Subjects 2015-2016

This felt SOOOO early to do be doing this in February and March, but I've been preparing to attend a homeschool conference in a couple weeks, so I have put together next year's subjects for the 2015-2016 School Year:

Subjects 2015-2016
(updated 7-2-15)

Grace – 6^th Grade

Religion – Image of God Grade 6
Math-   Teaching Textbooks Grade 7
Grammar- Easy Grammar - Grade 6
Grammar- Editor in Chief A1 (2^nd half)
Spelling/Vocabulary – Word Roots A1 
Vocabulary- Wordly Wise 3000 Book 6
Poetry- included in her writing program
Reading/Literature- Drawn Into the Heart of Reading
Reading/Literature- Classic 6^th grade books (see list here)
Reading Comprehension- Reading Detective A1 (2^nd half)
Reading Comprehension- Jacob's Ladder 2
Writing/Composition-  Jump In
Typing- Jump-Start Typing CD-ROM- making this optional and as time permits this year
Science- Science Detective A1 (2^nd half)
Science-Apologia Jr. High Exploring Creation with General Science
History- From Sea to Shining Sea
Geography- Map Skills E
Spanish- Rosetta Stone Homeschool version
Critical Thinking- Building Thinking Skills Level 2
Critical Thinking- Comprehension Cliffhanger Mysteries
Art – World’s Greatest Artists Volume 1
Art- Homeschool Art class
PE- Tumbling & Dance classes
Music- Piano & Voice Lessons

Cian – 4^th Grade

Religion – Be My Disciples 4 (RCL Benziger)
Math-   Singapore Math 4A & 4B
Grammar- Easy Grammar - Grade 4 Michael Clay Thompson Grammar Town & Practice Town
Vocabulary- MCTLA Caesar’s English CEE1
Vocabulary- Wordly Wise 3000 Book 4
Poetry- MCTLA Building PoemsSpelling – Building Spelling Skills 4
Reading- Drawn Into the Heart of Reading
Literature- MCTLA Classics: Alice, Peter and Mole set
Reading Comprehension - Reading Detective
Reading Comprehension- Jacob's Ladder 2
Writing- The How to Write Book MCTLA Paragraph Town
Journaling- 145 Wonderful Writing Prompts from Favorite Literature
Typing- Jump-Start Typing CD-ROM
Science- Noeo Biology II
History- From Sea to Shining Sea
Geography- Map Skills E
Spanish- Rosetta Stone Homeschool version
Health- Developing Good Health
Critical Thinking- Building Thinking Skills Level 2
Critical Thinking- Comprehension Cliffhanger Mysteries
Art – World’s Greatest Artists Volume 1
Art-  Homeschool Art class
PE- Tumbling & Dance classes
Music- Piano Lessons

Zoe – 1^st Grade

Religion – Be My Disciples 1 (RCL Benziger)
Math-   Horizons Math 1Phonics/Spelling/Language/Reading- McRuffy 1^st Grade SE
Spelling – Spelling City with McRuffy words
Reading Comprehension - Time Magazine for Kids Comprehension and Critical Thinking Grade 1
Vocabulary- Wordly Wise A 
Handwriting – McRuffy 1^st grade
Journaling – K-2 writing prompts
Science- Noeo Biology I (waiting until next year) Magic School Bus Science (by Homeschool Belle)
History/Geography- Explore the Continents
Spanish- La Clase Divertida 1 (this year or next)
Health- Horizons 1^st Grade Health
Critical Thinking- Mind Benders
Art- How to Teach Art to Children
Art- Homeschool Art class
PE- Tumbling & Dance classes
Music- Piano lessons

Ellie – K4

Religion – Stories of God’s Love Ages 4/5
K4 Learning Packs by theme (various creators) and K Literature Based units (1+1+1=1)
Sight Word Work: Reading the Alphabet (1^st semester) from This Reading Mama
Sight Word Work: You Can Read –(2^nd semester) from 1+1+1=1
Sight Word Work: Sight Word worksheets in D’Nealian (TPT)
K4 (some materials) from Confessions of a Homeschooler
Supplements- My Kindergarten Learning Book & various K workbooks
Reading- Let’s Go Read CD-ROM & Phonics readers
Reading- Starfall: Learn to Read, Reading and Writing Journals, and ABC Printouts
Journaling- My First Journal (from TPT)
Handwriting – D’Nealian K
Math-   Total Math K

Science- Noeo Biology I (waiting until next year) Magic School Bus Science (by Homeschool Belle)
History/Geography- Explore the Continents
Spanish- La Clase Divertida 1 (this year or next)
Art- How to Teach Art to Children
PE- Tumbling & Dance classes
Music- Boomwackers and Songs

Fionn – Tiny Tot School

https://www.pinterest.com/gczmom/tiny-tot-school/

What if You Had Animal Teeth?

