My homeschool week

Now that I'm getting into the learning groove, here's my system, in case you're wondering. I just sent this list to a friend. You can offer suggestions if you have any...but I'm honestly happy with what I've chosen to use. I also write a daily log of what we did.

Here's the list of curriculae that I'm using (Everything comes from The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise-Bauer and Jessie Wise)

1. History: History of the World by Jessie Wise
2.English: First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise-Bauer
3. Saxon Math
4. Spelling Workout
5. Latin: Prima Latina
6. Reading (for Elliot...Dottie reads all the time, everything): Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
7. Science: Adventures with Atoms and Molecules
8. Handwriting Without Tears
9. Abacus for math with Elliot...I'm just teaching him how to write his numbers better and how to do basic addition...I plan on getting a book at some point, but I'm not sure what to get. The one book I ordered was too easy for him.This is working right now.

And then lots of supplemental easy history books from the library.

And here's what a typical week looks like for me. I have two full days and two lighter days:

 MW: Morning: Spelling Workout (Dottie), Math (Dottie), Afternoon: Prima Latina (Dottie) at the same time as Reading (Elliot), both do Handwriting without Tears, English (Dottie), Math (Elliot) at the same time as Dottie doing memory work (poetry). We usually go to the library on Wednesday.

TTh:  Morning: Spelling Workout (Dottie), Math (Dottie), History (Dottie) Afternoon: Prima Latina (Dottie) at the same time as Reading (Ellliot), both do Handwriting without Tears, English (Dottie), Math (Elliot) at the same time as Dottie doing memory work (poetry), Science (Dottie and Elliot). On Tuesday, we go to story hour, and the older kids are enrolled in a homeschool group science class, so that's what I count for science that day.

F: My gathering/shopping/cleaning day. We also do crafts or projects for history. I think I want to start incorporating a lesson about composers and artists. I've got some books on hold at the library. Joe is also still teaching them piano, usually on Saturday. They practice every day.

Doing what we want

 Now that I'm starting to get the hang of homeschooling, I am starting to introduce more art and music on Fridays, when we have time. This past Friday, I had the kids do a melted crayon craft. I remember loving melting crayons together in elementary school. I didn't remember the particulars, but I knew I could make something that looked like stain glass.  So I researched on my favorite little kids website, notimeforflashcards.com, which has many cute crafts and ideas for teaching children. I found this craft for making stain-glassed leaves. I loved it because we have no real fall in Texas. The leaves don't change, because it's too hot. So here are our artificial leaves:

Step 1: Shred me some crayons with the cheese grater.

Step two: Let the kids choose from the palette of colors what they want to go into their leaf. Then put it on a piece of wax paper.

Step 3: Put another piece of wax paper on top of the crayon shreds, then use an iron to melt.

Step 4: Cut out a leaf shape on cardstock, then tape the wax paper to the back of the leaf shape.

Tada!

And we put them in our windows to add to our fall decorations.

And Ruby almost went to the store dressed like this. At the last minute, completely on a whim, she took  it off. That girl...

Good thing this is a private blog. We definitely are adopting the homeschooling unkempt look.

Elliot finished his book today called Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. We started it when he was 4...it took a while since I took a year off. But I can say that he is a good little reader.

Dottie doing her history coloring sheets.

Guy Fawkes Day and Halloween

 So maybe we celebrate our holidays a little early. Guy Fawkes Day, a British holiday celebrating Parliament NOT getting blown up by Guy Fawkes and his comrades in opposition to King James I, is really November 5th. But we learned about it last week in school, so we had to have a party on Saturday. Why? Because on Guy Fawkes Day, also known as Bonfire Night, you get to burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes. Usually it's a straw man thrown onto the bonfire. We opted to make marshmallow men, and then turn them into smores. When you think about it, it's a more gruesome ending to poor Guy Fawkes, but I think that was over most of the children's heads. They were just happy to be having smores. We also had some traditional English pottage, yummy bread, and, salad, and parkin, a bready molassey cake. We also watched a short video about Guy Fawkes and colored worksheets.

Elliot and his exploding smore.

The roasters lined up at the grill.

I love this little boy.

Evelyn's marshmallow man.

