{ Week 13 }

This week I did a quick count up to see how many Maths lessons we've done and was super happy to find that we'd already done 65 days worth of Maths for the year, including today.  What this actually means for us, is that we are almost 1/3 of the way done for this school year.

That's a LOT of Math lessons.

For Science this week Hannah did the following work.  She did it without any assistance whatsoever.  First she outlined, and then she wrote her piece - all by herself.

The BEST moment in my life this week was this:

Noah sleeping as a real child would, in his cot, on his side.

I can't even begin to tell you how gorgeous this was.

Charlotte continues on with her tracing of the alphabet:

And finally, my dear friends, I leave you with the LONGEST sentence that I read this week:

Now Brutus, feeling that the noblest spirits of Rome for virtue, birth, or courage were depending upon him, and surveying with himself all the circumstances of the dangers they were to encounter, strove indeed as much as possible, when abroad, to keep his uneasiness of mind to himself, and to compose his thoughts; but at home, and especially at night, he was not the same man, but sometimes against his will his working care would make him start out of his sleep, and other times he was taken up with further reflection and consideration of his difficulties, so that his wife that lay with him could not choose but take notice that he was full of unusual trouble, and had in agitation some dangerous and perplexing question.

ha ha ha - true story.

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History Reads for Ancient History Part One

This year the girls are using Mystery Of History I as our main history reader.

Now while I suppose that we could easily get by on just MOH I { if I wasn't so History focused } - I feel it would be much more beneficial and fun to add a few more books that would compliment and concrete our Ancients History focus for the year.

M. B. Synge
On the Shores of the Great Sea
{ FREE online }

SOTW I

Britain and Her Neighbours

Chloe has already read Synge and SOTW I this year .  She LOVED them.  They are easy short readings, so she just did a few each time she picked up a book.  Soon she'll start Britain & Her Neighbours Book III.  Phebe is currently half way through SOTW I, and then I'll give her Synge as well.  I'm actually thinking of starting Hannah off on Synge as the stories look shorter!

After all that - I am hoping, seriously hoping, that the biographies of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar are also appreciated here in the house as well before the end of the year.  They look a little challenging, but my girls are not afraid of big books, which is good.  I'll let you know how that goes.



I'll have some more Ancient History books for show and tell next week.

Today I'll be linking up with:



I hope you will join us.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Timelines for History

One of the BEST things that I ever purchased for our homeschool was Amy Paks Timeline Figures.  I've had them for several years now and they always get used.

This year, while we've been working on improving our written work for History we've also been quietly doing a timeline to work along side.

I got the time line pages for FREE online from HERE.  Then I just bound them with my handy dandy little binder to make a book.

This book is Hannah's { she's 5 }.

It's currently set to cover all the Ancients.

When we need to add additional years I'll just open the book up and add the extra pages.

Can't wait to see the completed 4 year project.

Today I'll be linking up with:

I hope you will join us.

Thanks for visiting.

Free CVC Printable

Today I have another little idea that I picked up and turned into a worksheet.

I am super pleased with this format.  I figure that I can not only do all my cvc words with it but also all the multiple phonograms and word families too.  Can't wait.

 { Just click the picture to download. }

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Random Chit Chat

Wow, some children are a breeze, and some children, not so much.  I've had a few babies now, so I've got them all over the spectrum.

Now this little baby, while he looks awesome cute, is actually a LOT of work.  I can't figure out if he's just broken or totally bored and needs attention and something to do.  It would seem that he needs to be picked up for pretty much his entire waking time and carried around to check out life.  Adrian swore he said, "mum" the other day.

In other news:

I've been swamped out with hats and bracelets these last few days.

Here's Charlotte with Nefertiti and Amenhotep.

She also had a bundle of Baa Baa Black Sheep bracelets too.

Time to go.  I'm exhausted.

The end.

A Couple of Printable Freebies

My TpT store just reach 600 Followers, so I'm having a little party and thought that you might like to join in the celebration too.

I'm giving away these two packs:

{ Just click to go to TpT and download for FREE. }

I have included 4 different Nursery Rhymes:

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Humpty Dumpty

Hickory Dickory Dock

Jack and Jill

Each rhyme has a hat,

and bracelets.

 

and

A full set for the lower case. 

And a full set for the upper case. 

