Saturday, August 27, 2011

Expedition Earth - Asia - Japan

This week Luke and I made our 2nd stop on our trek across the globe. We went to Japan. It was a great country to visit and we learned so many interesting things.

The first day we stamped our passports and found Japan on our map. Luke colored the map of Japan (sorry, I don't have a picture) and we wrote down some key things about Japan.

Each week we look up words in each language. The language of Japan is Japanese. In Japanese, "Luke" is "Ru ku", "Hello" is "Kon nichi wah", and "Thank You" is "Arigato."

Luke colored the flag of Japan. It was a nice, easy one. It is white with a red-filled circle in the middle.

He made a lapbook for China and put his favorite thing about Japan, doing Origami.

We made carp (fish) necklaces. We colored each fish a different color and talked about what each color was in Japanese. Here are the necklaces:


Here is the Origami we made - Yellow Butterflies (how appropriate):

Luke and I went out on a mommy-son date to a Japanese steakhouse this week. Here we are all dressed up and ready to go:


The most important thing we do each week is pray for the people of the country each day. We specifically prayed for missionaries, lost people, and for growth as well as safety from the volcanoes and tsunamis.

Next stop: India

Friday, August 26, 2011

Kindergarten - What We Did This Week - Week 2

BIBLE
This week we studied about God's World and how He created everything. We focused on the first 3 days. We memorized the verse Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

READING
This week we did a review of the short vowel sounds. I was thrilled that Luke remembered what we learned last year.

SPELLING
This week we did a review of the short vowel sounds. I was thrilled that Luke remembered what we learned last year.

HANDWRITING
This week we did review lessons of letters we learned last year.

MATH
This week we focused on number bonds. We looked at numbers and their makeups (ie 6 = 0+6, 1+5, 2+4, 3+3, 4+2, 5+1, 6+0). Luke did pretty good once we used some manipulative blocks.

SCIENCE
This week we continued working on the 1st day of creation. We are working on memorizing Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

HISTORY
This week we continued working on God's Story (His Story AKA History). We drew a timeline between beginning (Creation), Christ's 1st coming, and Christ's second coming. We focused on how God has a plan for everything from Creation through Christ through today waiting for Christ to return.

GEOGRAPHY
This week we went to Japan. We located Japan on the map, colored the map, colored and learned about the flag, learned fascinating facts about Japan, learned "Hello" and "Thank You" in Japanese, made a lapbook entry, made Japanese Origami, made a Japanese necklace, and are planning to go out for Japanese food. It was awesome.

ELECTIVES

SPANISH
We focused on greetings ("Hola," "Como te llamas?," "Me llamo _________," "Como estas?," "Estoy __________," and "Adios."


PIANO
We didn't do a piano lesson this week.

MUSIC

We didn't study a composer this week because we didn't have a composer for Japan.

ART

We didn't study an artist this week because we didn't have an artist for Japan.

PE
We went to the park a bunch of times.

CO-OP
Co-Op went great. Luke loved his classes, I loved my classes, and Nathan did great in the nursery. Here is a rundown of how it went: http://organizedhomeschooling.blogspot.com/2011/08/our-1st-day-of-co-op.html

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Our 1st Day of CO-OP


Today was our 1st day of CO-OP. I'll admit that while I was really excited about it, I had my concerns as well. I had a strong feeling that Luke would do great, but I was a little nervous about leaving Nathan for 3 hours in someone else's care. He has only ever been left for about 1 1/2 hours at church for worship or Wednesday night services.

In case no one knows, I am a super anal, over thinking type of person. I think of every little detail and schedule our life a lot. I don't really know how to operate in the unknown. Today was one of those days.

Would Nathan be fussy without mommy there? (I thought he would probably do good with that part)

Would he take a nap? (This was my biggest concern - him not getting a nap and being ill)

Would he do okay for the whole 3 hours? (Again, a big concern especially if he didn't nap)

I prayed and prayed about it all. I prepared as much as I could. I sent his blankie, his snugglie, and his glow worm that plays sweet music.

When we got there, he went to the lady with zero issue, kissed me goodbye, and I felt good about leaving him. When I picked him up, he was happy. She said, "He did great. He played, had a bottle, and even took a nap." He only fussed a couple of minutes (which he does at home). YAY!!!! PRAYERS ANSWERED!

