A School Day at Homeschooling6's House

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Today was Joshua's second day using Saxon Math. I must say, I'm excited for him. Normally my poor child can't even stay in the same room as me when I am correcting his math because of all the check marks! This time there were check marks but not as many, plus the way Saxon is laid out I can see exactly what he does not understand.

Today he mainly missed the number-line problems. He got confused. He thought he was suppose to write the negative numbers. There were a few things he didn't understand or didn't read them carefully. For instance : Write the largest three-digit number that has a 6 in the ones place and a 4 in the tens place. He put the answer as 46. When I was done correcting I went over his missed problems like the one mentioned above. I read the problem to him, showed him he placed the 4 & 6 correctly but it says three-digit number. He then answered 10! I showed him that would be too many numbers. "What is one less than 10?", I asked, he understood and said, "9" with a big, "Oh, I get it."

This was a first in a long time that he was not frustrated when I showed him what he missed. He actually gave me a hug and had a big smile.

Here is Joshua's work station.

The sock, I believe has darts in it. His dart gun, uh, I think that was a day when there were many battles being fought. His assignment is to read Eric Liddell and write a three paragraph essay about him. He is using Character Quality Language Arts.

Annette, started Junior Analytical Grammar this week. My daughter does not like to write BUT she was excited with this writing assignment "Playing with Words". Mayb the word 'playing' had something to do with it.

She had to write one paragraph using the words listed. I was almost going to have her skip these assignments, but new they where there to help Annette, put her grammar skills to use. To my surprise she was excited to do it. I think it challenged her to use all the words and be creative.

She even wrote it twice!!! The top portion is her rough draft or as she put it her ideas and thoughts (thank you meaningful composition). The second is her final copy.

Annette, is a huge help with Lance. Here she has him coloring.

He is her laundry partner this week. That is why there is a basket full of clothes next to him.

Here is Brent reading from his Christian Light Reader.

Ethan, taking a look at what we could win if we get all the game pieces.

A few weeks ago I lost Caleb's math workbook. Light Unit 306. I had to erase Annette's old L.U.

Yesterday, I found the L.U. it was under a pile of papers. I had checked that pile many times but it was at the very bottom. You couldn't really see it because the workbook is not very thick.

Caleb wasn't as excited as I was with the find.

Saxon Grammar 6

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I purchased Saxon Grammar & Writing grades 5 & 6. I only have grade 6 right now. Hopefully I can get grade 5 soon. I have decided to use Saxon Grammar & Writing (Hake's Grammar is another name for it)

I chose this grammar & writing course because it is a lot of drill and repetition like the Saxon Math program. I'm not sure if I will use the writing portion. I have looked at it briefly and am not impressed (yet) sometimes it takes a while for me to really appreciate something with regards to curriculum, so maybe I'll come around with the writing portion. Again, I haven't looked at it thoroughly enough to really judge the writing component of this program.

The grammar portion looks great! One of the things I should point out is this program comes with a student text workbook which from what I can tell is the writing workbook. The student text is the grammar. It doesn't say workbook, so this leads me to believe that it's not consumable. It looks though that there is room for the child to write except when diagramming. I'm going to let Josh & Annette write in the text and use paper to diagram. The third component is the Teacher Manual.

All-in-all it I'm pleased with what I see so far. I think this will work with my kiddos. The repetition will be great!

The only cons, in my humble opinion is I thought the program was published from a Christian publisher but I don't think that's the case. I guess just because I purchase them from Christian Books, doesn't mean they are Christian. From what Cathy Duffy mentioned it does support the Christian Worldview. I guess time will tell. I will miss the Character Quality from our previous language arts program (CQLA).

The reason why I thought the publisher was Christian was because I was listening to Joshua's Dive cd from Saxon Math and the gentleman said he was a Christian but he was talking about himself. Anyway, I misunderstood.

Another con, is the paper used is very thin. Some compare it to newsprint. It doesn't seem as delicate as newsprint because the ink looks like it will stay put. I can tell that when one needs to erase, well, that could be a problem.

Again, in my opinion it's no big deal. If this works for my children than I guess the thin paper can be over looked. I believe they went with this type of paper because the grammar text is 601 pages. There are 107 lesson.

I have decide to use Junior Analytical Grammar and Analytical Grammar through the summers. Use Saxon Grammar through the school year. This way I know they will know grammar! I don't mind over teaching in this area.

