Today's the DAY!!! American Math Challenge --- Tomorrow Too!!!

Great fun way to test those math minds!!! Have fun and let us know how your kids did!!!
These are the first American official lead up events for World Education Games 2012!!! For more information click the pic to sign up for the official newsletter!

It's NOT too late to register...

The sooner the better, so your kids can try out the warm ups, but you still have some time!!!

Scale of Universe - Interactive Scale of the Universe Tool

Scale of Universe - Interactive Scale of the Universe Tool

This is really cool! Check it out if you haven't yet!!!

Sometimes the program just flops! - Math and The Cosmos Review

KM was really excited about the Math and The Cosmos curriculum when we found it online. She has always been fascinated by astronomy and very strong in math so we thought this would be a great supplement to show how math is applied. I ordered it read through it and realized that I was going to need to spend some time really going through it to allow her to be independent while doing the program - how ridiculous of a statement is that? - and this is right when I should have known it wasn't going to work for her, but she was so excited about it, that I figured I could take the time to organize it. I proceeded to go through the assignment lists and break it up so that she wasn't overwhelmed with the 12 - 22 assignments per sheet and made it so that she would be able to complete each sheet over the course of a week or more so that it was manageable. 

The concept is great -  introduces students to the wonders of astronomy and its connections to mathematics, physics, history, and mythology. Explore the constellations, graph star charts, investigate planetary motion, and probe Newton's laws; employ the math fundamentals of graphing, angles, trigonometry, and scientific notation in real-world contexts; and learn how ancient civilizations spun stories inspired by the stars.  - however the design of the program is rather boring and really condescending, especially given that it is suppose to be a "gifted" and "independent learning" program. I had expected a lot more from it than here is the vocabulary word sheet now fill in the definition, which you can find in the glossary on the disc in alphabetical order so that you are literally just copying it word for word. The chapter questions were really no better either - predictably in order and leaving no room for interpretation, but just regurgitation.

The first week KM started out with a lot of energy, but when she got the second week's assignment sheet and saw nearly the same format you could see she was losing interest a bit. She was hopeful though that the projects that began in week 3 would bring some more interaction into the program, but sadly this was not the case. The "independent learner" was suppose to work with classmates to complete three different tasks - no that is not a typo! - "Why would they working in a group if it is suppose to be independent?" you may ask, well so did KM!

We decided to jump ahead and see if it would continue in this manner or if this week was just an anomaly - sadly it was not! It was just more and more copywork, parroting of facts, and projects that were nearly impossible to do by oneself. While I don't have any experience with any other Duke TIP programs, this has ruined any chance of us trying them out. Sometimes regardless of the enthusiasm of the learner the program just flops!!!

FREE Books From Scholastic & Kumon - Learn And Earn

Who doesn't like FREE books?

Scholastic and Kumon have partnered to encourage the development of reading and math skills and unlock your child's learning potential.
Your child can complete MATH and READING activities and earn up to five FREE BOOKS from Scholastic! 

Finishing up Winter Session and Prepping for Spring!!!

This is our last week of our winter session and KM has continued to do really well and is truly enjoying her topics of study. As always we have tweaked and evolved things throughout the session and will continue to do so as we set forth our plans for next session. I have most of the outline planned and over the next week will be fine tuning things.

First and foremost we have both decided after a long discussion, that we need to slow down a bit. We went FULL THROTTLE through the winter and managed to not get any winter duldrums or cabin fever, however we are EXHAUSTED! I have made a last minute decision to go back to our 3 stay day routine and with all that is coming up I am feeling a NEED to really stick to it.

There are some big jobs around the house that need to be taken care of and we are hoping to address a few this weekend ~ including taking down the snow damaged pool ~ while we are all around. The spring brings different chores and household responsibilities that need to be addressed and with CJ starting a full 6 week course to get his advanced licenses, KM and I are going to have to step up and take on some of the things that we would normally leave for him to do.

As for our lesson plans we will be continuing with a majority of the programs from the fall and winter we have been doing, but have decided to tweak a few areas including -