Luke enjoyed his two classes and got to and from each place with no problem (they have class transporting people). He loved the Lego building and inventors classes. They studied Ben Franklin today and he made a kite with a key on the string. How fun?! He said, "I LOVED IT!!!!!" when I picked him up. Just what I expected. So glad he is able to learn neat things that he is interested in and make some great homeschooling friends.

I enjoyed myself. I am a floater the first class time. A few moms and I will be filling in the needs as they show up each week. I am excited about this role because I will be in different places each week. It is a great way to learn about different classes and meet different teachers and students. The other hour I am in a new members class. This is for people that are new to the CO-OP. It was great today getting to know one another. I feel like I already have some great friends.

Homeschooling is awesome and there are so many great groups to learn and have fun with. I am so glad that God worked this one out and we got in. I think it is going to be a great year. I am excited.

As a bonus, we got to go to the park with some of the families after CO-OP. It was great to meet lots of new friends and have the kids play and make friends as well. :)


Sunday, August 21, 2011

Kindergarten - What We Did This Week - Week 1

BIBLE
This week we studied about God's Word and how He uses the Bible to teach us His ways. We memorized the verse Psalm 25:4 - Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths. We did the story of how Samuel heard from the Lord and followed what He told him to do. Our theme song for the week was "Holy Bible, Book Divine."

READING
This week we did a review of the phonetical sounds of each letter of the alphabet (including the short vowel sounds). I was thrilled that Luke remembered what we learned last year.

SPELLING
This week we did a review of the phonetical sounds of each letter of the alphabet (including the short vowel sounds). I was thrilled that Luke remembered what we learned last year.

HANDWRITING
This week we did review lessons of letters we learned last year.

MATH
This week we focused on number order. We did the numbers 0-10 forward and backwards. I was really happy that Luke did great going either way (ie 8,9,10 and 7,6,5).

SCIENCE
This week we started working on the 1st day of creation. We are working on memorizing Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

HISTORY
This week we started working on God's Story (His Story AKA History). It was a great intro and we will finish up next week. We drew our family tree and focused on how God has a plan for everything from Creation through Christ through today waiting for Christ to return.

GEOGRAPHY
This week we went to China. We located China on the map, colored the map, colored and learned about the flag, learned fascinating facts about China, learned "Hello" and "Thank You" in Mandarin, made a lapbook entry, made Chinese lanterns, made a Chinese fan, and went out for Chinese food. It was awesome. To see more about our week in China, check out this post: http://organizedhomeschooling.blogspot.com/2011/08/expedition-earth-asia-china.html

ELECTIVES

SPANISH
This week we made an intro page and learned "Me llamo (name)".

PIANO
We didn't do a piano lesson this week.

MUSIC

We didn't study a composer this week because we didn't have a composer for China.

ART

We didn't study an artist this week because we didn't have an artist for China.

PE
We went to the park 3 days and the pool 2 days. Not to mention the running around the house. ;)

CO-OP
We officially start Co-Op next week, but we did take a tour on Thursday and met some new homeschool friends. :)

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Kindergarten Curriculum - Spanish - Teach Them Spanish K

Kindergarten Curriculum - Spanish

What We Are Using: Teach Them Spanish K

How I Found It:
I was perusing curriculum at The Homeschool Gathering Place and found this great resource.

Why I Chose It: It is really simple and breaks it down by category (numbers, colors, places, etc). It has a few activities for each category so we can work on it for a few weeks.

What Will We Do? Each week we will do an activity and during the week we will work on reviewing the activity. We will play BINGO to learn some words as well.

I think this will be a great start to learning Spanish.

Daily Schedules

Since school started back last week, we have slowly been getting into a routine/rhythm. Going into a new year, I never quite know what our schedule is going to look like, but being completely OCD, I try my best to plan it out and then tweak as necessary. This year has been no different.

I thought that school would take 3-4 hours, but after starting have realized it will only take 1 1/2 - 2 hours (maybe a little more if the subjects get tougher), so that really changes our previously planned schedule.

