Down on the Farm with ChiknGirl

2 Weeks In

We've completed our first two weeks of school and we've had a great time.  This year's curriculum choices have been great successes and we are joyfully getting our schoolwork done.  Anneliese says her favorite subjects are math and history.  Math!  I'm over the moon that we finally found a math program she likes.  Gary has been doing about half of the teaching.  He has taken over history and science and fills in on other subjects when I am busy harvesting and canning.  Our calendar is full of extras and field trips, including a trip to the Puyallup Fair this week.  I'm looking forward to the quiet, slow months of January through March, but enjoying every minute of the here and now.  Life is good!

It's Almost Here, It's Almost Over

School and summer.  I like them both.  I worked hard this summer to make it a summer of memories for the kids, they missed out on the last 3 or 4 summers dues to family issues.  We had a few hiccups and plans didn't always work out, but overall I think we'll all look back on the summer of 2012 with fond memories.  I'm working on a "memory book" for the kids, I've kept souvenirs and taken pictures when I wasn't too busy having fun.  It will include:

• a camping trip at Ohanapecosh
• spelunking at the Ape Cave
• a picnic, swimming, and a short hike at Flaming Geyser State Park
• a wedding
• attending a Tacoma Rainier's game
• visiting Owen Beach at low tide
• overnights with both grandparents
• hiking the Silver Falls and Grove of the Patriarchs trails
• going to the spray-park with friends
• Anneliese went to Camp Oh Ah Lay Lay

We canceled one camping trip due to illness and there is one more trip I want to make before all the good weather is gone.  We're going to sneak in a day-trip to the ocean to play in the water and fly our kite.

We are taking one more week before we begin our formal studies.  This week Anneliese and Trevor are participating in a 3-day science camp put on by two moms in our homeschool group.  They will be doing activities like tye-dyeing a shirt, exploring owl pellets, making root beer floats, and launching rockets.

We have some big lifestyle changes ahead that we will tackle as a family, including a move to more self-sufficiency.

2012 - 2013 Curriculum Choices (2nd and 4th Grade)

The plans have been written, the books have been delivered, the copies have been made, the book lists have been complied, the only thing missing is the supply kit for science.

We will open our morning with a challenging word problem to practice problem solving skills and follow that with a few minutes of memory work.  Memory work this year will include topics from our studies as well as poems of the children's choice.  Our homeschool group has twice monthly Nature Club meetings as well as lots of other great meetings.  I am considering joining/starting a First Lego League/Jr. First Lego League, we'll see.

2nd Grade -

Math: Saxon 5/4, Life of Fred

Science:  RSO Earth and Space, Discovery Streaming subscription, Studies Weekly Science subscription

Social Studies:  History Odyssey Middle Ages Level 1, Evan-Moor Daily Geography Grade 2

Fine Arts:  Meet the Masters

World Languages:  Getting Started with Latin

Language Arts:  Growing With Grammar 2, Winning With Writing 2, Sequential Spelling, and  Junior Great Books Grade 2

Physical Education and Health:  McGraw Hill Health and Wellness 2nd Grade

Other:  Campfire USA

 

4th Grade - 

Math: Saxon 6/5

Science:  RSO Earth and Space, Discovery Streaming subscription, Science in a Nutshell Kits

Social Studies:  History Odyssey Middle Ages Level 1, Daily Geography Grade 4

Fine Arts:  Meet the Masters, Art for Kids: Drawing

World Languages:  Latin Prep Book 1 with the workbooks, puzzles, and cd.

Language Arts:  Michael Clay Thompson Town Level, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing Deluxe, Junior Great Books Series 4

Physical Education and Health:  McGraw Hill Health and Wellness Grade 4

Other:  Girl Scouts

 

Thinking about...

blogging again.  There have been moments I've wanted to share or record for later or what ever.

all the fun things we are going to do this summer.

school in the fall.

limiting my "hobbies" so I can invest myself more fully in a few rather than spreading myself thin over a lot.

What have you been thinking about?

Weekly Wrap-Up Week 5 Sep 26 - Sep 30

That was a fast week.  I'm shocked that it is October already.

Math: Anneliese completed lessons 19 - 21 about rounding, estimating and comparing numbers.  She had a light bulb moment and now understands rounding and estimating.  She scored 96% on quiz 3.  She read chapters 15 - 18 of Life and Fred: Apples and has finished the book.  Trevor completed lessons 20 - 22 about pictographs and addition.  He scored 100% on quiz 3.

Language Arts: Anneliese is still plugging away at Grammar Island and read pages 92 - 113 last week.  She reviewed the eight parts of speech, learned about subjects, predicates and direct objects.  She started Music of the Hemisphere for poetry study and  read pages 4 - 31.  I picked up a copy of Editor in Chief A1 and she completed editing the first document.  She also completed step 13 in spelling and learned the 1-1-1 rule for adding vowel suffixes.  Trevor completed pages 24 - 27 of Printing Power and step 4 of spelling learning strategies to spell multi-syllabic words.  They both completed their literature study by reading various Aesop's Fables and narrating with words or pictures.  We all watched A Bug's Life, a take-off of the fable The Ants and the Grasshopper.

Social Studies: Anneliese and Trevor both completed week 5 in their respective Daily Geography books.  We worked on part 2 of lesson 3 for History Odyssey: Ancients.  We read a few pages of the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History about Sumer, we did a Sumerian math project and Anneliese started a weaving project since the Sumerians were some of the first people to weave cloth.

Science:We continued on with unit 3 of Chemistry learning about atomic numbers.  We tested milk to see if it is an element, it is not, and we made a flip-book of the first 1 elements, drawing all the neurons, protons, and electrons.  Trevor read Simply Science: Atoms by Stewart to us.  Trevor attended the Budding Scientist class at the Tacoma Nature Center and learned about some local birds.

Electives: Anneliese completed lessons 9 - 12 of Getting Started with Latin as well as completing chapter 3 of Song School Latin with Trevor.  They both converse in Latin regularly and are enjoying their studies.  We had relatives from Germany in town last week and the kids had a conversation in Latin with them.  We read The Five Chinese Brothers and answered the questions listed in Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus.  We completed lessons 4 of Artistic Pursuits learning about how pictures tell stories.  Trevor learned to ride his bike without training wheels early this week and we spent every afternoon riding bikes.  :)  Anneliese attended her first Girl Scout meeting of the school year.

Field Trips: No field trips this week.