As with Latin, I believe a thorough knowledge of grammar & Latin will really benefit my children when they read & study their Bible. Both Pastor Swindoll and Houston mention to pay attention the the verb, article etc. to understand the text.

Why Am I Sharing.........

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Before I talk about Saxon Grammar, for some odd reason I thought I would share a few photos of my Spell-to-Write & Read program. I'm goofy that way!

This is how thick it is. I 3-hole punched my Wise Guide, SWR & The Alpha List. I also included all my Cursive First, Diagnostic tests, Reading Comprehension and anything that is related to SWR. It's heavy but I like how everything is literally in one place!

I got this three inch binder from Staples.

Folded Clothes

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Here is Lance, putting away his clothes. He said, "I folded my own clothes mom!"

Happiness!

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Outside I can hear a mocking bird singing many different tunes. Wonder which birds its imitating. I saw it singing its heart out when I was on my way to the mailbox. I looked up and it was putting on a show. So cute!

Molly the owl has four owlets. One more is expected to arrive any day now.

Today I played Zoologic with Lance. He may be immature but he's a smart cookie that boy! I thought for sure it would take him a while to figure out where to put the pieces but he did it pretty fast. Of course I'm starting him at the beginning.

Here is a picture of Annette & Brent playing the game.

 Ethan, is so funny! I let him use the camera to take a picture of a bird. I didn't have time at the moment to go out with him, so I told him to be VERY careful with my camera. I was trying to finish The Phonics Road lesson. When I checked my camera I found this picture instead of a bird.

And this one......

The other day I was out with Ethan, and he had a bit of chocolate on his face. I said, "When I look at you, do you know what I see?"

Ethan looked at me and lovingly said, "Happiness!" How could I say, "No, chocolate." so, I responded with a big "YES!" because I do see happiness in my little guy's face!

Writing Assignment

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Next week Joshua has to write an essay about a missionary who has been persecuted. He has to figure out who he wants to write about. Find his sources. One source is t be a magazine, internet or some articles. Second source is to be a book about that person. He needs to take notes and write his outline. He doesn't have to write an opening or closing sentence yet. This will be included in the checklist challenge (CC is where he adds & omits things, changes words etc.) next week.

I like how detailed Character Quality Language Arts is, but sometimes it seems too detailed. Before Josh, even starts he has to read five pages on how to write his essay. This is one area where I would like them to break it down a bit more or maybe not over-explain it.

I wonder if they have changed this in the revised or newer addition.

A Guinea Pig

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About 7:00 p.m. Annette, and I took a walk to the coffee shop. I usually get myself a coffee on Fridays. It's my once a week treat!
Annette, has been saving for a stuffed guinea pig. It's really cute, like the one I had when I was a child.

She purchased her guinea pig while I was looking around. This coffee shop is part antique shop. She came up to me and said, "Thank you for teaching us mom!" as she handed me a bag with the stuffed animal. She surprised me! I had no idea she was plotting to purchase it for me.

Ethan and I were bird watching earlier today. This bird is very small bird. We are not sure what kind it is.

Church Bells

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I love hearing the church bells that ring daily. The church is a street over. I was able to take this picture from out upstairs apartment.

Week 27 Done!

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We finished week 27.

Starting next week I am going to start adding in more of the 'activities' for Joshua's Spell to Write & Read. I'll have to update how we use SWR. I plan to add Monday's back in. Monday-20 new words, review 5 previous words. Tuesday-pick an activity. Wednesday-20 more new words, review 5 previous words. Thursday-activity. Friday test all 40 words and 5 review words.

Today for Phonics/spelling Ethan, wrote a story. It reads: I collect rocks. He is in the shop and I am in the house. The End. Highlighted words I helped him with.

With Caleb & Brent I dictated a paragraph from SWR to them. They wrote it sentence by sentence and did very well. They misspelled a few words but over all did good.

Lance, came to our bed last night. I asked him this morning why. He said, "I was frightened in my room."

Mom, Can Dad Read Good?

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I have been teaching Ethan, his phonograms. He knows the basics but needs to learn vowel & consonant teams (oo, oa, oy etc.). To get him excited I asked him if he could teach his dad all the phonograms. That dad needs to learn them too. Well, of course he went to studying the phonograms.

