Homeschool Recap, Year 2013-2014

So, we are officially done with school for this 'year.'  Preston finished 3rd Grade and Callen did a few preschooler type stuff, but mostly he just played and tagged along with brother's stuff.  This school year did not go at all as I wanted it to, but we tried to make the best of it.  And all in all, we accomplished what we needed to. 

It was off to a rocky start because I didn't start us when I normally would have since our house was on the market.  We hoped it would be a quick sale, so I kept hoping we would be able to start when we were moved and settled.  But it wasn't, and we didn't.  And then, since we got a later start than I wanted, I felt like the rest of the year was rushed.  I didn't HAVE to do it this way, but I did.  Because I wanted to get back on track with the next 'school year.'  Anyway, we survived, and truthfully, that's what matters, right?  Lol.

Starting with Callen... I intended to do Before Five In A Row with him for the whole year.  But, we really only ever got through about three books (Yellow Ball, My Blue Boat and Jessie Bear What Will You Wear?), and he just wasn't ready to sit and have his own projects.  His 'school' became coloring and sticker books and watching PBS Kids most of the time.  He did learn about the continents a bit since he was around while I was teaching Preston, and he really enjoyed working on the big felt world map, moving the animals around and such.  He recognizes all of his letters and numbers, he knows what most of the letters sound like, can spell his name or recognize it when it's written on something, he has a great vocabulary and uses big words in sentences correctly.  And he finally learned how to pronounce his c's and g's, that was a major breakthrough right after his 4th birthday in March!

Coloring a continent!

On to Preston... we used My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures and we (I say we because I was learning geography right along with him!) learned about a lot of countries in the world.  While I don't expect him to have them all memorized and tons of details about each one, he got pretty good with the Geography Game, so I call that a win!  He got good grades in math was we went over multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, and more.  He learned how to form letters in cursive and they look great (while often his print is horrendous!).  We read a bunch of missionary stories and learned that so many other places and people in this world need prayer!  We also learned about animals from different countries and ecosystems in various part of the world, too. 

All done with 3rd Grade!

 Even though we're done with school, in June we are doing a lapbook as we read through the easy version of Treasure Island.  And we will start up our new school year in July!  We will be doing My Father's World Creation to Greeks, and I will once again try out Before Five In a Row with Callen.  Looking forward to getting back on our year-round schedule so we can take plenty of breaks during the year and not get burnt out!

Homeschool Recap, Weeks 5 and 6...

These past two weeks we have focused on Mexico and Central America for our geography studies.  We learned about climate and physical features of the land, a little about the people, and have started reading about Cameron Townsend, founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators, who started his work in Guatemala.  We started playing a fun Geography Game, and I have already started seeing an improvement in knowing where certain countries are located. Preston continued work on his multiplication tables.  I didn't really do anything structured with Callen other then coloring, and having him tag-along with the rest of our studies.  He knows how to spell his name, still working on the hard 'c' sound when he says it, though.  Also, he is doing great at memorizing scriptures he learns at Sunday School. So proud!

We were able to surprise the boys with a visit from Grandma Jill last weekend... they had no idea she was coming until they saw her come out of the airport.  They were thrilled.  She was with us from Friday evening to Tuesday morning, so that was pretty awesome.  Otherwise, the rest of this past week has been all about packing and attending to things to get our house sold and buy the Midlo house.  We are supposed to close on Monday!!!

Sunday night planning session.

Love Preston's detailed coloring on this one!

String art. I did the puppy w/Callen, Preston did the star.

Seeing how turtles stay cool and warm in shade and sun.

Geography vocabulary illustrations.

Preston reading a favorite book to cousin Trey.

Grandma Jill's surprise visit!

Enjoying their time with her!

Playing Geography Game!

Letter writing assignment.

We will most likely be taking the next several weeks off for the move, so we won't be moving on to Canada just yet!

Homeschool Recap, Weeks 3 and 4...

Week 3 and 4 are all about the United States of America, so it made a great review from last year's studies.  We talked about forests, trees, the states, and a variety of other topics all centered in the USA.  I didn't take many photo of school-related activities, at least not terribly exciting ones... we were on the go quite a bit and rushed through a lot of school.  I'll share what I have from the past few weeks, though...

Playing a massive game of memory w/all the cards at once!

We walked with Team Elise for JDRF, they met Bugs.

Around the World Sticker Book fun.

Illustrating a "butte."

A little abstract art.

Starting to pack up the house!

Getting some reading done.

Spelling Team Work.

No colors can touch each other. We win!

And then the Legos got packed away for a while!

Homeschool Recap, Weeks 1 and 2...

Alright, in previous years I have managed to post a detailed, weekly recap.  Well, I have a feeling that's not gonna happen this year.  So, maybe, just maybe I can shoot for every two weeks, and go easy on the details as well.  Plus, our themes are about two weeks long, so it kinda makes sense anyway.  We have finished our first two weeks of school for the year.  Woo hoo!  It went smoothly.  Just a few whines, grumbles (from Preston) and shenanigans (from Callen). 

