BLHFHG unit 20/21 LHFHG unit 5/6

 
This last week has been a lot of fun for us. I really do love the little projects that HOD has that go along with their learning. This last week we finished up Unit 4 and part of Unit 5 in LHFHG. We are working through Moses's life in the OT and how the Israelites worshiped a golden idol. We actually made our own little peanut butter calf but I didn't get the pic. They were really cute and tasted really good when we ate them :)


In science we explored dirt also. We learned about the different layers that dirt has. Here is a pic of our soil layers. Of course both kids had to partake. Our rocky bottom layer was made up of raisins followed by gram crackers for the top soil and cereal flakes for the humus layer. We also finished up our first book from the Thornton Burgess collections, The Adventures of Reddy Fox. I will definitely say Kayla has learned a lot of what not to do from the example of Reddy ;)

   Reading is going well also for Kayla. I have used a couple of different phonics programs in the past and this one is a perfect fit for her. There are pictures that go with the lesson and I let her color after she is done reading each lesson. She is definitely a workbook girl and this has a nice flow with it. It started out on the easy side since she knew how to do CVC words, but it is getting a lot harder now she is working her way through. 
   Math is going at a good pace also. We started Horizons 1 math with her about 2 weeks ago and it is a nice mix of stuff for her. She had finished up Singapore math 1A and I wasn't ready for her to go into 1B yet so we are taking this time learning basic facts and also skip counting.
Noah is also doing well working through BLHFHG. We have finished up week 20 and are starting week 21. Friday we learned about how the French explored and settled some of the middle part of America and how the Indians showed them how to make canoes. So...of course we made canoes from salt dough. Whenever we make this around the house all the kids have to be a part of it. Kayla made a sailing ship, Noah made a canoe and Brie made a mess. I actually salvaged the mess and made a little hand print for her to give to someone eventually :)

Noah's math is also coming along well. I think we will finish up Singapore 2A this week and then move onto Singapore 2B. He is doing well with the transition into multiplication and division so I am happy with that :). We are also still chugging away at LA. Everything has pretty much been a review there, but I know R&S has a good reputation so I know he is learning well.


We finished the week off by having a nice little nature walk and fun at the park with daddy :)

More from Week Oct 9-12

Well we have had a lot of fun this week!!! One thing I notice with dd is that Sonlight might be a tad too much for her right now. So we are back to LHFHG for a little bit. I am really starting to like LHFHG. We have had some great conversations that really have touched her heart. One thing today that we covered was why parents discipline their children. We were reading from the devotional book that goes along with this program. I truly love this book. If you don't have it, it is great to do on your own.
Anyway, We are really enjoying LHFHG. I would of had more pics this week but my camera was acting up and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. I got a new SD card and it seems to be working okay so hopefully I can take some more fun pics of our adventures.

 Here is Kayla showing off her first attempt of sewing. I unfortunately only know how to patch holes so she saw me fixing a hole in a pair of pants so she had to learn. This is a cloth napkin and she is sewing up the sides. Noah took a turn but he wasn't very interested :)

Noah is also working on Shurley English 2 this year and this week he was suppose to make a book filled with synonyms and antonyms. He isn't too big on writing and I didn't have any magazines for him to clip words from so I improvised and I wrote a couple syn/ant combos on each page and he illustrated it. It turned out really nice. Kayla saw him doing it so she had to make her own book. I am quite proud of both of them.

Finally, here is Brie. Whenever she sees me with the camera she comes running and asks me to take her picture too. Her schooling this week is more potty training. Hopefully this is learned quickly :)

Week of Oct 9-12

Tuesday
    So I have been pretty busy the last few weeks and have neglected my blog :( So this is what we have been up too.

I found a Bowflex in the basement. My cousin had purchased it and then my aunt got it from her and my dad traded a pool table for it and then left it in the basement here. We rent their old house so since they decided they didn't want to move it we now are the proud owners of it. So...after it sitting in our basement for 2 years it is now on the porch and I am going to move the treadmill out there and hopefully get a TV to put out there and have a little exercise room for myself. I have used it and do sometimes use my treadmill so hopefully it will be a room that gets used and not wishful thinking :)

 Here is Kayla. We are working on week 3 in Sonlight A. We were learning about Ancient Greece some and so I found this little print off here to personalize a vase like the Greeks did. For science we are on weather right now learning about hurricanes and tornadoes and how weather effects animals.

My pretty little Brie Brie

loves to have her picture taken so since she saw me taking pics she had to be a part of the fun :)

 Next, Noah is working on week 11 of HOD Beyond. Thomas in our history reading shot an arrow through a paper window that had just been oiled so for our art activity we oiled some paper. I only had some white construction paper, but in the pic below you can see how the oiled paper lets in more light than just the regular paper (and our nicely covered pool in the back).

BLHFHG week 8

We had a great time with school this week. We have made it through the first 8 weeks and I am so excited. I don't know why but it always seems like I struggle to get through material with Noah, but BLHFHG seems to be progressing so effortlessly and I love it. So our little Pilgrims have finally set sail for America. In honor of this the kids decided to build their own Mayflower ship out of a box. The mast and sail are in the middle, it is a little hard to make out in the pic, and the Lego's are the passengers :) They decided to set it sail in the vast ocean of our little bathroom tub. Thankfully the tub was pretty clean so it doesn't look that bad. They also this week made a picture of the Mayflower and used toothpaste and cotton balls for the waves and clouds. That actually turned out pretty good. I ran out of white tooth past so the wave are more green and blue, but do they smell good :)

 This one is Noah's. He decided to make clouds out of cotton balls. There was an extra activity to do with this picture but we didn't because we ate all our cheerios, but they kids were really proud of their little boats.
  Kayla's is the pinkish one. I think she was thinking of the Titanic because hers ran into a glacier and the toothpicks are suppose to be oars :)


   Math is also progressing very nicely. Noah is doing well in Teaching Textbooks 3 and it is very nice for him to actually be excited to do math.

