Homeschool Wrap Up Week 31

Last Sunday afternoon, Emmie climbed up on the couch next to me while I was working on the computer and told me she had tried to lay down upstairs for a nap but Lily and Christian were playing too loud.  I thought oh no!  Emmie hasn't taken a nap voluntarily for year!  She fell asleep next to me and woke up with a temp of 101.5.  She was under the weather most of the week and finally felt better on Thursday.  I did not feel well Sunday or Monday either.  And...we finally made it to the end of Ember Rising, the third book in the Green Ember series which I thought was going to be the last book ( I am tired of reading about warring rabbits but the children love the books) and it ended on a cliff hanger, it wasn't the last book!  So now we will have to wait for the next one to come out.  And....the one show I like to watch on TV.  The only show I watch on regular TV was When Calls the Heart.  I was completely disappointed with the way they ended season 5.  So disappointed I don't ever want to watch again and wish I had not watched last week or ever really started watching at all. Very depressing.  I just needed to vent that somewhere.  On to the homeschool wrap up.

Week 31 in our Homeschool (for everyone but Emmie who did no work except listening to me read aloud to the others)

Bible:  We are on Vol 2 of the Answers Book for Kids.  We read through 8 lessons.


History:  I started Vol 2 of America's Story because we got finished with Vol 1 so early.  But I would really like to finish it up in the next few weeks because I would like to do a different history next year. Since we finished our read aloud, we are treating out history book as a read aloud.  I am reading at least one chapter every day and on history days we read two.  So we read chapters 7-12 this week going from Reconstruction to the Indian Wars.

Music Appreciation:We completed Chapter 9 in Music Appreciation I on Minuet in F Major, Leopold Mozart, and octave.

Science:  In Apologia Exploring Creation With Human Anatomy we finished reading chapter 4 on the digestive system and did several experiments.  Still loving the science kit :)

Math: Lily, Christian, and Anthony did 4 lessons in Math Lessons for a Living Education.

 

Liam wanted to help Uncle Christian with Math

Language Arts: The boys started reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  I have their interactive book study all printed out and ready to go and then realized I didn't have a notebook to put it in (we start running out of supplies at the end of the year.)  They will start filling in the book study next week.  Lily completed a week's worth of Homeschool Navigator.  Her book this week was Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters.

Spelling/Reading:  No AAR for Lily or Emmie this week.  The boys completed Step 15 of AAS Level 5.

Other Activities this Week

Tuesday Lily had gymnastics.  Emmie stayed home.


Wednesday was the last day of Kid's Club for this year.

Thursday ballet was cancelled (again)  Lily had piano.  Then she and I went to a 4 H sewing workshop.  She made a pillowcase and did a great job!

Saturday we went and bought some flowers and vegetables for our garden.  The flowers we got planted, the vegetables will have to wait a few days and I need to get some mulch.

 Baby chicks are doing well.

Liam is walking!  He can walk without the toy too.  All the way across the room.

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!
  

Homeschool Crew Review: Planet 316 Story Bible and Companion App

Storybook Bibles can be a great way to introduce young children to important Biblical lessons.  Over the last several weeks we have had an opportunity to use an review the Planet 316 Story Bible and the companion Planet 316 Story Bible App from Planet 316 and WorthyKids/Ideals.


The Planet 316 Bible is a hardcover,305 page, illustrated Story Bible with over 100 stories from the Old and New Testaments. The length of each story varies but they are all 6 pages or less and every page has an illustration on it.  The illustrations are very colorful. You will find familiar stories such as: Creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden, Noah and the Flood, Jacob and Esau, David and Goliath, Jesus Walks on Water, The Good Samaritan, The Last Supper, and many, many more.  Each story lists the Scripture references from where they come from in the Bible.

