-to go to the Children's Museum's "Science Port" and do an experiment with the staff.  Then we came home and got our math lessons done and then met Dh at the YMCA.  They wouldn't let children in the lap lanes, and the other pool was full with lessons; so Dh and Dd went and played in the play room while I did my laps.  I shared my lap lane with 3 other women...it was busy! 

Friday (7-8) Lessons and a movie at the library--Tangled (which we have not seen).

Books for this week- We finished Johnny Tremain; such a great book.

Mon-Tues-Wed we read: 

What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? by Jean Fritz and Margot Tomes

now we are reading: 

Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia (Landmark Books) by Margaret Cousins

plus dd is listening to: 
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 

dd's personal book choices this week:
Two Bad Ants-Chris Van Allsburg
Perfect Man-Troy Wilson
Wonder Woman-Creature of Chaos
Have You Filled A Bucket Today-Carol McCloud
Cinderella-James Marshall
American Girl: The Babysitter's Handbook
American Girl: The Care and Keeping of You
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Visual Guide by Jason Fry (Hardcover)Better Homes and Gardens:Kid Favorites Made Healthy (cookbook-she loves cookbooks)
dd is also reading some American Girl magazines from the library
Trial of the Amazons (Dc Super Heros: Wonder Woman) - Paperback (Jan. 15, 2010) by Michael Dahl  (she loves graphic books).

SL Core D Week 13 "LOW" June 27-July 1, 2011

Monday we had a *special* at the library: MAD Science Spectacular with Sizzling Sam.  He put on quite a show; there was lots of fire and booms and flash (which caused lots of babies to cry, by the way).  He did make science look very exciting; and he filled up the children's area in the library.  That is the only show (at a library) that I had to actually 'stand' through.


Tuesday we had a Messy Science class at the library.  This class was a lot of fun.  Ms Laura did some cool experiments and the kiddo's got to help out.  She had a plate full of Vit D (fatty) milk and put in some drops of food coloring and then put a q-tip in that had "dawn" dish detergent into the mix to see the colors run from the soap.  Then she did the same experiment with Fat Free/Skim milk to see if the reaction would be the same or different--it was the same.
  She also did the exploding egg in a glass jar with a small flame inside the bottle.  When we did ours at home, we had an explosive reaction, but her egg only slide into the neck of the bottle and didn't pop and explode like our egg at home did.  I was glad dd didn't say anything to make Ms Laura feel bad.

Thursday dd has continued on with her Girl's Bible Study at a friends house.  Each week they make a cool craft and also play a game.  This week they glued fabric on a clear glass bottle (think antique milk bottle) and finished the piece off with a nice daisy.

This has been the week of PIANO.  Dd has really enjoyed playing her keyboard-every day!  She has really gotten serious.  I had mentioned that when she really got serious with her keyboarding and reading music that we would think about a violin and violin lessons.  I hope I can follow through with all that and that she can play for more than one week before needing a break.

This week we did two weeks of All About Spelling(AAS), some Teaching Textbooks 4 (TT4), some Math U See -Gamma (MUS), "Sword Fighting" for Bible,  Math U See Songs disc, focusing on learning the 4's skip counting song.  We started back up with First Language Lessons 3 (FLL)and Writing With Ease 2 (WWE).  We also fit in some Reason For Handwriting (RFH); and dd mailed a letter to G&G.

Our weekly books/audio/video:Johnny Tremain : (Mon, Tues, Wed, Thur, and finished on Friday)
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes and George Guidall


ADD-In's

Liberty's Kids: Complete Series Starring Jill Anderson (VI), Vincent Lee Alston, Carl Beck, et al. (Oct 14, 2008)  *6 disc's so we have been watching these for the past few weeks*
 

***Welcome to Kaya's World 1764: Growing Up in a Native American Homeland (The American Girls Collection) by Dottie Raymer and Jodi Evert

***Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales & Legends - Davy Crockett [VHS] Starring Mac Davis, Adam Carl, Mimi Kennedy and Michael McKean

***Dear America: The Winter of Red Snow. The Revolutionary War Story of Abigail Jane Stewart (VHS) by Kristiana Gregory (this has been dd's daily reader this week)

Stepping stones (A Beka Book reading program) by Laurel Hicks

Warriors: Ravenpaw's Path #3: The Heart of a Warrior by Erin Hunter, Dan Jolley and James L. Barry

***Time For Kids: Benjamin Franklin: A Man of Many Talents by Editors Of Time For Kids

***Three Young Pilgrims by Cheryl Harness

***You Wouldn't Want to Be an American Colonist!: A Settlement You'd Rather Not Start by Jacqueline Morley, David Salariya and David Antram

 

SL Core D -Week 13 "A" June 20-24, 2011

SL Week 13--We've spent 26 weeks on Core 3/D so far.
  Monday June 20, 2011

This is a "LOW" left-over week; and just in time too!