I know that I always enjoy looking at people's schedules to figure out ways that might work for our family, so here goes:

MONDAY
7:00am -
Lee, Luke, and I wake up and do our morning routines (Lee - get dressed, make lunch) (Ashley - get dressed, make bed, start laundry, make breakfast) (Luke - get dressed, make bed)
7:30am - Luke and I eat breakfast and Lee leaves for work
8:00am - Nathan wakes up and eats breakfast (I clean up the kitchen while he eats his Cheerios)
8:30am -
Play with the boys
9:o0am - Go to the library
10:00am - Nathan goes down for a nap - Luke and I do homeschool
HOMESCHOOL TIME
10:00am-10:15am -
Bible
10:15am-10:30am - Handwriting
10:30am-10:45am -
Reading & Spelling
10:45am-11:00am - Math
11:00am-11:15am - Science
11:15am-11:30am - History
11:30am-11:45am - Geography
11:45am-12:00pm - Spanish
Of course every subject doesn't take exactly 15 minutes, some take more, some take less. This is just a rough overview. If we finish early, we just hang out until lunch time.
12:00pm - Luke, Nathan, and I eat lunch
12:30pm - Play with the boys
2:00pm - Nathan naps, Luke naps/rests/has quiet time, and I have my down time (or do some dinner prep and/or chores)
4:00pm - I feed Nathan a bottle and Luke has video game time (he can earn up to 30 minutes a day)
4:30pm - Bathe the boys
5:00pm - Play with the boys
5:30pm - I cook dinner while the boys play
6:15pm - Family dinner
6:45pm - Family playtime (Nathan gets a bottle sometime before bed)
7:45pm - Get the boys ready for bed
8:00pm - Bedtime for the boys (Sometimes Nathan goes to bed earlier, sometimes Luke goes to bed later)
Lee and I have a flexible time until bedtime
11:00pm -
Lee and I go to bed (that's the goal at least)

TUESDAY
7:00am -
Lee, Luke, and I wake up and do our morning routines (Lee - get dressed, make lunch) (Ashley - get dressed, make bed, start laundry, make breakfast) (Luke - get dressed, make bed)
7:30am - Luke and I eat breakfast and Lee leaves for work
8:00am - Nathan wakes up and eats breakfast (I clean up the kitchen while he eats his Cheerios)
8:30am -
Play with the boys
10:00am - Nathan goes down for a nap - Luke and I do homeschool
HOMESCHOOL TIME
10:00am-10:15am -
Bible
10:15am-10:30am - Handwriting
10:30am-10:45am -
Reading & Spelling
10:45am-11:00am - Math
11:00am-11:15am - Science
11:15am-11:30am - History
11:30am-11:45am - Geography
11:45am-12:00pm - Spanish
Of course every subject doesn't take exactly 15 minutes, some take more, some take less. This is just a rough overview. If we finish early, we just hang out until lunch time.
12:00pm - Luke, Nathan, and I eat lunch
12:30pm - Play with the boys
2:00pm - Nathan naps, Luke naps/rests/has quiet time, and I have my down time (or do some dinner prep and/or chores)
4:00pm - I feed Nathan a bottle and Luke has video game time (he can earn up to 30 minutes a day)
4:30pm - Bathe the boys
5:00pm - Play with the boys
5:30pm - I cook dinner while the boys play
6:15pm - Family dinner
6:45pm - Family playtime (Nathan gets a bottle sometime before bed)
7:45pm - Get the boys ready for bed
8:00pm - Bedtime for the boys (Sometimes Nathan goes to bed earlier, sometimes Luke goes to bed later)
Lee and I have a flexible time until bedtime
11:00pm -
Lee and I go to bed (that's the goal at least)