   LA is going well to. I am using the spelling list out of BLHFHG, but I have added in Shurley English also for grammar. I just love the program. We are finishing up Shurley 1...well we are at least over half way done and will probably move into level 2 when we are done or do Rod and Staff 2 since I have that one already :)
    Other than that we have just really enjoyed ourselves this week in preparation for our vacation!!!
    We have also moved on to a new Read aloud which goes nicely with the pilgrims since it is set in Holland and we were just there in history. We learned also about the storks that they believe brought good luck. Anyway, we are reading The Wheel on the School and I highly recommend it. It is one of the books I had out of Sonlight Core B and is a little longer, but a nice read.

BLHFHG 5/Sonlight week 23

     So, we have finally wrapped up our school week. I don't know why but I was just plain excited about school today :) Noah is doing pretty good with TT right now. I am so thankful for this program. He isn't a big writer so it is nice he can do it on the computer himself. I am always close by just in case he needs something explained, but he really hasn't needed me yet :)
   LA is going well. I do love us some Shurley English. I really like this program I think because I am a very analytical thinker and I like the question answer flow they have in the program. If the word answers the question then it is an adverb, or adjective...I always would get confused when I was little because in a sentence like The bird flew yesterday...yesterday never seemed like it was discribing flew, but with SE I know if it answers the question How, When, or where it is an adj :) I have a tendency to over think things too so it is good for now.

   Reading is going well also. Noah just finished the book Helen Keller. He really liked reading a biography. I never would of thought to give him a Non-fiction book on my own at this age. THank you HOD.
    We are really loving history too. I have American history going in BLHFHG. We learned about canals today in Holland. Afterward we went online and looked at real pictures of the area and loved it. We finished up week 23 of SOnlight also. So in Sonlight we are working on World history and I think we are still around ROme and Greece. I can't remember off the top of my head though and I don't feel like looking right now either.

     Kayla is doing well and enjoying her K year. We are on lesson 62 in Horizons K math and she does well as long as I am near her. She likes math, but she will get distracted and start drawing on her paper if I have to go help Noah :) I am really like SL LA K also. I have one of the older programs, but since Kayla is a strong writer it doesn't really matter that it has her writing more. She just finished up book 9. She loves being able to read a whole book herself. I am working on writing letters more with her too. I didn't work so well with Noah on how to form his letters so I am working harder with her so she doesn't pick up bad habbits. We also just finished week 27 i nP4/5 too. I can't believe we are almost done. Only 8 weeks left and then we will be done with P4/5 and move on to her next program. 

   Finally, for "art" the kids decided they wanted to make playdough models and me bake them. Noah is real into angry birds right now so he made an angry bird and kayla made a bird, well at least that is what she says it is, i think it kinda looks like a trutle though :)

BLHFHG Unit 5/Sonlight week 22

     So, I may be overdoing it, but I really want to finish up my core B that I have and do BLHFHG. I always tend to over do it when it comes to curriculum. There is just so much good stuff out there :) So, this is week 5 of schooling. I love BLHFHG history readings and science is nice and gentle. I really don't like science personally, so this works out good that it isn't too much. Today we were learning about how light moves in waves so we watched a video off of YOUTUBE :) Gotta love having that at your fingertips most the time. In history the Pilgrims have finally made it to Holland, and spelling is going well too. I think ds misses doing AAS since there were the letter tiles, but he is doing fine with HOD spelling so we are sticking to that for now :)

Here is Noah working on his spelling cards, don't ask why his shirt is like that, but hey I guess when you homeschool you don't have to worry about peer pressure. Kayla is also working on her LA and coloring her letter O. You can't tell but she has her gymnastics outfit on :)

    We also finished up week 22 in Sonlight's core. I am ahead in the RA so we are reading Little Pear right now. I love this book. It is like reading Curious George but with a little Chinese Boy as the main character.
    Oh yes, I decided to go back to using Shurley English also for LA with Noah. I don't know exactly why but I just love this program. I will probably still throw in R&S sometimes, but I think I will probably stick with SE. I can say I am very content with math. Teaching Textbooks is great and as long as the kids don't have any problems with that they will be using that for good :)

BLHFHG week4

We are finishing up Unit 4 in BLHFHG and loving it. I really like the story of the Pilgrims. They have all finally made it to Holland in the story and at the end of the lesson on day 4 they mention the little boy who put his finger in the hole to stop the Dike's leak. The kids all of a sudden blurted out hey I know that story!!! :) I think we actually had read that out of Sonlight's P4/5 not too long ago for Kayla.

   So...for science today we were seeing how many drops of water we could put on coins until the water tension broke. The Penny took 25 drops.

The Chuck-E-Cheese coin took 66 drops.  (Our friend Amber is the background with Kayla here)

Week 2

Here is Kayla. We are almost done with P4/5 of Sonlight so I went ahead and got LHFHG...we might end up starting before we are totally done with P4/5. I thought it would be cute to take a pic of her with all the books. My little girl is finally in kindergarten!

We are finishing up week 2 of BLHFHG and Noah is making a map of the story we read from our history selection. I am so thankful for all the coloring activities that are suggested because he loves to draw. Kayla had to do it also when he was done.

Here we are working on our time line. We just finished reading about the settlement at Jamestown and he is making a fort to go under the year 1607. I had just finished reading to him his history and he had decided that he wanted a bowl of soup while I read to him so that is why there is a bowl there :)