The Planet 316 Story Bible comes with a free downloadable app.  The app is available for iOS 7 or newer for Apple devices and in the Google Play Store for Andriod 4.1 and up.  It does not run on Kindles. You can search for the app in iTunes or Google Play or scan the QR code on the back on the Bible.  Once the app is downloaded on your phone or tablet, all you have to do is open the app on your device and click start. You scan the page in the Story Bible with your rear facing camera by holding your device over the page and the story comes to life.  Images appear in 3D, characters talk and move, and there is music and sound effects.

I have been using this Bible with my 6 and 8 year old daughters.  The app I have been running on my iPhone 7.  The Bible by itself is a really cute children's storybook Bible.  The illustrations are very colorful and have a cartoony look that the children love.  The text does a great job of telling the story in a way that is child friendly and short enough to hold young children's attention but doesn't take away from the original message.  Adding in the features of the app makes it really cool!  I was impressed at the way the images popped up off the page.  Not only that but some of them move, some talk, and there are cool sound effects.  And the app was really easy to use.

One thing that is a little challenging is if a child wants to read it on their own.  It is really difficult to hold the book open and hold the device in the correct spot to scan the page and still be able to touch the characters to make them speak.  I wish the Bible was able to open completely flat to be able to sit on the table.  It would also be great if they added a feature to the app that could read the text to young children. 

To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

Homeschool Crew Review: A+ Interactive Math

A+ Interactive Math (by A+ TutorSoft Inc.) offers multi-sensory math products for homeschool families as well as public and private school teachers and students.  Over the last several weeks we have had an opportunity to use and review the  Family Math Package. 

 


The Family Math Package is a math curriculum for up to ten students.  Each registered student has access to grades 1-6th plus Pre-Algebra and Algebra.  You can change grade levels as needed.  You do not need to complete the all the topics in order, you can move around and choose to work in the areas you need.  When starting a lesson students watch a short muti-media video teaching the concept and then they go on to answer questions related to the topic.  There are also online worksheets you can complete for each lesson plus online quizzes and exams.  If you need more practice on a topic you can generate more online worksheets.  If you prefer having a hard copy workbook you have the ability to print out a PDF of the lessons to read along with the online lesson or to use instead of the online lesson.   You also have the ability to print out a worksheet for each topic if you would like extra practice and you also have the option to print out a PDF exam.  Answer keys are included for the printable worksheets and the exams.

Once you register you assign each of your students a user name and password to log in with.  Once your student logs in, they click on View/Launch my Family Package, then they have to click launch and a new window opens up.  When that windows opens they can see all of the topics on the left side of the screen.

They have to click on the + sign beside the topic and it open up the subtopics.

Next they click on the + beside the subtopic and it shows the lessons.

They click on the lesson they need and the multi-media video starts playing.

After they watch the lesson they can start the Interactive Q& A.

Immediate feedback is given to the student.  They know as soon as they hit submit if they have the answer right or wrong.  They can see a step by step solution for every problem.

Parents can view how their students are doing from the admin panel.

I have been using the Family Math Package over the last several weeks with my 5th and 6th grade boys.  They have been working on 1-2 lessons per day, 4 days a week.  I started them both at the beginning of their grade levels and we have been working our way through the topics.  The lessons are short and to the point.  There are not a ton of questions they have to answer after each lesson, but if your child needs more review you can do the online or printable worksheets.  Answers are explained if the child gets it wrong.  I like the ability to be able to print the workbook and review questions if your child works better on paper then they do on a computer.  I also like that you can switch grade levels and topics.

There are a lot of steps the student has to go through to get to their lesson.  I wish that was a bit more simplified.  They also have to mark each lesson as completed, the program does not do it automatically and it doesn't keep track of where they left off. The student has to remember which lesson they are on each time they log in. 

Members of The Crew also reviewed the Adaptive Math Curriculum Online  from A+ Interactive Math.  This program has you put your child in a target grade level and then the child takes a series of placement tests for each math area to gauge their skill level.  The program then creates a lesson plan for the student by targeting the areas they need to work on.

