Bugs

I saw this flying around outside of our home. I'm not quite sure what kind of bug it is, even after an extensive search on Google. I don't think I have ever seen one like this before. Any ideas?

It almost looks like it's made out of cotton.

Here is another cute bug. This was found on our squash plants.

We found this visitor at our front door. A Cicada, which I hear are quite tasty. I don't think I could ever try one though. ;-)

Our Curriculum for 2009/10

Well, we are officially ready for our next school year. I have finally placed an order for the rest of our curriculum. I am so excited to start! During the summer, we will continue with spelling, reading, and some math. We usually start our school year with the cores sometime in July. I like starting early. It allows me to take breaks throughout the year without out feeling guilty. This is especially helpful for me since I've been going to college. When the semester starts to get rough and I need study time for myself, I can ease up on my teaching duties at home and not feel like I'm failing my kids.

Here's the line up-

Drake grade 6:

• Sonlight Core 5 (5 day schedule) Study of the East - includes History, Readers, & Read-Alouds
• Horizon's Math 5
• Growing With Grammar 5
• All About Spelling
• Wordsmith Apprentice
• Wordly Wise 3000 5
• Apologia Science Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day
• Handwriting Without Tears Cursive
• The DK Illustrated Family Bible
• Rosetta Stone Spanish

Ava grade 2:

• Sonlight Core 2 (5 day schedule) Study of the second half of world history. Fall of Rome to present- includes History, Readers, & Read-Alouds
• Horizon's Math 2
• Sonlight Language Arts 2
• Modern Curriculum Press Phonics Level C
• All About Spelling
• Explode the Code books 5/6
• Wordly Wise B
• Apologia Science Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day
• Handwriting Without Tears Printing
• The DK Illustrated Family Bible

Extras:

• Mark Kistler's Draw Squad
• Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry 1 (I just had to get this. It looks very informative. I'll be taking come chemistry classes next semester; why not study it with the kids too right?)
• Story Starters by Karen Andreola

History Pockets, Journals, Tops Experiments & More

Since the school year is almost complete for us, I thought I would share some of the things the kids have worked on. Each child has their own large binder to put special projects in. I use plastic sheet protectors to keep the work looking nice. This is the first year we have started something like this, and I hope to continue. I like that it gives all of us a feeling of accomplishment; that we did actually do something throughout the school year.

Drake did lots of Tops experiments the past two years. This year he learned how magnetism and electricity work. I don't have any of those to put up, but I do have the corn and beans experiments he did last spring/summer.

When the seeds first sprouted, he had to draw and label the different parts.

Keeping a daily record is very important because the plants progress fast.

This year Drake did Sonlight Core 4 (the second half of American History). He learned a lot about the Civil War and World Wars. He also learned about different inventions of that time period. We used the Civil War History Pocket to add something fun and crafty to the mix. Instead of making a pocket out of construction paper, we slipped each project into one of the sheet protectors.

Below is a Sonlight LA 4 assignment. Drake had to think of something he wanted to invent and try to sell it to people by creating an eye catching ad for a magazine. He also had to create some kind of logo for his product. His invention turned out to be a car that, when driven, can actually make the world a better place.

(Notice the not so good spelling, ex: ded instead of dead. This is before using the All About Spelling program. I will post our progress with spelling sometime in the future.)

Here we have Ava's binder.

This year Ava did Sonlight Core 1 (the first half of World History). She learned about ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, Africa, Europe, and China and how the people lived many years ago. To go along with her Sonlight studies, we chose the Ancient Civilizations History Pocket.

The picture on the right shows a scene Ava drew of herself coming back from war, galloping through a Triumphal Arch.

The "Words to Know" section provides four vocab for words, which are great for review.

Here are a couple of Ava's journal pages. She can write about anything she wants to.

These last two are assignments from Sonlight LA 1. In this first one, she had to write a simile and draw a picture to go with it.

Here she had to write a poem about a color. Each line had to begin with that color, and she had to use her five senses to describe it.

There you have it. A little insider look at what we've done this year.

Drawing Fun!

Today was a beautiful day! The kids and I were able to get outdoors and enjoy the sun. I thought it would be fun to have them keep a nature journal. Charlotte Mason recommends that children have this type of journal, so they can draw everything they see in nature. It will help them later as a reference and would be something fun to look back on.

They quickly gathered their art books, pencils, and colored pencils and hurried outside. We took a walk around our house to see if we could find anything interesting to draw. I felt slightly limited since we live in town. I think a park or somewhere out in the country would have more to offer. Though it is only early spring, and everything (no matter where we go) is still a little brown and most plants are just now starting to shoot up out of the ground. However, we do have some crocus flowers in our front yard. I just had to ask them to draw those.

They are so pretty!

I know it's not quite Mason's teaching; I should have let them choose what they wanted to draw. Next time I'll let them pick anything they want. This time it was my choice. ;-) As they worked on their drawings, we heard lots of birds chirping and saw a few cardinals. It was quite enjoyable to do something different for a change. We also took our Miniature Magnifier/Microscope outside with us. I love that thing! We looked at our chive plants, sand, seeds, moss, and a worm.

~Drake's picture~
His drawing focused on showing not only the flowers but the bush beside them too. He was careful to draw nature exactly as he saw it.

~Ava's picture~
Her drawing focused directly on the flower and also included detail of the crumbled leaves that were scattered around on the ground.

I hope to incorporate more fun days like this into our school!