Long Time No Post

So it's been almost a year since I posted something, anything.  The thing is, as kids get older there really isn't that much to post anymore, not about homeschooling anyways.  The kids get their work done, they read their books and we do science and history at the co op.  I have nothing else to post about here since I have Facebook, Tumblr and Pinterest, and pretty soon YouTube.

I just don't have any use for this blog anymore :(

School Week 6 2012/2013

This week A10 finished the book The Twenty One Balloons, and started her next Co op book, Surviving the Applewhites.  

I added a couple of things to her schedule, grammar and paragraph writing. She will be doing language lessons 1 day a week, grammar another day and paragraph writing on the third day. On the fourth day she'll be working on Editor in Chief.  I'm using Remedia Publications' Writing Paragraphs and Understanding Paragraphs ebooks.   She is really enjoying this and it is already helping her with her writing skills!!  I also purchased the Outlining ebooks from Remedia and we'll be working on them as soon as she is done with the paragraph book.

Now that she is in 5th grade, I need to start working on her writing skills.  I have 4 years to get her ready for high school writing.  This is where it starts! I downloaded a lecture from The Well Trained Mind about how to get the student ready for the high school years.  I will be following what Susan W Bauer said on the lecture. 

As far as X8, he is really coming along! Phonics is going great and he is getting more comfortable with reading and writing.  It's great to have that one on one time with him in the mornings while A10 is doing her independent reading.  It is really helping him!  We'll see how far he gets this year! As for math, he is having no problems at ALL!  He is really enjoying multiplication.  let's hope it stays taht way for the rest of the school year!!

School Week 5 2012/2013

This week A10 read the book From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and X10 read the book Higgins Bend Song and Dance.  I'm not making A10 do a summary for every single book she reads, she'll do two books in a row and then I'll give her a couple of easier books to just read.

X8 however is doing some type of literary response to every single book we read.  Not the same thing every time, and mostly requires him to draw something, which he doesn't seem to mind at all anymore.  I bought him several how to draw books and they have really built up his confidence in drawing!!

A10 is asking for a more advanced drawing book... she wants to be able to draw animals with more realistic details... I haven't found the right book yet.

School Week 4 2012/2013

This week we had a few outside activities plus all of that co op homework, lets just say our days were long... too long.  Most days we got done by 3:30- 4 o'clock.  That is a little too long. A10 got done reading Igraine the Brave and read through two Roald Dahl books, Esio Trot and Giraffe and the Pelly and Me.

X8 read the book The Bravest of Us All.  I think we had a breakthrough as far as his reading.   It seems he has no problems reading certain things, like when Daddy is playing his Avengers game in his computer, but there seems to be a "problem" when we are doing phonics... Hhhmmmmm.....  I pretty much told him to cut the bull and to start getting serious about it.  There were a few tears but I noticed a change in his attitude towards learning to read.

Well see what happens...

School Week 3 2012/2013

This week was our first week of Co op.  The kids had homework from their language arts class and of course, the science and history class.  It was our first full week of school.  We are really enjoying Astronomy, and for history, we picked up right where we left off.  It is nice having two days of science and two days of history, it makes it easier somehow.

We started Math U See, Epsilon for A10, and Gamma for X8. We are doing two worksheets a day, so X8 has three days of math while A10 has three days of mus and one day of Life of Fred Fractions, which BTW, she is really enjoying!

A10's independent reading for this week was the book Listening for Lions and X8's was The Cat on The Mat is Flat. After she got done with our book selection she started reading Igraine the Brave for Co op.

Co op went really well today, we had four classes instead of just three, which made it very tiring but the kids were all great!

School Weeks 1 & 2 2012/2013

With two weeks of school under our belt, I can now begin to relax and settle back into our school routine.
I started Week 1 with just independent reading and math review for A10 and read aloud time, phonics and math review for X8.  A10 read Strawberry Girl and X8 and I read The Real Thief.

On Week 2 A10 started language lessons, spelling and American history using Dear America books. On Wednesday she started Life of Fred Fractions as well as her Smart About the Presidents journal(once a week for both). She read the book Mr. Popper's Penguins and started Listening for Lions.  X8 started his cursive workbook, spelling and independent reading(he reads his phonics readers during this time, to himself or a loud) time.  We read the book Madeline in London.

Next week we start our weekly Co op(28 weeks).  We will be adding Astronomy, Mystery of History, Writing with Ease, and of course Co op homework to our list of school subjects! Our days are going to be full, that's for sure! That's not counting orthodontist appts, now that A10 is going to be getting braces next month.

We are looking forward to a new year of Co op! The classes for this year are:

• Science/Ancient History
• Civics
• Math/Logic
• Language Arts/Literary Analysis 
• Geography
• Anatomy/Health
• Pa History
• Art/Music

Fall! here we go!!!

