Week #2

We made it through the second week and guess what.....the kids and I are still loving our new guides!! We are still tweaking our schedule a bit. This week I started by letting them listen to their hymn while they eat breakfast and all three kids have liked this. Then we all do our pledges and then I work on Ian's calendar skills. The girls work on their handwriting and mental math during this time. Then we went into our block schedule that we started last week, minus HWOT and music in block 2. Another thing I added this week is the ability to earn extra break or free time. If the kids can tell Daddy three things they learned in school that day they can earn an extra 5 minute break. So far, so good they are all working on hard on what to tell Daddy when he comes home. 

This week in Little Hands Ian worked on the letter Bb and learned about Noah and the number two. He is trying really hard and I am so very proud of him! He likes his HWOT book and we worked on making lines and connecting dots. He loved making a rainbow as well as helping the girls with their science. He also sits in on story time and  art. He also had fun tracing the letter Bb and doing some activities on the computer. 

Audrey and Ally are on unit two of Bigger and learned a lot and did very well on all of the narration lessons! Here is how their week looked. I didn't take as many pictures this week ; ) 

Bible: Proverbs 11:2/Humility   We looked up the word humility this week and discussed it and came up with a lot of examples. We talked about gifts that God gives us and it was cute to see what the girls see as their gifts. Audrey said hers was math and Ally said hers was reading. Both girls were able to say their verse on their own this week! I am still unsure how I feel about Little Pillows though. My girls get so bored with it.

Poetry: "The Ship That Sails" We took our time going over the poem this week. We decided to have a weekly tea time and discuss it along with music, books, art, and other poems we like. I was pretty excited and think it was the highlight of my week! This week I let them each bring something to discuss and share : ) Audrey brought a book she is reading, Ally brought a piece of art she made, Ian brought a toy, and I brought some things to teach the kids about Johann Sebastian Bach. I went first and we read and looked at a picture of Bach and then for the rest of tea time we listened to some of his music. They are already looking forward to next week! It looks like I may need to go out and buy a tea set! 

Language: We worked more on writing sentences. Most of the work they did orally but I did have them write a few sentences on their white boards. We LOVE using our own white boards around here. 

Dictation: I am very impressed with how well the girls are doing! We just finished passage 6. I only have them do dictation 2-3 times a week. Audrey had an episode this week where she could not remember how to spell does, so she just looked at the previous passage with the word! Mommy learned to always use a new page or have the girls cover up old passages. They are doing well with the HWOT paper. 

Music: All three of the kids can now sing "Holy, Holy, Holy"! I downloaded the CD to my phone so they can sing it anywhere! The girls did have piano lessons and got all of their theory and songs passed for the week. 

Handwriting: I am already seeing some small improvements in the girls handwriting! It makes me very excited to start Ian out in this program! The girls write okay but it could always be neater. 

Story time:  Ben and Me, is still going well. We made a timeline about the character and did a lot of discussion and retelling. It looks like we may finish before the recommended time. We are talking about the main characters and how they are or are not showing the trait of responsibility.


DITHOR: The girls are still reading their books about Amelia Earhart and it is such a cute story. It is about Amelia as a young girl and how she was a tomboy. Audrey totally relates to this and LOVES it! The workbook is going well and both girls write their own responses. I am proud of them. We discussed how Amelia is showing responsibility and diligence. 

Vocabulary: This went much better this week. The words seemed a bit easier for them. They came up with some better sentences. They did well putting the words we have done so far in alphabetical order. 

Writing: For writing this week we used everything we have learned in language to write an ouch story. We had a planning page, we did a rough draft, we edited it, and then they published in their journals. The topic was to tell about a time they got hurt, what happened and who helped them.  Audrey wrote about falling off her bike and Ally wrote about when she tripped and hit the corner of her eye on a bookshelf and had to have it glued.


Math: This week we had some fun playing math games to work on our subtraction skills. The girls do xtramath.org to work on those skills as well. They had some trouble remembering to regroup! They want to get done in a hurry and forget to pay attention!  They can easily do the work but they often get done early in most subjects so they like to do that with math but they pay the piper when they do that. They have to go back and correct everything they missed! 