To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

Homeschool Wrap Up Week 30

 Monday morning dawned bright and early (4 am) with a sick child!  Thankfully it was short lived and a few hours later he was feeling better and appeared to have been something he ate that bothered him. It made for a long Monday!

Week 30 in our Homeschool


Bible:  We finished Vol 1 of Answers Books for Kids and completed 4 lessons in Vol 2.

Read Aloud: We finished Abraham Lincoln A New Birth of Freedom.  I really enjoy reading these YWAM biographies to the children.  They learn a lot from them and so do I!

History:  In America's Story Vol 2 we finished lesson 6 on The End of the Confederacy.


Music Appreciation: This week we finished lesson 8 on Mozart, symphony, and his symphony No. 40 in G Minor.


Geography:  This week we learned about Thailand.  We have completed all of the countries from Year 1 of Let's Go Geography.  The next two weeks are review weeks.


Science:  This week in science we finally had a chance to do our experiment on bones using a chicken wing bone (I had everything I needed in the science kit but the chicken wing!) We also finished up lesson 3 on the muscular system by completing our notebooking pages and doing an activity using the muscles in our hands.  We also added muscles to our person in our notebook.

Math: My review period of A+ Interactive Math is over.  Even though we have a year subscription we have opted not to continue with it.  Christian and Anthony went back to MLFLE and completed 4 lessons this week.  My hunt for math for them for next year continues.  Lily and Emmie did 4 lessons in MLFLE.

Language Arts:  The boys finished Because of Winn Dixie in Readers in Residence.  I found the movie for $5 on Amazon and we watched in Friday afternoon.  Lily completed week one of the green level of Homeschool Navigator.  This language arts curriculum uses a lot of picture books to go along with the lessons.  Unfortunately our library had none of the books Lily needed for month one.  They do give Youtube links in the curriculum so you can listen to the books read aloud if you do not have access to the books so that is what we did.  I was able to find a few of the books for the Red Level.  I am going to start that with Emmie tomorrow.  I ordered The Invention of Hugo Cabret for Christian and Anthony to read and complete the Interactive Book study in the Blue Level.  It will be here Tuesday.

Spelling/Reading:  Anthony and Christian completed Step 14 of AAS Level 5.  Emmie completed lessons 48 and 49 in AAR Level 1.


Other Activities this Week:

Tuesday the girls had gymnastics.

Wednesday we had Kids Club.

Thursday we had a 4 H meeting at the park on bees.

Friday we went to a high school boys' soccer game.  Nick was already there since he watched both boys and girls.  We went later to just the boys' game.  As we were walking in to the stadium, the people behind us said, "Are you a homeschool family too?"  It turned out that there son was a homeschooler on the opposing team.  I wonder what tipped them off to us being homeschoolers?  Was it the ginormous van we drive or the number of children (even though I was missing two)?

Saturday the girls had a ballet make-up.

Our chickens are doing great!  They have grown a lot over the last two weeks!

The children found some chalk and got busy drawing on the concrete Saturday right before the rain started.  After the rain started the youngest three grabbed their rubber boots and umbrellas and played outside for hours. 

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!

April Nature Seekers 4 H Meeting

We had not had a 4 H meeting since February.  I felt really bad about skipping March, but we had other 4 H things going on and with our other activities and spring break I just could not squeeze it in.  I had planned on having one earlier in April but I wanted to meet at the park and the weather would not cooperate.  So we finally had our meeting yesterday.

Our meeting topic was bees.  I had been sent a kit with the supplies to build a bee house with some information on bees and beekeeping. To add to that I found a cute craft using clay pots to make a bee hive with a bee flying around it.  Another mom had enough beeswax and wicks left over from another project for each of the children to make beeswax tea candles.

It was a fun meeting and I am planning another one in a few weeks.  The children gave me several ideas of things they would like to do at future meetings and we will do as many of them as we can.