A new Group

I have been thinking about starting my own Homeschool group since going to the one in Milford. I just didnt find the vibe I needed/wanted. I am thinking more like LLL. I am thinking of a yahoo group (east side) and (west side). East Side meeting in Eastgate and West in Colerain. OR a general meeting at the church in Colerain. I havent decided but I know meetings would be 1x a month and then wed use the time to plan things for that month. There would not be a membership fee or anything like that. I am thinking of a group pot. We would put in money and then when we decide where we'd like yo go, divide up the pot. That way if someone doesnt have the money, they are covered. I just feel like this is on my heart. Who knows if it will happen, but its an idea.

The Life of the Poal 3

Today we had to get Nathan, its my weekend for him. We all slept in a tad too late so Lessons were later than usual. I thought " Ill just include Nate in school". I had no idea what I was thinking. