Today we finished our first week of homeschool. It went really well, and we are really enjoying it so far. Elliott is learning a lot, and we are making time to do a lot of fun things. We've been doing better at time management because of school, so we are making time to do fun things outside of school time as well.
This week we learned about our nervous system in science and the names of our bones in health. Elliott's so funny doing his dance as he shows me names of the bones. :) In language arts, we've mainly just been doing review type work, and I'm trying to figure out if he needs any extra work on anything (so far he's done a great job on everything). In math we've been reviewing place values and the different ways we can make larger groups (1 group of 1000 is the same as 10 groups of 100, 100 groups of 10 and 1000 single ones for example). In social studies we've learned about communities and the difference between urban, suburban and rural neighborhoods. We're still working on numbers in Spanish. And we're working on looking things up without using the table of contents so much in the Bible. We're also doing a unit study on animals, and learning about their habitats, their eating choices, life span, and their sizes. We're also spending lots of time reading every day.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Gardening
We are getting a late start on our garden this year, but hopefully we will still have plenty of time to grow everything and enjoy eating garden fresh veggies and a few fruits. This year is the first year that we have planted a garden since 2009. We normally travel a lot during the summer, making a garden hard to care for properly. Now that we are homeschooling Elliott, we are planning our travel times during the off season.
At our current house, we really don't have a great location for a garden anyway. We have several trees in our yard, and between them, our house, the neighbor's garage, and our shed, there's just too much shade for a garden very large to grow very well.
At our current house, we really don't have a great location for a garden anyway. We have several trees in our yard, and between them, our house, the neighbor's garage, and our shed, there's just too much shade for a garden very large to grow very well.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Wordless Wednesday
Summer Reading
Elliott got his box of surprise books from Scholastic yesterday, and couldn't wait to check it out. He's already read three of them!
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
A Start To Homeschooling
Yesterday morning we were supposed to start doing some homeschool work just to figure out some rough ideas for the amount of time we would need on various subjects. We also wanted to get an idea of how much work he would be doing on his own, and how much he would need (or want) help with. It turns out he had so much fun doing the first few things, that he decided to make yesterday his first official day of school. I think part of it might also be that he is currently grounded so it was a great way to spend time he had to spend at home anyway. Haha.
We did have a little bit of fussing, and a minor meltdown, but overall, we both enjoyed it. It turns out that he is most likely going to want to do a lot of the stuff more together than I anticipated, but that's perfectly fine with me. We've switched curriculum on a few things, and they seem to be a little more advanced than what he is used to, so we had to discuss things a little more in depth. It appears that he didn't learn some of the things in second grade that this curriculum assumes he already learned.
We've been working on homeschool again today, and he absolutely hates one of the things that I bought. It's not a huge deal, though, because it's one that I bought as a supplement. We just started with it because we are waiting on a new copy of what I need, after our first one got damaged. He's still not overly fond of Go Math (which he insisted we get, even though it wasn't my first choice for math) but I think we are going to stick with it a while longer before we give it up. I spent enough money on it that I certainly want to give it a fair shake, but if it needs to be replaced, we can make that work, too.
Spanish is still his favorite subject, and he's done it both days this week, even though I told him that we only needed do it once or twice a week each week. I have a feeling it will end up being an everyday thing, or at least as often as time allows.
We did have a little bit of fussing, and a minor meltdown, but overall, we both enjoyed it. It turns out that he is most likely going to want to do a lot of the stuff more together than I anticipated, but that's perfectly fine with me. We've switched curriculum on a few things, and they seem to be a little more advanced than what he is used to, so we had to discuss things a little more in depth. It appears that he didn't learn some of the things in second grade that this curriculum assumes he already learned.
We've been working on homeschool again today, and he absolutely hates one of the things that I bought. It's not a huge deal, though, because it's one that I bought as a supplement. We just started with it because we are waiting on a new copy of what I need, after our first one got damaged. He's still not overly fond of Go Math (which he insisted we get, even though it wasn't my first choice for math) but I think we are going to stick with it a while longer before we give it up. I spent enough money on it that I certainly want to give it a fair shake, but if it needs to be replaced, we can make that work, too.
Spanish is still his favorite subject, and he's done it both days this week, even though I told him that we only needed do it once or twice a week each week. I have a feeling it will end up being an everyday thing, or at least as often as time allows.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Maleficent
It seems like our family used to go to the movie theater nearly every weekend. Over the last several months (maybe a year?) we have cut way back, though, and go more like once a month. Part of that is because there just haven't been as many movies that we have wanted to see, and part of it has just been that we haven't had as much time, with the insane work schedule Carl has been on so much of the time.
