SL Weeks 9, 9"A", 10, 10 "A" Core 3/D (4-18 to 5-15 2011)

SL Week 9  

(4-18 to 4-22  2011)

Added In: 

The Mayflower Secret by Dave & Neta Jackson

The Trailblazing Life of Daniel Boone by Cheryl Harness

Our Strange New Land-Elizabeth's Diary-Jamestown 1609

Priscilla Alden and the First Thanksgiving by Alice Benjamin Boynton

Our Colonial Year by Cheryl Harness

activities: Library; Aqua Athlete's, Dentist (no cavities)

Week 9 "A" Left-Over's Week

Added-In: 

If You Were At the First Thanksgiving by Anne Kamma

Giving Thanks: The 1621 Harvest Feast by Kate Waters

The Mayflower Compact:American Documents: Nat'l Geo:Judith Lloyd Yero

Roanoke-The Lost Colony-An Unsolved Mystery From History by Jane Yolen

John Smith Escapes Again by Rosalyn Schanzer

Who's Saying What in Jamestown,Thomas Savage by Jean Fritz

Daily Life in the Pilgrim Colony 1636 by Paul Erickson

Samuel Eaton's Day-a day in the life of a pilgrim boy-Kate Waters

Sarah Morton's Day-a day of a pilgrim girl -Kate Waters

Top 10 Worst Nasty Pirates You Wouldn't Want to Meet -Fiona MacDonald

Pirates by David L. Harrison

Bones by Steve Jenkins

fun add-in's:

the Witches by Roald Dahl

Rainbow Magic-The Pet Fairies-Lauren the Puppy

Science add-in to SL Science:

kit:

The Young Scientist Series

experiments on Shrimp Brine & Eggs

SL Week 10  

Add-In's:

My America: The Starving Time:Elisabeth's Diary:book two; Jamestown 1609

William Penn-Founder of Pennsylvania by Steven Kroll

VHS:

Keeping The Promise (based on The Sign of the Beaver)

Audio:

Felicity-Tape 1 Meet Felicity

Hands and Hearts: Early American History Discovery Kit:

make & play the Bowl Game

Learn to trade with the authentic trade beads

Rubbings from the Tea Brick

Decorate the Bamboo Flute

Make an Apple Pomander

Week 10 "A" Left-Over's Week (5-9 to 5-14 2011)

Add-In's:

Meet Kirsten -American Girl-book 1 of series

audio& Movies:

Felicity-American Girl- Bk 1,&2 and MOVIE

Molly American Girl Movie

Activities:

Shades Park 

Children's Museum

Vhs:

Magic School Bus-Get's Planted & Busaurus

SL Week 7, 7 A, 8, 8A & Pix of Fishing at Boone's Pond 6-5-11

1.  SL Week 5  Feb. 21-25, 2011
2. Read Aloud-Secret of the Andes and the rest of the IG list of things.  Activities were plentiful-bike rides; party, Co-op Classes, and a Blood Drive, HBHE Gym class
3.  
4. SL Week 5 "A"  Feb. 28-March 4, 2011  
5. Activities: Field Trip to Mc Cloud Park for a Maple Syrup Demonstration  Aqua Athlete's   Library  Plainfield Parks & Rec to go swimming as a family  Dd's Reader (fun) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (and watched old movie) 
6. Audio: One Hundred Dresses (we've listened to this one over and over) - Sarah, Plain & Tall   -Caleb's Story
7. 
   
8.  
9. SL Week 6  March 7-11, 2011
   Read Aloud: Sign of the Beaver  
   Dd's Reader: Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims by Bulla
   Add-In's:
   Audio:The Secret Garden
   Dd's fun reader: Swiss Family Robinson
   
   Activities:
   Aqua Athlete's
   Library
   LHE Co-op classes
10. HBHE Gym Class
    
12. SL  Week 6 "A" Left-Over's Week (LOW)  March 14-18, 2011
    Science Focused Week (SL Science Weeks 19-21)
    Reading: Sign of the Beaver
    Audio: The Secret Garden & Matilda
    Story of the World-Chapter 15: A new world in Conflict
    Add-In's:
    Dd's Reading:
    The Thanksgiving Story
    
    **We finished MUS Beta this week!!!!***
    
13.   
14.  SL Week 7  March 21-25 2011:  
15. The Secret Garden.  Extra Books: 
16. Good Luck, Ivy (American Girl) , 
17. To Root, to Toot, to Parachute-What is a Verb by Brian P. Cleary;  
18. Little Hawk's New Name by Don Bolognese, and 
19. Sword Fighting as a nightly bible study/family devotional
20.  
21. Activities this week-Plainfield Parks & Rec; Aqua Athlete's, Mad Science Class at Brownsburg Library, Lighthouse Home Educators Co-op classes (Science, Money, and Gym classes), HBHE-Gym Class.