This morning while going over our phonograms he asked, "Mom, can dad read good?"

I answered, "Yup! dad can read very good. why?"

Ethan, looked around to see if anyone was in hearing distance before he whispered, "Because, you know, he doesn't know all his phonograms."

Reading Assessment

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I had the children take a reading assessment today. I'm thankful that they are moving forward. I used a free online Reading Level Assessment.

Here are the results:

Josh, is between 6.0-6.4. I'm happy to report he is almost at grade level of 6.6. He reads a lot so I'm confident he'll get there. With spelling he has improved too. Not a whole grade level YET, but he is trying. In fact today he missed two words out of forty. Since using SWR he is seeing how the phonograms fit together. He himself has said that it's helping him to spell better.

Annette, 7.0-7.2. She reads a lot but she goes in spurts. Some months she is devouring books, other months she reads one here and there. Currently she is reading Christian Heroes: Then & Now (age 10-14). With spelling Annette, has improved. Learning the phonograms and the rules is helping. Currently the words are on the easy side for her because I'm combining her with Josh, but she is still learning. I added Megawords to give her more of a challenge.

Caleb and Brent both are at about 4.0. They can read the words on the assessment. To become fluent though they need to read, read and read some more. They can figure out the words so that's good. Learning the phonograms has really helped. I see them really studying the words to figure them out.

With regards to their spelling, they are improving but not much. I hope next year with PR 2 there will be more improvement. I'm mainly using PR right now for reading, so I'm happy with the results.

A Quick At-a-Glance of our Year so Far

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We finished week 30 of The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading. Four more weeks to go. Wow! We stuck with it.

Annette, finished her first half of Meaningful Composition. Language Arts she is done. With Math she has completed MM 3A and switched to CLE. She is currently on L.U. 308. Completed one progeny press guide and is almost done with CLE Reading program

Joshua, finished a year and a half of math. Completed MM 3A, 3B and 4A. Is half way through with CQLA, working diligently with spelling. He is having many 'light' bulb moments. Finished one Progeny Press guide and is almost done with CLE reading. One more Light Unit to go.

Caleb, is more than half way done with CLE Math 3. He also has completed 3A of Math Mammoth. Finished week 30 of PR. Reading has improved a grade level.

Brent, has completed parts of 2A Math Mammoth and Part 1 of Spunky math. He has started Part 2. Finished week 30 of Phonics Road. Reading has improved a grade level.

Ethan finished the first half Christ-Centered Phonics and has started SWR. He is slowly working his way through Spunky Math and has done some parts of Math Mammoth.

Lance, finished three Kumon Workbooks and continues to work through I Can! Series of cutting, pasting etc.

I know I have mentioned that we are not using two math programs per child but the kids are the one who wanted to add MM to their regular studies.

The two older children do have Social Studies and Science, but we are concentrating more on Math, Spelling, Reading, Writing, and Grammar. Everything else is considered extra. They continue to learn lots of history and science via audio books, dvd's and reading on their own.

They are both enjoying Christian Light Social Studies. Annette, almost daily tells me what she has learned.

All-in-all I am pleased with our progress. It's been a good year so far. Not always easy but good. Meaning that there were days when we would much prefer to not do school but we took one day at a time. One schedule at a time. One page at a time.

We love schooling at home!!!!

The Bathroom

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Last week, Lupe, was showing me how the bathroom was coming along. We were both standing and admiring the walls, the bathtub and the little space where we will put our washer and dryer; when I looked and said, "Um, Dear, how are we going to get our front-loading washer and dryer through that narrow door-way?" Lupe, looked at me and I am him, what could we do but laugh! We could have cried but that's not good for the liver, so laughing seemed much better.

My dear, wonderful, patient husband who finished putting in the floor, textured the walls and had the light plate/wiring already put in; undid the floor, tore parts of the frame down, redid the frame work, took the wiring out and widened the the doorway. Yesterday he put everything back together (except the wiring, we hired someon to do the wiring).

The way we see it, it could have been worse. We could have discovered the entry way was too narrow the day we were suppose to move in, but God is good. He brought it to our attention before the move-in date.

Sun and Moon

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The other day Lance, asked his dad, "How do the sun go down?" Lupe, told him God helps the sun go down.

Lance, repeated what Lupe, said and walked away. Before he was out of sight, he turned and said, "Dad, how do the moon goes up?"