Our Upcoming School Year 2012 Edition Part 2

The goal for this school year, once again is to help X7 (soon to be X8!) to master the skill of reading.  He is so close, he is starting to get frustrated with not being able to read certain things, which just might be the push he needs to finally make it happen!

We are going to use the first 45 minutes of each day, while his sister is doing her independent reading time, to focus on phonics, spelling and read aloud time.  He will be doing independent reading as well, he has readers that he enjoys reading! He won't be doing 45 or even 30 minutes, but maybe 10-15 minutes a day.

All is well when it comes to math and writing.  He loves doing copywork and he enjoys math. This year we are doing Math U See Gamma, which is multiplication!

Here is what I have planned for X8 for the upcoming school year.

Five in a Row: One book a week.  Instead of a lapbook, this year we are doing simple literary responses to each book. Name of the book, favorite part of the story, main character of the story, story setting and if he liked the story or not. He gets to check either a smiley face or a frowny face for that one! He can also draw his responses.

Madeline in London
Down,Down the Mountain
The Hickory Chair
Another Celebrated Dancing Bear
The Pumpkin Runner
Angelo
The Raft
Albert
The Finest Horse in Town
Babar, To Duet or Not To Duet
Snowflake Bently
Cowboy Charlie
When I Was Young in the Mountain
Who Owns the Son
The Gullywasher
Mrs. Katz and Tush
Grass Sandals
Roxaboxen
Arabella
They Were Strong and Good
Higgins Bend Song and Dance
How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA  
The Hatmaker's Sign: A Story by Benjamin Franklin
One Morning in Maine
The Patchwork Quilt
The Duchess Bakes a Cake
Mailing May
The Little House
Hanna's Cold Winter
The Bravest of Us All
The Real Thief (early chpt book)
A Grain of Rice (early chpt book)
26 Fairmount Ave (early chpt book)
The World of Narnia Collection
Modern Curriculum Press Phonics Practice Readers

Lamppost Co op Reading List: One book a Month
The Cat on the Mat is Flat
Sneakers by the Sea
House for Hermit Crab
My Apron Book
Mr. Putter and Tabby Pick the Pears
Sarah Plain and Tall
A Taxi Dog Christmas
The World According to Humphrey
Westward to Home

Math
Math U See Gamma

Writing
Handwriting Without Tears: Cursive
Writing with Ease 1

Spelling 
Learning to Spell Through Copywork Book A

Phonics
Explode the Code 3

History
The Mystery of History Vol 1

Science
Exploring Creation with Astronomy
Nature Study

Our Upcoming School Year 2012 Edition Part 1

We are back from our annual Roxbury holiday!  School is right around the corner.  For the next two weeks we'll be going to doctor appointments for both the kids and myself, getting any last minute shopping done for school supplies and getting everything ready for our co op.

Technically we start school next week on the 20th, but all I'm requiring next week is reading time and math review. The reading part is for my son's benefit and the math part is for my daughters benefit!

A10 has been doing plenty of reading this summer, thanks to her Kindle she has read almost all of the Warriors book series... that's a lot of books!  I'm so happy she finally learned to appreciate reading on her Kindle!! Ironically, her Kindle broke while we were at Roxbury. She had Grampa's old 2nd generation Kindle, for some reason the digital ink just froze on the screen and then the screen went fuzzy.
When we got back home Dh searched online to see if this had happened to others, and it had.  He tried everything but nothing worked.  So, we made a decision.  I told Dh how important it is for her to have a Kindle for school.  A lot of the books she is reading for me this year were on her Kindle.  So we decided to buy her a new one.  Thank goodness Amazon now has a $79 Kindle that is perfect for her.  Yes, I gave up my allowance $ and Dh gave up half of his and we had the $ to get it for her.  She had been saving some $ as well and she happily gave it up towards her new Kindle!!

This Kindle is smaller and lighter than the one she had, so we bought her a silicon cover in case she drops it, which I have to say almost never happened with her previous one. She has always been very careful with it. I was able to download all her books on the new Kindle and now she is ready to go!

Here is the plan for A10's 5th grade year!

American History: I am going to give the Dear America books another try this year.  Last year they were a bit much for her and myself, so we switched to the My America books that we hadn't read the year before. It turned out to be a great decision. I have a feeling she will have no problems with these books this year.  She  will be doing half of the reading this time around, we'll alternate days. There is a notebooking journal that I created to go along with all the books.