{ 52 worksheets in this pack. }

Yeah, so I'd like to invite you to my party!

If you have some time, feel free to share the party on Pinterest.  The more that want to celebrate with me, the better.  :o)

I hope you enjoy them.

Today I'll be linking up with:

I hope you will join us.

Thanks for visiting.

{ Week 12 }

Another week down!

So, let's end with a FREEBIE!!

Just click the picture to download.

Earlier this week I had to completely WIPE my computer clean and start again.

I don't think it fixed my problems though.

Sigh.

Never mind, so long as I can still blog and work on my store in between times.

This week little Miss Charlotte worked hard on her writing.

And counting.

And that pretty much sums up my photo taking for the week.

The girls took some, but yeah, not really shareable.

I'll see how I feel in the morning, I might be able to ruffle up something else to share.

* * *

Edited to add:

Update on 'Writing with Skill'.

Today we finished week 6.  So far, so good.  It's actually going very well.  Today we finished up with a narrative called "The Sinking of the Titanic".  Chloe even put some "dialogue" in there too, as per the lesson instructions.  Can you believe it?  There is even a word count allowance.  The piece had to be between 150-300 words, which made it less daunting considering the extensive outline that was provided.  It also gave her room "to choose" which part to write about without having to worry about trying to "get it all in".  

I think the work is quite challenging for Chloe, as she does lack a bit of confidence and skill in this area but at the same time I feel it is a good fit for grade 5 level.  I can't wait for next weeks lessons.

It's going so well in fact that I am actually off to check out Susan's other writing books for perusal { I might pick one up for the younger girls. }

Today I'll be linking up with:

I hope you will join us.

Thanks for visiting.

Teaching Vocabulary without a Curriculum

The fastest way to open up new doors is to close old ones.  Yes, it's really true.  Once I closed the books on the spelling/vocabulary that we'd been working on earlier in the year, bam, a new idea came to me.  { We are only going to take a break from them for a short while. } The thought came to me that we could still do some vocabulary work by just simply taking one hard new word each day and entering them into a little self made dictionary.

First things first.  I gave each girl an empty exercise book:

Then I opened it up and wrote alphabet letters on the tops of each of the pages - thus dividing it up throughout the alphabet.  Most letters got 4 pages each, with a few only needing 2.

I figure this little enterprise will keep the girls going for about 2 years before we need a new exercise book.  Here's my thinking:  40 school weeks and 5 days equal 200 entries.  I'm a bit late to it this year, we're finishing week 11 already, so I figure there's enough room in the books to at least hit the 300 mark, so well and truly into next year some time. 

Then I built my first lot of words for the girls.  They'll just copy out one per day.

Once in their books I can just ask them to give me a sentence { orally } with the word in use.  Not it's meaning, but in context of actual use.

Additionally, each time they come to place a new entry in their book they'll be glancing over the previous entries which will work like a mini review.

A good place to start with finding words is obviously online, but I've also discovered that a quick way to find words is to just a grab a book that you have intentions of having the children read in the future and just go through with a highlighter and voila, you'll have a cool set of high end words to learn.

Once you have your words available you can choose if it's mummy or the child that gets to find the definition.

In the mean time, if you need a head start, just click the worksheet below to download.

Today I'll be linking up with:

I hope that you will join us.

Thanks for visiting.

Phonogram Rabbit

Last night I thought that I'd get up and do a post about how to teach vocabulary without a curriculum.  That post will have to wait, it will be a good one, but it will have to wait.

Today though, I got up and got me some new clipart instead, and well, that usually leads me on to other things, like: how can I use them?

I am deliriously detoured daily - ha ha ha - true story.  Sad, I know, but I'm so easily derailed and detoured.

Anyway, so here's where I got to this morning { I'll be running out the door this afternoon for a homeschooler get together so I better post it now while it's fresh. }

Perfect for beginner readers/writers.

{ Grade K - 1 }

Just click either picture to download the current pack.

 

When I get home and find some time I'll do up the entire multiple phonogram list and pop them in my store for super cheap.  At this point I'm also thinking of adding a secondary page to each one where some of the words can be used to write sentences.  I just need to find some relaxing quiet time to play with it all.  I probably need a few hours away from the computer to think about it anyway.  :o)

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Grade 2 Lesson 5 Vocabulary

Even though we are currently taking a break from the formal spelling/vocabulary work I ended up making this little worksheet today.  I think this type of worksheet would work well in with all the others.

