Today, Preston finished up his Musical Instruments coloring book. Each week we've been going over various instruments... talking about them, watching and listening to their sounds on youtube and whatnot. Today, we watched parts of this video... the soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings, so he could see the full symphony working together to create beautiful music that tell a story! So fun!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Homeschool Recap, April 13th (Week 28)...
In my life this week...
We are using My Father's World First Grade. See our curriculum here.
Blog Hoppin' with:
I have another van! It's a 2000 Honda Odyssey (yes, another Odyssey). It's so much better than the last one... looks nicer, runs better, just overall so much better! Praise God for His blessings and His timing. Hoping to keep this one longer than a week, of course!
On Friday, I watched a friends 2.5 year old daughter. That was an interesting experiment. I don't think Callen ever really adjusted to her being there (he swung at her a few times and she shoved him a few times, so... yeah). At first, they just stared at each other, giggled every once in a while and stood there. Then they warmed up a bit, Callen "showed her around" the house, pointing out things and babbling. I had a play-date Usborne book party so I took the kiddos with me and all three had a blast playing with all the kids and toys at our friend's house. On the way home, both littles fell asleep and stayed asleep for a good, long while. Overall, it was a good day with an extra toddler... definitely went better than I had worried about, haha!
Spanish: This week we learned some action words. Preston isn't picking up on these (remember them) as well as he has been with words in the past... so I'm trying to take it a bit slower. He's also just not really giving his best effort either, so ... he might be a bit burned out. But hey, only 23 days of school left! Wow!
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| Honda Odyssey, you are the van for me! |
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| Playing while getting the van detailed. |
On Friday, I watched a friends 2.5 year old daughter. That was an interesting experiment. I don't think Callen ever really adjusted to her being there (he swung at her a few times and she shoved him a few times, so... yeah). At first, they just stared at each other, giggled every once in a while and stood there. Then they warmed up a bit, Callen "showed her around" the house, pointing out things and babbling. I had a play-date Usborne book party so I took the kiddos with me and all three had a blast playing with all the kids and toys at our friend's house. On the way home, both littles fell asleep and stayed asleep for a good, long while. Overall, it was a good day with an extra toddler... definitely went better than I had worried about, haha!
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| Getting used to each other. |
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| Chalking w/a friend at the party. |
In our Homeschool this week...
Tot School: Callen had a complete breakdown on Saturday morning. He dropped his bowl of dry cereal in the kitchen floor and Michael told him to pick it up. He said, "no." Michael tried to get him to pick it up and it turned into an hour long ordeal (I'm not even kidding, an hour) where Callen refused to pick up the cereal, was screaming, crying, resisting. We sat in the floor with him, tried to "reason" with him, took away toys, tried to bribe him, gave him a spanking and more... he just absolutely refused to pick up the pieces of cereal and put them back in his bowl or the trash can. It was CRAZY. He is very strong-willed, but I had never experienced anything like this before. We finally just left him alone because we had stuff to do... Preston came along and picked up most of the cereal, then Callen picked up the last few and poured the bowl into the trash. Geez. He is definitely in a defiant phase. I pray it passes QUICKLY!
Bible: Preston and I went over Proverbs 15:16, "Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil." We also learned more about the calling of Matthew, Jesus choosing his 12 disciples, the parable of the farmer and the seeds and the stormy sea that Jesus calmed.
Reading/Writing: Preston's writing is certainly improving when he is in the right mood to do well. When he isn't, it's a mess.
Math: Worked on money... recognizing, adding and subtracting coins. He did really well with this, like adding a bunch of coins to see if you have enough to purchase something. We also finished up the last page about fractions and did some two-digit adding that required regrouping. Preston is getting it down. And we are getting close to being done with the Complete Book of Math!
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| Rolling around in the plastic Easter eggs. |
Bible: Preston and I went over Proverbs 15:16, "Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil." We also learned more about the calling of Matthew, Jesus choosing his 12 disciples, the parable of the farmer and the seeds and the stormy sea that Jesus calmed.
Reading/Writing: Preston's writing is certainly improving when he is in the right mood to do well. When he isn't, it's a mess.