• Science - After some dissection of the Spectrum Science Workbook we both felt like the last few chapters were so disconnected in their content that it was too chopped up and KM didn't really want to finish it. On top of this KM has been very Science focused over the last two years, doing multiple programs at a time, so we decided to back off a bit. She will finish up the next few issues of Scholastic's Science World and will be doing the Environmental Study - see below - that she had planned on doing over the summer during the spring instead. I think this will tie in nicely to our gardening and landscaping plans as well.
• Math - She will be completing the Straight Forward Math Series Algebra Book 2 this week and will begin Book 3 after the break. She is moving very smoothly through this series and really seems to be retaining the information well. 
• Social Science - 
• History - KM has completed Volume 3 of Story of the World and has just begun Volume 4. It seems to be just as intriguing to her although the style is a bit different in this volume than in the ones before. She has been a bit stumped on the outlining portion, but I think with continued practice this will improve. As she is moving through this program at a more advanced rate and completing two to three chapters a week, I will not be requiring that she complete all the outlines and we will be  doing far less of the activities as well. I have, however, chosen to incorporate more of the Brain Pop! videos into the the history areas to hopefully bring a bit more life into it. 
• Current Events - This is an area that we have been a bit lacking in lately and CJ feels we should put a bit more energy into. KM does read Youngzine each week, but I stumbled across the CNN Student News and I think this will be a great resource! 
• Art - I went back and forth in this area recently. We tried a Great Course series from the library, but it was more than a bit DRY! KM is always working on different projects and crafts, but she also likes well done documentaries and shows having to do with art. So after some poking around online, I landed on Netflix and found this rather intriguing looking PBS series called Art 21 which we can stream live through the ROKU and/or the Wii onto the big screen! There are also free downloadable educator's guides to give some extra insight and ideas on how to use the program in an educational setting! We are both looking forward to utilizing this resource.
• Environmental Study - We had planned on working through this unit study over the summer, but as I mentioned earlier our plans changed a bit! We will be reading the Cartoon Guide to the Environment and going through the Our Fragile Environment Unit on BrainPop. We will also be watching documentaries that will correlate with each weeks topics. 
• Music - This is another area that we tend to focus a lot on around here. KM is more than halfway through the Annenberg Media course Exploring the World of Music and is thoroughly enjoying it. She will continue with and hopes to complete Piano Adventures Lesson Book, Level 2A by the end of this next session. She has been doing incredibly well considering she is self teaching and neither CJ nor I have any instrumental talent! She also continues to utilize the Wii with Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero, as well as a multitude of Sing It games that she has acquired. There has been talk of wanting to take drum lessons next year, but she is wavering as to whether she wants a traditional drum kit or an electronic one. 
• Literature - KM has picked two pieces to focus on this session Old Yeller and Wright 3. For Old Yeller we will take advantage of this online resource, as well as doing a movie comparison. For Wright 3 we will be using this guide put out by Library Sparks. 
• P.E. - Ice skating was fabulous over the winter and KM really took to it! For the spring the kids will be finishing up their bowling league and we will go back to Basketball and Tennis as the weather permits. When the weather is against us we will be using the Wii Sports Resort and Just Dance to get our sweat on! We have also decided to start incorporating more family fitness activities like hiking, bike riding and roller blading on the weekends when DN is here. These are things that we used to do regularly when KM was little, but have just moved away from over the last few years. 

Will you be changing things up for the spring? What kinds of fun activities does your family have planned?

I will be updating the Current Curriculum & Schedule page soon!

What do these things have in common? - Sewing, Quadratic Equations, Ice Skating, Opera, Shopping & Science

They all fit into the week of a home educating family! 

This was the last week for ice skating at our local DCR rinks and though KM will be missing this time each week, she is going to be quite surprised when she finds out what will be going into this time slot - can't disclose this info yet!

For our weekly project I thought KM would enjoy making an owl messenger bag. This simple project kit was a great way for her to build confidence on the machine, follow cutting instructions and have a super cute outcome!

On the more academic front we started a new chapter in Algebra and she is charging through quadratic equations! We finished up the Spectrum Science Grade 8 workbook and she did an excellent job on the Final Test. To celebrate her wonderful achievements we went out to breakfast and did a little spring shopping. I somehow ended up wandering into the infants department where I just couldn't help myself when I saw these SUPER cute tees for the "littles-2-b"! 

Tomorrow we will be heading to the much anticipated Hansel & Gretel performance by the Boston Lyric Opera. This has become an annual tradition and we always LOVE the show! 

What sorts of oddities fit into your week?

8th Grade Fall Curriculum Picks

Here is what KM and I have decided to work with this fall -

Math -

She did a great job over the summer on the Straight Forward Algebra Book 1 and we decided to take a break from it before she starts book 2. So she will be finishing up the book Word Problems (Practice Practice)
and she completed the rest of Ko's Journey.

English Language Arts -

We love the Straight Forward Series so much that we decided to try the English Series as well, so she will be using the All-In-One English Series Master Book (Straight Forward) . For vocabulary she will be working on Painless Vocabulary. For Spelling she will be utilizing a variation of the Free Spelling program found HERE. For writing we are going to incorporate some of the review questions from Story of the World's Activity Guide as well as the questions from The Story of Science Student Quest Guide so that we are working on her strengthening her answers to open ended response questions - which in my opinion is the practical writing skill that she needs to work on write now.

Science -

We will be continuing on our journey through the Story of Science on to Newton at the Center. As I mentioned we will be utilizing all aspects of the Student's Quest Guide, but will especially be focusing on the open response questions. We also will still be using the Thames & Kosmos Milestones in Science kit as well as working on K'nex and other projects.

History and Geography -

We will also be moving on to The Story of the World Volume 3: Early Modern Times and again utilizing the review questions for writing. In case you missed how we adapt this for the middle school crowd you can check the post on that HERE.