WEDNESDAY
7:00am -
Lee, Luke, and I wake up and do our morning routines (Lee - get dressed, make lunch) (Ashley - get dressed, make bed, start laundry, make breakfast) (Luke - get dressed, make bed)
7:30am - Luke and I eat breakfast and Lee leaves for work
8:00am - Nathan wakes up and eats breakfast (I clean up the kitchen while he eats his Cheerios)
8:30am -
Play with the boys
10:00am - Nathan goes down for a nap - Luke and I do homeschool
HOMESCHOOL TIME
10:00am-10:15am -
Bible
10:15am-10:30am - Handwriting
10:30am-10:45am -
Reading & Spelling
10:45am-11:00am - Math
11:00am-11:15am - Science (Every other Wednesday we don't do Science)
11:15am-11:30am - History (Every other Wednesday we don't do History)
11:30am-11:45am - Geography
11:45am-12:00pm - Spanish
Of course every subject doesn't take exactly 15 minutes, some take more, some take less. This is just a rough overview. If we finish early, we just hang out until lunch time.
12:00pm - Luke, Nathan, and I eat lunch
12:30pm - Play with the boys
2:00pm - Nathan naps, Luke naps/rests/has quiet time, and I have my down time (or do some dinner prep and/or chores)
4:00pm - I feed Nathan a bottle and Luke has video game time (he can earn up to 30 minutes a day)
4:30pm - Bathe the boys
5:00pm - Leave for church
5:45pm - Eat dinner at church
6:45pm - Bible classes at church (Nathan gets his bottle in the church nursery)
8:00pm - Drive home
8:30pm - Get the boys ready for bed and bedtime for the boys
Lee and I have a flexible time until bedtime
11:00pm -
Lee and I go to bed (that's the goal at least)

THURSDAY
7:00am -
Lee, Luke, and I wake up and do our morning routines (Lee - get dressed, make lunch) (Ashley - get dressed, make bed, start laundry, make breakfast) (Luke - get dressed, make bed)
7:30am - Luke and I eat breakfast and Lee leaves for work
8:00am - Nathan wakes up and eats breakfast (I clean up the kitchen while he eats his Cheerios)
8:30am -
Go to Co-Op
9:o0am - Co-OP
12:00pm - Luke, Nathan, and I eat lunch
12:30pm - Drive home from Co-Op
1:00pm - Nathan naps - Luke and I do homeschool
HOMESCHOOL TIME
1:00pm-1:15pm -
Bible
1:15pm-1:30pm - Handwriting
1:30pm-1:45pm -
Reading & Spelling
1:45pm-2:00pm - Math
Of course every subject doesn't take exactly 15 minutes, some take more, some take less. This is just a rough overview. If we finish early, we just hang out until lunch time.
2:00pm- Nathan is still napping, Luke naps/rests/has quiet time, and I have my down time (or do some dinner prep and/or chores)
4:00pm - I feed Nathan a bottle and Luke has video game time (he can earn up to 30 minutes a day)
4:30pm - Bathe the boys
5:00pm - Play with the boys
5:30pm - I cook dinner while the boys play
6:15pm - Family dinner
6:45pm - Family playtime (Nathan gets a bottle sometime before bed)
7:45pm - Get the boys ready for bed
8:00pm - Bedtime for the boys (Sometimes Nathan goes to bed earlier, sometimes Luke goes to bed later)
Lee and I have a flexible time until bedtime
11:00pm -
Lee and I go to bed (that's the goal at least)

FRIDAY
7:00am -
Lee, Luke, and I wake up and do our morning routines (Lee - get dressed, make lunch) (Ashley - get dressed, make bed, start laundry, make breakfast) (Luke - get dressed, make bed)
7:30am - Luke and I eat breakfast and Lee leaves for work
8:00am - Nathan wakes up and eats breakfast (I clean up the kitchen while he eats his Cheerios)
8:30am -
Play with the boys
10:00am - Nathan goes down for a nap - Luke and I do homeschool
HOMESCHOOL TIME
10:00am-10:15am -
Bible
10:15am-10:30am - Handwriting
10:30am-10:45am -
Reading & Spelling
10:45am-11:00am - Math
11:00am-11:45am - Geography Projects
11:45am-12:00pm - Spanish
Of course every subject doesn't take exactly 15 minutes, some take more, some take less. This is just a rough overview. If we finish early, we just hang out until lunch time.
12:00pm - Luke, Nathan, and I eat lunch
12:30pm - Play with the boys
2:00pm - Nathan naps, Luke naps/rests/has quiet time, and I have my down time (or do some dinner prep and/or chores)
4:00pm -
I feed Nathan a bottle and Luke has video game time (he can earn up to 30 minutes a day)
4:30pm - Bathe the boys
5:00pm - Play with the boys
5:30pm - I cook dinner while the boys play
6:15pm - Family dinner
6:45pm - Family playtime (Nathan gets a bottle sometime before bed)
7:45pm - Get the boys ready for bed
8:00pm - Bedtime for the boys (Sometimes Nathan goes to bed earlier, sometimes Luke goes to bed later)
Lee and I have a flexible time until bedtime
11:00pm -
Lee and I go to bed (that's the goal at least)