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| We took school to the car wash, lol. |
Science: This week's science from book Science with Plants was about growing plants. We kept watching our bean seeds, and boy, have they sprouted. I actually just replanted them in some soil and a pot because they were so tall! Our snapdragons are starting to sprout a bit too.
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| Our growing bean stalks! |
Music/Art: Our hymn this week was "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past." And we talked about the accordion. I also picked up Drawing with Children again, and we did an exercise that had us drawing an object without looking at our pencil/paper. That brought upon quite a bit of giggling between Preston and me... it was pretty funny! I think he rather enjoyed it, as did I.
Spanish: This week we learned some action words. Preston isn't picking up on these (remember them) as well as he has been with words in the past... so I'm trying to take it a bit slower. He's also just not really giving his best effort either, so ... he might be a bit burned out. But hey, only 23 days of school left! Wow!
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| The countdown has begun! |
We are using My Father's World First Grade. See our curriculum here.
Blog Hoppin' with:
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Homeschool Recap, April 6th (Week 27)...
In my life this week...
We are using My Father's World First Grade. See our curriculum here.
Blog Hoppin' with:
Um. Yeah. What? I dunno where this week went. Crazy how that happens. Let's see... I can tell you that yesterday I watched a friends kids... 6 yr old girl and 4 yr old boy. They all had a blast together, playing and doing stuff. For the most part. I watched them for about 10 hours, and by the end of the it, the kids were pretty much done with each other. Hehe. It made for an interesting day, for sure!
Other than that, we did get our insurance check for the van so now we look for a new (to us) family vehicle! Praying for God's guidance in finding the right van for us. Again. Today (Saturday), we got up early, went out to the Grand Prairie Farmers Market for the Easter fun. The boys got some candy, got their faces painted and we bought some random treats: blueberries, white chocolate chip & cranberry cookies, beef jerky and honey lip balm (mmm!).
Math: Worked on time some more. Did a refresher and added in to the 5's (he had previously done whole hours, half hours and a little bit of quarter hours). Doing pretty well with this!
Music/Art: Our hymn this week was "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past." And we talked about the piano, and listened to our Peter & The Wolf CD.
Spanish: This week we worked on el, la, los, las, un, una, unos and unas. It's a bit confusing, but after working on it a while he was doing pretty well with it. Just gotta keep practicing, keep it fresh on his mind and he'll figure it out!
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| Preston & Natalie working on Easter sticker scenes. |
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| The kids did some drawing & stamping. |
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| Callen was not excited about Easter Bunny! |
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| Callen got a baseball on his cheek! |
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| Preston got Mickey! |
In our Homeschool this week...
Tot School: Callen's vocabulary is exploding. He is copying nearly everything we say. He is also ALWAYS hungry so I imagine he'll be having a good growth spurt here soon.
Bible: Preston and I worked on memorizing and understanding Proverbs 10:8, "The wise in heart accept command, but the chattering fool comes to ruin." He read and illustrated Jesus as a boy, Jesus being baptized and Jesus helping the fishermen.
Reading/Writing: Preston didn't read on his own as much as last week. We're still reading Hank The Cowdog #12 at bedtime.
Bible: Preston and I worked on memorizing and understanding Proverbs 10:8, "The wise in heart accept command, but the chattering fool comes to ruin." He read and illustrated Jesus as a boy, Jesus being baptized and Jesus helping the fishermen.
Reading/Writing: Preston didn't read on his own as much as last week. We're still reading Hank The Cowdog #12 at bedtime.
Math: Worked on time some more. Did a refresher and added in to the 5's (he had previously done whole hours, half hours and a little bit of quarter hours). Doing pretty well with this!
Science: This week's science started the book Science with Plants. We talked about seeds and how plants start to grow. We are doing the bean plant thing, with the beans in a clear container against moist paper towels. A few of them sprouted after just a few days. We also planted some flowers in a little VeggieTales greenhouse thingee I bought from Mardel last week. We'll see how those work out.
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| Beans! |
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| Tiny flower pots on the window sill. |
Music/Art: Our hymn this week was "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past." And we talked about the piano, and listened to our Peter & The Wolf CD.
Spanish: This week we worked on el, la, los, las, un, una, unos and unas. It's a bit confusing, but after working on it a while he was doing pretty well with it. Just gotta keep practicing, keep it fresh on his mind and he'll figure it out!
We are using My Father's World First Grade. See our curriculum here.
Blog Hoppin' with:
Sunday, April 1, 2012
March 2012 Tweets to Remember...
Mar 3rd - Callen spotted "Bob!" at Subway! Ha. @veggietales twitpic.com/8rkaa1
Mar 3rd - After his bath Callen knew he needed to go, went over, sat on the potty & went peepee! We had quite a celebration!#ProudMama #PottyTraining
Mar 4th - Disappointed we didn't end up with a van this weekend, but I suppose God has other plans. Continuing in my patience lessons.
Mar 6th - My new-to-me '97 Honda Odyssey! Yes, we are parked on a steep hill. Ha. twitpic.com/8sz10j
Mar 10th - At this time 2 yrs ago, I was in a hospital room watching old game shows and trying to find a comfortable position. 4 hrs later = Callen
Mar 12th - Preston told me a joke he observed from watching The Monkees: "What kind of dog says 'off off?'... A British one!" RIP Davy Jones!
Mar 14th - Dear Health Insurance, how many ways will you attempt to swindle us this month? You think we'll just pay it & ask no questions? WRONG.
Mar 14th - Prestonism: "Hot sauce is my arch enemy!"
Mar 17th - The boys have called a meeting, it appears. twitpic.com/8xqtyi
Mar 18th - Just dropped my babies off for 2 nights with grandma & grandpa. Michael & I get to enjoy each other's company! Um, what do we talk about? =)
Mar 20th - Preston just sang me a song about Indiana Jones being a Christian. "He reads the Bible every day, and loves Jeeessuuuusss!"
Mar 21st - Oh snot, the 2yr-old has figured out how to work the kid-proof doorknob things AND the safety latch at the top of the doors. WHAT?!?
Mar 23rd - Fairwell van, u served me well. For a week.#fb twitpic.com/909gr4
Mar 26th - Nothing like pretty much ruining a whole batch of pancakes & having the kids declare them as the BEST EVER!
Mar 26th - Things I don't like having to say to my precious children: "STOP LICKING EACH OTHER!" Sigh.
Mar 30th - I was about 3 feet away from a sloth today. Didn't even cry. However the leafy seadragon sent me into total meltdown.
Mar 3rd - After his bath Callen knew he needed to go, went over, sat on the potty & went peepee! We had quite a celebration!
Mar 4th - Disappointed we didn't end up with a van this weekend, but I suppose God has other plans. Continuing in my patience lessons.
Mar 6th - My new-to-me '97 Honda Odyssey! Yes, we are parked on a steep hill. Ha. twitpic.com/8sz10j
Mar 10th - At this time 2 yrs ago, I was in a hospital room watching old game shows and trying to find a comfortable position. 4 hrs later = Callen
Mar 12th - Preston told me a joke he observed from watching The Monkees: "What kind of dog says 'off off?'... A British one!" RIP Davy Jones!
Mar 14th - Dear Health Insurance, how many ways will you attempt to swindle us this month? You think we'll just pay it & ask no questions? WRONG.
Mar 14th - Prestonism: "Hot sauce is my arch enemy!"
Mar 17th - The boys have called a meeting, it appears. twitpic.com/8xqtyi
Mar 18th - Just dropped my babies off for 2 nights with grandma & grandpa. Michael & I get to enjoy each other's company! Um, what do we talk about? =)
Mar 20th - Preston just sang me a song about Indiana Jones being a Christian. "He reads the Bible every day, and loves Jeeessuuuusss!"
Mar 21st - Oh snot, the 2yr-old has figured out how to work the kid-proof doorknob things AND the safety latch at the top of the doors. WHAT?!?
Mar 23rd - Fairwell van, u served me well. For a week.
Mar 26th - Nothing like pretty much ruining a whole batch of pancakes & having the kids declare them as the BEST EVER!
Mar 26th - Things I don't like having to say to my precious children: "STOP LICKING EACH OTHER!" Sigh.
Mar 30th - I was about 3 feet away from a sloth today. Didn't even cry. However the leafy seadragon sent me into total meltdown.
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