Catching up!

So my Internet and phone are FINALLY back online after much aggravation!

Last week was very busy, which is how it always seems to work around here when I want to slow things down a bit!

Here are some of our favorite pics from last week:

We went on a quest that took us through the New England Wildlife Center -

KM felt it had been far too long since a pic of me was taken so here I am -

THE CRAZY LADY HIKING WITH AN INFANT AND A TODDLER! - I must say though Miss SC is quite the trooper and if you put GC in the sling she is happy no matter where we are!

SC started a new dance craze:

KM did some fashion designing this week:

some of the rhinestones didn't iron on quite so well so she improvised with puffy paint!

She had better luck with t-shirt iron-ons though!

There was a dress-up fashion show:

which brought out some interesting characters!

We had a very wet and shorter than expected time camping, but it was SUPER fun!

Take a peek to see what kept us up all night!

We are now in our second week of "vacation" from lessons before we start our fall session and things are just as CRAZY this week!

Please keep your fingers crossed for me that next week TRULY will be a slow week!

Don't know how much I will post, but I will be sure to be back for good after the 28th when we start our Fall Session!

Quite the week -

...no internet....
going camping....
be back soon!

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - HOW IT ALL FITS TOGETHER

Since I started listing our curriculum picks in August I have been asked a LOT about how we are actually going to implement ALL of the choices that we have made this year and here is a pic from Homeschool Tracker Plus which outlines our weekly plan. ~~~ If you click on it - it will open bigger in another window.

Now pay no regard to most of the timeline on the side as it is very rare that KM EVER gets her work started at 8am! However it just gives a breakdown of how things fit together. Sometimes ELA may take twice as long and Science might take half the time, but this is a good outline so that KM and I can see what it is that should get completed each day. I also am not 100% strict on which day something gets done, if a field trip, outing, playdate or something comes up OR we just don't feel like doing it that day, then we can very easily switch it to another day or move it to the weekend or whatever. I am rather rigid that all of the work gets completed within the week though, otherwise I would feel like we weren't progressing and things would get too piled up!

We upgraded to the PLUS version of the tracker in the fall so that we could save time and paper, by setting up KM's account where she can go in and check her assignments for the week or the day instead of me having to copy them to the whiteboard or write them all out in the planner. It has worked WONDERFULLY during the summer and there have been many times when KM has gone ahead on her own and completed something early so that she could setup a playdate or sleepover or just to get brownie points when asking to do something extra special! This has also helped create a lot more independence when the Littles are here. KM can go into her room and get her things done without having to tempt SC because she has to check with me on what is next.

A mom who is new to homeschooling mentioned recently that she was really concerned about being able to fit everything in and I think this is a big fear for a lot of parents especially those who have taken their kids out of PS. One thing that you have to remember is that you work at your child's pace, you don't have to rush through things to get to the next thing , to get to the next thing. You can work on it for as long or as short an amount of time as your child(ren) need or want you to. There are as many ways to homeschool as there are families who homeschool. Not one family does it EXACTLY the same as the next because no two children are EXACTLY the same! This is the BEAUTY of homeschooling!

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - Everything Else

This is the list of everything else that we will be covering!

Foreign Language - Latin
We will be continuing our Latin study at least through the fall and maybe into the winter...

• Learning Latin Through Mythology - two of KM's favorite things rolled into one, where could you go wrong with that?
  
• Minimus Secundus - KM really like the first level of this book, so I figured we should go for it again!
  

Art -
KM loves art and is very excited we are going to be starting Meet the Master which I got another great deal on through Homeschool Buyers Co-op!


Music -
Another one of KM's favorite areas so we have multiple resources here -

• Piano Adventures Series - this covers her lesson books, artistry and technique, theory, performance practice and her favorite - Christmas songs!
• Music Alive!
• Classics for Kids
• Voice Lessons To Go

Health -
We will be continuing to use the free curriculum supplements from NICHD publications. When I found this resource, just over a year ago, I thought it would be just some small little packets or pamphlets. I ordered almost everyone and nearly fell over when they arrived! These are full sets all ready to go into a 3 ring binder and some come with CD-Rom games and online interaction!
We also will probably be using a few of these websites -

• KidsHealth in the Classroom
• Learn to Be Healthy
• Safe Kids
• BBC's PHSE site
  

Term Elective - KM picks a subject area each term that she would like to know more about!
With the newest baby around so much lately KM has become very interested in learning about child development. It is rather tricky to find information for Middle School at this level, but I did manage to find a few things...by searching under Babysitting Skills!

• Babysitting Handbook - American Girl
• 4H - Child Development Set - I was sooooo excited when I found out that you could just order the 4H curriculums and use them at home!
• REAL LIFE BABY IN OUR HOME 2-3 DAYS A WEEK!
• REAL LIFE TODDLER IN OUR HOME 2-3 DAYS A WEEK!

CO-OP Classes
We will be attending our co-op for two classes this fall, as well as a Theater Group with our local homeschool support network. Our first co-op class will be Geography and loosely based on the Trail Guide to World Geography for the mapping aspects and different parents will be responsible each week to provide the cultural aspects that go along with it. The second class will be on Algebraic Reasoning using Family Math for Middle Schoolers and LOTS of math games. The theater group is the same one that she participated in last spring and they will be continuing to do some work on Shakespeare, as well as some monologues and some skits on famous historical times and people.