Over the weekend we did go see a movie, though. Elliott had been really wanting to see Maleficent. He mentioned how great it looked every time we saw a commercial. So when he saw that it would be on base opening weekend, he begged to go see it. Since we have been trying to support the base theater when possible, we agreed to take him to see it.
Elliott loved it. He said part of it was scary, and part of it was kind of weird, but over all he loved it. He has never seen the original Sleeping Beauty, though, so he went in there with no real ideas about what to expect, or how Maleficent had appeared in the original movie. He viewed it completely as a movie on its own, and thought it was great.
My husband and I both thought it was okay. Neither of us thought it was as great as Elliott did, though. I typically enjoy books and movies told from a different point of view than the one we've heard before, so I did find it interesting. The acting was good for the most part, and some of the special effects were really good.
Over all, we found it to be a good way to spend some time on a Saturday afternoon, but it's probably not a movie we will add to our collection (unless Elliott buys it with his own money or gets it as a gift from someone else).
Over the weekend we did go see a movie, though. Elliott had been really wanting to see Maleficent. He mentioned how great it looked every time we saw a commercial. So when he saw that it would be on base opening weekend, he begged to go see it. Since we have been trying to support the base theater when possible, we agreed to take him to see it.
Elliott loved it. He said part of it was scary, and part of it was kind of weird, but over all he loved it. He has never seen the original Sleeping Beauty, though, so he went in there with no real ideas about what to expect, or how Maleficent had appeared in the original movie. He viewed it completely as a movie on its own, and thought it was great.
My husband and I both thought it was okay. Neither of us thought it was as great as Elliott did, though. I typically enjoy books and movies told from a different point of view than the one we've heard before, so I did find it interesting. The acting was good for the most part, and some of the special effects were really good.
Over all, we found it to be a good way to spend some time on a Saturday afternoon, but it's probably not a movie we will add to our collection (unless Elliott buys it with his own money or gets it as a gift from someone else).
Sunday, June 1, 2014
How Much Can One Kid Eat?
Elliott's only been out of school for a little more than a week, but man has he been eating! I think he must be getting ready to go through a growth spurt, and then hopefully his eating will slow down a little bit. Otherwise we are going to have to rethink the grocery budget or something. :)
Even when he was in school I packed his lunch almost every single day, so his lunches were already in our grocery budget. It's the snacks and the huge portions it seems to take to fill him up lately that are killing the budget. He's still thin, so I'm not worried about him eating so much, and figure he really does need it, but it gives me a stomach ache just watching him eat so much.
Just as an example: last night we ate at Taco Bell for supper, where he consumed a quesadilla, taco, and cheese roll up, along with a large drink. As we were shopping RIGHT after we ate, he started complaining that he was hungry again. So on the way home he ate an ice cream drumstick. Then after we put away groceries he ate some Annie's cheese crackers, a banana, grapes, 2 slices of toast, some cottage cheese, and was still looking for more food when I finally sent him to brush his teeth and get ready for bed. He also drank a big glass of milk during that time.
I've been buying so many fresh fruits and veggies lately that someone I know asked if we were running a day care or something to need all that stuff with only one child. Haha. It's amazing how much one child can eat when he's active and hungry, though!
Even when he was in school I packed his lunch almost every single day, so his lunches were already in our grocery budget. It's the snacks and the huge portions it seems to take to fill him up lately that are killing the budget. He's still thin, so I'm not worried about him eating so much, and figure he really does need it, but it gives me a stomach ache just watching him eat so much.
Just as an example: last night we ate at Taco Bell for supper, where he consumed a quesadilla, taco, and cheese roll up, along with a large drink. As we were shopping RIGHT after we ate, he started complaining that he was hungry again. So on the way home he ate an ice cream drumstick. Then after we put away groceries he ate some Annie's cheese crackers, a banana, grapes, 2 slices of toast, some cottage cheese, and was still looking for more food when I finally sent him to brush his teeth and get ready for bed. He also drank a big glass of milk during that time.
I've been buying so many fresh fruits and veggies lately that someone I know asked if we were running a day care or something to need all that stuff with only one child. Haha. It's amazing how much one child can eat when he's active and hungry, though!
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