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!!!

School Week 26 2011-2012

Really busy!!!

School Week 25 2011-2012

BUSY!

School Week 24 2011-2012

A10 will be done reading Charlotte's Web today and is going to start The Boxcar Children for Co op, btw X7 read the book A Pair of Red Clogs last week, I've been getting my books mixed up.  That's what I get for not posting things on time!

A10 is on week 16 for Math U See Delta!  This is very good news because it means we will be able to finish it this year! She is really enjoying division... so far!  She is almost done with Book 7 of the Harry Potter books and is looking forward to finishing the Percy Jackson series as well!

X7 is rowing the book The Adventures of Taxi Dog for Co op.  He is getting better at reading everyday!
This week the kids are going to have a special craft at Co op during lunch time, they are going to make a Valentine's day "mailbox" and then give out valentines to all their co op friends!
They are very excited about this, we already bought the valentines, the ones with candy of course!

I will try to post all of the pics this week sometime... key word here is TRY!! ha ha!

School Week 23 2011-2012

Another late post... This week started with Dh complaining that his foot was hurting, by the time he usually goes to work his foot was in A LOT of pain so I told him to go to the ER instead to see what was going on.  It was no broken but probably a sprain... So he took lots of Motrin and went to work and stayed in his office all day!

A10 finished the book The School Mouse and started Charlotte's Web.  X7 rowed the book Daniel's Duck, he loved it!

We got some new readers for X7 and he is really enjoying them! he finished Explode the Code 1 1/2 and started book 2!

Both kids got to do a diorama for their Co op class, however I forgot to take any pictures of them.  Silly, silly me.. I'm feeling awful about this, I always take pics of stuff like this.. SIGH... I have a lot of pics to post but for some reason I keep forgetting to bring the camera downstairs...

We are having a Co op meeting on March 2nd.  A planning for next year meeting and I have been working on samples of what we are going to be offering for next year as far as science and history.  I created a survey/questionnaire so we know who is in and who is out and to see if anybody has any other class ideas.

This is taking a lot of my time which is way I haven't been working on the blog.... sorry!

School Week 22 2011-2012

This post is late, really late... A10 had a wonderful b-day party on Thursday! On Saturday we got her a small chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream for her to enjoy on her actual b-day, Sunday the 22nd.  Well, Saturday night she threw up... we thought it was because of  all the cake and ice cream she ate... until Wednesday morning when the boy threw up as well.  He didn't have ANY cake or ice cream.  They both felt better after vomiting but just in case I put them on a toast and juice diet for the rest of the week.

 I came down with a little nausea and put myself on the same diet as them.  I thank God there was no vomiting for me but it was not the most pleasant of weeks.  We are all fine now, our appetite is back to normal and school is back to normal as well.

I'm trying to remember what books we read during this week... I know A10 read a Ramona book, X7 read the book Warm as Wool.  We got our History, Math and Language Lessons done as usual but that was it...

School work got done quickly and the rest of the time was spent resting and working on getting better.. all of us!  It could have been A LOT worse and I am thankful that we were speared!

School Week 21 2011-2012

This week we have a four day school week since we are celebrating A9's birthday on Thursday! We are going to Monkey Joe's.  I've never been there but both kids have and they love it!  We will be going around mid morning and staying till lunch time.  My baby girl is going to be 10 years old!!

A9 soon to be A10 is going to be reading a Ramona book this week, I'm giving her a little break this week, so she got to pick which book she wanted to read!
X7 is rowing the book Very Last First Time.

Co op went very well last week, they seemed to enjoy health class and we had tons to do for history!
We have homework again so school will probably go a little longer than it has in the last two week... which is fine!

I'll be posting pics of the birthday party later in the week!

School Week 20 2011-2012

This week both kids are reading co op book selections, A9 is reading Babe: The Gallant Pig and X7 is reading The Drinking Gourd: A Story of the Underground Railroad. We are back to a full load this week!  We really miss science but the kids are enjoying history.  Also, the days are not as long since science used to take over an hour every day and history's only taking us 15 - 20 minutes.

A9 finished the 5th Harry Potter book, she is now reading the 2nd Percy Jackson book then she'll be reading book 6 Half Blood Prince.  I told her after she is done with book 6 she can go ahead and read book 7.  I'm hoping after reading all Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books, she'll get into Artemis Fowl!! or maybe 39 Clues... we'll see!

Co op starts up this Friday as well.

School Week 19 2011-2012

Holidays are over and it is time to start our 2nd semester of the school year.  As usual I change things around a bit, January and February are hard months around here so every little bit helps in making it less blah!! ha ha!!
We are done with science, American history(through reading My America books), and spelling.  We are now finally starting world history! We are using Mystery of History Vol 1, which is ancient history.  I've had this curriculum since the end of A9's K year.  To say I have been looking forward to doing this is an understatement!  The great thing is we are also using Mystery of History for our Co op class!
Vol 1 is actually 36 weeks, but we are only going to do half (18 weeks) this semester and the other half next year.  Vols 2 & 3 only have 28 weeks, so it will be easier to get them done in a year each.
Each week has three lessons, each lesson is no more than 2 pgs. You can read all three in one day if you wanted to, but I'm not doing it like that, we'll do one lesson a day and on day 4 we'll try to do an activity and any quiz or exercises.  On co op day we will go over the quiz (or exercise) any mapping exercises and of course our timeline!
A9 will be starting a new vocabulary curriculum, Vocabulary from Classical Roots 4.  She used Worldly Wise last year and enjoyed it, unfortunately book 4 is 20 weeks and I don't want to do 20 weeks of vocabulary.  Classical Roots is only 14 weeks.
As far as read alouds, we'll be reading the book Adam and His Kin, this will be a great book to do along side MOH, especially in the beginning. I also want to do Gilgamesh the Hero, and other ancient civ related books.  We'll see how far we get.