SL Week 7 "A" Left-Over's Week  March 28-April 1, 2011

We are reading a Cheryl Harness book on Miles Standish:

The Adventurous Life of Myles Standish and the Amazing-but-True Survival Story of Plymouth Colony (Cheryl Harness Histories) by Cheryl Harness

Dd is reading The Courage of Sarah Noble and The Matchlock Gun for history. 

For fun she is reading: Meet Rebecca (American Girl), Horse Happy (from the library), 2 Star Wars books, 3 Narnia books, Meet Julie (American Girl).

Audio: Matilda by Roald Dahl  

SL Week 8   April 3-8 2011

 We are reading The Sign of the Beaver.  Dd is reading Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims.

Add-In's: 

The Adventurous Life of Miles Standish by Cheryl Harness

My America: Season of Promise-Elisabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary -Book 3

The Care & Keeping of You by Valorie Lee Schaefer- American Girl Book

One Small Square Backyard by Donald Silver

Sword Fighting by Karyn Henley

Comic Book Bible by Rob Suggs

Activities:

Library

Aqua Athlete's

4H

LHE Co-op Classes

HBHE-Gym Class

SL Week 8 "A" Left-Over's Week  April 11-15, 2011
Add-In's:
Sword Fighting
Teaching Textbooks
Field Trip to Recycling Site- recycled a microwave
Aqua Athlete's
Swimming Class at Clark's Creek Elementary
Library
Planted new flowers--Gardening

May 25, 2011 at Children's Museum

In the Dinosphere at Indy Children's Museum

Add-In's to Core 3 / D

Week 1: I added Indian content: vhs: "500 Nations"-series of videos from our library. We watched #4 "Nations, on American Indians", and watched a video on Christopher Columbus. Books: "The Apaches, American Indians", "Life In A Longhouse Village", "Daily Life In a Plains Indian Village 1868", "Who was First? Discovering The Americas", "If You Lived With The Sioux Indians"

(I own lots and checked out lots of books about this genre; and let dd go through these and read that she wanted; the books I have listed are the ones I read to her. But, she did read a lot on her own that I didn't document or 'count'. We have a 'reading corner' that I put current book ideas for her to look at. I had more of the "If you live with the Hopi" and "If you lived with the Iroqouis" in the stack too. But, I don't count the stack-does that make sense?)

Week 2: I added Columbus, Incan, Mayan, and Indian content. "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich, An American Story: First City, People of the Longhouse, The Lost Colony", "Children of the Wild Water", "Before Columbus, Early Voyages to America" Video: Ancient Mysteries/Mysterious Spirit of the Mayans" Ancient Civilizations: For Children: "Ancient Maya" and "Ancient Inca" and Drive Thru History: Columbus, the Pilgrims, and Early Boston.

Week 3: content Indian related: "Meet Kaya": American Girl series. We've read this series before. I read Book 1 to her again and let her read more on her own. "Little Hawk's New Name". Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets, Massachusetts - Rhode Island, 1653 (The Royal Diaries) by Patricia Clark Smith (this is the only book so far that we started; but didn't finish)

Weeks 4-7: our add-in's were not related to history. We added "The Secret Garden" and "Matilda"; two of our favorites. Also not listed is :"The Story of the World 3" we listen to the disc's, color the activity pages, etc. This is ongoing and we do some every week. "The Thanksgiving Story"

Week 8: added in Jamestown: "The Adventurous Life of Miles Standish" , "My America: Season of Promise-Elizabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary Book 3"

Week 9:add in content related to Mayflower-Plymouth content: "The Mayflower Secret", My America: Our Strange New Land:Elizabeth's diary book 1", "Pricilia Alden and the First Thansgiving" , "Our Colonial Year", If You Were At the First Thansgiving", "Giving Thanks:The 1621 Harvest Feast", "The Mayflower Compact: American Documents" "Roanoke:The Lost Colony:An Unsolved Mystery", "John Smith Escapes Again", "Who's Saying What in Jamestown, Thomas Savage", "Daily Life in the Pilgrim Colony 1636", "Samuel Eaton's Day-A Day in the Life of a Pilrim Boy", "Sarah Morton's Day-A day in the life of a Pilgrim Girl", "Top Ten Worst Nasty Pirates You wouldn't want to meet" , "Pirates"

Week 10: "My America: The Starving Time: Elizabeth's Diary, Book 2", *We added in Hands and Hearts:Early American History Discovery Kit and did a different craft each day after our lessons--this is a lot of fun. "William Penn:Founder of Pennsylvania" , "American Girl: Kirsten (we've read this series before; but we just read Book 1 again to get the feel of the voyage over to America.)
VHS: movie:"Keeping The Promise" based on the book:"Sign of the Beaver", dvd: "Felicity: An American Girl"