History/Geography:We talked again about Columbus and what happened when he went back home. We used a globe and map to trace his route as well as to discuss the equator. We also learned about John Cabot and compared and contrasted him to Columbus. We added the two routes that John Cabot sailed to our history note booking map we are working on. Columbus and Cabot were added to our timeline along with the years of their birth and death. One fun thing we learned about Columbus is how he tricked the Indians concerning a lunar eclipse, telling them that a God was going to change the moon when in fact he knew what it really was.  We made a model of a lunar and a solar eclipse.

Science: Science was about ocean animals as well as how things can float in salt water verses fresh water. We did an experiment on how a birds beak affects its ability to eat and dig for things in the sand. The lab sheet helped the girls to express and summarize what they learned. We also floated and egg to demonstrate that salt water is denser than fresh water. They love getting to measure things out! We also used this to teach about responsibility as they had to gather the things we needed and clean and put it all away. They also had to write the verse in Genesis about how God made the sea. They made a note book page to show animals that live in on the shore and animals that live between the tide. 

 Art: Our art did not turn out as expected this week. I used Dollar Tree wax paper : ( The girls had fun with the water colors and using the plastic wrap and they did end up with a cute painting, there was just no fish in it. 

The kids spent time outside this week as the weather was awesome! Ian started baseball practice as well. Next week we all start at our new Co op! It seems that each week we are easing into our new activities and adding to our already packed schedule! I love it though!

                                      Weekly Homeschool Lesson Plans 2014/2015          

Week of                                                             Unit # 2   Search for a New Route to Asia

	Day 1                Day 2                    Day 3                   Day 4                Day 5
Prayer, Calendar
Language		p. 20-21	p. 22-23	p. 24-25	p. 26-27	p. 28-29
Bible		Verse:   Proverbs 11:2 Humility           Devotion: Little Pillows p. 38-40
Poetry		The Ship That Sails
Dictation		Passage 3	Passage 3		Passage 4	Review
DITHOR		Day 5 Comprehension Check/ Listen	Day 6 Pre reading WB p. 6	Day 7 Story Discussion and Vocabulary	Day 8 Story Element: character  Listen	Day 9 Godly Traits: Biblical comparisons
HWOT		Evaluate	Capitals p. 47 and choose 1 p. 165	Capitals p. 48 Favorite Activity	Capitals p 49 Favorite Activity	Capital Review p. 50
Read Aloud		Title: Ben and Me      Genre:  Biography  Story Element:  character    Trait: Responsibility
Writing		Work on Correct Spelling p. 21	Spelling p. 22	Spelling p. 23		Journal: Story about a cat
Math		Add ones and tens TB 12-13 WB Ex3	TB 13 WB Ex 4	Add 2 Digits TB 13 WB Ex 5	Add 98 or 99 TB 14 WB Ex 6/7
Science		Seashores p 14/15. Retell/ Narrate	Notebook from p. 14	Seashores p. 16-17 Experiment	Seashores p. 18-19Narrate/Retell	Seashores p. 20-23 Experiment
Art					Painting
Geography		The Equator
History		First Book of American History p. 12-14 Going to Spain	First Book of American History p. 15/17 Meeting Indians Solar Eclipse lesson	First Book of American History p. 18-20 VOCABULARY!!!	First Book of American History p. 21-22	Notebook: Make a map Timeline Entry
Music		Kids Heart Vol.1 Track 1 “Holy, Holy,Holy” Pages 18 and 19 and Piano Practice
Extra’s		Technology	Co op	Piano Lessons	PE	PE /Tech

Ian’s Lessons	Ian’s speech
Letter Bb Bible/Activity Noah Finger Play Noah’s Big Boat Music: Track 6 Count on Me:
	Rotating Number 2, sink or float	ETC/HWOT

Weekly Notes: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Curriculum Resources: Heart of Dakota: Bigger Hearts for His Glory, Singapore Math,  Handwriting Without Tears, Internet, Library, Drawn Into The Heart of Reading, Preparing to Build English 2, Heart of Dakota: Little Hands to Heaven, Get Ready for the Code