Turn of the Century(1900-1920)
When Christmas Comes Again: The World War I Diary of Simone Spencer, 1917
A Time for Courage: The Suffrage Diary of Kathleen Bowen, 1917

The Great Depression(1930-1939)
Christmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift, 1932
One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping: The Diary of Julie Weiss, 1938

World War II (1939-1945)
Early Sunday Morning: The Pearl Harbor Diary of Amber Billows, 1941
My Secret War: The World War II Diary of Madeline Beck, 1941

Biographies- These books will go along with the Dear America books.
Who Was Amelia Earhart?
Who Was Franklin Roosevelt?
The Story of Ann Frank

These Dear America books will probably take us two thirds of the year to read, which is fine.

Civics
Smart About the Presidents (go along with the 2012 elections)

Geography
Speedy Geography by homeschool bits

Science
Exploring Creation with Astronomy
Nature Study

Math
Math U See Epsilon (Fractions)
Life of Fred Fractions

Language Arts
Intermediate Language Lessons Part 1
Writing with Ease 3
Learning to Spell Through Copywork Book B
Vocabulary from Classical Roots
Editor in Chief A1
Handwriting practice both cursive and print

5th gr Reading List (independent reading time)
Strawberry Girl
Mr. Popper's Penguins
The Twenty One Balloons
The Story of Dr. Doolittle
Call It Courage
Plain Girl
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
The Door in the Wall
The Family From One End Street
Breaking Staling's Nose
Listening for Lions 
Ginger Pye
Little House books
Roald Dahl books
We will also be doing artists studies, Tchaikovsky and Van Gogh.

Lamppost Co op Reading List
Igrane the Brave
Surviving the Applewhites
Meet the Austins
The Shakespeare Stealer
Gypsy Rizka
The Saturdays
Dealing With Dragons
The Mysterious Benedict Society
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe_ Chronicles of Narnia


History
The Mystery of History Vol 1

Ancient History related read a loud & independent readers;
Discovers and Explores text and journal
The Five Chinese Brothers
Book of Greek Myths
Cleopatra
Detectives in Togas
Pompeii...Buried Alive!
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Aesop's Fables
The Book of Virtues

  

Purging and Yard Sales

Our church had a yard sale to benefit the quizzing team.  They are going to California in July for finals and they need close to $1000 per person.  They have been doing different types of fundraisers throughout the spring and early summer, the latest one, a huge yard sale.

I don't usually do yard sales because I don't feel like we have good enough stuff to sell and most of the time I would rather just give my stuff away, however when I heard about this one I started going through my whole house just to see what things we could donate to it.

I ended up having a car full of stuff, old books, kids clothes, clothes that no longer fits me, lots of  toys that were in great condition and kids books.  I'm happy to say most of our stuff sold on the very first day and it made the team close to $100!!! Not bad!!

Of course the thing I liked the best about it was purging my house of all this extra stuff.  Especially the kids' rooms and the basement! It is a great start to my home organizing summer!

Summer Update

You know it's been too long since I've posted anything on my blog when the whole interface looks different... :) Here we are on the third week of June already!
The kids and I are enjoying our summer vacation, I have all of my planning done, not only for Dampf Homeschool but for our Co op as well.  Everything has been printed, bound and put away in the kids' workboxes.  I have all the books I need for next year for both kids and for the co op!

A10 is done with ballet, the recital was wonderful! I'll have to post post some pics of the rehearsal soon.  She also participated in an Art Camp last week.  They got to do an art project everyday and she really enjoyed herself.

The boy has been playing with all his little friends, riding his bike, his scooter and roller blades! We have been doing the Library's Summer reading program, so we are keeping up with that during the summer.  I still have to get A10 to practice a bit more math!

I already handed in my portfolio to the local school office and handed in the kids' "registration" to homeschool next fall.  Next month A10 will be going to GreenWood Hills camp!! X7 is still a bit too young.

SO now for the rest of the summer I am going to, once again work on my home.  Organizing, clearing, throwing out... all that fun stuff!  I will be posting my planning post for both kids soon.  I always look forward to that post!! It is my favorite part of homeschooling! ha ha!!

School Week 36 2011/2012

Even thought we are on week 36 we are not done with school yet.  A10 has one more week of math and four more weeks of her Felicity class. The Felicity class is only 1 day a week and she has already read four of the six books for it, but she will have some homework and field trips that go along with the class as well.

So after next week, all that will be required of her is reading for 45 minutes and any homework from her Felicity class.

X7 will continue to do a page a day from Explode the Code 2 1/2 till we are done with the book. He will read from his phonic readers but not everyday, and I will continue some type of read aloud with him, but not necessarily during the day(before bedtime read aloud time).

This week is A10's evaluation week.  It is schedule for Tuesday.  I have everything ready for it, including the portfolio that I have to hand in to the local school office. 

School Week 35 2011-2012

We are almost done! We had a great last day of co op.  A10 has one more week of vocabulary work and she needs to finish her Editor in Chief workbook.  After that, all that's left is math.  She starts her Felicity class on Thursday, six weeks, one book per week. 
She has three weeks to go with math.  She will continue to read independently for at least 30 minutes a day.  Mrs. Long has assign them at least 10 books to read this summer. 

