Week 34

Grade 1

I did reading lesson.  I used a little book.  I read Pig Wig and Cat.  I figured out what a question mark is.  You put a three on a six.  Then put another three on it.  Then you write a three on the line.  Then a two, then a 6, and a 1.  I watched Bill Nye the Science Guy.  He says everybody needs water.  He make a cloud from water and matches.  Then put the little pump on it for a lid.  Then it pumping a little bit and he count to three.  Then he take lid off and it make a giant cloud.  I have a new PE class.  I have a new teacher.  His name is Matt.  I miss my other teacher, kind of.  I have the same teacher as Porter.  I play crab soccer just like Porter did.  

Grade 4

We are studying Ecosystems, Habitats, Cycles and whatever else we encounter in this lesson.  He played a food chain vocabularly game.  He read about Food cycles.  

...and in his own words

I read James and the Giant Peach.  James crawled into the Giant Peach and found a whole bunch of giant bugs.  Then they slept inside the peach.  The bugs started gnawing on the stem of the peach tree that was holding the peach.  Then they went rolling.  In Math, I'm still regrouping and multiplying.  It's getting easier.  I did three pages of Italics and they are all cursive writing.  They were just letters.  We watched Bill Nye the Science Guy, The Water Cycle.  He made a cloud with a jar. He put water in it.  He put a pressurizer tube on the jar.  Then he pressurized it.  And, it didn't work. So, he lit matches and put them in there for dust.  Then he tried it again.  He counted to three and it made a cloud.  In PE class, I did a whole bunch of warm-ups and then we played crab soccer.  My dad and me looked out at the rotting log.  We lifted part of it up and found a snake skin.  We found this little duck fuzz at the pond.  We, also, are hatching chickens with our Grandma.  We put chicken eggs in an incubator.  

Grade 7

Well in reading I read to chapter 19 in Oliver Twist where Fagin and Bill Sikes were planning on how to break into a house and Bill Sikes needed a small boy and Fagin suggested Oliver.

In math I used the multiplicative inverse to solve for the unknown and I guess its sorta like algebra or pre-algebra and I also am going to try out teaching textbooks but since I have to do this report I will tell you about it next week.

In jump in I did skill 5 which was about the introduction of my opinion paper and I did 2 pages of italics.

In science I watched bill nye which porter pretty much did my report on it for me:D

In P.E. we did a TON of warm ups then we played crab soccer which left my wrists pretty sore(if you want to know what crab soccer is you have to crab walk and play soccer).

week 29

This week was a bit laid back.  We had to get back into a new schedule.  After a few weeks off, we are back at the YMCA for a new session.  We are really enjoying our classes.  Our YMCA is wonderful.  Everyone is very kind and the environment is so nice. It's a nice place to hang out between classes.  The rest of our year should be a lot of fun. We got in new curriculum and supplies from Waldorfsupplies.com, Delta Education, and Rainbow Resource.  We are going to start having chalkboard drawings (I'm a bit nervous since I'm not very artistic), a new writing curriculum for the Prophet, Hooked on Phonics for our youngest boy, and three Science in a Nutshell kits from Delta.  I've been looking for science projects or kits that actually include everything.  The Nutshell kits look awesome.  They have enough stuff for three children and they include everything.  They even come in a great storage box.  They contain and activity guide and a journal for the kids.  I'll definitely do review posts about this.  

E-Grade 1

I did Explode the Code.  I write the letter i.  I colored matching words.  I write the letter a.  I read fan, mat, gas, cap, tag, and nap.  

On the Banks of Plum Creek.  Grasshoppers ate all the fruit, plums, corn, grass.  They ate all Pa's wheat.  

We read about Johnny Appleseed.  I did a map of where he went.  I made some cards.  I have to put them in order.  It's how an apple tree grows. First has a seed.  Then a sprout. Then a seedling.  Then a tree. Then blossoms.  Then Apples!

P-Grade 4

I'm in lesson 23 in math.  I'm still working on multiplying.  One of the chyrsislis looks like it's going to crack open soon. In PE, we played elimination.  Elimination is where there's four goals, four teams, and one soccer ball.  If the ball gets in a goal it looses a point.  It was really fun.  We went swimming last night as a family.   I did a spelling Test.  