Just click the worksheet to download.

Today I'll be linking up with:

I hope you will join us.

Thanks for visiting.

New Books

No flashy covers I'm afraid, but I still wanted to share about these new books that I got.

 I picked up 5 more Arthur Scott Bailey books:

And since we're doing Ancients again this year I also printed up 'Julius Caesar' and 'Cleopatra' by Jacob Abbott.  Part 2 of each book is underneath Part 1.  { There are 93 pages each book - that's why I had to divide them into two parts. }

There are so many good books for reading, and many for FREE online.

I have a tablet that is loaded with books, but there's nothing quite like having print and paper in your hand when you can. :o)

Do you utilize free books on the internet?  Do you have any favorite authors?

Thanks for visiting.

I got sleep!

Last night the little boy slept for 7 hours!  I finally got a good night sleep.  I feel like a whole new person today.  Sure beats the 4 hours I got the night before.

{ Week 10 }

Can I just let you in on a little secret?  Homeschooling can often be hard work.  Yes, it can.  It's a lot of work to juggle 3 full time { primary } students with a little 3 year old and baby tag along.  I won't count the two young men in the house because they're autonomous.

The hard work component is when you've discovered that you're lacking in knowledge and experience in a particular subject and have to learn it yourself before you can competently teach it.

I've been hard at work with writing.

How I've been able to get to teaching this is an additional problem.  Which child needs me right now? Which part is most needful?  Juggling all three at once.  Checking spelling, checking format, checking grammar.   Are they even listening?  How many days do I need to remind them that we put the lesson number, title, and date on the top?  Never mind the actual lesson.

As it turns out I'm only useful when I can focus on one child at one time.  I just can't do more than that without feeling like I'm losing my mind.

Hannah is great when I'm sitting there with her because I can prompt and lead her through each lesson without much difficulty.  On her own though she forgets that outlines need only two or three key words and gets carried away with herself and tends to write sentences instead of saving them for the actual writing.  The good news is that it's still early days and I've got plenty of time to work with her on it all.

{ By Hannah } 

Chloe was great this week as well.  She remembered to put the lesson number, the title, and the date on her page.   Then she did up her own outline and written piece.  I can't even begin to tell you how relieved this made me feel.  For the moment I can know that she can get some of her work done without me hand holding her.

 { By Chloe }

Don't ask me about Phebe.  I just want to cry.

In the Maths department we continue to make a good success.  This week in particular, because I was so overwhelmed in the school department - the writing has been taxing me, I got the girls to do their lesson, mark their own work, and fill in their own pink slip.  That left me with the only task left:  to enter their daily scores in my book.

Chloe is up to lesson 47, Phebe 35, and Hannah 44.

This week, to help clear my mind and release the stress I went back to looking at the Robinson Curriculum.  So for the next 7 weeks we won't be doing the usual surprise daily activities { added extra worksheets } or the spelling/vocabulary, that's on hold.   I was hoping to do a rain forest theme with the girls, but that will be on hold was well.  Additionally, English as a separate subject will also be in the bin.  Writing will be considered English instead.  Chloe will still have to do Writing with Skill though.  We'll that's the plan anyway.  I just need to simplify to get my sanity back in place.  So what's still on the list?  Math, check. Writing, check.  Reading, check.  All good.  :o)

Now while I'm getting back to basics with the other three girls, our dear Charlotte has really stepped up in wanting "school" time.  So this week we worked on some letter tracing and what nots.

And today:  the girls have been totally looking forward to our afternoon out with the other homeschoolers.  Today we'll be at the Botanical Gardens in town.  The big excitement, especially for Charlotte, are the NEW drink bottles, food cases, and hats that I bought the girls for when we go out each week.  I have a separate back pack for the picnic blanket and what nots.

I went and bought a plastic box to store them in.  That way they'll all be together and hopefully nothing will get lost.

Inside: just right for 4 packs.

This way each girl will have their own drink bottle and snack packs.

{ Noah }

Here he is in the walker.  He doesn't walk, but it's a good place to put him to get him upright.

Here I had him on my lap and thought, let's see if I can get some nice photos.  I won't tell you how many times he moved { which causes blurry photos }.

Today I'll be linking up with:

I hope you will join us.

Thanks for visiting.