Diagramming Fun?

First, I do actually have 3 sons. Sammy is in pre-K and doesn't have the patience to sit with us for very long. So here's a little bit on Sam doing his thing. Coloring a zebra and working on his letters.

We have been using First Language Lessons for 3 years now. I do love it. It's very repetitive which is a must for my boys. However, we've been diagramming sentences for weeks now. Each time they learn a new version of an adjective or an adverb, there's diagramming. As an adult, the only time I've needed to diagram a sentence is when I'm teaching my kids to diagram a sentence. It seems utterly pointless to me. Just curious if anyone has used this 'in real life'?

Spelling Split.

We use A Reason for Spelling. Which I love. There's great moral stories and fun ways to learn the spelling words. The words all belong to consonant blends. So for this weeks activity, I wrote down all the blends and then the back part of the word. They had to match, then spell, then spell without looking. It was working so well I decide to do it with their Bible verses as well. They have one every week for Sunday School, but they've missed two weeks in a row, so they have 3 to report to their teachers. She gives them mini playdohs and they think it's the coolest thing ever!

I actually had the address wrong on one and Shane had to correct me. Oops.

Science and Research

The kids did chapter review and a test today. They are so funny. So concerned about whether the other is going to cheat, that they just move their desks apart for every test.

Working on the chapter review.

Test time. Note the moved desks. 

I'm happy to report that they both got an A on their tests. a 94%. This is the first year that I've used grades, but it really seems to motivate them. They also started work on their first research papers. Jackson got a little extra help from me. He is only in the 1st grade, but for the most part he keeps up with Shane's 3rd grade science curriculum. The research paper is three animals that they don't know a lot about. They have to find out what it eats, where it lives, what group of animal it belongs to, and two interesting facts.

Jackson looks upset, he was concentrating!

Jackson chose the American Alligator. He used mostly a kids encyclopedia, but got his picture off a website. Shane chose the "horned sheep" and then chose to learn about the Rocky Mountain Horned Sheep. He was very excited when he noticed the sheep can live in Washington. He asked me to take pictures if I see one on my trip. Poor child seems to think I'll be hiking in the mountains. (in actuality we're going to Forks for Bella's birthday, it's a Twilight thing). Shane used a book and the computer. It was a kids site from the Smithsonian. Very helpful.

Mighty Mighty Mammals

I love/hate when I learn something right along with the kids. Today I learned there a bunch of different groups of mammals. I guess in theory I knew this, but yeah....Anyway. During science I realized, they were never going to remember all these groups. So I decided to make a poster. I let them use the computer to hunt for animals in all the different groups. I did this in the school room and sent the document to the printer downstairs. I think they're favorite part was running downstairs and seeing their pictures printed out.

Also during all this I sent Sam off on a scavenger hunt. He has to find something square, something pink (without going into Little Miss' room), something starting with A, and something starting with B. He did pretty well at first, but he kept trying to pass off items as "A" by saying "it's A football" He eventually put mommy in the basket. A for And

Shane hunting down animals.

Jackson's turn to look. 

Shane gluing.

Jackson finding his animal's spot.

Working together.

The boys with their finished poster!

Our First Science Experiment

So it was a basic experiment. Which paper towel will soak up more? Here is a big Mommy/Teacher fail. The directions said to buy towels with different print to make it easier for them. Well I did that, but mommy brain won out and I bought a three pack of the same brand, but with different print. *Sigh* So I had to cheat a bit to have one towel soak up more than the other. Same brands tend to soak up the same amount. Geez! Well anyway, they got the gist of the experiment really well. However when it came time for the results. Hypothesis A won and Shane was showboating. Jackson lost his mind in tears. All in all it went well. Maybe.

Letting the towels soak.

Writing down the results. 

Shane's results.

Waiting to see what happens.

 

And there we go, one showboating and one sobbing.

2010-2011 so far.

 Here's a little bit of what we've been doing so far this year. We are on week #4 of the 2010-2011 school year. The boys are doing really well. We've started test taking skills this year as well. They think the tests are the best part of the week. :)

 This is Jackson working on Explode the Code. I love these little workbooks.

 Taking a science test. I'm loving my science unit. We chose Bob Jones University Science

 This is Shane handing in his spelling test. We use A Reason for Spelling.

 These are their temperature lizards. We monitored their body temperature to show the difference in warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals. 

 Putting his in the shady spot.

 Check the temp in the sun. I wish the day had been sunny to really showcase the difference.

A Tragic Story (of a mullet)

(turn your volume down, apparently I'm really loud on video, as in life)

This is Shane (3rd grade)

 We're working on the poem "A Tragic Story" by William Makepeace Thackeray. We use  First Language Lessons  for our grammar and memory work. This is a the first time we've done this poem. We decided to act it out to drive home the point. I made a 'pigtail' out of yarn and attached it to a hat. The boys wanted it braided. I had to keep my laughter inside. All I could think of was that it looked like a mullet. Shane thought it was so cool. In fact he's still wearing the hat. :)

This is Jackson (1st grade)

A back view of the "pigtail"

Way Back When...

So after nearly 8 years of living here, I decided to play tourist in my own town. We're studying Jamestown for history right now. I plan on actually taking the kids to Jamestown and Williamsburg, but I'm waiting until public school is back in session so the lines won't be long. (perk #235 of homeschooling)

We started off at the Gloucester History Museum. The building was originally a tavern, then a B&B, the office buildings, and finally the museum. It's cute, very small, but lots and lots crammed into it. Most of the items have been donated from the community. My favorite item was a doll that was over 100 years old. Someone found it in between the walls of a house while doing renovations to it.

Lots of sketching going on. Once, I thought Jackson was sketching the milk crate, but instead he was drawing the phone jack on the floor.


We then walked into the courthouse circle and looked at the old buildings. There was a Confederate monument. There was a picture from 1893 of Confederate Veterans in front of it. In the background of the picture was the building that now houses the  museum. The kids thought it was really cool to see what it looked like in 1983. Honestly, I thought it was really cool too.

We went into the old courthouse. (which is used for modern county meetings). There was no one there so we were discussing what was modern and what was older. I let the kids sit in the county seats with the gavel. They kept giggling like we were doing something wrong. :)

Sam was the only one who scared me, he looked like he was really about to bang the gavel! :)

We then went into the visitor's center and talked to another gentleman for a bit, about the other buildings in the circle. The gift shop now has steel doors because of fire. They lost records, not once, but twice. We were also told the story of the brick wall around the circle. It was just a fence to keep out livestock. Then they added the brick wall. It humored the kids to think of cows and chickens wandering down Main St. and into the circle. :) Also there were lots of 1920's pictures of the town. It was so much fun to point out the buildings to them.