Saxon Math

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I have been drooling over Teaching Textbooks all year and had planned to use it with the kids for 6th grade and up. For now I will have Josh use Saxon though. The main reason is I know that Saxon has the drill and repetition.

I had Joshua, take the Saxon placement test. I was really hoping he would score at least into the 6/5 book, but it looks like he will start with  5/4.

I ordered Saxon 5/4 Homeschool Edition with the Teacher Cd-roms. I also ordered the Dive Cd-rom.  Dive cd-rom has the lectures showing step by step instruction on digital whiteboard. I figured we can use all the help that the program offeres.

Hopefully it will be here soon so we can start right away!

Weeds & Spelling

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My Lance loves me so much. He gave me a bunch of weeds, um flowers. What a sweetie. Don't you just love when they give you flowers with little bugs in them? The last bunch of flowers had a slug in it! Yuck! I just ignored it and said, "Thank you."

Ethan, is so ready to learn how to read. I know I have mentioned that before, but thought I would say/write it again.

I can't afford Phonics Road student binder set yet + I would like to combine him with Lance. BUT he is so ready!!! What I decided to do was start Spell to Write and Read with him. He is on list B.

The marking are different than Phonics Road, so I make a mental note to use the PR marking instead of SWR's.

I don't know what's going to happen in the fall when Lance joins in. Some of these words will be repeated when Ethan, starts Phonics Road, but what to do? Ethan is 7yrs. old and wants to read. He can read cvc word but he wants more. I can't make him wait. We'll see how it goes.

Our Weekend

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Our weekend started off with Restaurant Night. Annette and Brent served dinner. It was great. I got to sit down and be spoiled. I made meatloaf, brown rice with gravy and a salad. Annette and Brent, set the table and did all the serving. They made little menus too.

Brent, stirring the gravy.

Sunday, we went to Payless. Joshua, was out of shoes. He needed a pair of play shoes, regular shoes to go out in and church shoes. His church shoes were so old. I didn't realize he was still wearing shoes that Grandma Estela bought for him over a year ago. My definition of shoes:

• Play Shoes: Shoes to play in around the house. They may get dirty and mama is okay with that. These shoes are also considered 'work' shoes.
• Regular Shoes: Shoes that CANNOT get dirty. They are for leaving the house. Going to the store or visiting.
• Church Shoes: Shoes only worn to church. The nicest pair they have. Usually need to be shined now and then.

Annette, Caleb, Brent & Ethan all needed a regular pair of shoes. By the time we were done shopping we had seven pairs of shoes.

The damage was over $200.00. Thankfully we had a 20% off coupon, so we paid $190.00.

Math for Josh

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You know I have been talking to God about next years curriculum. Josh, is using Math Mammoth 4A. My plan is for him to finish 3A/B by January. 4 A/B by July 2010. Finish 5A/B and 6A/B by the time he starts 8th grade. That's my goal anyway.

He started 3A back in June. We took of July do to a move. We were homeless for a month (living with some friends until our place was ready). When we moved here in August I had him start math again. He started 4A I think in late February. I also had planned to start Josh using Teaching Textbooks after he finished Math Mammoth 6B.

While praying, thinking, praying, searching, praying and sharing with Lupe, I had one of those 'light' bulb moments.

I was over at the Sonlight website reading AGAIN about TT when I decided to look at Saxon. As I was reading the 'weaknesses' about Saxon I realized that the weaknesses would be the perfect reason for Josh, to use Saxon. It said, "For students who don't require the drill, Saxon Math can be boring. In early elementary grades, it is relatively pricey. Compared to other programs on the market, it is weak on application and presentation.


1. Saxon's emphasis on drill and repetition allows a student to perform well within a concept; thus, the results on standardized testing are good. But it does not emphasize problem solving that requires creatively moving from one concept to another or thinking "outside the box" -- precisely the sort of skill necessary to excel in higher mathematics."

My Josh, DOES require drill & Repetition. Joshua, does NOT do well with "outside the box" thinking. Duh, why haven't I seen this before!

I have had tunnel vision, only thinking that math which has "outside the box" thinking was good. After all the talk and discovering with his reading, spelling and phonics. I kept saying that too many concepts get jumbled up in his brain because it has a hard time processing all the information.

