Homeschool Creations

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Wrapping Up the First Six Weeks

Even though we keep track of how many days we’ve been in school, I haven’t been paying attention to my calendar completely and was surprised to see that I had scheduled the week off for us {woo hoo!!}. Just to keep track of what’s going on in our school time overall, here’s a peek at what we’ve been doing the first six weeks:

History ~ We finished up our New World Explorers unit from Homeschool in the Woods and one thing that I learned is that we will be going through the next unit MUCH more slowly. :) The Time Travelers units are so packed full on information and I don’t want to gloss over any of it, so I would rather spread it out and make sure that it is all sinking in with the kids. The other thing that we’ll we doing is making a family lapbook rather than individual lapbooks. The lapbooks too are packed and it’s a lot to do for three kids, so we’ll work on them together. Next up ~ the Colonial Life unit!

Science ~ One of our favorite subjects so far has been Nancy Larson Science 1!! No problems getting the kids to sit down and take part in the lessons at all. The majority of our first six weeks was focused on the life stages of human beings and we are now talking about trees {parts of a plant, habitat, etc…}. You can read my review of Nancy Larson Science 1 here.

Spelling ~ Zachary has worked through about 20 lessons of Level 1 in All About Spelling and both of the girls are at lesson 10 on Level 3 of All About Spelling.

Language ~ Zachary has worked through 35 lessons in First Language Lessons Level 1 and is working on memorizing his fourth poem {he’s so proud of himself!!}. The girls have worked through the first seven weeks and are really enjoying diagramming {this would be me clapping my hands in glee!!}.

Writing ~ I put a temporary hold on Zachary’s writing because it was just a little too much for him, but the girls have been working weekly through Complete Writer Level 3 together.

Math ~ The girls are loving their Teaching Textbooks and doing great. Both of them are a little ahead of where they should be {Laurianna has worked through lesson 59 of Level 4 and McKenna has worked through lesson 41 of Level 3}.

Reading ~ We haven’t focused on anything in particular for the girls up to this point, just books that we check out from the library. Zachary has been working on his Cobweb the Cat book as a go-along with the All About Spelling lessons.

Spanish ~ Laurianna and McKenna are both working on Latin American Spanish and are cracking me up. Both are getting competitive and trying to see who can learn more words and speak sentences faster. :) It’s all working very well and they love the program. I’m not quite ready to start Zachary on it yet though.

Bible ~ We’re working hard on our Awana verses and also on reading through the Bible together. This has been one area we’ve really tried to focus hard on and establish a good routine and so far it has been going great! You can read about what we’ve done weekly in my Raising Rock Star posts.

Handwriting ~ All three of the oldest are doing a great job with A Reason for Handwriting. We’re working through the lessons weekly as they are laid out ~ the girls focusing on cursive and Zachary on his printing.

Art ~ Nothing done with this yet but we should be starting up in November with this.

PE ~ The class we were supposed to be a part of didn’t work out this year, so we’ll either wait until next semester or next year.

That’s it in a rather large nutshell! How has YOUR school year been going? :)

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12 Comments:

  • We have been rockin and rollin over here! We are finishing up our apple and bat unit this week and starting on pumpkins and spiders next week. Zachary's reading has just excelled this year and Molly is working on her letter and number recognition. Even Sammie (17 months) has been doing so good on her puzzles! I am looking forward to the next few months, as we have some exciting field trips plan to NYC for some holiday shows! Enjoy your week!

    Melis over at http://just-starting-out.blogspot.com/

    By Blogger Melissa N., At October 13, 2010 at 6:15 AM  

  • Sounds like your school year is off to an amazing start. We are loving our choices this year too - even though we've already changed up a few things (you know how it is when you get new stuff to review!)

    By Blogger Heidi, At October 13, 2010 at 7:41 AM  

  • Quick question...I have a 3rd and 1st grader. My 3rd grade, son, has very little to no interest in writing. Do you suggest a good curriculum or book to use for writing? I notice you use Writing With Ease, do you have to start with book one? (for a soon to be 4th grader).
    Thanks!!
    rhondaeuceda@yahoo.com

    By Blogger The Eucedas, At October 13, 2010 at 10:16 AM  

  • I have a question about All About Spelling. How do you do it with two children in the same level? I have two that are on the same level and I'm trying to figure out the best way to do that. Are your girls doing the lessons together or do you work with them separately? I have one that is moving a bit faster than the other, so I'm wondering if I need to get a second set of cards or if I can make it work with just one set. Thanks for any help or tips you might have to share.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At October 13, 2010 at 12:41 PM  

  • Right now they are working on the same lessons...but there will be a gap pretty soon, so I may have to keep you posted on that! I would probably make it work with one set of cards...but that's just me. :)

    By Blogger Jolanthe, At October 13, 2010 at 12:45 PM  

  • Can you remind us all what ages/grades your children are/in?

    By Blogger CLEM, At October 13, 2010 at 12:51 PM  

  • Laurianna, age 9, 4th grade
    McKenna, age {almost} 8, 3rd grade
    Zachary, age {almost} 6, 1st grade
    Kaleb, age {almost} 4, prek

    By Blogger Jolanthe, At October 13, 2010 at 12:55 PM  

  • We've been working through the New Explorers unit too and I was wondering how it was going for you. We're doing one notebook for my 3 kids. We still do 3 of the more craftlike things and I take photos for the book. I stretched it out to 10 weeks and that's working for us. I fell a bit behind with some of the cooking and my kids are looking forward to it, so we'll include those recipes for our 'celebration'. (my kids are 2nd, 3rd, and K) We're just behind you.

    By Blogger km, At October 13, 2010 at 5:25 PM  

  • I'm glad it has been going well for you! I just posted a 6-week wrap-up on my blog as well, and you are mentioned in it because you and your site have been a huge help to me. I homeschooled my oldest 2 through High School, then we adopted a little one so it feels like I'm starting all over, and lots of new curriculum is out there! My blog is athena-theloosescrew.blogspot.com
    Thanks again for your hard work helping us!
    Athena

    By Blogger Langworthy, At October 14, 2010 at 2:13 PM  

  • We've been working through the New Explorers unit too and I was wondering how it was going for you. We're doing one notebook for my 3 kids. We still do 3 of the more craftlike things and I take photos for the book. I stretched it out to 10 weeks and that's working for us. I fell a bit behind with some of the cooking and my kids are looking forward to it, so we'll include those recipes for our 'celebration'. (my kids are 2nd, 3rd, and K) We're just behind you.

    By Anonymous km, At December 15, 2010 at 12:54 PM  

  • Laurianna, age 9, 4th grade
    McKenna, age {almost} 8, 3rd grade
    Zachary, age {almost} 6, 1st grade
    Kaleb, age {almost} 4, prek

    By Anonymous Jolanthe, At December 15, 2010 at 12:54 PM  

  • Quick question...I have a 3rd and 1st grader. My 3rd grade, son, has very little to no interest in writing. Do you suggest a good curriculum or book to use for writing? I notice you use Writing With Ease, do you have to start with book one? (for a soon to be 4th grader).
    Thanks!!
    rhondaeuceda@yahoo.com

    By Anonymous The Eucedas, At December 15, 2010 at 12:54 PM  

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