I think that is it for our fall session line-up. If you missed any of the previous posts just head to the top of the screen and type in curriculum picks and they should pop right up! Don't know how much we will get done or how many times we will change things around, but we are hoping for the best!

It may be quietier around here for the next few weeks as we take a bit of time off in between sessions! Be sure to let us know how your fall is starting out!

One BIG building

They built the Chrysler Building earlier in the week and it was truly taller than the toddler!

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - KIT FINDS

I mentioned the choices that we had made for our science curriculum last week, but as I was trying to find somewhere that had the physics kit that was recommended by Simple Schooling I also happened to come across an incredible kit to supplement The Story of Science - Milestones in Science!

I am soooo excited about this two kits! They are complete and FANTASTIC! I am amazed that no one has mentioned combining The Story of Science with this Milestones kit before, it seems like a no brainer to me. I am all about getting my money worth and with 100 experiments that is less than 80 cents an experiment! How can you beat that with everything all there and ready for you! The physics kit has 37 experiments and also has extremely clear instructions and meshes seamlessly with the simple schooling physics.


~~~After further investigation I must add- I usually wait to get kits in person when I just happen to see them in a store marked down to some ridiculously low price because I have been sooooo disappointed in the past, but THESE KITS are fantastic and totally worth the money. You have to add VERY few items like a 9-volt battery for instance. They also have INCREDIBLE clear and informative booklets that go along with them! The more I look at the them the more I am very happy that I didn't have my stingy cheap side come out and I got them!

Not-Back-To-School Day - 2009

All of our local public school counterparts headed back to school this morning and we spent the day enjoying some of our favorite things about homeschooling..here is what we did on our NOT-Back-to-School Day!

Got up REALLY early for us - 6:15a so that we could go to Friendly's for breakfast with CJ before he headed out to work.

We came back to the house and KM practiced piano until The Littles got here!

After SC ate her breakfast, jammed on the guitar for a bit....

and KM did her chores we spent some time playing sports on the Wii!

SC wanted her nails painted and KM was happy to accommodate her!

Then went out to enjoy some sunshine!



We went for a silly ride to pick up lunch!


After lunch naps were had by all!

All and all it was a great, relaxing, enjoyable day!!!

How do you celebrate Not-Back-To-School Day?

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - Social Sciences

Now on to our picks for Social Science:

Social Sciences - The social sciences comprise academic disciplines concerned with the study of the social life of human groups and individuals including anthropology, communication studies, economics, human geography, history, political science, psychology and sociology.

History -
We will be continuing our journey into ancient cultures and first stop in the fall will be China! Though we will be continuing to loosely follow the Complete Book of World History, I was pointed toward History: The Definitive Visual Guide and I am seriously thinking about switching over to that, but I will make sure to keep you all posted on that!
For China we will be using the Ancient China Thematic Unit and focusing on Between the Dragon and the Eagle. We will then move onto the Ancient Americas.

Geography -
Our co-op will be doing a full year Geography class, loosely following the Trail Guide to World Geography and I will be supplementing with a few resources.

Cultural Studies -
As well as touching on the cultures of areas that we go over in geography we will be doing some specific cultural studies as well starting with Investigating the First Thanksgiving and Holiday's Around the World.
Investigating the First Thanksgiving website
Holiday's Around the World Websites -

• http://www.lessonplanspage.com/SSChristmasAroundtheWorldK1.htm
• http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/holidays/
• http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson213.shtml
  

An Evening at the Fair!

There were lots to see and do at our Annual County Fair this week! We made it over there Thursday evening and had a fantastic time! Here are some of KM's favorite pics:

Always Learning Something New!

All 3 of the girls learned something new this week!
SC has figured out how to get Thomas to work on the laptop -
watch out she is going to be a full time hacker by the time she is 3!

GC has discovered that her thumb is a great soother!

KM has mastered yet another tune on the keyboard!

Science Thursday....but it really is Friday! - Electricity and Light

I totally forgot about this kit! It worked out well when she found it on the back of the shelf since she had just finished her Adaptive Curriculum on energy, electricity and light!

She had a great time building it and was very proud of herself that it worked!

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - Science

Keeping the ball rolling - here are our science choices:

Science
Our approach to science is going to be a bit hard-core this year because that is REALLY what KM wanted! I am not too sure how we are going to fit everything in, but hey she is excited about science, so I REALLY can't smash the interest!

• The Story of Science, Aristotle leads the Way - we got the whole shebang on this one! Books, teacher's quest and student quests!
• Middle School Physics - I fell in love with this site when I stumbled across it at the beginning of the summer and I have to say when I downloaded this program it did not fail to please...hopefully it will be as easy and enjoyable to execute as it appears!
• Unit study on weather & meteorology - more specific information on resources for that to come later as I am still putting it together!
• Basher Science Series - we LOVE everything about this series! From the cute little comic pics to the through yet entertaining information! We have been working through Astronomy this summer and plan on starting Biology in the fall and Physics, well when we start Physics!
• Adaptive Curriculum - to supplement with extra projects that we wouldn't be able to do in our home! She absolutely loves this program and we got a SUPER deal on it through Homeschool Buyers Co-op.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that our ambitious choices will not crash and burn!

Science Thursday - Force and Laws of Motion

Rockets and Cork Rockets with Dad:

"It is always more fun to blow things up
when daddy is around!"