EXTRAS -

We will also be doing -

• Music - Music Alive Classical Connections to U.S. History
• Piano -Accelerated Piano Adventures, Level 2- Lesson Set (1 Book and 1 CD Set, Lesson Book 2 and Lesson Book 2 CD)
  
• Spanish - Tell Me More and The 100+ Series Spanish, Middle School / High School (English and Spanish Edition)
  
• Health - Human Body & Health: Science Skills : Grades 6-8+ (Basic, Not Boring 6 to 8)
• Global Studies - Global Studies: Social Studies Skills : Grades 6-8+ (Basic, Not Boring 6 to 8)
  
• Computer Technology - I haven't finalized all of the resources for this one yet, but will post as soon as I have them. I do know that we will be basing the main context of the program on the Brain Pop Cool Tech spotlight. We also have a printer, laptop, mouse, digital camera, MP3 player, DVD player and camcorder that we will be dissecting throughout the session.

Summer Curriculum Picks - Starting 8th Grade

I believe I have most of KM's 8th grade curriculum choices laid out. I have decided however to list them each session, as I had done a while back, because we do change our minds quite frequently and I want to be sure to leave lots of space for changes and new interests that are developed along the way.

We school year round in 10 week sessions so we begin our "grade" year in the summer. KM will be an 8th grader started July 5th and will be studying the following topics -

English Language Arts - there will be a very strong focus on writing over the summer utilizing our free Mondays to boast ELA up to two days a week.

Math - KM will be finishing up Algebra, utilizing the free Ko's Journey subscription we received and working on word problems -

Science is always a huge area of study for KM so we are not slowing down, but charging ahead into the time line approach -

History will also be continuing on a steady pace and we hope to have Volume 2 completed by the end of the summer -

Music will be continuing with piano, voice and some extras -

We will also be doing some electives in Financial Literacy using Brain Pop and finishing up our Ocean Study using lots of movies on Netflix. Our physical education will center around swimming and bowling - Kids Bowl Free. We will be using some free resources for Art from the National Gallery of Art.

Since I had posted about thinking outside the box KM thought it would be fun to post some of her top Wii and DS game picks that she finds very educational...

Ko's Journey - Math Curriculum Supplement

REVIEW & GIVEAWAY!!!

Yes, you read that write I have an incredible giveaway for one lucky winner! The product that is up for grabs is a one year license to a fantastic new online program called - Ko's Journey 5th -8th grade Math Improvement with Story Playing. - Instructions for giveaway at the end of the review...

Ko’s Journey covers the core concepts in middle-school math, comprising about 20% of a comprehensive curriculum. By going deep into a set of approximately 10 main areas of learning, students gain a rich, contextual understanding of essential concepts including number lines, fractions with non-common denominators, multiplication, division, rounding, percentage of numbers, applying scales, graphing comprehension, linear equations, Cartesian coordinate mapping, area of a circle, ratios, determining unknown variables, volume, complementary/supplementary angles, slope, addition/subtraction of decimals, multi-step problems and conversion of units of measure.

This program is fantastic! It is super simple to setup an account, which they have at many different levels including individual for $39 or Intervention Homeschool (up to 3 players) for $59. To me this is an extremely reasonable price for this very unique and engaging supplement to your middle school math curriculum.

This program features -

• 15-hour curriculum of core middle school math embedded in rich story
• Easy on-line set-up and administration
• Automatically tracks student progress and assignments
• Aligned with NCTM standards
• Excellent preparation for state testing (includes pre and post tests)
• Interactive learning environment with peer teaching
• Creative tool aimed at addressing emotional resistance to math
• Empower students comprehension of fundamental concepts

Some of the reasons that KM says she has been enjoying are:

• "using math in a virtual real life simulation helps me to understand why it works"
• "the graphics are great!"
• "it is really easy to use"
• "it saves my progress and tracks my scores"
• "each new level brings some new challenge or puzzle to solve"

Some things that I have noticed - both good and bad -

• Pre-test and post-test features are great to really be able to tell if they have learned new concepts by using the product or if previously covered concepts have been reinforce.
• Entertaining storyline to help keeps the wanting to work with the program
• Set-up was super easy
• Tracking of grades and progress is done automatically so you can ask your student to work on it and will know how they did from your own log in screen.
• It is possible to change the student information so that if you have more than one child you could purchase the individual program and they could either work through it together or once one child has completed it - as it is only a 15 hour curriculum - another child could restart it, as you have access to the program for one full year
• When using it on different computers it takes a VERY long time to load. This is not a big deal when we are at home, but when we are out and about and she wants to play it on the laptop it can be a bit annoying

Here are some screen shots -

I am very excited about the direction of this program and am hopeful that we will see more things to come of this high quality!

Now for the giveaway! Imagine Education has been generous enough to offer one lucky reader a full year individual license for this incredible math game! All you have to do is post a comment and you will be entered! Please be sure to leave an email address or blog link for me to be able to connect you through.

Also if you have a blog, mention this giveaway, come back and submit a link to the mention you will have a second chance to win! This will be limited to two entries per email address or blog link.

All comments or posts must be submitted no later than 8pm EDT on Friday 5/21 - I will announce the winner on Monday May 24th!

Straight Forward Math - WHAT A BRILLIANT CONCEPT!

KM started with the straight forward math series just a few weeks ago and though she has never complained about math - besides the repetition that often occurs - she can't say enough about how fantastic this program is!

It is literally Straight Forward and to the point! It gives short descriptions of theories or principles that it wants to cover, then it gives 1 or 2 well broken down examples and 10-15 practice problems. That's it, no long drawn out situations or concepts that confuse the kids just cut and dry here is the facts and here is how it works. Concise, uncluttered step-by-step progression of math concepts.

This is from their FAQ section and really sums it up well -

	What is unique about your math offerings?
	They tend to be no-nonsense, straightforward presentations. No frills, no cute pictures, no minimal text or minimal practice on a page. These are the serious books which teach to mastery. Perfect for on-level students, homeschoolers, older learners needing to refresh skills, or progressive self-learners.
	How is the Straight Forward Math Series orgainzed?
	The simple, computational facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are highly structured drill books. Mastery of these basic facts leads to the higher level books of pre-algebra and pre-geometry, on through algebra, geometry, trigonometry, precalculus, and calculus. From pre-algebra up, concepts are presented and explained, modeled by example, and practiced in focused exercises. Periodic review and testing help to measure attained and retained skills.

You can check out samples of some of the books HERE

The only area for the Algebra series that I do think is lacking is with word problems, so we will be supplementing with Scholastic Word Problems Grade 4-8. This should keep her problem solving skills in check.

Winter Session 7th Grade Curriculum Picks

As we are drawing our fall session to a close over the next week, I figured it was time to look ahead and finalize the choices we have made for the upcoming Winter Session! Since we are always changing things around here, this is of course a rough guess of what we will be doing. Most of our picks for the fall session worked out rather well, but there are some areas that we needed to tweak a bit. Here is our "intended" outline -

ELA -
We have swapped out our ELA system SEVERAL times in the past two years, but I do think that we have finally made a bit of progress in this area. KM worked through Levels 3 & 4 of Writing Strands rather quickly and decided to work through a few workbooks for latter half of this past session and the next.

• She has been working through 5-Minute Daily Practice Grammar, she tends to do all 5 lessons for the week at once on Monday, but she is getting them all correct, so I guess I can't really complain can I.
• Quick Practice Writing Skills is a bit more of a challenge for her - well it varies day to day. There are some things that she just needs a slight reminder on and others that have never been covered, so when we come to an area that needs to be covered completely we stop and cover it. It seems to be working and she is far less weary of asking for help.
• For writing itself we have gone back to the 3 minute non-stop writing and are using 350 Fabulous Writing Prompts. Some of the prompts are not so fabulous in my opinion, but we just skip those ones and take those days to go back over and review or edit her previous days writings.
• We will also begin working through the Grammar and then Writing on BrainPop.
• For literature we will be using Teacher Created Resources for Tuck Everlasting and The Island of the Blue Dolphin. As well as a Scholastic Book Guide for Around the World in Eighty Days which will coincide with our Geography. KM of course will also be continuing her free time reading - not that I have to worry about that.

Math -

• We will be finishing up The Complete Book of Algebra and Geometry this next session so that she can feel confident when she goes back to the Teaching Textbook for Algebra in the Spring.
• I also thought that it would be fun and interesting to take a look at Women Mathematicians during this session. This book features 15 women and we will spread them out covering one or two a week for the 10 week session.
  

Science -

• We have decided to put off Story of Science again as KM wanted to slow down a bit on her Physics so that she could really investigate each area more closely. So for the next session she will continue with her Physics Workshop Kit from Thames & Kosmos. She will also continue to supplement with Brain Pop.
• We are also going to revisit Chemistry. She had done a bit of it last year at our co-op, but I think we will try to dive a bit deeper this time around. I have gotten a light textbook - Chemistry of Matter - from Paperback Swap and she has agreed to try it. I have the Periodic Table from Basher Science Books - WHICH SHE LOVES! - as a stand by in case the text flops. I have a lot of projects and kitchen chemistry things to add in as well as BrainPop - AGAIN!
  

Social Sciences -

• For history we will be working on Ancient Rome and finishing up volume one of Story of the World. This will also conclude our Giant Lapbook! I will be sure to post all the info on that when it is complete! This will be our final history pocket as well. KM is very happy that we will also be continuing with the Horrible Histories series, which despite mixed reviews from others, has been going over very well with her! We started out with the books, then I purchased the animated series on Ebay and now have been using the resources for the CBBC series.
• We will be finishing up Rand McNally's Intermediate Geography as well as doing a cultural study of each area as it is covered in the book. I am using several other resources for this including Global Trek, Hands-On Heritage series and Art Projects from Around the World.
  

Health -
KM really likes the Learn to Be Healthy site - though some of the content is a bit below her level, most of it seems to be sinking in and she is moving right along through it. They do have a high school level, but I don't think she is ready for that set just yet. She is also working through the Health topics on Brain Pop.