SATURDAY
7:30am - Lee, Luke, and I wake up and make breakfast
8:00am - Nathan wakes up and we all eat breakfast together (I clean up the kitchen while he eats his Cheerios)
8:30am -
Play with the boys
10:00am - Nathan goes down for a nap - free time for Lee, Luke, and me
12:00pm - Lee, Luke, Nathan, and I eat lunch
12:30pm - Play with the boys
2:00pm - Nathan naps, Luke naps/rests/has quiet time, and Lee and I have my down time (or do some dinner prep and/or chores)
4:00pm -
I feed Nathan a bottle and Luke has video game time (he can earn up to 30 minutes a day)
4:30pm - Bathe the boys
5:00pm - Play with the boys
5:30pm - I cook dinner while the boys play
6:15pm - Family dinner
6:45pm - Family playtime (Nathan gets a bottle sometime before bed)
7:45pm - Get the boys ready for bed
8:00pm - Bedtime for the boys (Sometimes Nathan goes to bed earlier, sometimes Luke goes to bed later)
Lee and I have a flexible time until bedtime
11:00pm -
Lee and I go to bed (that's the goal at least)

SUNDAY
7:30am - Lee, Luke, and I wake up, get ready, and make breakfast
8:00am - Nathan wakes up and we all eat breakfast together (I clean up the kitchen while he eats his Cheerios)
8:30am -
Leave for church
9:00am - Sunday School
10:30am - Worship
12:00pm - Lee, Luke, Nathan, and I eat lunch
12:30pm - Drive home
1:00pm - Nathan naps, Luke naps/rests/has quiet time, and Lee and I have my down time (or do some dinner prep and/or chores)
4:00pm -
I feed Nathan a bottle and Luke has video game time (he can earn up to 30 minutes a day)
4:30pm - Bathe the boys
5:00pm - Play with the boys
5:30pm - I cook dinner while the boys play
6:15pm - Family dinner
6:45pm - Family playtime (Nathan gets a bottle sometime before bed)
7:45pm - Get the boys ready for bed
8:00pm - Bedtime for the boys (Sometimes Nathan goes to bed earlier, sometimes Luke goes to bed later)
Lee and I have a flexible time until bedtime
11:00pm -
Lee and I go to bed (that's the goal at least)

Kindergarten Curriculum - Math - Singapore Math

Kindergarten Curriculum - Math

What We Are Using: Singapore Math

How I Found It:
My friend, Holly, showed me this series at her house and I was in love with it.

Why I Chose It: It is a great system that builds on itself. You learn the thought process behind multiplication and division even in the early grades. It is great. I love how colorful it is, how you have a textbook and a workbook. It is really nicely done.

What Will We Do? Each day we will read from the textbook and go over practice exercises and then we will complete a worksheet that covers the material.

Overall I love the curriculum we are using so far. I think we will really like it.

Kindergarten Curriculum - Spelling - All About Spelling

Kindergarten Curriculum - Spelling

What We Are Using: All About Spelling

How I Found It:
My friend, Chandres, another homeschooler, highly recommended this series to me. I wanted to do something that wasn't just spelling lists and she said this was great.

Why I Chose It: It is a great system that builds on itself. The teacher and student work together with some tiles and other tools to learn how to spell. It is great because it isn't just memorizing lists.

What Will We Do? In conjunction with our reading curriculum, we will be doing daily lessons to learn each exercise. We started with short vowels, then the rest of the phonograms, then the long vowels, and then build on it. We will work through the curriculum building each day/week/level.

Overall I love the curriculum we are using so far. I think we will really like it.

