Homeschool Plans

It is that time of year... Spring flowers start to peak out of the ground, bird reappear and the homeschool curriculum catalogs flow.
Over the next week or 2 I make my lists, research my options, price check, compare and converse about homeschool curriculum, all leading up to the Mache Cric fair. This is the one chance many homeschoolers get to hold the curriculum and books in our hands, get the "feel" of a program and talk to people who are knowledgeable about the products.
There are so many different programs out there that it is really had to choose one, let alone talk to another person who might know about it. The unfortunate part is that the fair only lasts 2 days. If you see something you want, and you don't want to have to pay shipping on it, you have to get it then. So this doesn't give you a lot of time the really think on products.

That all being said, I spent the last month figuring out what products I wanted to look at close up, what I think will work best for my family and what levels I think my kids will be at come September.
Of course all that planning was blown out of the water when I looked closer at a program and saw that they had changed it for the newest edition.

So my new plan (subject to review and change)

Language arts from Queen Homeschool for both kids. I like the Charlotte Mason Language arts method.
Singapore math for both kids
History co-op with BFF's family using lapbooks from Homeschool share and Homeschool Journey
Science Co-op also with BFF's family Noeo Science Chem 1+2 (depending on the kid)
BFF's mom is going to teach Art history since she has the posters and knows what she is talking about.
Music- I am still working on, maybe a book on recorder since we have 2 already (and ear plugs!!!)

I like to have a plan, and this is a framework. The kids will also do Library science classes and other co-op classes as they are offered. Girlie will continue with Speech Therapy, plus both kids will have Scouts. I think it sounds like a good year.

Science- Human Body

We have been working on the Human body for Science. So far we have covered blood, lungs and heart. Our project Friday was to figure out how all these different parts go together.

We traced Girlie on some banner paper and Boyo and Girlie colored it. Then I cut of the body parts and name tags for the different parts and the kids worked together to put them all on the body.

And because I didn't show you pictures of Boyo's new hair cut...

Before After

Which do you like better?

Happy April Fool's Day

I'm not a big prankster, mostly I am the butt of jokes.
Girlie got me with a good one today though. I got home from work late this morning and it was all quiet. I knew Boyo would still be asleep since he was up gaming until 11:30 pm but I expected to hear the TV on for Girlie. The living room was all quiet and there was a pile of blankets on the sofa but that was all I saw. When I sat on the sofa to watch a little news before getting schooling stuff together, Girlie popped out from under the blankets and scared me.
She thought it was funny, I laughed too but it took a couple minutes for my heart to start beating again.

Leapster meets Didj

We have been a leapster family for a while now. My dad bought the kids one a while back and since then Boyo has progressed in math by leaps and bounds. Girlie has done well too but it really isn't her medium.

When the kids were little they watched the Leapfrog DVDs and that gave them a good idea of how the whole reading thing worked. The Leapster handheld games did the same thing for boyo when it came to multiplication. When we hit that section in his math book, I was so surprised that he already knew almost all the basic facts that he breezed though the end of the book with no problem.

But like all things, Boyo became too advanced for the Leapster games. So last Christmas I looked at getting him a Didj, being the next step up from Leapster without crossing over to a Nintendo DS which doesn't have educational games. But it was too expensive and the reviews weren't that great and it was too new so there were kinks to be worked out.

Last week when the kids and I were at Walmart (don't judge me it is a small town) we went for a walk through the toy aisle and low and behold- the didj was on sale for more than $40 off!! After a brief chat with Hubby, I picked it up and also an extra game for Boyo.

Boyo spent 3 days playing it consistently before the batteries wore out and had to be charged.

So There is the pros and cons for the Didj

Pro

• Educational


• Great graphics


• ability to go online to change or adjust the level of difficulty on the problems


• adaptable -it can be scaled back to Girlie or made tougher for Boyo


• Lots of different math games

Cons

• Expensive


• not a lot of games yet and most seem to be math games


• Most language arts games are not aimed at boys (Nancy drew is the only spelling game I have found)


• doesn't come with a cover like the Leapster so screen can get scratched up.

All in all I really like the games, I wish that it could use the old Leapster cartridges but I see the difference in quality in the graphics so I understand why it can't be so. I really hope they put out more games and continue with more of the older grades (3+).

Princess Power

Hands of a Child was ever so kind of offer me a lapbook to try out and review. Girlie and I wanted to have a special day with BFF so with this lapbook in mind I called, made plans, printed and cut and got everything ready.

Armed with markers, construction paper, glue sticks and snacks, it was time!

Girlie kept a watch at the window for BFF to arrive, then once she was at the door it was a case of "I want to hide and surprise her." Eventually everyone who was staying was here and those who were leaving left. It was time to start!

Princess power is broken up into 2 mini lapbooks. One is on fairytale princesses and the other is on real live princesses. Since we all know that Girlie is a princess, it was easy to make the real live princess section about Girlie and BFF. The different secions we put on different colored pages.

We read a version of Sleeping Beauty that was different than one the girls had heard before, then we discussed how it was different and filled out the different minit books. After getting though all the wonderful minit books on the fairy tale princess, it was time for a break.

After a snack and some playtime, we pulled ourselves back together and started on the Girlie and BFF part. It was great fun listening to them talk about the different questions,

"Where were you born?"

"At a hospital, I came out of Mommy. But Boyo made Mommy cut open."

Once they finished all the minit books about them, they decorated the books while I fixed lunch. As I set out a lunch picnic in the living room, they finished up and I stapled all the pages together into a book. (we use construction paper pages stapled instead of file folders- it just works better for my family).

The girls played the rest of the afternoon and when BFF's mom came back, the girls didn't want to separate as they had been having so much fun.

I heard later that BFF's dad loved the lapbook, and Girlie was excited to show it to hubby and tell him all about her day.

Girlie liked that she could continue the fun on her own with the puppets that come with the lapbook. The stories that she came up with are incredible.