G-Grade 7

In spelling last time i missed alot of words in group 32 so i had to redo it.
In History i read a book called johnny appleseed the story of a legend and did a outline on story of the world about the Maori people of new zealand.

In math i did 2 pages of lesson 22.

In italics i did 2 pages.

The Warrior Grade 1 Week 28

DSC08441
Originally uploaded by OakBlossoms

I did Math. It was hard. I count by tens.

It was warm at the pool. I got my first swimming class. I needed to walk around the pool. Then I jump in the pool. We hold our breath and jump in water and stay in water for awhile. Then you breathe when you jump out. I front kick and back kick.

There are four cocoons. One is not a cocoon. It's trying to make a cocoon.

I take owl pellets apart. I take bones and pull them out. I liked it. Gibran not like it.

Week 27

This is week 27 for us.  Doing this weekly reports was a bit painful at the beginning of the year.  It's sometimes still painful for the youngest boy.  But, our oldest-The Prophet-pointed out that we had done a lot this year and it was nice to see how far we had come this year.

The Prophet-Grade 7

In history I outlined pages 340-341 which was about the factory workers of the industrial revolution and pages 350-351 which was about how the U.S.A. expanded In the 1800s and the pages were in the usborne internet linked encyclopedia of world history, I also colored the haiti flag, read chapter 30 which was about the haiti revolution and did map work in story of the world.

In math I did lesson 19 which was reducing mixed numbers.

In Italics I did pages 49,50,51.

In spelling I did spelling tests 32 and 35.

In science we read about the comparison between blood In living beings and sap in trees and plants In a book (I forgot its name) and I did picture of the comparison.

The Peacemaker-Grade 4

In Story of the World, I colored the Haitian Flag.  The African slaves rebelled.  The Africans called it Haiti.  

In Math, I did lessons 21 and 22.  

The owl babies are big and fluffy.  There is one more egg left.   

We got Painted Lady Butterfly larvae.  They are already growing.  They are making some silky stuff.  

I am on chapter four of Superfudge.  Fudge is Peter's little annoying brother.  

The Warrior-Grade 1

We learned about our eyes.  They can't move in different directions.  They can't move this way and that way.  Our pupil is dark and it turns bigger so you can see better in the dark.  Then it's in the sun.  It turns small.  

I added tens.  It's hard!

We got caterpillars.  They will turn into cocoons and then turn into butterflies.  

Escher's Schedule

Escher's Schedule
Originally uploaded by OakBlossoms

Escher is learning the days of the week. He is going to start working on doing his own schedule each week. I'll let him draw pictures till he can write one out on his own. I really wish I had done this with his brothers when they were younger.

Teaching the Alphabet Waldorf Inspired

So, I've read about Waldorf for many years.  I wanted to try Oak Meadow with my oldest in Grade 1.  That is actually in one of my first posts way back when.  But, I never did.

So without regrets and perfectionism we are will work through the alphabet equipped with stories from A Journey through Waldorf Homeschooling Grade 1, crayons, paper, and our imaginations.  He has already a half a years practice with letter, writing, and some reading instruction.  So, what you will see here isn't typical or wonderfully artistic.  But, it's inspired...and remember it's our journey.

Here are some more resources I dug up about Waldorf Inspired Alphabet learning and teaching.  If you have anything to share let me know and I'll add it.

Here is Elisabeth working on her main lesson book.
Artemis Moon shares how to make your own Waldorf inspired wall cards.
Road to Joy shares how she made the Alphabet hers.
Sara @ Teaching from the heart.

Form Drawing

I've been interested in form drawing for awhile.  I have been hesitant because I felt like there was some secret knowledge.  I'm just starting with my Grade 1 son. We are doing forms as they introduced in A Journey through Waldorf Homeschooling Grade 1. I think it will be some good practice.  He has already been doing some basic letter writing.  So, he played with some of the ones we did.  But, honestly I will not stop because I can't do it "right".  We enjoyed the process and I think that is what matters to us.