Electives -

• Staying with our strong Science focus - per KM's request - she will be studying weather and meteorology this session. I will be listing our resources for this in a separate post.
• For her foreign language she is going to be doing Spanish. We were lucky enough to get a FANTASTIC deal on Tell Me More by Auralog through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op last summer and she is REALLY enjoying the program. The voice recognition software is great and the homeschool edition has worksheets that you can print off to supplement with. I will be supplementing with two workbooks - Let's Learn Spanish Grades 7 & 8. I also picked up to sticker books that I thought KM & SC could do together. This would help reinforce the basics for KM and would introduce SC to a bit of Spanish as well.
• Music Alive! is still a big hit and we will continue with this through the next session. We also will be taking a look at some opera pieces from Opera for Everyone and will be going to the Boston Lyric Opera's presentation of Barber of Seville.
  
• Piano Adventures is working incredibly! She will be starting on Level 2 and I am amazed and awestruck by how well she is playing with no outside instruction. There was talk of an interest in Flute, but I am not too sure how serious that was...
• She will be continuing with Drama at our co-op and they will be working on another Shakespearean play with music and dancing, but the title has not been disclosed yet!
• We will be continuing to work through the Meet The Masters for our art practical and theory section. She will also continue on her cross stitch work and may start some sewing as she interested in working on her costume for the play this spring.
  

Again I can't stress enough how much of a guideline this is and it is in NO WAY set in stone. I am very open to changing things that are not working and try to make sure that KM feels that she can be honest with me about how she feels something is going.

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - Math

It is that time of year again - KM would be entering 7th grade this year and we are finally finished figuring out what in the world we were going to study! We had made an outline last spring as to what subjects she wanted to learn more about and then I set about the task of finding options that I thought that she would enjoy. Of course if you have been visiting my blog before you may realize that we don't always stick to the full plan so there are some changes since the beginning of the summer! One of the greatest as well as most overwhelming tasks for any homeschooling parent is making that final decision and dishing out that cash for the product with high hopes - all fingers and toes crossed - that it will be as FANTASTIC as it looked online or in the store! So I have decided to post our final decisions here over the next few weeks doing one or two subjects at a time so that it does not get lost in the midst of all the other posts!

So I thought I would start with my favorite subject:

Math -

You may have seen my post in the spring where I mentioned that CJ and I had discussed having KM take a year off from Teaching Textbook. She did Pre-Algebra last year and did a really great job - averaging a very strong 94% -, but I felt that maybe I was rushing her a bit in this area. I really want her to fully understand the concepts and processes of math. So we will be working through some pre-algebra and area specific workbooks at least through fall and winter. Here are the ones we will be starting out with -

• Tables, Charts and Graphs
• Building Basic Skills - Problem Solving Grade 7
• Math Minders Graphing - Grade 7
• The Complete Book of Algebra and Geometry - Grades 5 & 6 - I made this choice because KM has never had much Geometry and the Teaching Textbooks did not cover it at all, so I really feel like she needs this before she moves onto the more advanced concepts in Algebra 1 and Geometry
• Family Math - Middle School Years - Our co-op is going to be doing an algebraic reasoning class using games and projects from this book as well as some great math board and card games.

We will also be using some math software that KM hasn't used in a while to change things up from time to time -

• Cluefinders Math Adventures
• Math Blaster
• Carmen Sandiego Math Detective
• High Achiever Middle School Math 1, 2, & 3
• Middle School Advantage 2007 - Pre-Algebra & Geometry
• Snap! Geometry

I am sure that there will be more to come in this area, as I am ALWAYS finding new things for math - so I will keep posting additions!

All bets are closed...

I did it, I didn't even make it a week and I have already changed my mind...hmmmm I am sure most of you are not surprised! I have decided that since KM is so far ahead in Math that we are going to take a few steps back and work on things in a more focused manner. I have a few workbooks that I think we need to work our way through as I am a bit nervous about her really grasping the full algebra 1 concepts at this stage in the game. So we will be using these instead of Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 in the fall - though wewill begin to use this program when she completes the four workbooks I have listed below I just think that if we rush it, it may backfire:

• Tables, Charts and Graphs

• The Complete Book of Algebra & Geometry

• Problem Solving: Grade 7

• Graphing: Activities to Stretch Young Minds, Grade 7

I also really just want to have a lighter hardcore schedule next year, as she really is ahead of where other kids her age are. I also went a little crazy and had a bit of a spending accident, but I got Joy Hakim's Story of Science and along with the student and teacher's guides. I think this will be our regrouping curriculum for science as well as all the fun experiments and books that I had listed previously. I think this will be our only changes, but of course I was VERY set on what I had last week as well! Guess that is the best part of homeschooling, switch it up as much as the budget can handle!

7th Grade Curriculum - Preliminary Decisions

As most of you have probably figured out - as I know I have stated it SEVERAL times - I am a HUGE planner, I need to feel like I have a game plan and though I am open to flexibility and wiggle room, I NEED to know that I have something set and ready to go! So before the warm weather gets here for real, I want to make sure that I have everything planned out for next year.

