We have had so much fun this summer and now it is time to start planning for the new school year. My sister is moving here from North Dakota and we are going to join a homeschool group this year which I am so excited about. Our new book and curriculum choices this year are going to be so much better. I also have new ideas on how our weekly and monthly schedules are going to be and I will print off my calendar sheets and start planning that as well. HAPPY LEARNING!!!!!

Third grade test

Here is the Third Grade Test. He will also be finishing his last "Ready Freddy" book and the last three chapters of Math on the computer. This is what we're doing this week!



Preschool test

Here is a review of what my daughter learned in preschool this year. We started the test today and we will be finished by Friday before our two week break. I read her the questions of course, but I do not help her with the answers. It looks like she still gets her "C" sound mixed up with "K"!

What we've been learning...

I haven't posted in a week but here's an overview of what we have been doing:
 Our son has been working on fractions and measurements. I had the kids help make cookies and put to use the measuring spoons and cups. To help visualize fractions, we used different colored rocks in a cup. For instance, if there were six rocks all together and one of them were black, we would have a fraction of  1/6. He really enjoyed this and has a brain for these types of concepts. He finished his last quiz in math with 100%. We use Teaching Textbooks which I highly recommend because not only do they get a sit down lesson, but then they do the lesson at the computer and it is quite fun and they can check their own work and percentage.
We are also finishing up American history chapter 10 with two more chapters to go. He is reading his last book in the Ready Freddy series and we are reading Courage of Sarah Noble. We all sit and read this book, our daughter enjoys it as well. He is also finishing up his cursive handwriting book and is doing much better!  We would like to finish these books up by next week: our big test!!
Our daughter is finishing up with the letter V. We have been reviewing the letters and their sounds and practicing putting their sounds together to make words. She wants to read so bad and the BOB books are great because she can read them herself with help of the pictures. There are four of them that she can read. We have also been doing a lot of reading together. One of her favorite chapter books right now is Beauty and the Beast. We have been reviewing her numbers as well. I collected different food items such as raisins, noodles etc. for her to count and glue.
Last week we went to the Natural Resource Festival and has so much fun. We came home with a lot of learning material and information. I also got a lot of ideas for scouts which is a bonus! So, we have been doing the online games, coloring pages and activity books this week and the kids have really enjoyed it. Happy Learning!!!!

Our new additions to the family!

FURBALL

KRISTI

Clouds!

We start our day with Science which usually gets the kids excited because we do an experiment and craft. It seems to start the day with a positive attitude. We have been studying the Solar System and in particular Jupiter and now Saturn. The lesson moved into why Jupiter and Saturn look like giant clouds. They both spin very quickly and take about 10 hours to spin around once. This fast spinning makes their clouds line up in colored bands, so the planets look striped. One of the most incredible things about Jupiter is that it has a large storm called the Great Red Spot. It is three times the size of Earth! The Solar System by Rosalind Mist is an excellent book!
Our experiment was to fill a plastic cup half full with water and add glitter. The kids stirred the water around and around and watched the glitter follow in swirls. This gave them a visual of how the clouds form and look colorful with the spinning of the planets and the light.
So of course we moved into the types of clouds we see in our atmosphere and how they are formed. We talked about three specific types: Cirrus, Stratus, Cumulus.  The kids then got to draw each type with a white crayon on blue paper. I found a couple sites online where they read a little more on each type and looked at more pictures.

Poetry

I put together a book for my son and on each page we reviewed the different types of poetry. He was to write his own poem using that particular type. This was a lot of fun! The poetry book we have been following during the year also comes with a CD so that we can listen to them. We reviewed: Free Verse, Nonsense poetry, Quatrain, Haiku and ended with Nursery Rhymes. Our daughter joined in on the Nursery Rhyme part and we spent fifteen minutes taking turns with our favorites.