 We were so busy last week with all our activities (and me not feeling well) that we didn't finish up our weeks worth of IG.  We will fit in last week's work that was left undone with this weeks work.  It is very hard trying to keep up our schedule with all the extra's going on.  From gardening, planting, library classes, church activities and our many fun books that we add-in.

 Monday after our lessons, we went to the library for our Travel Club: Germany.  The class was very good; but so far India was my favorite.  We had music, food, pictures, crafts, and a book.

We rec'd our Math U See: Gamma set today from UPS.  Dd is doing TT (Teaching Textbooks 4) already; but I felt we weren't getting enough practice with our basic multiplication drill.  We have used MUS for a few years now; and I have found I appreciate the repetition built into this system.  I am glad we are trying TT; and it is especially enjoyed by Dd.  Dd would be perfectly happy to stick with TT only; but I am not convinced at it's solidness yet.  I think it is going to fast for dd and there is no way to slow it down or repeat items that are more complicated and need further review.  So, I have added MUS back into our school.

 We are still reading Johnny Tremain.  We are getting close to finishing Artemis Fowl; and really enjoying this book tremendously.  We have already had one book club meeting about his book; and will have another in a few weeks.

History ADD-IN's:Dd is finishing up reading (it has taken longer than usual) :
Love Thy Neighbor: the Tory Diary of Prudence Emerson by Ann Warren Turner


The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, 1620 (Dear America: A Journey to the New World) by Kathryn Lasky


Monday we watched:

Scholastic Presents Dear America A Journey to the New World The Story of Remember Patience Whipple (VHS Tape - 1999)

Last week we started this series, and it is AMAZING: America: The Story of Us Starring Liev Schreiber (Sep 14, 2010)

We are scheduled to watch this next week, from the History Channel:  

Founding Fathers Starring Keith Arbour, Carol Berkin, Beau Bridges, et al. (2001)


Fun Add-In's:
Warriors: Warrior's Refuge by Erin Hunter, Dan Jolley and James Barry   (for fun)

The Adventure of Abbey Grange (The Graphic Novel Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) - Library Binding (Jan. 2010) by Vincent Goodwin, Arthur Conan Doyle and Ben Dunn

Sherlock Holmes-The Adventure of the Dancing Men;
Sherlock Holmes-The Adventure of the Red-Headed League;
Sherlock Holmes-of the Norwood Builder;
Officer Buckle and Gloria-Peggy Rathmann
The Care and Keeping of You-American Girl-The Body Book for Girls
Artemis Fowl: Book One (for Library Book Club)
Audio:Lamplighter: "The Unexpected Return"

Save the White Whale! (Geronimo Stilton, No. 45) by Geronimo Stilton

I am reading (and enjoying):    
The Relationship Principles of Jesus by Tom Holladay

*a special thank you to my friend for mailing this to me!*

June 16-19, 2011

Jamestown Homecoming Parade and Father's Day at Ted's Montana Grill

June 16th

 We had a lovely time at our friend Mattie's house for a girl's bible study.  Dd also made her father and grandfather "Father's Day" cards that look like a buttoned-up shirt and tie.  We finished up listening to this disc set in the van:

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Audio CD - Dec 13, 2011) - Audiobook

Dd read:
The Adventure of the Dancing Men (The Graphic Novel Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) by Vincent Goodwin, Arthur Conan Doyle and Ben Dunn

The Adventure of the Red-Headed League (The Graphic Novel Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) by Vincent Goodwin, Arthur Conan Doyle and Ben Dunn

*Dd LOVES the Graphic novels/Graphic books! 

The Adventure of Abbey Grange (The Graphic Novel Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)

The Adventure of the Speckled Band (The Graphic Novel Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) by Vincent Goodwin


 June 17th Giz and Grampy arrive to visit.  Giz took Dd to the neighborhood pool.  Grampy helps Dh to put up our storm door that we bought back in December!

 June 18th Dd was IN her first parade; atop the float for the Jamestown Christian Church; throwing out candy for the children.  Dd had a fantastic time!!  She was so excited.  After the parade; we drove back to home and picked up a pizza for dinner.  Giz and Grampy had to head back home (with Kate, their black lab dog).

 June 19th Father's Day!  We had a lovely time at church.  We took DH out for lunch at Ted's Montana Grill.  It was a nice day.