For the most part I have known for a while what we would be doing, but there were some final choices that I think I have committed to. So here is what KM's 7th Grade Curriculum will look like -

Summer Session - Yes we do continue our lessons during the summer, but it is on a much lighter scale. KM and I sat down and tried to figure out what she thought would be manageable and what I would agree to as enough. Here is what we came up with:

Daily:
Summer Bridge Activities - This is a review type book that has different activities each day, but helps you kinda stay on track. Most of the things are fun activities and she has been doing them for YEARS now so she figured why change something that has worked for such a long time.

Egyptian Study - if we keep at the pace we are right now with our History timeline study we should be right at Egypt when we start the Summer session. I have TONS of projects, resources, sites, kits and books for this which I think I will list separately. This will be an ongoing thing throughout the summer that I didn't really want to schedule in so we will be working on this bit by bit throughout the session.

Mondays:
Cooking - We will be using the Usbourne Internet Linked Children's World Cookbook - to travel the globe through food. We will also be going to our local farmer's markets to get local produce of the season to cook with as well as using the bounty from our own garden!

Tuesdays:
Geography - along with our world food travels, we will be using Brighter Child Geography Grade 6 which we did not have a chance to get to during this last year's studies.

Wednesday:
ELA - we have been using Scholastics Scope Magazine since last fall, but we could never manage to get to all of it, so we decided to save the reader's plays and the extra worksheets for the summer.

Thursday:
Science - I don't know how long ago it was, but at some point I picked up a copy of Homework Survival Guide: Science and I came across it when we were cleaning out our books over the winter. We decided to use it as a review and do one chapter a week for the summer. We will also be incorporating lots and LOTS of projects to go with each one so be sure to swing by for Science Thursdays starting in July. I think that this will really bring KM up to speed with the basic knowledge that she was SOOOOO lacking from her time at PS.

Fridays:
Math - another book that we just didn't get to as much as we would have liked was Fast Finishers Math so we thought this would be a good time to finish it up!


Starting in the Fall she will be doing -

Math - Teaching Textbooks was such a HUGE hit this year that I will stray from it! She will be starting Algebra 1 in the fall.


ELA - She will be doing 5-minute Daily Grammar - which should help to straighten out some of those things that really just need some repetition to get down. Also upon recommendation by a very good friend, countless internet searches and a LONG discussion with KM we have decided to give Writing Strands a try. We will be starting her off at Level 3 and she is very excited about the way that it is truly written to the student. It also has VERY little prep work for me! I also have on the back burner, Writing Survival Skills for the Middle Grades - which the same friend recommended and I lucked out and found on Paperback Swap! Also a great Paperback Swap find was World Smart Junior which will be in place of a formal vocabulary program.

Literature/Reading Comprehension - For fiction we will be using literature units from Teacher Created Resources. To start we will be doing The Cricket in Times Square, Island of the Blue Dolphin, Bridge to Terabithia and Tuck Everlasting. For non-fiction we will be using a workbook called As a Matter of Fact which seems like it will be a very good fit.

History - We will be continuing our timeline study using the Complete Book of World History as our time-line spine and we will probably begin with Ancient China in the fall. I will list these resources separately as well.

Geography - Our coop group is thinking of doing a full year Geography program, focusing on a different continent each session. This will be a GREAT way for the kids to learn about this in a group setting! I will be sure to post more about this as it develops as well.

Cultural Studies - In the fall we will be focusing on a Thanksgiving Unit that we got from Plimoth Plantation called Investigating the First Thanksgiving which helps to clarify what really happened at the first Thanksgiving and what it was really like for the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. Then we will use several resources to dive deep into the cultures of Southeast Asia, Japan, and Mexico and Central America.

Science - We have a large mismatch group of things that KM really wants to cover for Science next year. We will be starting out with the Basher Series which looks like they are going to be rather enjoyable reading, then we will be using the MOS designed Engineering is Elementary Program, a variety of free electricity resources that we ordered from National Grid and a unit on Inventions and Inventors. We will also be supplementing with a new site that I found through Homeschool Buyers Co-op called Adaptive Curriculum. Once she has all these things done I think she will have a very good basis to start some of the higher level sciences.

Foreign Language Studies - We will be sticking with Latin next year and will be using Minimus Secundus: Moving on in Latin as well as Learning Latin Through Mythology. I am already seeing a huge improvement with KM's word recognition and decoding roots since we started the Minimus: Starting out in Latin.

Art - we will be using a program that looks really intriguing called Meet the Masters. KM is a bit nervous about having to reproduce masterpieces, but I think once she starts and sees that it is really more about the techniques that she will really enjoy the program!

Music - KM is still loving the keyboard so we will be continuing with Piano Adventures. I also came across this rather interesting classroom magazine called Music Alive and for $9 I got all 8 issues of this past years magazines, which feature a current artistic from a different genre each month. KM is so into music that I couldn't pass up a deal like that! We will also continue to utilize the incredible monthly content at Classics for Kids. I am seriously considering signing her up for private keyboard lessons, but I am worried that this may deter her natural drive that she seems to be following. She reads music incredibly and truly enjoys playing, so I will just wait and see if she starts to peak off or has trouble just using the books on her own.


So that is our 7th grade plan - I hope we will stick to it, but if you are a regular reader I would guess that bets are being placed as to when the first change will occur! It feels good to have it all laid out in front of me though and I think that I have found a really good balance of what KM wants and what CJ and I feel that she really NEEDS.