With Math Mammoth the strengths of the programs is teaching children to ''think outside the box" which is fine and dandy IF your child can handle that. This is what I love about MM. It gets the child thinking. It gets the children to figure out how to become problem solvers, when they come up against something they may not understand, they can figure it out and understand the 'why' of math. It shows the child the different ways to figure thing out. All those little tricks are not good for Josh. He needs "just the facts" as they say.

Maybe once he 'gets it' then, he can use an out of the box thinking math.

I'm still in shock at how blind I had become, thinking that I new best.

One of Teaching Textbooks weaknesses is "If your children are absolute whizzes at math, they may find some portions of the lectures move "too slowly" and spend "too much time" in the basics."

Now to make a decision between Teaching Textbook and Saxon. I'm leaning toward Saxon because I like the' weakness' of lots of drill and repetition.

Josh, will still have to play "catch-up" with math. If we decide to start him next month using Saxon, I'll start him with 6/5. If we work through the summer and aim for him to complete it in December of 2010. He can start 7/9 in Jan. 2011, finish Sept. 2011. Start 8/7 Oct. 2011.

Or use Teaching Textbook level 6 now, level 7 in Jan. 2011 and start level 8 his 8th grade year.

Side note: Before using Math Mammoth we were using MUS. He used Alpha, Beta & Gamma. He actually did Beta & Gamma twice. Then I decided to try something else. We still have Delta sitting in storage. Josh, never did care for manipulatives. MUS is a wonderful program but it didn't fit Josh. I'll have to go into more detail another time.

2nd Day of Spring

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Last night before going to bed, Lupe and I looked out the window and there was already a few inches of snow.

There were strong winds last night. Took me forever to fall asleep because I was so cold.

Church was canceled, so the children are out playing in the snow.

This is under the carport. It was so windy that it blew the snow under and covered some bikes that my dear, sweet, children did not put away.

2nd Day of Spring

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Last night before going to bed, Lupe and I looked out the window and there was already a few inches of snow.

There were strong winds last night. Took me forever to fall asleep because I was so cold.

Church was canceled, so the children are out playing in the snow.

This is under the carport. It was so windy that it blew the snow under and covered some bikes that my dear, sweet, children did not put away.

Weather

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My Annette, is our weather girl. She checks weather.com everyday and will update us on the weather. She also loves the interactive map. She knows almost all the streets in our area just by zooming in and out with the map.

Today's weather report. We are going to have a cold-front. It stormed last night. Today Annette, wants to take a walk at 2:00 p.m. but it's going to be windy and  between 25-30 degrees. Yikes!

Almost Done With PR

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Before lunch I finished Phonics Road. Today we had the word 'try'. We added a vowel suffix 'ed' to it. I sang the rule tune and the children were able to correctly change the 'y' to and 'i' before adding 'ed'. Now, I don't know if they will remember that in their writing but it was fun. We were singing a lot of tunes today. We finished the first half of week 28.

I can't afford to purchase level two yet and we'll be done with level 1 in three  or four weeks. I'm thinking we'll review until I can get level two. If anything I can use SWR.

You know, I've been talking to God about this and I'm okay if I can't continue with PR, sad but okay. Although I still have plenty of time to save but I think the lesson is to be content with what I have.

No Shoes

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Lance and I worked on some school today. He made some squiggles on a paper, pasted strawberries on the strawberry plant, folded a mini accordion book and cut and pasted a dog.

I just got done with Joshua's spelling. He did pretty good. He is on list L-5.

Josh, wasn't too happy this morning. His shoes are falling apart. His toes are bursting through. He mentioned this to his dad a week ago and was upset because he still hasn't any shoes. Poor guy. I lost track of all the shoes and thought that those shoes were his 'play' shoes. I didn't realize that they were his only pair. I told him we'll go this Sunday after church and get him a pair of shoes. I seriously thought we JUST purchased those them.

Right now the kids are having one of their adventures outside with backpacks and all. I have to call in Caleb & Brent. Time for spelling!

Bed Wetting

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Last night at midnight I woke my son to go potty. He is always so out of it. He is a very deep sleeper.

I took him to the bathroom. I go in now. A few nights ago he sat on the potty without lifting the lid. I was like, "Get up!"

I act like I'm flossing or something. He just stands there rubbing his nose. He does this every time. He smashes that nose. I think his nose itches from allergies.