Here is a slideshow from Millennialchild.
Curriculum and more information from Barbara Dewey and Christopherus.
Some lovely examples at Nature Nest.
A Youtube video from A Little Garden Flower. And, the DVD set.
A form drawing lesson on a chalkboard at Flickr.  (Check out the entire set of chalkboard drawings.  They are gorgeous and I'm not quite there yet=))

Monday

Monday
Originally uploaded by OakBlossoms

From top to bottom. A Journey to Waldorf Homeschooling Grade 1.  This is just the outline for the first month.  We are just going to start at the beginning of the curriculum.  I figure some of it will be review even if it's in a different form.  It shouldn't last us a year, but I didn't want to jump up to Grade 2 yet.  A few books to read aloud including Gail Gibbons From Seed to Plant.  We love Gail Gibbons!  Spelling Power book for Spelling Tests.  Math U See for the two older boys.

Weather Tree

Our Grade 1 student has been studying weather.  We have read a ton of books from the library.  Last month we printed a weather chart from Enchanted Learning.  I really wanted to get this weather chart.  But, sometimes homemade just hits the spot.  The little guy decided to just do this month on his tree.  That gives him plenty of room.  I think next year we will branch out (ha ha ha) and do a years worth at once.  I wanted to share a few more links on weather trees here and here is a easy verse to sing in the mornings or while you are coloring in that leaf.




I'm not sure where the idea originated from, but Rockin- Granola said it was described in All Year Round.  

Moving towards Waldorf

We really are moving towards Waldorf.  I have purchased a Grade 1 curriculum and doing some work with my youngest son.  But, I've been reading and studying and moving towards Waldorf.  I'm not going to go crazy and drop everything we are doing now.  Partly because it would be a lot of work with the VA program we belong to.  I don't want to rewrite all their goals for the year.  So, I hope you enjoy some of the changes you see here.  


I hope it helps others who feel like maybe it's too late for their family or because they are Christians or because their income level is too low.  Those are the reasons I have fought over the years.  But, honestly something has changed and opened for us.  I think that change was our little girl.  But, it's blossoming into so much more.


Some of my favorite Waldorf Inspirations currently are:
The Online Waldorf Library  This site is amazing.  There is an unlimited amount of information to completely overwhelm you =)
These youtube videos from A Little Garden Flower were the kick in the pants I needed to get going.   
Waldorfmama has a lot of eye candy to devour.  Just like any candy, you could get downright sick if you thought you needed to run out right now and make the perfect Waldorf home.  Enjoy the beauty.  See what posts you are more attracted to.  Make a wishlist for upcoming birthdays.  I love her daughter's bedroom.  I've been wanting to change our colors since I was sick during my pregnancy.  I spent way too much time in there.  I've been looking everywhere and her pics really resonated with me.  

The Warrior Grade 1

Along with the following plans, he will be very active and do lots of art projects. We plan on joining the YMCA. He might take art lessons from his Aunt.

Read Alouds

I'll probably pull read alouds from the booklist for Ambleside Online 1.
The Little House in the Big Woods

Holling C. Holling Books
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
King of the Golden River by John Ruskin
Peter Pan (or, Peter Pan and Wendy) by James M. Barrie (parents may want to read this one aloud to edit, see below)
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Pocahontas by Ingri D'Aulaire

English/Language Arts

We are following this scope and sequence from Ambleside Online
He will continue to work on phonics till he can read. We are using Explode the Code and ProgressivePhonics.com.
Oral narrations
Italics Book A
First Language Lessons 1.

Math
Math U See Primer

History

Story of the World 3

Science

Science probably won't be a huge point this year. Reading is that most important point. I know little boys love Science though. His brothers are doing Real Science 4 Kids Biology. My plan is to just order library books on the same subjects & have him do a notebook page for each subject.

2009-2010 Printables, Plans, and Goals TAKE 1

I'm going to start making strange posts to keep track of stuff I would like to plan for the upcoming year. I would like to print off what I need before the actual year, if not just 6 weeks at a time.

I'm going to get more notebooking going this year, too. We end up with scattered papers a lot and no real method to organize them.

