The First Day!

Well, the first day is officially behind us!  Overall it went very well, though some of the worries I've had all summer turned out to be legitimate.  Colban finished half the work I'd planned for the whole week before lunchtime, and spent the afternoon making messes, noise, and demanding to know when Hunter would be done so he'd have someone to play with.  Hunter's auditory processing problems make it next to impossible for him to filter out background noise, so he had a tough time focusing under these conditions.  I alternated between redirecting Colban to a quiet activity in another room and getting Hunter refocused on his work, only to turn around and find Colby had already gotten bored and returned to make mischief!  We got all of our scheduled work done, but it was still a lot more stressful than it should have been.  Mommy has a headache!

Here are a few of the pics I took of our first day's work:

This is the first page of Hunter's Interactive Geography Notebook.  This is just the example page I made in a spiral notebook; Hunter was self-conscious about his work and didn't want it photographed.  I thought he did a great job!  Hunter's interactive notebooks (for science and geography) are bigger and much nicer than my example books.  We used these, but a composition notebook or even a spiral will work. 

This is a really fun "silent e" sort that I chose for an easy review activity.  It's one of many AWESOME activities included in Puppy Love Common Core Literacy Centers and Printables.  This packet has been worth every dime I spent on it and then some!  (I do occasionally re-size pdf's before printing to save ink; some of these pieces may be smaller than originally intended!)

This is a page from our handwriting practice packet.  (Oh man, that handwriting.  It is an enormous frustration for both of us.)  Check out "Writing Through the Verses" here.  

Colby did several pages of kinder math in this workbook.  I've used the Math Made Easy series with Hunter for three years now, and we love it.  The progress charts (gold star stickers included!) are one of the best things; for each page completed, the child gets to add a star to the chart.  Colban added THREE today!  Whoop whoop!

This great little counting puzzle is from the very cool, very FREE Batman-themed preschool pack from 1+1+1=1.  Colby was thrilled with it.

This is just a small fraction of what we accomplished today.  I'll try to cover what we're doing in math, science, history, reading, and grammar later in the week!  I didn't get pics of any of Colban's alphabet activities, either, but the ones we used today and many more (all free downloads) can be found on my Alphabet Pinterest board.

Ready to do it all over again tomorrow!  Hopefully I can start working out some of the kinks!

TpT products featured in this blog post are from the following shops:

Kristen Smith

Reagan Tunstall

Discover Your Child's Learning Style

One of the best things about homeschooling is the ability to tailor your child's education to suit his or her own needs and personality.  Right-brained children in particular seem to benefit from the greater flexibility a homeschool education can offer.  Pinpointing exactly what your child's needs are and how best to teach them isn't always easy, though; something as simple as the wrong lighting or a cluttered work space can affect a student.  If the child's learning style differs greatly from that of the parent, it can be especially difficult to figure out what you need to do to be as effective a teacher as possible.  Luckily there are some great resources to help us out!  Here are a couple of great books to check out if you'd like to know more about your child's individual learning style:



The Big What Now Book of Learning Styles: A Fresh and Demystifying Approach by Carol Barnier is a great book that offers lots of ideas for educating the "non-traditional learner".  The book is relevant and useful for parents and teachers of kids K-12.



In Their Own Way: Discovering and Encouraging Your Child's Multiple Intelligences by Thomas Armstrong is an easy-to-read, extremely helpful book for parents who want to understand a child's unique gifts.  The book explains eight different types of intelligence, and how to determine which of them are strongest in your child.  This is a fascinating read that has helped many, many homeschooling families.  (Though it's written for parents, I think it would be very helpful for classroom teachers as well.)

I read both of these books last year and immediately started modifying our curriculum and making adjustments.  It's no coincidence that Hunter, always a struggling reader, has made so much progress so quickly that he now reads at grade level (an enormous gain)!  We're moving forward with the understanding that Hunter is, like many boys, primarily a visual and kinesthetic learner.  I'm very excited to see small changes in my teaching make such a huge difference in the results.  I wish I'd read these books sooner!

Bloglovin

Forced to say goodbye to Google Reader, I've started using Bloglovin.com to keep track of the gazillion blogs I read.  So far, I've been pretty happy with it!  It allows me to categorize and organize the blogs that I follow, which is important to me.  I'm only following teacher and homeschool blogs at the moment - maybe someday I'll have time to add my favorite cooking and farm blogs as well!  If you'd like to follow this blog on Bloglovin, just click the link:

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Planning and Prep!

It's that time again!

A new school year is about to begin, and I'm smack-dab in the middle of my annual nervous breakdown.  I never feel prepared enough, or organized enough.  Of course, things always seem to work out just fine, but I've learned from experience that lots of pre-planning spares me headaches later on.  (Links to all sorts of great, free planning pages and organizing ideas can be found on my "Organized Homeschooler" Pinterest board.  How did I manage before Pinterest?!)

We didn't get as much done over the summer as we normally would have; reading was the only subject that we continued nonstop.  In addition to swimming lessons, karate, and ju jitsu, the boys both took classes offered by our school district. The past couple months have been very busy! This means we aren't exactly where I'd planned to be by this time, but the boys had a fantastic summer and it's well worth it to be a little "behind".

I'm still in the process of purchasing materials for the year, but here are a few things I've picked up so far:

Writing through the verses- helping students with handwriting skills!

Hunter really needs to work on his handwriting.  I've tried to avoid copywork as much as possible because of the bore factor, but he really needs the extra practice. This packet combines handwriting practice with Bible memory work.  It's so cute, and I got it on TeachersPayTeachers.com for only $3.50! 

Aesop's Fables, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

I love this version of Aesop's Fables; it's going to be the main text for our fables study later in the year.  Most of the others we'll probably get from the library.