Kindergarten Curriculum - Reading - ABeka Readers/Handbook & OPGtTR

Kindergarten Curriculum - Reading

What We Are Using: ABeka Readers/Handbook and Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading

How I Found It:
My friend, Vicky, works at The Homeschool Gathering Place and has homeschooled 3 children (1 is almost done with high school). She has a ton of experience with homeschooling and curriculum. She was kind enough to gift me the book, Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading, and it is awesome. ABeka readers and handbook were suggested to me from another great homeschooling friend.

Why I Chose It: It really chose me. LOL! It is great because it goes step-by-step in the correct order of phonetically learning how to read. I love that each lesson is in sequential order, reviews previous lessons, and tells me exactly what to do and say. Luke has learned very quickly from this book. I chose ABeka readers because they are great and are in order (I love order).

What Will We Do? In conjunction with our spelling curriculum, we will be doing daily lessons to learn each exercise. We started with short vowels, then the rest of the phonograms, then the long vowels, and then build on it. We will work through the ABeka handbook first and then start reading through the readers as we get to each level. We will also be reading some other books that line up with where we are at.

Overall I love the curriculum we are using. So far we are just reviewing but I am happy that Luke remembers everything we learned last year. Hoping it goes well as reading is the #1 thing kids should learn really well. Readers are learners. Readers are leaders. :)

Friday, August 19, 2011

Expedition Earth - Asia - China

This week Luke and I started our trek across the globe. Our first stop was China. It was a great country to visit and we learned so many interesting things.

The first day we stamped our passports and found China on our map. Luke colored the map of China (sorry, I don't have a picture) and we wrote down some key things about China.

Each week we will look up words in each language. The language of China is Mandarin. Here are the words we looked up in Mandarin:

Here is the flag of China: (the red represents the revolution, the big yellow/gold star represents Communism, and the 4 little yellow/gold stars represent the classes of people)
Here is Luke working on his lapbook entry for China:

Luke playing tanagrams (a popular game/craft in China):

Here is Luke making a Chinese fan: (he is drawing Chinese numbers on it)

I think it turned out great. :)

Here is Luke making a Chinese lantern:

Again, I am pleased with how they turned out:

Luke with his Great Wall of China:


We gave Luke a red envelope filled with lucky money (AKA video game bucks) as is a custom in China.


The most important thing we do each week is pray for the people of China each day. We specifically prayed for missionaries, lost people, and for growth despite the Communist government.

We also read some great books related to China including: The Story of Ping, 5 Chinese Brothers, Stone Soup, Panda Kindergarten, and The Runaway Wok.

He also played Chinese checkers with Lee. We plan to go out for Chinese food this weekend.

Next stop: Japan

Monday, August 15, 2011

Luke's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Luke's 1st Day of Kindergarten:

He is super excited about school (or his doughnut) ;)

Another picture of him

Nathan was super excited (until he realized he wasn't getting a doughnut)

The boys and their doughnuts (a 1st day tradition we are starting)

Luke and his doughnut

Luke outside the school "house" - it was really sunny

Mommy and the boys outside our school "house"

Going into the school "house"

Luke's "school bus" - Lee did this

Luke outside the school room

Luke at our work table

Mommy/teacher and Luke

Luke's backpack - isn't it cute?

Lee and Luke in the school room

Mommy/teacher and Luke in the school room

Nathan ready to learn

My M&Ms

Luke after our library visit where he got his library card, some books, and a neat sticker

Isn't that a cool sticker?

Luke in the school room

Luke at our work table

A picture of me (Luke took this)

A picture of me (Luke took this)

Luke doing math

Luke doing math

Luke doing math

Luke coloring his passport for geography

The world Luke colored

Luke's spelling chart

Luke and his passport in front of the geography wall

Luke coloring his family tree for history

Luke coloring his family tree for history

Luke coloring the cover of his Spanish book - He learned "Me llamo Luke" today.

Lunch at the park

Nathan eating his lunch at the park

Mommy at the park

Luke on the spinny thing at the park

Luke on top of the playground

As you can see, we had a great 1st day of Kindergarten. We actually got all of our work done in under 2 hours (during the 1st block of time) so we were able to go to the park and the boys both took a nap. It was a great day. So far I love what we are using for our curriculum. I love how it all ties in together. Number one, I love that it is all Bible-based and Christ-focused.

If you think of it, please pray for our school year. I will try to post as much as I can find time for.