Not Back to School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week

During the month of August, The Heart of The Matter will be doing a Not Back To School Blog Hop.



This week's topic is curriculum.  This week is Abby's 3rd week of 2nd grade.  She turned 7 in May.  Here's what we are using this school year:

Math

Math U See Alpha

We are on lesson 9.  This has been going really well so far.  "Seeing" with the math blocks has helped Abby grasp the concepts much more.

Handwriting

We tried Handwriting Without Tears last year and it didn't go so well.  This year we are using A Reason For Handwriting book B.  Each day there is a short lesson, then on the 5th day you are to copy the bible verse.  Abby has not complained about handwriting yet.  Last year, it was such a struggle.

History

Abby and I both enjoyed Heritage Studies last year, so ordering Heritage Studies 2nd Grade was an easy decision! 

Geography

Awhile back, I won Road Trip USA from Erika at Confessions of a Homeschooler. So far, we have covered Connecticut and will start Delaware this coming week.

I also have MAPS, CHARTS AND GRAPHS, LEVEL C, COMMUNITIES.  This is a great workbook to have when we are on the run.  She can do the pages in the car or while we wait at an appointment.

Science

This year is our first time using Apologia.  I picked:
Apologia Human Anatomy and Physiology.

I was so excited to find that Apologia has created Junior notebooks!

Abby and I have both liked these lessons as well.   I love the layout of the book and the notebook is such a great reinforcement of the topics. 

Art

My sister Heather and I bought Artistic Pursuits Book One:  An Introduction to Visual Arts at the last homeschool convention.

Our plan is to take turns doing a lesson every other week.  We did lesson 1 two weeks ago and the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Reading and Language Arts

Abby is reading really well now!  She has enough patience to read Level 1 books, any longer than that and she's too busy for it. 

Last year we focused on sight words and some phonics.  My plan for this year is to continue with Explode The Code.

We have Erudition and Sight Words Bingo, levels 1 and 2.  Abby loves playing games, so this is good reading practice.

I know she will get lots of reading practice with her other schoolwork.

I did find a Frank Schaffer Second Grade Grammar workbook recently and I will have her do one page a day.  That way she is getting exposed to the grammar rules early.

Bible

I have downloaded and printed the Bible Character Studies from Confessions of a Homeschooler. We have not started this yet.

What are your homeschool curriculum plans for this year?  Check out Heart of the Matter to get ideas or to share yours.

Links I Like

Happy Friday!

Today, I'm really in the mood for something, anything with chocolate and peanut butter.  So this first link is just that:

I think this Peanut Butter Brownie Torte from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody would work!

And now on to something completely unrelated, did you know Barnes & Noble has an Online Storytime?  Each month features a new picture book.  This month's is Splish, Splash, Splat by Rob Scotten.  Abby and I love Splat!

We recently transformed a corner of our office into a homeschool room for Abby.  I really like this Kids Art Display idea from Clean & Scentsible.

It would be perfect in there, I just need more wall space.

Speaking of homeschooling, last year I found that Abby really has a hard time sitting still to write.  She always said she hated handwriting.  This year, I've done things differently.  Before we do handwriting, we play Simon Says.  She gets two turns to be Simon and I get two turns.  Simon loves to have Abby do cart wheels, forward rolls, jumping jacks, etc.  It has really helped.  The other day she was excited when I got out the handwriting.  "Moving" a Homeschooled Kinesthetic Learner by Homeschooling Coach has more tips to help active children like Abby.

Finally, I have a few cute little craft links to share.  The first are these adorable Sandpaper Starfish from Meet The Dubiens.

I've got lots of scrapbook paper, I wonder if I have any similar to this?

Lastly,  Pipe Cleaner Fairies from Our Worldwide Classroom.

Abby would love these.

Have a great weekend!  Check back here on Monday to see how our 2nd week of homeschool went.

Wordless Wednesday

Abby uses my old Sony Cybershot to take pics. I  recently uploaded them and found this one she took of me and my Dad:



For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House
Mama to 4 Blessings

Homeschool Weekly Review: July 18- 22

I can't believe we already have a week of homeschooling behind us.  Abby is really enjoying school so far and I hope it stays that way.  Each day, she woke up at 6:30 a.m. ready for school, so the schedule didn't quite go as planned.  That's the best part of homeschooling, you can change the schedule whenever you want!

Math
Abby started Math U See Alpha.  She's doing really well with this.  Seeing the blocks has really helped her understand those math facts she was struggling with last year.  She completed lessons 1-6, which included:  place value, decimal street, counting to 20, learning the block colors, addition symbols, +0, +1 and skip counting by 10.  She knew most of this, but it's a great review and again, it really helped her "see" the math facts.

Abby was learning the block color in this lesson

Social Studies

We did Heritage Studies on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Lesson 1 was about your community, lesson 2 about fire stations and lesson 3 covered the post office.  Abby loves learning how it used to be.  She's always so shocked.  

Thursday and Friday, we started Road Trip USA.  This is a great study!  We did lessons 1-5, discussing maps, territories and Washington D.C.

Science

I had ordered Apologia Human Anatomy and Physiology, but it still hadn't arrived by Monday.  So on Monday, we did How and Why:  Animals Hide.  

We read the book and then Abby answered the questions and we worked on the crossword puzzle together. We found the star nose mole to be quite peculiar. 

The Apologia stuff came Monday afternoon, so for the rest of the week we worked on that.  This is our first Apologia study and it's awesome.  It is so well written and the junior notebook is perfect for Abby.  We are on lesson 1 and we covered the history of anatomy and physiology from Egyptians to Europeans and began learning about the cell.

Abby colored in the notebook while I read the textbook.

Now I'm the kind of person that would be like, "hey put those colored pencils away and listen!".  The notebook suggested having the child color while they listened and I was shocked that it actually worked.  She could listen and color and the same time!  LOL!  In fact, I think it helped her listen more.

At the end of the week, Abby started learning about the cell and began a diagram:

 You can see the cell membrane, mitochondria, lysosomes and the golgi. As we continue this coming week, she'll finish up the drawing.

After Science, we take a 15 minute break.  I eat breakfast and we play Simon Says.  She gets two turns and I get two turns.  I always make sure Simon has Abby do lots of stretches, rolls and a few cart wheels.  This really helps her get the wiggles out so we can finish up school.

Language Arts
This week was lesson 1 in A Reason For Handwriting.  Abby did well with this.  Each lesson is a bible verse.  On days 1-4, there is short daily practice of the words.  On day 5, Abby rewrote the verse on a border page:

I forgot to get another picture after she colored it, because she gave it to her cousin Matthew.  She started off really good, but her hand was tiring.  I didn't stop her and make her work on getting the letters on the line properly.  I figured by working on it each day, she will start to get better.  I do tell her before the lesson to watch the lines.

I also added in a grammar workbook I found.  Each day, she does 1 page.  Except for Friday.  I know that doing the border page is a lot of work for her, so I let that be the main handwriting for the day.  The worksheets this week were about sentences and sentence structure.

Most of this page is my handwriting.  She was eating a snack at the time, so I had her tell me and then I wrote for her.

Reading

We are finishing up book 3 Explode The Code from last year.  I have her do a front and back of a page each day.  

Misc.

Thursday we had Heather and her boys over for lesson 1 of Artistic Pursuits.  I totally forgot to get a picture, but the lesson was about composition.  Abby and Matthew were to each make a drawing of something they had seen that day.  They enjoyed this and it is fun to introduce them to art history.

We're ready for week 2 now! 

Our Morning Board

Our morning board has been a big hit with Abby.  I should have made one last year!

My board inspiration came from Mama Jenn, Homeschool Creations and Confessions of a Homeschooler.  

1. Date printable from Mama Jenn.  I like how she made it a flip chart by adding metal rings.  
2. Obedience prayer from Totally Tots. 
3. Address & Phone Number printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler.
4. Chart the Weather from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  Mama Jenn punched holes in hers to attach metal rings.  I found that mine were too small to punch holes in.  I decided I would use velcro dots, but then I wanted to have everything on the board in one place.  I got out some small ziploc bags and they fit perfectly!  These bags are usually found near the medication and are good for holding pills during travel.  I then punched a hole in the back of the bag, under the zip top and then hung them on the board with the 3M clips.
5. Today's Temperature from Homeschool Creations.  Abby uses a dry erase marker to draw in the inside and outside temperature every morning.  

Supplies:

Scotch Thermal Laminator

Command Mini Hooks with Adhesive Strips

Ezy Dose Disposable Pill Pouches

1.25" Metal Rings

Velcro Brand Sticky Back Coins

Foam Core Board ($1 at Dollar Tree)

Colored Paper for borders

Paper Cutter

**Above links are Amazon Affiliate links.  All of these items can be found at WM also.

Do you have a morning board?  What's included on yours?  I have an open spot under the thermometers that needs to be filled.

Wordless Wednesday: First Day

Abby woke up at 6:30 a.m. on Monday so excited and ready for her first day of 2nd grade!  It went really well.

I hope she continues to be excited about homeschooling!

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Abby's New Homeschool Room

Tomorrow is the big day!  Abby will officially be a 2nd grader!  Dave and I have been working hard in the office to transform a spot into a designated homeschool area.  I have to say, this was hard for me.  I wanted to think that we could just school at the kitchen table, but after last year I found that there are too many distractions at the kitchen table. 

The main issue was that she could see right into the family room.  And it's the toy part of the family room.  All of her toys are sitting there staring right at her and she couldn't NOT think about playing with them.  She'd jump up and say she had to go get something and then before we knew it, the whole table was covered in toys.

So, I finally gave in to Dave's idea of making a room.  I don't have before pics, but here's the after:



I've since moved the desk back and will hang a dry erase board over the tree, but this is what it currently looks like.

1. I was able to review this desk last year.  It is great and I love that it's purple!
2. This is a 100 Days chart.  I found it at Target for only $1.25 yesterday.  Each day, Abby will put an apple on the tree.  When we get to apple 100, we will have a party!  I picked one up for my sister to use with Matthew as well.  Abby and Matthew can plan their party!
3. This cart is where I keep most of the supplies.  The top rack has purple bins from Target ($2.50 each in the dollar spot section).  As you can see, I'm on the hunt for one more purple bin!  Anyway, each bin will hold materials for each subject that day.  The second rack down has a purple tray ($2.50 at Target again) for writing paper and one for blank drawing paper.  Next down, is a shoe box size container of markers and our Math U See blocks.  At the bottom is container for crayons, one for pencils/colored pencils and one for rulers, magnifying glasses, etc.
4. This is our bulletin board.  I use seasonal trims from Dollar Tree and display some of Abby's work as the year goes by.  I try to switch it out every week or so.
5. Our new morning board.  This will have to be it's own post, so stay tuned!
6. USA wall map.  We are using it with Road Trip USA from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  I attached it to foam core board so it would stay nice.

I worked in the room all day today to have it ready for tomorrow and when Abby saw it, she was so excited.  She said she wanted to start school today!  If it wasn't 8 p.m., I might have.  LOL!  She was so excited, she couldn't sleep.

Speaking of sleep, I'd better get to bed so I'll be awake enough to start school in the morning!

Links I Like

The heat index has reached over 115, so I think it's officially the dog days of Summer!  I recently came across this awesome Carseat Cooler from eighteen25.

I think I need one for my seat too!

When I think of Summer, I also think of BBQ, which makes me think of food.  These Watermelon Cookies from Glorious Treats would be so cute to bring to a picnic!

Speaking of picnics, last weekend I made a very yummy and Summery salad...Snicker Salad.  The recipe and pic below is from Fakin' It.

Let me warn you though, it looks like potato salad when you make it.  My family wasn't so sure about it, but once they tried it everyone loved it!  Also, I had to use a bit of milk to make the vanilla pudding mix dissolve into the cool whip.  I think I used 4 granny smith apples and 6 regular sized Snicker bars.  I just kept adding what I wanted until it looked as yummy as possible. 

