November 2, 2008

Random Thoughts on School and Life

While at Disney our family got chosen as the dream family for the LIghts Motor Action stunt show. We got to sit REALLY close and even got to introduce the show on the big screen. We all felt very special and the kids loved the show. Just another snip it of our special trip. I'll stop bugging ya'll with it soon I promise!
I have decided to start slowly adding cursive into our routine. We won't officially start until Princess Poodle finishes Spelling Workout A...which should be before Christmas break. Right now I plan to start showing her how to form the letters on my small handwriting whiteboard. Maybe she will want to practice on the whiteboard too. I'm going to work this into our Morning Meeting and it will be very light hearted to start. Come January I plan to use Abeka Cursive First Grade and move slowly. I also have extra Abeka paper to practice. At some point we will pick up Spelling Workout B...not because I like it but Princess Poodle likes it and enjoys being able to do it independently. Latin will be held off until third grade so thats not even on the radar at this point. I am still considering REAL science for next year because I havn't found anything else that strikes my fancy and I like focusing on one thing at a time. Bob Jones skips around alot and that will drive me crazy. I am in search of a simple book that gives activities on the human body. I will use these along with a spine I have and some library books and that will be our human body science that we will do in the dead of winter. Colonial Day with a homeschooling family is coming up a in couple of weeks...I need more turkey feathers, ink, marbles, coke bottles, baby food jars for making butter, a thimble for hide the thimble, and a few other things. I think it will be a fun day. The American Revolution will soon follow and Princess Poodle keeps begging to learn about it. How strange is that?


Other thoughts...making doll clothes is harder than I thought but I will do it, I found a rug on clearnance at Target that makes me smile and I bought Princess Poodles' Christmas dress. It is dark velvet green with cream ribbons running across it....so pretty. I hope to find Triple H some dark green cords and a cream button up. I alos went ahead and bought some Christmas presents. I'm crazy I know but I needed somthing as meaningless, fun, and lighthearted as shopping after the week we have had.
The kids are up too late and I must go. Things are looking up today. My sweet mother in law is doing much better and I can't wait to get her home and love on her and get her help with the doll clothes. lol
Hopefully some pics of school work this week now that we are starting back.
Thanks for stopping by.

3 comments:

Ali said...

My husband and I stayed at the Coronado Springs for our honeymoon, we hope to get back in 2 years for our 10th. Hard to believe our kids will be 4,6, and 8 at that point!

On a school note:
I'm struggling with the Spelling Workout. We are also almost finished (with A). We have 3 or 4 lessons to go. I don't feel like we are learning any of the rules...I've wandered around online, but don't like it that I can't walk into a homeschool store and look at the curriculum. Do you feel like Princess Poodles is learning the basics of spelling? I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong, or if this just isn't for us. What are your thoughts? Thank you!

Ali said...

Sheryl,
Thank you so much for your response, you are so helpful. I think I am going to check out the Sing Spell program you mentioned. Anson can do this on his own (the workout), but is missing the rules. I can spell, but I can't explain the rules. Thanks for that!

As far as Bible Studies go, I recommend starting with the very first book (I assume it's the first) How to Study Your Bible For Kids by Kay Arthur and Janna Arndt. We moved through it slowly, but Anson is a proficient reader as it sounds like your daughter is, and I loved working through it with him. I don't make him fill in all the lines (he tells me what to write), I don't count it as "school" we do it together when the girls are resting. I've done several of Kay's studies and have found them very thorough. You can probably look at them at the Christian Bookstore to see if it's something you are interested in. I bought the Genesis books (3 of them) at the homeschool conference for our "Bible" this year. They are written for kids, but there is no dumbing it down! Let me know what you think of them, so far I'm the only one who loves them! :)

Sorry for using your blog as a teacher/teacher conference!

Anonymous said...

Nice blog and good post. Interesting views - my daughter loves reading and we encourage that so that always provides a great foundation.