I'm posting plans for each child, as well. I'll update them as we go along this summer according to budget restraints mostly.

We are on the waiting list for a virtual academy. So, that will really change how I plan for the year. The VA would allow us to purchase more curriculum especially workbooks that would make things easier to open and go. It would, also, give us the allowance to do some fun stuff like field trips and the YMCA. I will need to keep better track of what we are actually doing including insuring that goal hours are met.

Planning & Goals

I'm going to give the children a 6 week planner sheet at the beginning of the Term/quarter. That way they can do a check off each day. I'm going to use the form from Ambleside Classical. It's on the right hand column of the page and is for Openoffice. It's easy to use it for my own subjects/curriculum. I think I will use the boxes in the right hand corner for keeping track of books read, character traits, or inspirational quotes. If we join the VA, I will include a spot to keep track of hours. They are going to get it printed on their favorite color. The Prophet is red, The Peacemaker is Green, and The Warrior is blue.

Character and Habit Training

I can't believe I'm even considering it. But, we started discussing a chart of character qualities that I printed up. I'm not sharing it because I don't entirely agree with some of the families methods. The boys have responded really well. We did get some character lessons in when we used KONOS, but we haven't used that in the last few years. It's nice to have the chart because I don't think I could come up with a list like that on my own.

These free cards might be helpful. I can print them up and insert what they need to work on. But, I wouldn't have them earn anything for them. I can't keep up with reward systems.

History

I'm pretty certain we will use at least Story of the world 3 for the upcoming year. I've never had much luck using the Activity Guides. It seems to slow us down and I end up feeling guilty for not doing activities. Activities that my children never seem to enjoy.


I'm trying to decide if I want to do a History Notebook as described in The Well Trained Mind. My oldest is not fully at the Logic Stage yet and I think it would be to confusing to keep track of.

I have a good size set of History Scribe pages. I plan on printing those out to go along with some of the chapters. If I run out, I think I will utilize the Free History printables here. I like the looks of either the second one down on the left or the top middle one with the timeline. I would like to use google images and pull up images to use for notebooking, as well. I might throw in a few packs of "real" notebooking paper to liven things up a bit.

I've been wanting to start a Book of Centuries for years. But, we start and stop and loose the pages. I like the look of this one. I should probably put it on some nicer paper to make it more durable.

There was a lot of talk on the Well Trained Mind Forums about creating History notebooks. I'm not interested in binding anything. But, I would like to have everything prepared for the 6 week period. Anything that helps with keeping me from having to recall all the steps I want to take. I'm getting way to distracted with having all these kids and now there is going to be a baby. I know Peace Hill Press offers the notebooking pages from SOTW already printed up. We tried those with SOTW 1 and they didn't go over well. But, it's one of those things that I might consider if we join the virtual academy.

I love using these Story of the World planning sheets. I use them more as a log of what we read or notebooked during the week. I don't like planning supplemental materials. We never have the budget for extras. So, we depend on the library. I never know if we will enjoy something from the library or if it will even arrive around the time of study. It, also, lines up the 42 chapters into a "real" school year. I've been using the one for SOTW 2 and it's keeping me on track and giving me some focus.

Science

I would like to do some sort of Life Science with the boys. We did a little introduction a few years back. But, they were really young then. It really depends on my budget constraints. I have Apologia General Science and I might start doing that with my oldest. I can stretch it out over two years.

Read Alouds

I might do notebooks for some of these. Here and Here are some samples. A narration per chapter.

This Country of Ours

Language Arts

Here is the scope and sequence at Ambleside Online.

We use Italics for Handwriting.

We started some copywork this year. I will continue with that for a bit in the summer and pick it up again during the school year. It made a huge difference in handwriting. I like the Italics because the boys are doing better with it. But, there isn't much practice in the workbooks.

I would like to start some studied dictation, as well. I think I might try with the oldest and see how it goes. I think it could do a lot to help with his writing skills.

Grammar

I plan to start with First Language Lessons 1 for The Warrior. He needs to be reading well before we start. I'm looking at Rod and Staff or First Language Lessons 3 or 4, for the older two. Neither have done any formal grammar yet.