EasyFunSchool shared a cool idea:  Jello Playdough.  I've made Kool-Aid playdough before, but not Jello. The Art Lessons and Activity Index at EasyFunShchool has tons of new to me ideas.  Wouldn't it be fun to make Glue Shampoo Playdough?!

When it starts to cool off or IF it starts to cool off, I really like this idea of a Backyard Field Guide from Education.com.  The article mentions eNature as a good resource and it looks like a fun site. 

That made me remember that I had a dream there was a mountain lion in our backyard.  Eeek!  Oh and just the other day, Abby wanted to buy honey so we could put it out for the bears.  Um, we get lots of deer, raccoons, squirrels, turtles, birds and even turkeys now and then, but mountain lions and bears we don't get!  Whew!

What kind of animals do you see in your backyard?  Are there ever any mountain lions or bears ;)

Have a great weekend!  Monday is our first day back to school, so look for an update next week on how it's going.

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

2011 - 2012 Homeschool Schedule

We're sure getting close to Abby's first day of 2nd grade!  It's next Monday already!

I am so happy we homeschool and am really looking forward to this year.  Abby's reading has really taken off and that will open so many more learning opportunities for her.

Here is our tentative daily schedule.  I say tentative, because we'll have to try it and see how it goes.  I'm sure some tweaks will need to be made.

9:00-9:15 a.m.
Discuss what the day's plans are and morning board*

9:15-9:45 a.m.
Math U See

9:45-10:15 a.m.
Heritage Studies or Road Trip USA

10:15-10:30
Snack/Break

10:30-11:00 a.m.
Handwriting

11:00-11:30 a.m.
Reading & Language Arts (Explode the Code, Grammar worksheets)

11:30-12:00 p.m.
Science

My plan is to do school the first part of the day, when Abby is wide awake and at her best.  That will leave us with the afternoon for running errands, going to the library, or just playing.

Obviously the times are just guesses at this point.  We'll see how it really goes when we start back.

For a list of our curriculum, click the link at the top under my header or check it out here.  I have made some changes since I posted it a few weeks ago.

*  I mentioned a morning board.  I have seen many other homeschoolers implement this idea and I think it's a great way to start the day.  I am still putting it together, but will be using many ideas I found through Homeschool Creations.

Also, you can see that I have Heritage Studies and Road Trip USA at the same time.  Heritage Studies usually is 2 or 3 days per lesson and is broken down to be a lesson a week.  My plan is to do Heritage Studies Monday through Wednesday and do Road Trip USA Thursday and Friday.

How does your schedule look for this year?  If you have a post, put it in the comments.  I'd love to come check out how you plan the day.

What My Child Is Reading

It's been awhile since I've linked up to What My Child Is Reading, but we've found some great library books recently.

For some reason, I can't get Amazon widgets or links to work. It would be much easier if it did! Here's a list of our favorites right now:

Fuddles by Frans Vischer-  This books is so cute.  Abby loves cats and this one reminds us both of our cat Kako.  A pampered kitty decides he wants to go on an adventure, but then realizes it's much better at home.

Princess Peepers by Pam Calvert- This one was funny and has a good lesson too.  Princess Peepers gets made fun of by the other princesses about her glasses.  She decides to not wear them to the ball to meet the prince.  After many hilarious mishaps without her glasses on, she meets the prince, who also wears glasses.



Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems-  Mo Willems is Abby's favorite author.  She loves his books.  This one is no different.  It's cute and funny.



Chamelia by Ethan Long- This book is so cute.  Chamelia does not like to blend in like everyone else, she likes to stand out.  After being left out, she learns that she can still have fun and be herself.








Here's a few more Abby is enjoying right now.  I'm just tired of uploading all of these.  Is anyone else having trouble with Amazon Associates?

Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator!
Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct
The Pink Party

To find more fun books, head to:

Great Homeschooling Links

Today you can find me at The Homeschool Classroom with some Great Homeschooling Links.






Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday: Fourth of July Fun

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mama to 4 Blessings
Mom Spotted
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Happy 4th of July

I hope everyone is having an awesome 4th of July weekend! Today we will have BBQ and watch fireworks with family.