Callen (Preschool):  Callen is doing a laid-back version of Before Five in a Row and tagging along with us through some parts of MFW ECC.  Our first book to row has been Molly Bang's Yellow Ball.  The first time I read it to Callen, I wasn't sure he'd be interested in reading it more than once, but I was wrong.  He asks for it by name and gets excited when it's time to read it again.  There are only a handful of words in the book, and he seems determined to memorize them.  He points to the word "What's this say?"  So far we have played catch, throw and roll the ball, used punch balls, done a few of the lapbook type activities I found online emphasizing 'y' and yellow, above/below/high/low, and Callen stamped some yellow balls in the big, blue sea using a bottle cap and toilet paper roll printing.  He also colored a bunch of worksheets of the continents since that's what we're going over with Preston.

Callen's handprint

Coloring Yellow Balls

Playing Topple with me.

Preston (3rd Grade): Preston officially started My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures.  We are learning about maps and continents these first two weeks.  Plus, some of the main religious groups in the world.  We had a worm niche to observe how they churn up the ground for a week, ewww!  He is doing great at getting the concept of multiplication down using Math Mammoth.  His Spelling Power work is going well, we started on the last few groups in Level B. 

Observing a section of our backyard habitat.

Learning about animals, like frogs.  Eww!

Worm niche.  Eww, again!

Lots of reading time!

Working on a detailed map.

Map from our house to church.

One of the fun things about homeschooling is getting to school wherever we want.  We had a house showing from 10-11am on Thursday, plus a homeschool group lunch/playtime at 1130, so we needed to be out of the house for a while.  We were going to go to the library to do school, but I forgot they didn't open till 1pm.  We ended up Starbucks and got our schoolwork done there!

Taking school on the road.

Preston concentrating on spelling, Callen enjoying a treat.

All in all, I have to say that the first two weeks went well!  As well as I could hope with the distractions of a 3-yr-old and having to be in and out of our house because of the showings and other activities.

Preston got a bug/spider bite this week that got infected, just like mine.  Took him to the doctor and had her drain it and get him on antibiotics.  Poor guy, it's right on the back of his leg so when he sits, it rubs and hurts.  Dunno what's getting us, but it ain't nice!  Hoping his heals a lot faster and easier than mine since we caught it earlier.  Mine is still in the process of healing.  Blech. 

Also, we have a contract on our house again, so we will be launching into hunting mode this weekend, gotta find US a house now, pronto!  But first, Preston and Callen are going to spend the night with my folks and Michael and I are having a date night.  We're going to see Five Iron Frenzy, House of Heroes and Mike Herrera in concert.  What?!  I know, right?  So excited for tonight!

First Day of School 2013

Today was the official kick off for our 2013-2014 school year!  Last night we took a few photos because the boys were still in their "nice" clothes from church.

Preston, 3rd Grade, 7 years old

Callen, Preschool, 3 years old

Teacher with her students.  Haha.

Yep, they are a hand full.

As far as today, it went quite smoothly!  I woke up, grabbed a quick shower and breakfast so that I would be ahead of them.  I had their school stuff ready and waiting:

Mobile school since our house is still 'staged.'

Preston was the first to wake up, so he ate his dry cereal as we got started (taking advantage of Callen not being a distraction, lol).  We started off with his beginning of the year questionnaire we have done for the last several years.  

Use your best handwriting!

It asks things like favorite food, favorite tv show, what do you want to be when you grow up, etc.  It's funny looking back at these over the years to see how answers have changed... or not changed.  Then we quickly jumped into the various tasks ahead of us and got A LOT accomplished in that hour that Callen slept in (he never does that, it was awesome!).  We used a bunch of the My Father's World ECC books so that Preston would be familiar with them from here on out.  Callen woke up and demanded breakfast and then did some coloring while we finished up the work.  I didn't start with his stuff today, just wanted to ease into a routine this week.  

We needed to run some errands (bank, post office, take movies back to the video store) so I gave the boys their Travel Notebooks.  

Looks like fun, Mom!

These are for when we are running around, they can write or draw about what they see on the way.  It worked for a while as we out and about, then Callen threw his notebook and pencil at Preston and that was the end of that.  Sigh.  I should know better.  Anyway, after our errand we came home and had lunch and then the boys were getting rowdy, so I sent them in the backyard to play in the sprinkler.

Sprinkler fun in the backyard.

After that, they played inside a while, then we had quiet time.  It was SUPPOSED to be nap time, but SOMEONE (ahem, Callen) wouldn't nap for anything.  Ok, it was PROBABLY because he slept in so much this morning.  Oops.  Oh well.  While he played, not so quietly, in his room, Preston took his Chapter 1 Math Mammoth test over the lessons we just finished up.  He got an 88%... mostly because he just didn't read the directions or pay attention to the signs (both of which I reminded him of before he started, lol).  The boys played, built forts and things with the couch cushions, then played outside some more in the front and the back after dinner because they were just crazy bundles of energy.  They were TV-free till 8pm, and Callen only even asked ONCE if he could watch TV and didn't put up a fuss when I said no... but I had a training call to do, so I let them watch some cartoons for a while.  Let's hope they got all that energy out and fall asleep easily tonight and that tomorrow's school is just as smooth!

Not-Back-To-School Blog Hop Post

As you have already heard me whine about, I'm sure, we aren't officially starting school until we move and get settled in a new place (and at this point, I have NO idea when that will be!).  But, I got antsy, and decided we have to start SOMETHING before I go nuts!  And the kids are getting kinda funky, too, so I feel they need a little more structure in their day on a regular basis.  Preston finished up his Rod & Staff Health and Manners workbook on Friday (here's hoping he retains some of those manners, sheesh!), and I told him that we'd be starting some school on Monday.  He didn't groan or complain, and first thing Monday morning he woke me up and said, "Let's do school!"  So, I think that means he's ready.  Lol.

Going along with iHomeschoolNetwork.com's Blog Hop (which is really supposed to be a 4-week-long thing, and I crammed into one post because, again, we're un-officially starting, lol), here is an update on Clark Family Academy...

Curriculum:
For Preston, my 3rd-Grader, we will be using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures, BUT because I don't have the ability to pull out all of the stuff and put maps up and all that (thanks to our beautifully staged home right now), I decided to start with the subjects that don't require many supplies.

Preston's curriculum

We are doing Spelling Power, according to the MFW ECC instructions.  We did the survey and spelling test and Preston gets to start with Level C.  He was pretty pumped about not having to start at the beginning.  The Justice League notebook is where he does his writing.  And we are starting up Grade 3-A in Math Mammoth on the iPad.  I was not looking forward to having to print out all of the pages in the two workbooks this year, then the amazing Amanda Pelser posted a tutorial on how to do worksheets on the iPad (and her example was even using Grade 3-A of Math Mammoth, um... yeah!).  So, no more spending tons of money/ink trying to print out everything, AND Preston enjoys getting to use the iPad, of course!

My preschooler, Callen, and I will be doing Before Five in a Row... at some point.  I have lent most of the books for that curriculum to a friend doing it with her kiddos, and since we're not ready to truly start, haven't asked for them back.

Callen's curriculum

So, for now, Callen will be doodling in his Planes notebook, and creating letters (print outs from COAH) with his Wooden Pattern Blocks.  He'll also be running around like a banshee, and getting into trouble.  That's just what he does.  I'll be finding other things to do with him/occupy him as we go.

School Room:
Welp... I was really hoping to be settled into a new place that has a nice area that we can set up "school."  It's certainly something on top of my 'want' list when we look at houses.  But, for now, our supplies/books are stashed away deep in my closet.  I was able to dig out what we needed and find a place to have it easily on hand but mostly hidden as well.

Just a few books for now!

The books are tucked away in a corner of our kitchen hutch, close to the kitchen table.  That way when potential buyers come in for a showing, they can still see our beautiful kitchen and not be distracted by a ton of school stuff all over the place.

Our staged kitchen, photograph from our listing.

Student Photo:
Ok, obviously I haven't done much with this.  But here are my two dudes hard at work on Monday...

Doing work just before dinner.

Day In the Life:

Our first day (yesterday) went a little something like this... Preston woke me up excited to get started.  So, before Callen woke up and demanded breakfast, we got to work on the Spelling Power Survey and Placement test to see where we start in that big 'ole book!  I read through the list of words, Preston spelled to me, and I wrote them down.  Now, I told him that would NOT be the norm, because even though he hates to write and complains about it constantly, he HAS to do it.  But, since we had to get through a bunch of words and I needed him to concentrate on actually spelling, I knew it'd go smoother if I did the writing.  And it did.  He did great!  After that, Callen woke up... we did breakfast, tidied the house, ran out for a few errands, came back for lunch, Preston hurt himself*, headed out to the chiropractor, came back, Daddy came home, we ALL took naps, woke up, did some more school (what you see them doing in the picture above, Preston doing math and Callen "writing" in his notebook), dinner, then off again to a children's ministry meeting, back home, tidy up some more, kids watched a tv show with dad, bath, bed.  Whew!  Certainly made for a full day.  Obviously, not all our days are that packed with go-go-go!  Thank goodness!

Building the capital 'V'.

Spelling words daily test.

* My darling sons came out of Preston's room while I was doing some work and were both clothed in at least 10 shirts each.  They had decided to make themselves fat by putting on as many layers of shirts as they could.  Well, when Preston went to take his off, he pulled really hard and it yanked his head back really far.  He said he heart a crack, and he began to freak out.  I went running and found him, with his neck twisted one way and he said that if he moved anything it hurt really bad.  When he tried to show me, he cried.  Poor kid!  I put ice on it and finished up what I was doing.  It was totally a God thing, because I was doing some ironing for a friend who is a chiropractor... so we ran up to her office to take it back and I asked if instead of paying me, she'd help Preston's neck and, of course, she did.  She worked on him a little and he was able to move a ton more than before, so praise God for that.  In the picture above, he is doing his work with an ice pack on... having to do that periodically to help him heal.  Never a dull moment around here, for sure!