Wordless Wednesday

After a long haitus from Wordless Wednesday, we are back. So for your viewing pleasure I present...

Summer Plans...

Ahh yes summer...my least favorite time of the year. Seriously. There are lots of people who LOVE the summer time: BBQ's, beach days, fun in the sun...I am not one of those people. Here it's usually to hot and the air quality too bad to do anything during the day, so we are forced to run our errands early in the am to be done by 10, and I pretty much try to keep the kids indoors until after 7. Do you have any idea how hard that is? In any case that's one of the reasons why we school year round. Another reason is because it is just too hard to get them started again in the fall. I've always believed in year round schooling, even when my darling children were in public school they went to summer school. Also, I'm trying to teach them that learning and seeking knowledge isn't based on a calander of days or seasons, but is something that should be done all the time and never stop.

So here are our summer plans:

Leena-
Math: Key to Algebra Book 9, and Straight Forward Pre Geometry Books 1 & 2.
Science: Biology Coloring Book, Teaching Company Biology: The Science of Life DVD, and 10 Essential Herbs course.
English: The Elegant Essay, English from the Roots Up and a reading list which will most likely include only about 3-4 books from her Sophomore English teacher’s summer reading list.

The algebra is just to keep her refreshed and the pre-geometry and biology are to give her an exposure to what she will be doing next fall. The herb course is just for fun, but fits nicely into biology and the writing is to help hone her writing skills. Ideally, I'd like her to complete a research project, but I don't want to push my luck.

Xan-
Actually with Xan, his summer work is just a continuation of his 4th grade work and reading list that he didn't finish this year. We will probably do some lapbooks on topics of his choosing for fun and I might try to get a jump start on the chemistry program he will be using for next year, which I'm still undecided about. I know we will definitely be using SLOOH and we'll probably do a lapbook on that as well.

We are also taking a trip to Michigan later this summer and we are all super excited about that. Both of the kids have expressed an interest in doing a state report before we go, so we'll being working on that as well.

I think we've got plenty to keep us busy during the hot season, but lest you all think I'm a slave driver, we have other trips and pool time planned as well. Plus there's always $1 scoop night at Baskin Robbins. Now that's something about summer that I can cheer about.

Memorial Day...

In a time when it seems that the real reason behind Memorial Day is lost to BBQ’s and 3 Day weekends, my children will always know the real reason behind this holiday.

We will always Remember.

Days that make you say, "This is what it's all about..."

We all have those days. Those days when lessons don't start till 10:00 and none of the kids can focus. When you have tell tell your son 10 times to sit down and please finish his spelling, or you don't understand why he isn't getting his multiplication facts down no matter how hard you try. Those days, when some of us are required to do mandatory testing and even though, you know in your heart that you aren't following "their" course of study or scope and sequence, that what your doing is much better for your child, the test results come back less than stellar and you feel terrible because you just know you are failing your children. Those days that make us question, even for a brief moment, "Why am I doing this again?"

But then we have those other days. The days when your daughter spends 3 hours on the computer setting up a blog for her photography. Choosing the layout, applying the html code, watermarking the hundred or so pictures in her portfolio to use...The days when your son is actually enjoying the classical music channel and making comments about the snippets of facts they play with the music and when he is pleading to finish reading the last 8 chapters of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe because "...the battle is coming and the book is just sooo good." Those days when grammar just doesn't seem like such a big deal and the world won't come crashing down because all of the little boxes didn't get checked off. Those days when you say "This is why I do it."

Today has been one of those days and it's been great.

5th Grade Plans

So this is what 5th grade is starting to look like. I'm really getting excited for next year, but I have to remember to finish this year first! We also do a lot of hands on stuff that I didn't list like the Lift the Lid On...kits and the Running Press Treasure Chests, in addition to lots of hands on science kits. We love the hands on.

Language Arts-R&S 5, SWO F, Vocabu-Lit F, WWE 3,IEW SWI A w/ Medieval Writing Lessons, and Daily Grams, and Latina Christiana I

Literature- Teaching the Classics and reading list with study guides from Teacher Created Materials, Portals to Literature, Garlic Press, Veritas Press, and Novel Units. I know some people don’t see the need to use these, but ds really gets more from his reading when we do the different activities in the guides. Also, poetry memorization either using the Harp and Laurel Wreath or the IEW Poetry program.

Math-Singapore Standards ed. finish 4B and continue with 5A/B and Mad Minutes

History- History Odyssey Middle Ages Level 2 w/ projects from the SOTW 2 AAG

Science- Continues to be the bane of my homeschooling existence…
BF History of Science and Runkle’s Geography used as an earth science text and world geography. This of course is subject to change.

Spanish-The Learnable’s Level 1

Logic-Continue with the Logic Liftoff series

Art-Meet the Masters Track A

Continue with Lego class, guitar, and Monart and try to find something for P.E.