Today, we finished up our dental health month by reading a fun book by Sandra Markle called, What if You Had Animal Teeth?

I thought this book was hysterical and the kids LOVED it too!

I found face patterns at First Grade Wow.

and teeth patterns at Oceans of First Grade.

This is what the kids came up with:

Ellison - hippo teeth

She dictated this to me:

Zoe chose vampire bat teeth:

Here's a close up of her writing:

Cian also wanted to do the project with us because he loves sharks!!

Here is his Great White Shark teeth:

And his writing:

Teeth-tastic

We are learning about dental health and how to take care of our teeth this week. February is Pediatric Dental Health Month.

Here's a couple activities from Pinterest we did today. You can find these awesome ideas and many others pinned to my Dental Health Pinterest board.

Clean the plaque off the tooth:

The kids started with a yellow tooth and then used white paint and a toothbrush to brush their tooth clean:

They really enjoyed it!

Then for afternoon snack, they had a mouth with teeth!

I think they liked those too:

Did You Cuddle Me Mama?

I hate having my picture taken. I am self-critical of every photo I'm in. It doesn't help I still carry baby weight. Or should I say babies weight... I've had 5 in the last almost 11 years. Excuses, excuses, I know. I've been trying to eat healthier and exercise more. I've lost 11 lbs since January 1, but it's a slow process in the busy life of a breastfeeding, homeschooling mama of 5. So you could say, motherhood has made its mark. 

Due partly to my not liking my photo taken combined with my love of being the paparazzi of my kiddos (I don't want to miss a thing!), I'm not in a lot of their photos. It never really bothered me since I just wanted photos of my sweet babies, not ones I'm going to be critical of myself. Then...... I got schooled by a 3 year old. I was looking through Fionn's photos in the hospital where I was holding her. Ellie, age 3, came up to me and said, "Did you cuddle me Mama?" Talk about a kick in the gut. I had never thought my dislike of being in photos affected them in any way. That sweet, innocent little voice knocked me down. Hard. How could I not show her I love her by being in photos with her? She was right; there's not a lot of photos of me with them. I showed Ellie her own birth hospital pictures right then and there, but I knew that wasn't good enough. Since that day, I have been trying to be conscientious about getting in photos with the kids. 

Today, the kids played in the snow and I got down in the snow to take some photos with them all. In years past, I've just gone out to photograph them alone. Ironically, my 3 year old managed to get her head chopped out of almost every group picture! The one she is in, you can't see her face. Go figure! But it's a start. And when they look back at photos from this day they'll remember me out there with them because I'm in the photos too.

 

All about Air

The kids have been doing science experiments on air this week. 

Here's some of the ones we did yesterday:

The glass of water, cardboard on top, flipped over and the air presses against the cardboard. 

Air in the juice box- they were excited to be volunteers for this one. 

Air goes back in:

Zoe & Ellie's science had an air experiment also! They also got to drink juice boxes! They had to create juice box blowers:

Ellie's turn:

Today's:

The ping pong ball. Hypothesis- warm air will expand and fix the ping pong balls dent. Cold air will shrink the bottle's walls:

Ta da:

And cold:

Hard to see, but it worked:

Lab Report with the Scientific Method:

Fingerprint Quilt

Fionn decided to cooperate and take a morning nap, so I decided to do an art project with Zoe and Ellie. Cian even joined us!

For "Q" week, I found this idea on Pinterest. Fingerprint QUILTS!

The kids had a lot of fun using the stamp pads, however, the "WASHABLE", "FOR KIDS" ink pads lied! Not. Washable. Ellie spent the next 10 minutes crying because her ink fingers wouldn't wash off. Uggg. 

Here's them having fun before Ellie realized she was tattooed:

And

Where I promised it would wash off. Oops. 

And

 

Quick as a Cricket

We are on "Q" week for Ellie's LOTW. One childhood book I loved was Quick as a Cricket. I read it to Zoe and Ellie and they loved it too!

We did pictures of what they were next! I let them pick their own, either from the book or by making one up. 

Here is what they did:

Ellie chose this page from the book:

"I'm as hot as a fox."

And this is hers that she did:

She wrote "fox" and drew herself and a fox. I love that she has fur like the fox, lol!

Zoe chose to make up one of her own and she did, "I'm cuter than a cat."

Here's a close up: