Esme has officially started taking tests in both Math and Spelling. She's done taken three Spelling Tests and gotten every word right, and taken two Math tests and gotten about 90% on each. We're very proud!
Esme has been enjoying her human body unit. We got a cow femur from a local butcher and they sliced it the long way for us so that she could observe the inside. A few days ago she ran into the kitchen and announced, "Parts of your body need oxygen blah blah blah!," and ran back out.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!
Even though Dr. Seuss passed away several years ago, kids still love celebrating his birthday! Since he was born on March 2nd, next week our lessons will revolve around a tribute to him. Our book of the week will be The Cat in the Hat.
Video
This is a pretty good video about some of the myths of homeschooling - trust me, I've gotten almost all these comments, many from complete strangers. I try to not to be bitter about it, but it can be frustrating. I believe this was made by some homeschooled children for their mom.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
This week's lessons....
Book of the week is The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss. Esme did wonderfully on her short U words spelling test so now we're moving on so short I words. She's learning about bones and will soon move on to the muscular and circulatory systems. In church school she learned about needle felting, and we just started a 4-week Fractured Fairy Tales series at our favorite local bookshop.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
It's Been a While....Updates
This year is flying by. We have sooo much going on and lots to share. After trying out a couple different things this year, we've decided that structured lesson plans are what work best for our family, and we have gone back to the more traditional schedule we used last year. We're glad we tried more of an unschooling approach, but now we know this is what works for us.
We are happy to share that Esme had her very first spelling word list and test this past week, and she got 100% correct on her test! Whooo hoooo go Esme. She is moving right along in Math and Reading too. Most of Esme's interest revolve around science, and we are considering an Earth Science unit when we finish up our Human Body unit. We are hoping that we'll be able to take a trip to the science museum soon. I am excited about the new art curriculum I discovered, called Discovering Great Artists. We've just started and Esme has learned quite a bit about Picasso. I am hoping to use this in conjunction with our Picturing America materials as well.
Esme has been staying very busy. In Girl Scouts she's been learning about how to care for pets including going on a field trip to Petco. This month we're concentrating on dance - last week the girls learned line dancing from Aunt Cathy, and next week they'll be doing folk dancing with our friend Ben. They also have a snowshoeing event coming up, unless we have a big thaw between now and early March. Esme is still loving ballet class and we are very happy with her new dance school. We'll be starting a new series for homeschoolers around fractured fairy tales starting on Tuesday. We are looking forward to seeing some other kids we haven't seen since Fall.
We are happy to share that Esme had her very first spelling word list and test this past week, and she got 100% correct on her test! Whooo hoooo go Esme. She is moving right along in Math and Reading too. Most of Esme's interest revolve around science, and we are considering an Earth Science unit when we finish up our Human Body unit. We are hoping that we'll be able to take a trip to the science museum soon. I am excited about the new art curriculum I discovered, called Discovering Great Artists. We've just started and Esme has learned quite a bit about Picasso. I am hoping to use this in conjunction with our Picturing America materials as well.
Esme has been staying very busy. In Girl Scouts she's been learning about how to care for pets including going on a field trip to Petco. This month we're concentrating on dance - last week the girls learned line dancing from Aunt Cathy, and next week they'll be doing folk dancing with our friend Ben. They also have a snowshoeing event coming up, unless we have a big thaw between now and early March. Esme is still loving ballet class and we are very happy with her new dance school. We'll be starting a new series for homeschoolers around fractured fairy tales starting on Tuesday. We are looking forward to seeing some other kids we haven't seen since Fall.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Grant Recipients!
I am thrilled to say that we have been chosen as participants in the Picturing America program. We'll be receiving 40 laminated images of great American art to use in our studies. It is kind of funny to see Esme's Homeschooling Adventure listed as a grant recipient on the website! One requirement to receive the grant is that we use it with a group, so for Fall I'll be working on a way to do some kind of program that we can invite our local homeschoolers to attend.
This is the second grant we've gotten since we started homeschooling in Fall of 2007. The other was two huge boxes of legos from Lego Systems, with the condition that we would then donate them to the public library.
I am very grateful for organizations that see the value in awarding grants to homeschoolers as well as schools and libraries. We will use the prints we are about to receive to their fullest, and share them with as many other families as possible!
This is the second grant we've gotten since we started homeschooling in Fall of 2007. The other was two huge boxes of legos from Lego Systems, with the condition that we would then donate them to the public library.
I am very grateful for organizations that see the value in awarding grants to homeschoolers as well as schools and libraries. We will use the prints we are about to receive to their fullest, and share them with as many other families as possible!
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