As far as independent reading, I'm hoping A9 will get to read the Little House books. Again, we'll see how far we get. She is still reading The BFG since she took a break from it last week.

X7 will be rowing the book A Farmer Boy Birthday.  He really enjoys the Almanzo books! and of course any books assigned by the co op.

Co op starts again next Friday! So now the kids will have World history instead of science and Health for 7 weeks, after that we go back to art for the last 7 weeks of co op. 

Happy New Year everybody, here's hoping we all stay healthy in 2012!!

School Week 18 2011-2012

This week the kids will be working on math and reading... that's it!  A9 is still reading The BFG and X7 will be reading an assortment of Christmas books.  I will be posting pics of our Christmas weekend later today.   It's going to be a busy week since we are going to be getting ready for our trip to Nina and Grandpa's house!

More later!

Bunny Update

Too many things have happened since I last posted about our bunnies!  Momma bunny was pregnant again, she weaned Piggy at 4 weeks and started to get a nest ready for the next litter. Piggy and Fuzzball were able to bond since Momma did not want Piggy anywhere near her of the new nest.  I was a bit worried about Piggy having been weaned so early so I took her to the vet and Fuzzball as well.  No worries, Momma gave Piggy all she needed!  BTW, Cocoa has been fixed, so no more babies!  It's been 4 weeks today, so I guess it's safe for them to be together again.

Remember them??

Look at them now! btw, we are keeping them! Fuzzball is my miracle bunny and I just can't let him go and Dh is absolutely in love with Piggy!!!  

Mom and Dad will be going back outside once it gets warm again, they always enjoyed being in their rabbit hutch, Piggy and Fuzzball are staying inside!  I do not want to have them all over my basement however because of our dogs so we started to do some research about how to take care of inside bunnies.

I purchased the book The House Rabbit handbook and in it, it mentions bunny condos.  I went to the website to find out more about it. It has a video showing you step by step how to build them.

So we did it! We bought the materials and went to it! here is a our new Rabbit Condo!

What we had after day 2, waiting for the two shelves to stick.

Condo complete! All we need now is a rabbit!

There he is, Cocoa in his new home.. for now. This condo is going to be for Piggy and Fuzzball, but for now it will be shared by Cocoa and Coconut.  Once the babies are all grown and gone she will be in there with him!  We had to put towels underneath so the babies will not go under it. 

Speaking of babies, here are some pics of the new litter of babies, she had 8 but the runt died early on, now there are 7 left and they are all deliciously cute!!  It is almost impossible to take pics of them since they are ALWAYS moving around, and beleive me, these pics do NOT do them justice, they are way cuter in person!

Momma and one of her clones!! ha ha!! there's 3 tan ones just like Mom.

The nest is on the left, ever since they opened their eyes they are everywhere BUT in there. They take their naps under the desk instead of inside the nest... I guess when it is chow time they all come out and she feeds them.

There they all are! Three tan ones, (the other tan one is with Momma) three black ones, and a white one!

Early Christmas

We always celebrate X-Mas early at our house since we normally travel to Nina and Grandpa's for the Holidays, so here are some pics of this past weekend!  The kids exchanged gifts they got for each other and they got to open their stocking gifts!

School Week 17 2011-2012

I'm a little late with this post but I was busy yesterday and today we got done with school early, so here I am!
This week we are working on the essentials... science, reading, math, phonics, and finishing spelling for the year. We are working on our last science lesson of Zoology 3, dinosaurs! A9 is done with The Witches and has started the book The BFG also by Roald Dahl... it seems like we are having a Roald Dahl book party over here,but the truth is I have been buying these books over the last few years from scholastic book club. Most of them I got for a dollar!

Now that I know A9 is enjoying them so much I want to get the rest of them! Thankfully I know families who have the rest of the books so I won't have to buy them all...

X7 is rowing the book The Clown of God, a Christmas favorite! We are almost done with The Stray.  This is our last week of Co op for the year. During lunch we will be having a great feast! Next week we'll do school for three days, math and reading only. 

I have so many pics to share but the camera is upstairs... so be on the lookout for another post very soon!

School Week 16 2011-2012

I made a mistake last week, I posted that we were rowing the book Amber on the Mountain, when in fact the book we ended up reading was In November. I don't know what I was thinking, got a week ahead of myself I guess.  Anyways, this is the week X7 is rowing Amber on the Mountain.  We are also still reading the coop book The Stray, we are reading one chapter a day, it will take us the next two weeks to finish it, which is not a problem!

A9 is reading The Witches by Roald Dahl, she is really enjoying books by Dalh, I also have The BFG(big friendly giant) I wonder if she'll choose that one next?! For our read aloud time we are doing the final book of the Meg's Prairie Diary series.  After this week we will be done with read a louds till next semester.

We have two more weeks of co op, and three more of school... I am going to be doing school on the 19th, 20th and 21st of Dec... mainly math and reading time, just like we did for Thanksgiving week

I am done with Christmas! All of the gifts have been bought and wrapped, stocking gifts and Dh's gifts! I am DONE! We have our tree, a real tree for the first time in Dampf Homeschool history! We love it!  it is 6' tall and it is perfect, I found it at Lowe's while I was looking for something completely different, it was just there waiting for me!

I will be posting a bunny update soon, Momma had another litter of bunnies, 8 of them!  One died on Wednesday, the runt but the other 7 are looking very healthy, all with full bellies! I will be posting pics very soon.  Amazing what a difference a week makes, they will be opening their eyes in a few days.. I can't wait!