June 14, 2011 Stereo Microscope arrives

Dual Power Stereo Microscope, 20/40X

		Item# MI-447TB10

This National Optical stereo microscope provides you with either 20x or 40x magnification by simply rotating the 2x/4x objective turret. Use it to look at tiny water protozoa, mineral crystals, insects, and more. Everything takes on a new, fascinating aspect when viewed up-close with a stereo microscope. This dual power stereo microscope is designed specifically for educational use. It has all of the features and versatility of larger stereo model in a more compact, student-friendly size. The key features of this scope include a stereo binocular head for 3D unreversed specimen viewing, 360° rotating head for convenient viewing, post-mount frame for maximum specimen flexibility, and top and bottom tungsten lighting to give you the best view. It stands 12" tall. National Optical model 447TBL-10 with a lifetime warranty.

www.hometrainingtools.com/dual-power-stereo-microscope-20-40x/p/MI-447TB10/


Dd was very excited for this to finally arrive.  I tried to post a picture of it; but haven't managed...yet.  I will add a few pictures of her using her new microscope soon.

SL Week 13 June 15, 2011 Books and Audio Compilation

Reading for SL: Story of the USA, Landmark,American Indian Prayer Guide, Bible Acts & Joshua.


Books We've Added-In:
You Wouldn't Want to Be a Salem Witch!: Bizarre Accusations You'd Rather Not Face by Jim Pipe, David Salariya and David Antram

You Wouldn't Want to Explore with Sir Francis Drake!: A Pirate You'd Rather Not Know by David Stewart and David Antram

Dd's Reader: 
Love Thy Neighbor: the Tory Diary of Prudence Emerson by Ann Warren Turner 
Audio: Jim Weiss's "Masters of the Renaissance:Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and more--listened twice through this disc.

Book's dd's Read: Amelia's Best Year Ever by Marissa Moss, Amelia's Notebook by Marissa Moss,

Book's we are currently reading: Johnny Tremain  by Esther Forbes, Artemis Fowl by Eion Colfer

Fun books: Amelia's Notebook Series by American Girl-Marissa Moss

Activities:Mattie's Bible Study

June 13, 2011

We had a very busy week; here's a quick summary:
 Monday- Migraine with lessons in bed.  We did SL Science week 2 and lots of audio stories listed on following posts.  Tuesday we went to the BPL and attended Travel Club: Destination: India!  Wednesday we did normal lessons and SL Science Week 7.  Thursday we worked on the church float from 12-3:45 pm.  Friday we went to Arbuckle Park and the Library.  Saturday we went yard saling as a family to look for treasure!  Then dh dropped me off at a new church friends house and he went to a Men's Retreat-Cook out called "Gag Reflex".  Dd and I walked about 3 miles and enjoyed a creek as our final destination.  We stopped along the way at a neighbors house and saw her chickens and ducks.  We also stopped at a old cemetery.  Sunday we went to Jamestown Christian Church and then to a Chinese restaurant.  I have been getting a little sick; so I stayed home as dd and dh went to the Plainfield Water Park and had a fantastic time at the outdoor water park.


Last week we also read: 


You Wouldn't Want to Be a Salem Witch!: Bizarre Accusations You'd Rather Not Face - Paperback (Mar. 2009) by Jim Pipe, David Salariya and

Christian Character Study Ideas for my friend on June 8, 2011

I had started to answer your question about bible / character training a few days ago; but then thought I would wait and see what answers others gave; but here I am....I will offer what we have successfully used and you can see if anything looks like a potential or not. Just thought I would offer up what I had-

Idea One: Egermeier's Bible Story Book - Paperback (July 2008) by Elsie E. Egermeier **Asking the questions that are located at the end of the book for each chapter you read- we made the questions into a contest; of who could answer the questions first and that would be more fun with more kids to compete.

Idea Two: The One Year Make-It-Stick Devotions (One Year Books) - Paperback (Aug. 27, 2007) by Emmett Cooper (my dd really liked this; but I thought it wasn't as 'meaty' as I, personally wanted; but you might find it a good choice.)

Idea Three: The Greatest Stories of the Bible by Thomas Nelson (we did this one too; it was good-simple.)

Idea Four: Sword Fighting by Karyn Henley (I really like this one. Each week you get a new "sword" to fight temptation. The sword is a bible verse that helps you stay strong about that weeks issue. This week we are on 'dependability' and we memorize the 'sword' - and each day we read another bible verse that pertains to dependability from the bible. We read that part from our family bible and discuss the questions. It spends a week on each character trait.

Idea Five: (my computer just ate a huge comment I made about idea five...here I go...again:

www.lamplighterpublishing.com

If I had a group of girls to work with for character training, I would go to my library and ask to ILL:

The Basket of Flowers : Lamplighter Theatre (Dramatic Audio) - Audio CD - Audiobook (2009) by Christoph Von Schmid and John Rhys-Davies

The Basket of Flowers is an amazing story. It has character values coming out it's ears! You could either listen to the audio (which is AMAZING) or read it yourself. You could have the girls each write what lessons they learned from this story. The possibilities are many with this source.

You could go to the website and look at the specific books listed as 'character training' and choose the books or audio's that you think would best fit the girls; and then ILL them for free. The only thing I would be specific about is that my library keeps getting me the book, or another audio company; and NOT "Lamplighter"; which is the specific copy I want to listen to...but, I get it eventually most of the time.