After a while I ask him if he needs to go. He looks at me and mentions that he needs to do something outside. He picks up the stepstool. I think he thought he had to do the laundry because that is his job in the day.

He starts saying that he has to go outside. He walks out of the bathroom with the stepstool, sets it on the couch on top of sleeping Ethan (Ethan, is sleeping on the couch). He continues rambling that he has to go outside. Finally he goes back to the bathroom. I ask him again if he needs to go. He said something but I'm not sure. He leaves again, goes to the living room, starts going through the laundry pile. I think he was looking for his Jacket. I ask him if he needs to go. He sits on the couch rocking like he has to go. Finally he goes back to the bathroom and goes potty.

I take him back to bed and tuck him in. He is sleeping on the floor. My children much prefer the floor over their beds.

I didn't take him at 2:00 a.m. The alarm went off but I was so tired. I felt bad and prayed that he wouldn't pee his bed.

Summer

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Can't believe I haven't blogged all day. It's been busy. My sister Cynthia called today around nap time and we talked for hours. I started dinner late too, but it was worth it. We always enjoy chatting.

Today an ice cream truck drove down the street. The children were so excited. They started running around the house looking for their money. Ethan, ran out with no money! I had to call him back and ask him how's he going to pay? He stopped and said, "Oh" we all laughed. He's a good sport that Ethan.

I'm starting to think of summer school for the kiddos. I don't want a full load. I do want them doing something though.

Since I just started SWR with Josh I am going to continue with it. I'll only use it twice a week.

What we will stop or slow down:

Annette

• I do want Annette to finish Meaningful Composition. She will be done with Book 4 first semester next week. If she is diligent she can finish 12 out of the 18 weeks in the second Semester. Finish up over the summer and start Writing Tales ll in the fall.
• Junior Analytical Grammar

• The Greek Alphabet Code Cracker. My kids will love this. It can be their own secret message.
• Continue with math. One lesson a day.

Josh

• Stop CQLA in June. He will have completed at least six months of the program. He can finish the rest of the program in the fall
• Start Junior Analytical Grammar with Annette.
• The Greek Alphabet Code
• Continue with math. Two pages a day or more.

Caleb

• Finish Christian Light math 3 start 4 at half pace.
• The Greek Alphabet Code
• Review Phonics Road 1

Brent

• Finish Spunky Math
• The Greek Alphabet Code
• Review Phonics Road 1
• Start Art Program

Ethan

• Continue with Spunky Math 1
• Continue to learn phonograms

Lance

• Practice learning how to write his letters
• Learn phonograms

CLE Social Studies

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Annette, is really enjoying Christian Light Social Studies 4th grade. Every day she tells me something new she learned. I did have her stop the Light Units. She didn't like them. The questions in the textbook I  actually like better.

Yesterday she was telling me that pizza, spaghetti, raviolis etc. are from Italy. I asked her where did she hear that from. Her answer, "Social studies!"

Today she was telling me about fault lines, the sizes of other countries and such. Again, "Where did you learn that."

"Social studies!" she replied. She is looking forward to learning about Africa!

I figure if she can tell me in detail what's going on then she is retaining what she reads.

Burned the Beans

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I have been wasting my day away watching Molly the owl and Phoebe the humming bird. I even burned my pot of beans. Yikes! How do you burn beans. We had Enchiladas with rice only.

Today the children finished most of their school early. They played army outside. The weather has been so nice. They are even doing push-ups out there. Hope the neighbors don't think I'm having some kind of boot camp with my children. Ya'know how some think children are so delicate these days.

Ethan, showing how he got the knife stuck. (yes, they are supervised)

Ethan said, "I got that in and I'm 7yrs. and this was my first time"

Joshua, got a 100% on his spelling test today. That was exciting!!!

Little of this and That

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My kids and I are still watching Molly the owl. Waiting for her eggs to hatch. The male owl McGee comes every so often to 'bond' with her. I tell the children he is hugging her but the people that can comment start writing things that are not "G" rated. Makes me upset because my kids can read. I try to steer their little eyes away from the comments for the next few minutes.

Phoebe the Humming Bird had a lizard come. It wanted her egg. She fought it off. You can see it here. You do have to fast forward to 100:56 I believe it was. Molly's site is more clean "talk" wise. No rated PG13+. But they believe she abandoned her last egg. It cracked. So sad. I was hoping to see it hatch.