Week 11: add in related to the new frontier : The Light in the Forest
Audio: Felicity: an American Girl -book 1, book 2, and book 3 (so far) (we've read the series before; but we are listening to it again while working on projects)

Week 12: finished "The Light in the Forest", Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars: 1689-1763 (The American Story) by Betsy Maestro and Giulio Maestro

June 1, 2011

we hs year round. I really didn't want to feel rushed through American History so I decided to add more literature books in to give us more 'meat'. We've added some good books like the Dear America and My America books as Readers for dd. Then, I've added in RA's like: Birchbark House, In The Light In The Forest, etc.

Technically I do Week 1 of the IG; then I take the next week off from the IG and supplement my own bible (Swordfighting), and continue with the RA, Readers, Math, and spend our time this week focusing on either Science or Language Arts. I try to have Science and LA alternate every other week. I am planning on having Art coming in as soon as I can get my act together!

We really enjoy the History and Literature; but haven't focused as much on WWE, FLL, AAS, and Science. I lean more towards the Better Late Than Early style and only started 'spelling/AAS' when dd turned 8. So, we are on AAS 2 currently. We will finish FLL 2 today. We will start WWE 3 next IG week. (I am the geek who can't skip any lessons!)

When I was doing the IG the way we it is written; I wasn't getting my electives in each week. So, I am trying this method so we can build a strong foundation in our LA , Science, and soon Art. I am hoping once we get a good foundation in those areas; and once dd can do some things on her own that we can go back to the style I did with Cores K, 1, and 2 which was 2-3 weeks of IG and 1 week for 'left-overs'.

I can really see a huge improvement in dd's writing, grammar knowledge, spelling..etc. This has actually been a good choice for us; technically for her electives and also b/c we have fit in lots of extra books on history.

It was really good for me to not be a slave to the IG, like I have been. I am beginning to feel secure in my homeschooling choices and for the first time I think I could survive hs'ing without SL; not that I am going to leave SL; but now I don't NEED SL to show me how to do a day. I always figured that SL would teach me how to homeschool; and it actually has! I am thankful for that. As a new hs'er I had no clue what to do or how to do it and SL has mentored me. Now, I am trying to make the curriculum work for me--like I've heard many old timers say!

Gifts from my friend!

June 2, 2011

Lost a tooth!

What a week this has been so far.  Monday we were off for Memorial Day and spent the day with Eric planting our garden.  That made for 3 days off for dd from her lessons; which is never good for her.  She becomes wild after 1 day off!

So Lessons on Tuesday were pretty horrible.  Dd didn't want to behave at all.  We made it through a few things before the collapse.  Wednesday was almost as bad as Tuesday.  We managed a few things before the collapse; but this time she had to do some homework (writing) after Eric came home and we were planting more in the garden.  She didn't dally for long b/c she wanted to plant too.  I also fit in a hair cut for her.  She wanted a new 'bob' for summer.  I did a great job; if I do say so myself.

Today; Thursday we had my doctors appointment in the morning.  Then on our way home we stopped by the library to get some books that were on hold for us.  To our surprise there was a Magic Show that was just about to start.  So, we enjoyed Magic John for about 30 minutes and then came home.  We managed about 2 hours of our lessons before we had to start thinking about our scheduled Canoe Trip with our 4H club.  The 2 hours were not her best; and she was still stuck in her inattentive ways.  But, we had given our word that we would show up for the canoe guy b/c last year no one who said they would show up actually showed up and we had to promise to keep our commitment...so I did keep it; but really dd didn't really deserve it after her poor performance this week.

The canoe trip on Boone's Pond was pretty great.  I remember my last summer with my dad; and how he took a canoe trip with just me and it is a memory I cherish still to this day.  So, I got to get in a canoe and paddle around the pond with my own daughter....nice.

The man that ran the canoe trip gave us all lessons for over 30 minutes.  He did a great job teaching us all the strokes.  Dd and I had a great time finding little coves and exploring.  I spotted quite a few bobbers and fishing lures.  We paddled over into the tall grasses and retrieved the hooks, lead, and all.  We saved a future bird, turtle, or fish from that mess.

It was a very busy day-doctor, library, magic show, lessons, canoe trip, and watering our new seedlings in our garden.  Now, I can't sleep!  I wish I had pictures from today; but I don't.

May 31, 2011

We are on Week 12. We are really enjoying this process of doing one week on IG and one week off to focus on our electives. We did our cores K, 1, and 2 with way less 'left-over weeks'. But, now dd is able to really 'get' her AAS, WWE, SL Science, FLL. Speaking of WWE; we finished WWE 1 last week.

