The List

We love "Frog and Toad" around here.  Remember those cute little books by Arnold Lobel?  Days with Frog and Toad, Frog and Toad All Year, Frog and Toad are Friends, and so on. They're beginning-reader stories that've been around forever.  I remember them from when I was a kid.  Now that I'm all grown up and my kids are reading them, I can see the subtle humor in those stories.  My favorite Frog and Toad episode of all is when Toad makes a list of things he wants to accomplish one day, and then loses the list when it blows away in the wind.  Devastated, Toad plops right down on the ground and refuses to move.  He says he can't chase after it because "running after my list is not one of the things that I wrote on my list of things to do!"  And since he can't remember the rest of what he had written, he decides the only way to cope is to stay in one spot and do nothing for the rest of the day.

Aren't we all like that sometimes?  I've been so frustrated with myself lately when it comes to dieting.  I want to lose some weight, yet I feel like Toad:  Stuck in one spot.  I come up with a nice little list of ways to improve my health, then inevitably I cheat and all my best laid plans are blown away in the wind.  I say to myself, "Uh oh!  Cheating is not on my list of things to do!  That's it.  Today's shot."  At least Toad only did it once.  I seem to keep doing it over and over.

Sigh.

Sue

The Day in Pictures

Today I thought it might be fun to take pictures of the kids doing some different things in school.
 

Here's me using "Times Tales" to go over the times table with Drew.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is hands down the best program for teaching the multiplication facts on the market.  In an hour or less you can teach a child all the higher facts.  I mean the 6s, 7s, 8s, and 9s.  Baylee is learning them, too, just by sitting in.

This week in math Zach's been studying prime and composite numbers, how to make "factor trees" to determine the greatest common factor, and then how to use that information to rename a fraction.  I hate to say this, but it's 5th grade math and I had to really study it myself in order to teach it to him.  I think I'm about a day ahead of him in terms of what we both know about math at this point.

Here he is using a small whiteboard and a dry erase marker.  It makes it easier for him to focus on one problem at a time.

Drew's using Handwriting Without Tears-Cursive this year.  He enjoys it enough to do three or four pages a day.  Both he and Baylee are left-handed just like their daddy.

Baylee decided this week that she wants to study the Dolch list for spelling, too, so here she is writing down the words I give her.  She's doing great with it!  As you can see, she's not the type that prizes a neat and tidy desk.  Her desk has stickers stuck all over it and a big ol' Barbie head staring her down.  Oh well.  At least Barbie has her hair done for school.

All the kids are required to read outside of their textbooks.  I make it a scheduled part of our school day, and both boys always choose it as their first subject after our Bible lesson.  Here's Drew deeply engrossed in Sports Illustrated for Kids.

And that was today in pictures!


Sue

This Modern Age

Today I gave Baylee permission to call her friend, Ellie.  I dialed the number and handed her the phone, then she stood there for a long time, waiting and listening to it ring.  Finally I said, "Honey, they must not be home."

"Just a minute, mom!  It's still loading."

Sue

Baylee Reading

Here's a 2-minute video of Baylee reading a letter.  She's really coming along nicely in her reading.  She learned the letter names and sounds from the Leapfrog Video, "Letter Factory," when she was 4, then I started going through a set of very old books with her called The Palo Alto Reading Program.  It was given to me by an elderly client who, long ago, taught in a Catholic school.  Somewhere around Book 2 Baylee took off.  Now she's doing the Explode the Code series, but mostly just to learn spelling skills.

This letter is from a good friend of our family who is a reading teacher herself, Kristi.

Overheard Wisdom from the Living Room

TV:  You could get this greasy hamburger for a buck, or for only a dollar a day you could get these million dollar abs!!!

Zach:  ....I'd rather have the greasy hamburger.

A New Semester

We're in the second half of the school year now...or actually, starting tomorrow.  After a nice long Christmas break, I feel ready again.  There is one big change.  We took Drew out of the charter school and brought him back home to learn.  It's kind of a long story, but it mostly boils down to missing him and him missing us.  So, we'll have all three kids here again...and I'm excited about that!  Here's the plan:


Zach (5th grade):

We're still using and enjoying Bob Jones Math 5.

We're still really loving Abeka science 5 and history 4.  (We went back a year in history, just because Zach really needed a year of American history.)

We changed English programs from Abeka English for 5th grade to Easy Grammer 45.  Waaaay better!  I love the format and I love the method of Easy Grammar.  Abeka became extremely cumbersome.

For reading I'm letting Zach read books from the library or our bookshelf here at home.  Lately Zach's been really enjoying a collection of "classics for kids" that my mom bought at Sam's Club.  They're well-loved stories that have been rewritten at about a 5th or 6th grade level.  He's read The Time Machine, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and now he's in the middle of Moby Dick.

For spelling we're using the Dolch list for his actual spelling words (because the boy needs some serious remedial work) and for the vocab/dictionary/etc work, we use Spellwell C and CC.

For Bible lessons we read from Keys for Kids.

For writing I hit on a new idea.  I have Zach write anything his heart desires for 15 minutes every day.  He can work on a story, free write, write a paragraph, whatever.  This is working so much better!  Since he knows he only has to do it for a certain amount of time, the quality of his work has suddenly improved tenfold!  He's not worried about "getting a dumb paragraph written."  He's focused on writing.



Drew (3rd grade):

We'll have him use Saxon 3, since that's what he used in charter school and it will be very easy to just pick up right where he left off.  Besides, I like Saxon myself.

Abeka science 3 and history 3.  You know, we used ACE for these subjects last year for both boys and I thought ACE did a great job.  The thing is, both boys liked ACE but they LOVE Abeka for these subjects.  I don't even really know why.  I guess it's the cool pictures and engaging writing.

For Drew we'll try Abeka for 3rd grade English, basically because I already own it.  I'd actually rather start him in Easy Grammar, but...what can I say.  I'm cheap.  We'll see if Abeka works for him.  This program includes writing.

Drew will also read books from the library or from here at home.  He's a little hard to please right now as far as stories.  All he really likes is comics.  Sigh.

For spelling I'm going to have Drew memorize the Dolch words, too.  He can't spell, either, and his semester in charter school didn't make things any better in this area.

For handwriting we'll use Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive.  Drew was using that at charter school, so we'll just pick up where he left off.

Bible lessons will be Keys for Kids with me and Zach.



Baylee (kindergarten):

Baylee finished Bob Jones K Math and is working in Saxon Math 1 now.  I've used this for all three kids and in my opinion it's the best 1st grade math program out there.  I love, love, love the way it teaches the facts.

We're not worrying about science and history yet.

Phonics right now is Explode the Code.  She can already read, but I have this niggling feeling she needs phonics insruction.  It's a little hard to think outside the box sometimes, I guess.  In any case, it gives her something to do.  She finished book 3 and I think she'll do books 4 and 5 yet this year.

Baylee reads a basketful of books a week from the library.   I can't begin to keep up with the demand.  lol

For Bible lessons I read The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes to her.

Better Late than Never!

Here's some pictures from Mike's moms visit in the fall!  (Okay, it's January, but who's keeping track?)

We always have such a nice time when Patty visits.  As you can see from the pictures, she's a kid at heart!  She loves to get outside and play, and she's absolutely wonderful with her grandkids. Besides that, though, she's got a genuine heart for Christ.  We love you, Patty!

Sue


Patty raking in the side yard

Patty and Zach raking in the backyard

Zach, Drew, and the neighbor boy playing in the leaves

Drew's Class Play

Drew was in a class play a couple months ago.  He played the little boy in "The Giving Tree".  Here's a little snippet.