Nothing bird related but here is a picture of Ethan, well, his shadow anyway.

My little photographer!

One of my boys still wets his bed. I won't say who to protect his identity. I don't think he'll appreciate me sharing this ten years from now, so I won't use his name.

He really wants to stop though, so I am waking him up at 11:00 p.m. and again at 2:00 a.m. No fun I tell ya, but my little guy is worth it! I have been sleeping in. I like to at least wake up at 7:00 a.m. but I have been waking at 7:30 to 7:40.

The children are still waking up EARLY.

Josh wakes at 5:00 a.m. He wakes Annette, at 5:56 a.m. They wake Caleb, around 6:00 a.m. Brent too but he doesn't always get up. Ethan and Lance sleep in. Hee, hee.

The two older children finish most of their school work between 9-10. I slow them down they say because we do spelling and they have to wait for me. Oh, such is life.

Blog Carnival

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One of my post about The Phonics Road, was submitted to the Classical Homeschooling Carnival. To read what other's are submitting please click on the above link. If you have anything to share you can submit an article too!
Ooops, sorry the above links takes you the Blog Carnival official site.


Here is the link to take you to our host. This one has the articles.

Thank you!

SWR L List

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While I'm waiting for my Sweets to get home I thought I would write. Lupe, is in the front house putting the floor in.

With SWR we are on list L-4. We still have L-5 & 6. Once we hit the 'M' list our spelling time might get a bit longer. Yikes! In list M they will start the 'review' words. Now I will use the Alpha List .

I'll report back once we start. I don't think the kids are going to like spelling to last more than 30-40 minutes. Too bad the review list were not on the cd's. Then they could do it on their own time and I can check it.

I know Annette, will know the review but Josh, still needs the practice. I wonder if I don't drill the rules everyday. That might work because we usually say the rules when they come up in a word like we do with Phonics Road.

Will keep you all updated. (hello out there, there, there, anyone there?)

SWR Diagnostic Test

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Today Josh & Annette, took their 3rd Diagnostic Spelling Test.

Last summer in August, I had them take an assessment test from Lets Go Learn.

Annette's spelling was at a low 3rd grade level. Joshua's was at a high 1st grade.

They both have improved greatly. Here is Annette's

• 8-21-09 Assessment low 3rd grade
• 11-30-09 Diagnostic Spelling test. Testing into SWR to find out where to start. 3.9 Grade level.
• 2-2-10 Diagnostic Test. Three months of using SWR. 5.1 grade level.
• 3-16-10. Diag. Test. Four months using SWR. 6.3 grade level.

Joshua, if you follow my blog struggles with spelling but he is very determined. He wants to spell correctly.

• 8-21-09 Assessment. Low 1st grade level
• 11-30-09 D.T. to test into SWR. 3.3
• 2-2-10 D.T. Three months with using SWR. 3.4
• 3-16-10 D.T. Four months using SWR. 3.7

As you can see they both are improving. I'm pleased with SWR. It's been tough learning how to use it but well worth it.

I'll have them take the Lets Go Learn assessment again soon. Hopefully the assessment and diagnostic test will be pretty close. We'll see. I'm praying that Joshua will at least move up a grade level. Annette, is pretty good with seeing a word, studying it and knowing it after that.

Monday-Spider-Pigs-and Me

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Yesterday was so nice. Not too hot or cold. I even played catch with Josh, Caleb & Ethan.

The children found a spider web and threw a mosquito in it. They saw the spider come out and take it's midday snack.

Caleb and I enjoying the beautiful weather. I received a few packages. Hee, hee. Oak Meadow Teacher Manual and a fellow homeschooling mama was so kind to send me the Core Package for Spell to Write and Read FREE! I want to teach my SIL how to use it for her little guy (will blog another day about that) . I thought that was really sweet of her to give it to me. There was no way I could afford another set.

I stayed in my sweats yesterday. Yikes! My Sweets much prefers when I wear something nicer but some days I want my sweats.

My dad came by as I was looking over my 'goods'. He brought us some Mexican Bread. One of our favorites is the piggies.

Yummy! They taste sort of like ginger cookies.

My dad stayed for a while. He can't wait to move into the upstairs apartment. My brother is giving him grief, but my dad won't do anything about it. He knows Lupe, will not put up with it. My dad never knows who or what he is going to find at his house.

The sooner they move the better.