Math
There were still some Saxon K math worksheets we didn't get to by the end of last year, so we've just been easing ourselves into math by finishing all the worksheets. On this day however, we practiced our addition on a large scale. We had some extra butcher paper so I just divided it into squares and wrote simple equations in each. Then one kid would dot paint the first number, the next kid would dot paint the second, and then we'd count them all to add. It made simple addition so much cooler. :)
Science
I guess I haven't photographed any science moments we've had this month. That doesn't mean we haven't been working on it! :) We are following the outline given in "The Well Trained Mind". So for the first 20 weeks of this school year, we'll be focusing on animals. This month we talked a lot about the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates; We sorted pictures, watched some Bill Nye etc. We decided to focus on invertebrates for the next little while. I have a book of animals, and the kids just pick which one they want to study, and then we study that one! So far we've studied bees and worms. We read all about the chosen topic, then I have them do a narration page for it, complete with illustration. If we get around to extra things, great. If not, at least the basics are covered. With bees, we made a bee art project and watched the magic school bus on bees. With worms, we went out to the garden and collected a few worms in a jar and we've been watching them.
Reading
Apparently, I didn't take any "reading" pictures either. Really, the reading stuff is usually pretty normal/mundane/regular, so I never want to run and grab the camera. The kids are making good progress there though. Gwen is almost on par with Miles, so we do their main reading lesson together, and then I have them do some separate work. Gwen isn't doing any handwriting or grammar yet. Just the basics. Miles is doing more advanced handwriting than last year, some spelling "workouts", grammar lessons, and then regular reading.
History
Here's where all the pictures come in. :) As a homeschool group, we've decided to focus on Story of the World, Volume 1: The Ancients. It's been such a blast so far! So fun, in fact, that Miles and Gwen have decided to be ancient Egyptian characters for Halloween this year. (Mummy, Pharoah, Archaeologist) Every Monday afternoon, I whip out the play-doh and they play while I read them the history chapter for that week. Then they make a narration page. On Tuesday, we do fun projects with our group, then I try and fit some other things in throughout the week that correlate; like mapping, reading other books from the library, checking out fun movies that have to do with the reading, etc. I'm hoping to get ambitious, now that canning season is slowing down, and start making some foods from these countries we're learning about.
I also decided that my kids would be focusing a lot on world geography this year (along with history). So this month we learned the "Singin' Smart" song about all the continents and oceans. Then we read, "Me on the Map" and made a craft to go along with it, to help them visualize the difference between their city, state, country, continent etc.
Joy School
I was in charge of Gwen's joy school group this past month. Our theme was community helpers so we focused on firefighters, doctors, and mail carriers. If I was trying to share lesson plans etc, I'd write down everything we did, but suffice it to say, the kids had fun and it was a positive experience. The last Wednesday I was in charge of this month, we planned a field trip to the police station!