Moving right along -

is what our week has been doing. I can't believe it is Wednesday night already! Our spring session began on Monday and it is going really well. KM seems to be enjoying doing science everyday. We are using a new series for us from Usborne called Adventures of the Human Body in Ten Terrific Weeks. She really likes the shorter lessons and the hands on charts, projects and interactive websites. We are also making a collage on an area of wall in the playroom where she can display all that she is learning - kinda like a HUGE lapbook. I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of the program and am going to be looking into the Knighthood one once we get into the Middle Ages. It gives a really good outline using books that you can easily get through most library networks.

Another new thing we are trying is doing the Writing Tales lessons twice a week - we had been doing the full weeks lesson all in one day on Friday, so that it took her two weeks to get through the story as it is meant to be done. Now we are doing one on Wed and one on Fridays so that she gets the first and second drafts of the story done all in one week. This will allow her to finish the program by the end of this spring session and then she can decide if she wants to move on to level 2 or go onto a different writing program. KM has always detested writing! She would dictate things to me with no problem so I had always thought that it was the actual physical writing,but I am beginning to think it was more about the pressure of it being accurate and creative that would get to her. With this progymnasmata writing program she really seems to be becoming much more confident in her writing. It doesn't take her nearly as long to get it done and there have been fewer and fewer mistakes lately. That is why we decided to move it up to twice a week - she feels she can handle it. Although this curriculum is below "grade level" in comparison to everything else that she is doing, it has really been a perfect fit for her to gain the confidence that she needed. I think I am going to try to convince her to do the second level starting next fall and then move on to more essay and expository type writings after that. I don't think she will give me much of a hassle with it, but this is one area that I feel I don't want to rush through as I am seeing such a huge amount of progress.

We also decided to do away with spelling and vocabulary in the traditional sense. We are incorporating vocabulary into literature, using Number2.com daily and we are continuing with Latin using the Minimus program which I managed to get through Paperback Swap - SCORE! It amazes me how much she has already picked up and how quickly she has begun to really get the roots. She has also been using Word Coach on the Wii and Spelling Challenge for her DS. It amazes me how many educational games there are out there for things that I never would have thought of! It makes life so much easier when they are truly enjoying the things that can get so monotonous!

Our local homeschool coop is finishing up for the season and we will be having our closing ceremony this coming Monday, which will include the older kids performing in Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream. They have been working on it since January and have really done a great job! They are all so excited about the upcoming performance and are already talking about doing one again next year! It is so amazing to see such a truly great group of "tweens" who are thoroughly enjoying Shakespeare!

Our other programs are all pretty much moving along the same as they had been -

• Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra is still holding up to our expectations and likings
• we are continuing on in our timeline of history - we are just getting into the First Humans and the beginnings of Civilization and are supplementing the text with lots of living books and projects from Ancient Science.
• KM is moving right along through the Piano Adventures series and still loving it!
• Next week we will for Health will be starting another NIDA free program called Brain Power! and KM will starting an astronomy unit - hopefully as a cooperative thing with one of her friends.
  

All and all things really are just moving right along! Now if the weather could just move right along into spring we would all be perfectly sublime!

Metric System Day

The metric system just makes so much more sense to me and I truly don't understand why it is not used as the standard measurement here in the US, but hey what can we do today but celebrate this common sense system!!!

Here are our links for today -

• Great explanation of the metric system
• Various worksheet and other info on metric system
• Metric System Rap - I am not making this one up!
  
• List of sites for the kiddos to explore
• Kids Corner - list of conversions

I will update you later with what we did to get more metric!


----OUR DAY JUST GOT AWAY FROM US!!! CJ was home for the day because they had an outside job and it was TOOOO wet! This ALWAYS throws things off to begin with, but we also had errands to do, costumes to get in order and a new history unit to do. KM did look over some of the metric links on her own this morning though and her favorite was the National Institute of Standards and Technology - HERE and when she printed out the Metric Pyramid it seemed to all make sense to her! Maybe we can take some time later in the week to take a look at some of the other sites!!! Let me know what you guys got done and had fun with!!!

There is always a reason!

OK so I know that I had been complaining about the TeachingTextbook site being down on Saturday, well Sunday it was still down! I was so frustrated because I really just want to have all the curriculum for the fall decided on and purchased so that I don't really have to think about it until August! I feel like I have spent the last 5 months doing nothing but scouring the net and questioning people about what is the best for this subject or that as there is no way that I could just use a "box set" with KM and have it work. So I had thought after she took the placement test on Saturday I could finally be done with all of it ~ for now anyway.

Well there really is a reason for everything! Right after I tried to get onto the site and it said it was still down for maintenance, I checked my email and had a reminder from ebay that an auction I had been watching was ending soon. I clicked on the link and there it was - YIPPPEEE! The Pre-Algebra set that I had been trying to buy. It had 13 minutes left and it was going for 60 dollars less than the original price!!! I also had a $5 off shipping coupon so the shipping only cost me $3 with insurance! If the site had not been down on Saturday and I had gotten that email on Sunday I would have been FURIOUS with myself! So I apologize for cursing out everyone that I did for the site being down on Saturday and would like to thank whomever was watching out for my finances in such a delightful way!

The ironic thing is that I had only been watching the Teaching Textbooks auctions to see if the resale value was going to be worth it for me to have her write in the consumable book or not. I will be having her use a notebook and act as though the consumable book is a textbook. Less waste and production cost that way and then I can allow someone else the same benefit of the reduced recycling reusing rate! 3Rs of course!

Doesn't it always figure!!!

KM took her placement test for next year's math as we are strongly leaning towards using the Teaching Textbooks series. She really liked the demos and the way they break down the specific problem if you get it wrong, not just one that is similar to it, so that it is easier to see where you made the mistake. I think that it will keep her engaged better than just using a textbook and me at the whiteboard as well.
So she took the test and passed it to start out in Pre-Algebra (yippee), but of course the site has been down all day! I have heard that this time of year most of the educational sites hit bumps in the road but this is crazy how many sites have been down these past two weeks. - I can't imagine what it would be like to try to order things last minute in August. Of course most of you know there is no way I could be sane all summer if I didn't know for sure what we are doing next year!

Where does the time go!!!

Everyone asks themselves this question from time to time and some more times than others.

These last few weeks have just been non-stop running running running and the rest of this month doesn't look like it is going to slow down! Hopefully somewhere along the way I will find time to think long enough to come up with something half-way interesting to blog about!

Right now amongst all the craziness, the only thing that has been crossing my mind is next years curriculum.

I am venturing into creating my own curriculum for next year and am a bit nervous. I really don't have a choice in the matter as KM is getting frustrated lately with the Time4Learning site. It either takes forever to load, freezes up or doesn't give her credit for what she has completed. She likes the interactive aspects of the Math and ELA but social studies and science are soooo tedious. The science would be better if they gave the parents a heads up when they were going to have a lab that required certain materials. We really jumped into the program in January as it seemed to be aligned with what she had been doing in PS and you could switch between grade levels for different subjects, but she only has about a month left on the ELA and ELA ext. before that is completed and about 5 or 6 weeks on the Math section. So she will have completed their full year curriculum in half that time.

I got a recommendation to try one of those all-in-one curriculum in a box sets, but she is at so many different levels that I don't think I could find one to fit what we need. So I have been spending every free second trying to figure out what direction I want to take.

Here is what I am thinking:

Math - we are going to try the teaching textbooks - we both really liked their demo and the fact that it is like having a tutor sitting there with you if you have a problem is PRICELESS! Math is the one thing that she really really likes and feels confident enough that she doesn't need me to sit right with her for, so I am hoping that with this program this can continue. ~Don't get me wrong if she needs help I am always there, but I do like that there is more independence in this area. She is going to be taking the pretest next week to determine what level she should start at, but it looks like she is going to be at Math 7.

Language Arts - I am thinking I am really going to focus on writing. I got this great book "Teach Terrific Writing" by Gary Robert Muschla. I like it because it covers all forms of writing and teaches the kids step-by-step how to write, edit and improve their own writing. I also appreciate that is multi-leveled. I really am trying to get away from the grade labeling. I am really starting to see how deceiving it can be. For spelling I think I am going to focus on the words that she is always asking me to spell and adding some vocab - not sure if I am going to stick with the Wordly Wise series. We used it as she had been doing it in PS and liked it, but I don't know it seems to be more of one of those teaching to test things again. I may just incorporate spelling, vocab and reading all together into unit studies. ~ I broke down and purchased the year subscription to efantasmic, it has a great variety of resources for all subject areas and they keep adding more to it every time I go onto the site. I also like that they have a wide variety of selections.

Social Studies & Science - I think I am going to try to stick with unit studies. I figure she was only getting about 45 minutes every other week for each of these subjects in PS so anything is better than that. I also found this ridiculously awesome site a few months ago and got a ton of free curriculum plans from them -ABSOLUTELY FREE! The site is http://www.bscs.org/curriculumdevelopment/index.html I could not believe the info when I received it. I really thought it was going to be little pamphlets or something but this is full curriculum sets, three ring punched and ready for a binder. Some even come with CD-Roms and online extras. Then today there was a link in one of the newsletters to a site for free history plans - you can download or order a disc for free ~that site is http://www.americanheritage.org/elementary.html they have a huge selection as well. There are so many really complete resources online it is incredible! It makes me not feel so bad about splurging on some of the other resources.

Spanish - KM has always been interested in learning Spanish and we have done somethings here and there but I am in the process of trying to figure out a system for this, as she knows most common words and phrases, so I think we are going to go to a higher level on this one and learn it together. I also have a bunch of Spanish DVDs from when KM was little that we are going to be using with SC so that will work for reviewing to start with. I have heard wonderful things about the LiveMocha site so I am going to be looking into that some more as well.

As I am totally new to ALL this... if anyone has any advice or recommendations on anything here it would be GREATLY appreciated!

Good Luck with your own planning!