I'm thinking The Spiderwick Chronicles and Little House on the Prairie books since we never got around to reading them during the school year.

X7 has phonics and read alouds left, he is also working on cursive, but only because he wants to!  I really want to finish Explode the Code 2 1/2 so that in the fall we can start with book 3. 

I'm still working on co op plans for next year.  I have to work on lesson plans for our younger class.  I'm going to be working on that in the next few weeks so that once summer gets here I will be done with all the planning. 

I want to start working on my house again, just like I did last summer!!

School Week 34 2011-2012

Last week of Co op, last week of history! X7 is done with Writing with Ease Vol 1(we'll be doing the other half of the book next year). We are going to focus on Explode the Code 2 1/2. There is plenty of copywork there are well, plus he is working on his cursive workbook, which he loves!
We are rowing the book Miss Rumphius, which I love!

A10 is almost done with vocabulary, and she has a couple of weeks of Writing with Ease Vol 2 left.  For independent reading she reading Anne Sullivan's biography. She has read Helen Keller and Louis Braille's biographies as well.  I try to make sure she has a nice variety of books to read from.  She needs to read fiction, non fiction, historical fiction, fantasy and biographies... so far she has hit all of these!

Next week she starts her Felicity class, which is more historical fiction.  We have two field trips associated with this class... We are going to Renfrew's 4-square garden program on May 18th, and we are going to Olde Bedford Village - May 21st (all day) this will consist of 2 crafts for the students in addition to touring the village! 

Plus Calendonia State Park is hosting a Beginner Birding Class on Saturday, June 2nd, from 8 AM - noon. The cost is FREE! So of course I'm taking A10 to that as well!

I love warm weather, there are so many activities we can do now because of it! 

Our next co op meeting will be in two weeks and next week we get to go to MACHE homeschool fair! I can't wait!!!

School Week 33 2011-2012

Busy week! We have one week left of Mystery of History and Co op.

School Week 32 2011-2012

This was a three day week because of Holy week. A10 is done with her Primary Language Lessons! For the next 4 weeks she is going to be working on Editor in Chief three time a week till she is done with that as well. 
My plan for Writing with Ease is to get to week 30 and then we'll be done with that as well.  WWE has 36 weeks but I don't see the need to do all 36, every week is the same things, narration, copywork and dictation. I don't think an additional 6 weeks are going to make any difference. She also has four more weeks of vocabulary work.

As far as math, she will be on Lesson 25 next week, which means she has six weeks to go.... yes I know we only have four weeks of school left, but she really needs to be done with Delta, plus she is starting a Felicity class on April 26th and that it's going to be a six weeks class. On May 21st we have a field trip that has to do with the books and that time era.  So, as she is reading the Felicity books, she'll be doing math as well.  She should be done with math by the third week of May.

The boy is done with Beta and has started some form of Gamma, mainly the skip counting part.  We are also going to try very hard to get through the Code book 2 1/2 so that in September we can start book 3.  I want to do 3 & 31/2 plus 4 & 41/2 next year.

I am in full planning mode for next year, not just for our homeschool, but for our co op as well.  I just purchased Math U See Epsilon from Ebay, both the Teacher kit and the student kit for just $50!!!  I still need the fraction overlays but I'll get that at the homeschool fair I'm going to at the end of April. 

The only things I need to purchase for next year, besides math is her Editor in Chief A1 and her vocabulary 5 workbook.... THAT'S IT!!!!  For the boy I need.... NOTHING!!!
For co op all I need is the book list for their language arts class with Mrs. Long... I have most of his books already, I think I need Mr. Putter and Tabby Drop the Ball, but that book is not out yet.  For A10 I need a few more (5), but I have the whole summer to look for them... I will be visiting  Booksavers a lot this summer to see if I can find them there cheaper! 

School Week 31 2011-2012

This week X7 is done with Math U See Beta and we have started to do skip counting for MUS Gamma, that way he'll be ready for next year.  We have read lots of books, and finished Explode the Code 2, he just started Explode the Code 2 1/2! For Co op he'll be reading a Magic Tree House book.

A10 is coming right along with Math U See Delta, we should be done by the 2nd week of May, she has read even more books and is currently reading the Heller Keller biography, and when done with that will read George Washington Carver's biography, for Co op she'll be reading the book Soup.

She is almost done with her language lessons and vocabulary.  Co op will be done April 20th.

School Week 30 2011-2012

Hello

School Week 29 2011-2012

Hi!

School Week 28 2011-2012

Ha ha!.... You know what's coming!! Yep, you guessed it!! I've been busy.....

School Week 27 2011-2012

Super busy!!!