Those are the bible/character/value books we have used the most. We did Egermeier's over and over again. I was surprised that some people never found the quiz questions at the back; which we really liked. Or you could make it very simple and copy the daily bible reading from core 1, or 2, or 3 and just fit in a little bible each day. There is something about just reading simply from the bible without adding anything. Or you could use more than one source..piecemeal it together with different things.

I hope maybe one of these ideas will be something new for you to consider. I am also very curious to hear what other ideas the other SL'ers give to you. I love hearing what bible/character curriculum's other people use. I have tried a few others that I didn't like that I didn't mention.

SL Core D-Week 12 "A" LOW June 8, 2011

Week 12 of SL's IG for Core 3/D:

ADD-In's for Week 12 :
. . . If You Grew Up with George Washington by Ruth Belov Gross and Emily Arnold McCull

Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars: 1689-1763 (The American Story) by Betsy Maestro and Giulio Maestro


Audio:
We are still listening to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the van. This week we rec'd two Jim Weiss cd's from ILL and our library and listened to:

Gone West: Bold Adventures of American Explorers & Pioneers - As Told By Jim Weiss


Galileo and the Stargazers: Including Archimedes and the Golden Crown (Galileo and the Stargazers) - Audio CD (Nov. 1, 1999) by Jim Weiss

fun add-in:
and started our Library Book Club book:
Artemis Fowl (new cover) by Eoin Colfer

 
I had a migraine on Monday, so we did a lot of listening to audio. We also did our lessons in my bed! Dd liked that.

Yesterday our library had a good program which we attended: Travel Club: Destination India. It was really well done-books, music, drinks, food, art projects, jars of their popular spices and foods to smell....slide presentation....really well done. Have I mentioned what a good library we have?!

I ordered our b-day gift today-the stereo microscope from home science tools. Dd and I both put our b-day money together and I researched for weeks and finally ordered it today!

Activities:Library, Jamestown Christian Church, Travel Club-India- America's House to work on float with youth group, Arbuckle Park, and worked in garden 3x.

Artistic Pursuits Grades 4-6 Book 1--Read Aloud
Other Books this week: Sword Fighting -devotional, SL Science, First Language Lessons review

SL Core D- Week 11, 11"A" & 12 May 16 to June 6, 2011

We are on a LOW-IG week 12 1/2 or Week 24 of Core 3. It is hard to believe we could be on week 24 and 2/3 of the way done if I hadn't added in our stuff. I am glad I am taking it slow this time. I usually feel a gravitational pull to finish each core as quickly as we can; and I don't have that this time...what a blessing.

So, this is a left-overs week and we should be focusing on SL science and LA-AAS/FLL/WWE. I have flopped back and forth about what book to add-in next. I thought about Calico Captive or Daniel Boone by Cheryl Harness or Ben and Me by RObert Lawson. ...and the winner is: Ben and Me. I think I should wait another week or more for the Daniel Boone. It is the only library book; so I know I can't put it off for long.

We also need to start Artemis Fowl for our library book club. That will hopefully be a fun book to read.

We went fishing again last night and enjoyed that. We didn't catch anything and that was a little bit of a bummer; but it was nice to be at a pond with all the birds, turtles, and bugs...yes, I am serious. I am weird like that. There were lots of dragonflies buzzing around eating mosquitoes.

Week 11  May 16-20th 2011:
Bible: Luke & Numbers
Landmark, American Indian Prayer Guide, Sing the Word: Great in Council and Mighty in Deed--I always, always forget to write that in here; but we do it about daily,Teaching Textbooks, WWE, FLL, RFH(reason for handwriting), AAS (all about spelling)

Add-In's: The Light in the Forest

Fun Add-In's: Lamplighter: Hedge of Thorns & Basket of Flowers (LOVED THESE).
Dd Read-Diary of a WImpy Kid-Dog Days by Jeff Kinney
*we went on a field trip to a public school for 2 hours....interesting.

Week 11 "A" (LOW-left-over's week):
Added In:
Sword Fighting-devotional
The Book of Virtues by William S. Bennet
The Light in the Forest 

Audio: Felicity's Surprise-A Christmas Story
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

activities:
Library, Arbuckle Park, Children's Museum-made soap in the science lab, microscope fun in the science port, and went to the planetarium.

Week 12 of SL's IG  *23rd week on Core 3/D*: May 30-June 3rd 2011
Memorial Weekend-put up tent and camped in backyard.

Add-In's:
The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter
The Struggle for a Continent by Betsy Maestro *really great!*
Dd Read-A Molly Mystery: A Spy on the Home Front by Alison Hart

Fun add-in:
Have You Filled A Bucket Today by Carol McCloud