We were really busy last week. We somehow managed to get a ton of our lessons done, add-in's done, and went to the A. Park *Twice* and went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum *TWICE*, and we took dd fishing!

I took "The Light in the Forest" off of dd's reader and turned it into a Read ALoud. We camped in our backyard on Saturday and Sunday and had DH read that book to us each evening. It really gives you a different perspective from the Indians point of view; similar to that of Birchbark House, that we read earlier.

For audio we have been listening to SOTW so much that we needed a break. We started relistening to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and have really been enjoying that in the van. For our inside audio story; we have been relistening to the books from the American Girl Felicity series and are half way through them (books 1-3 completed).

The other fun thing we have done each day is that we start with our audio: 1)the track the IG requires each week, 2)the song of the books of the old testament, 3)the song of the books of the new testament, 4)FLL songs on our grammar terms-articles, conjunctions, verbs, prepositions... maybe a hymn off a cd to start the day with a smile.

We finished one week of SL Science 3 and dd has voiced her strong approval of the new material. I have been looking forward to this level of science. Annie had recommended a stereo microscope from Home Science Tools, and I will buy that next week. Dd contributed all her b-day money b/c she wanted one so bad. So, I contributed all my b-day money and wa-lah we will have it!

May 27, 2011

We have had such a busy week. Mon & Tue we went each day to the library and Arbuckle Park for nature fun. Wed & Thur we went each day to the Indianapolis Children's Museum for science fun.

Wed. we made soap in the Science Lab. The best part was getting to use all the equipment which made it seem more 'science-y'. We used their plastic balance; filling up the cups until we had equal parts. We dyed the soap with green tea so it wouldn't be just plain white.

In the Science Port dd dissected a flower; made slides for viewing under the microscope of salt, sugar, grass seed, tree pollen, vermiculite, sand..., rock art: lentil beans glued in the shape of a bumble bee, oh- and her favorite; she planted one pinto seed into this small little plastic cup with a lid. She used a hole-punch and put two holes into the side and then threaded a string into it; and it became....ta-dah: a necklace!

We went again on Thur. for the class on Microscopes. This is good timing b/c we are researching microscopes right now. I asked lots of questions and learned a bit more about them after the class was over. I want to thank Annie for already answering so many of my questions. I finally decided to get a 'stereo' microscope. Those are the kind that you can put a big bug, rock, leaf, petal...on it and view it. I think we can wait on the compound microscope until dd gets a little older.

We also watched a show on our universe at the Planetarium. It was great to see our universe, lit up across the dome.

We have finished The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I am so happy with how it all ended. All the couples matched up how I had wanted.

I am thinking today we will just stay home and work. We've had such a crazy week. We had Tornadoes touch down; just south of us. The yard is soaking wet with all the rain; and yet it needs to be mowed so badly.

May 25, 2011

I hope you all are doing well this Wednesday. We are doing well. We started SL science week 1 yesterday and dd LOVED it. I've tried the Apologia's Zoology book with her twice and she hadn't been ready to comprehend what I was reading; but she understood all the classifications perfectly yesterday. She said how very exciting this topic is and how much she is liking it....very cool! The last weeks of SL science 2 were covering a lot of machines (planes, boats, ships, combines, tractors....) and I was more bored than dd. I am glad we are back to more naturey-sciency stuff. Dd liked the machines; it was me who didn't.

We went fishing on Sun night; went to a park Mon; and went back to that park Tues. So, we have been face to face with mosquitoes and birds, plants, bugs, you name it. It has been good to be outside. We've been reading our Witch in Blackbird Pond at the park and enjoying it. Dd can play in the stream while I broadcast our book for all to hear (slightly embarrassing).

We are really enjoying TWOBP. I finally had to read the last chapter while dd wasn't looking b/c I just had to know how it turns out. It is really unlike dd to not ask to read extra chapters.

Dd is not enjoying The Light in the Forest yet. If she likes a book I give her as her own reader; she usually finishes it in a few days. But, she says that this one is not very exciting. I think I read or heard somewhere that the beginning is very slow.

I am thinking of reading Calico Captive next. I haven't fully decided. Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare

I have quite a few books that would fit in nicely next. Hmmmmm.

Our library is finally having a book club (I've asked for 5 years) for 3-5 graders. They are doing it on the book: Artemis Fowl (new cover) by Eoin Colfer

has anyone read this?

Well, we are planning on going to the Indianapolis Children's Museum this morning and do some science with microscopes. We will do our lessons after we get back home. We are getting close to finishing our FLL 2 and WWE 1; maybe in the next week or two! I love when we complete curriculum that we've worked so hard for so long on.