The girlfriend, remember?

And pictures from the school week. After church on Sunday, Ruby tried to fit into this dollhouse.

Today at lunch. This is really Ruby every meal. She wins messiest child award.

Dottie turned her toy/book armoire into a reading nook.

Vinegar and baking soda experiment.

This is when we used lemon juice in place of vinegar. We thought it would pop off the balloon!

Guess who pooped on the potty? This girl!!

I'm so grateful that I am doing better this fall compared to last fall. Last year, I couldn't even put up decorations. So it was nice to celebrate the fall this year! The kids were very excited!

My little turkeys' hands.

Mom, this witch is still going strong, despite the damage when it was originally sent, remember?

Week 3 of the great experiment

 So I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I decided at the beginning that I was going to take Fridays off from homeschooling. Now, I am incredibly grateful I made that decision.

You cover a lot of material in a home school day. Honestly, I know it. For example, math. Dottie is on lesson 30 of math. This is because I knew she knew a lot of the beginning of the book, so I had her do the worksheets in her book until she came to a concept she didn't understand. We came to that point yesterday, so I'm finally teaching her. Yes, there is still a lot of review, but that's okay. I know I've saved her at least a month of wasted reviewing.

Anyway. Back to Fridays. It's really hard to get things done during the school week. I have two kids to teach, and one to keep entertained while the others are learning. It is so hard to keep my house clean or to go to the store without completely disrupting our learning groove. Maybe I will get better at this, but as of right now, I have to do all of these things on Friday or the weekend. So, I'm glad I made the decision to keep Fridays free. They are still learning a-plenty, and I know I have one day where I can feel in control of the messes that happen from having 3 children at home, always.

Monday, I let the kids make their own pizzas. Dottie and Elliot made heart-shaped ones. Ruby ate a bunch of dough, so I had to take over for her.

Showing their pizzas. Yes, we are in various stages of dress (or undress). This is what happens when you're home all the time. Don't ask me where Elliot found Dottie's old night gown. And good thing Ruby's got the troll belly goin' on.

Tada!

I've turned over the piano instructing to Joe. He's a musician, right? He can do this part of homeschooling. This is Elliot's first lesson, where he's learning his finger numbers.

We're getting creative with what to do with these two while Dottie does focused study, like history. The monkeys are painting.

Another science experiment: the volume of sugar goes down when mixed with water because the sugar molecules fit in more densely with the water molecules.

So, I've been to two different libraries this week, mostly for Ruby's sake. On the way back from the one yesterday, I caved and bought McDonald's. This bribe is how I got Ruby to stop pulling books and DVDs off the shelves.

Another great perk of homeschooling? Free child labor! Just kidding. But I do like being able to have the time to teach the kids new skills, like how to peel carrots.

I haven't been very systematic with Elliot's math. I teach him something every day, but without a real plan. Today I taught him how to count by fives using this abacus.

Another week down

 So, we've done another week of school. The favorite part of school is the science experiments we do twice a week. This one was a big hit with the kids. We poured vanilla extract, mint extract, and almond extract into the balloons to see if the molecules of these substances were smaller than the molecules of the balloon. If we could smell them, the molecules were smaller, because the molecules could travel through the balloons. It worked for all of them. In fact, for the almond extract, the molecules were so much smaller that you could actually feel it seeping out. That balloon stopped smelling after a few hours.

Smelling the balloons.

The blue balloon, which had mint extract, broke after a few minutes. We're not sure what caused it, a flaw in the balloon itself or the extract.

Blurry hand! That mint balloon sure smelt good!

My boy drawing an illustration of the experiment.

Dottie recording her observations of the experiment.

What I said before about Ruby still holds true; we need to do things like science while she slumbers.

Dottie asked me if she could eat lunch and do her history worksheets at the same time...of course! She has also taken to calling me "ma'am." I think I may be finally developing a teacher persona in her eyes.

Another science experiment with red dye, hot water, and cold water.  It was to see if warm molecules move faster than cold molecules (the answer is yes). And I don't know what Ellioto's doing.

My biggest success of the week? After a year of cajoling, Ruby has decided to potty train herself! I'm as ecstatic as she is!