Alnico Science Magnets Kit; no. DO-731009

One thing we'll be learning about this year is magnets!  There are two horseshoe magnets, a bar magnet, a tube of iron filings, and a tube of small steel pieces in this kit.  Along with some random household items for experimentation, this should be pretty much all we need in terms of hardware!  

I have exactly one week to get stuff done before we leave for our family vacation.  (If you could see how much I still have left to do . . . did I mention the nervous breakdown?) I'll try to keep you updated as my plans come together and our school year kicks off!  

Australian Aborigines

In Hunter's history book (The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: The Middle Ages) there's a chapter on the Aborigines of Australia.  It's a lot harder to find teaching materials on the Aborigines as compared to, say, the Vikings, but we found some interesting books and projects.  Here are a few things we used to get a more in-depth look at the Aborigines:

Sun Mother Wakes the World: An Australian Creation Story by Diane Wolkstein is a beautiful introduction to Aboriginal beliefs about nature and how the world and all the creatures in it came to be.  There's even an explanation for the many unique animals native to Australia, such as the platypus and kangaroo.  This book is a great jumping-off point to talk to children about more complex Aboriginal beliefs such as the Dreamtime, the continual process of creation in which art and "walkabouts" play a part.  (Parents who want to learn more about Aboriginal spirituality and myth before teaching, try this site, or this one).

 

Ready to Dream, by Donna Jo Napoli.  This easy picture book tells the story of a young girl named Ally who travels to Australia.  Ally wants to capture her impressions of the Outback in her artwork, but she keeps "messing up" her creations.  When Ally meets an Aboriginal artist named Pauline, she learns to rejoice in each mishap and see how it adds to her art.  Children will learn something of the attitude of Aborigines toward nature and art (for which their culture is famous).  The beautiful illustrations of Bronwyn Bancroft, an Aboriginal artist and children's book illustrator, are an education in and of themselves.

For an art project, we chose Aboriginal dot painting:

We used spouncers for the dots, but q-tips would probably work even better.  We looked at examples of Aboriginal art online, and my son was inspired by the flyer from an Aboriginal art sale! (See it here).  I pretty much just provided tempera paints, brushes and spouncers, and a piece of poster board (he chose black), and got out of the way.

He had a lot of fun, and was very proud of his creation. As soon as it was dry, he had me hang it up on his bedroom wall.  Here are some great sites to get tips and instructions on Aboriginal dot painting for children, as well as other Aboriginal crafts and activities:

Make an Aboriginal Dream Painting!

Australian Dot Painting

Aboriginal Hand Prints Art Project

Aboriginal Boomerang Craft

For more ideas on studying Aborigines and Australia, including free printable Aboriginal art coloring pages, try our "Australia for Kids" Pinterest board here.

A few good websites for viewing Aboriginal art online are:

Aboriginal Art Online

Artlandish Aboriginal Art Gallery

Dreamtime Art Galleries

Australian Aborigines are the oldest continuous culture on the planet; we hope you have as much fun learning about them as we did!

Easy Bird Treat Craft For Kiddos

It's pretty important that I find ways to keep my 4-year-old son occupied on rainy days - without a chance to go outside and burn off some of that excess energy, he'll get into anything and everything in an attempt to stave off boredom.  A few weeks ago we made some cute birdseed treats to hang on the branches outside his bedroom window.  They were fun and easy to make, came out great, and Colby got a huge kick out of seeing the birds pecking at them.  The finished product was so nice that we gave some as gifts, and plan to make more for Christmas!

All you need to make them is:

• 3/4 cup of birdseed (we used wild birdseed)
• 1 small envelope of Knox gelatine
• 1/4 cup of water
• Some twine or sturdy string
• Cookie cutters of your choice
• Wax paper

Step by Step:

1. Mix the envelope of gelatine with the 1/4 cup of water in a small pot or saucepan, and bring it to a simmer while stirring, until all the gelatine is dissolved
2. Remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool for a minute
3. Stir in the 3/4 cup of birdseed (you may need to add a little more if there is still liquid in the bottom of the pan)
4. Place your chosen cookie cutter on the wax paper and fill it HALFWAY with the birdseed mixture
5. Cut a length of twine, knot the end so that it forms a loop, and push the knot into the birdseed
6. Continue to fill the cookie cutter with the birdseed mixture, covering the knot and the ends of the twine, leaving the loop hanging out
7. Press the birdseed mixture evenly into the cookie cutter until it's full
8. Let them dry overnight, turning them over occasionally
9. When dry, pop them out of the cookie cutter and hang them in a tree!

For pictures of the step-by-step instructions, try eighteen25's post.

We hope you enjoy this simple craft as much as we did, it's perfect for little hands! 

Follow Us On Pinterest!

Now that we've "officially" started the new school year, we are busy, busy, busy!  It's also the beginning of apple season here in Maine, which means a lot of cooking and canning for me, in addition to preserving the final harvests from our fading vegetable garden. 

I have oodles of ideas and notes for new blog posts, and lots of cool discoveries I'm excited to pass on, but finding the time to actually sit down and blog is going to be pretty difficult for a while.  In the meantime, I'm pinning things to my Pinterest boards as often as I can.  It's quick and much easier to keep up with when spare time is hard to come by.  (If you don't have a Pinterest account yet, I highly recommend it!  It's positively loaded with homeschoolers, teachers, and parents with awesome ideas for education, kids crafts, art projects, etc.)

To follow me on Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/hhhomeschool/

I'll be adding more boards and a lot more pins over the next few weeks, including websites, books, printables, products, craft ideas, and art projects. 

Happy homeschooling!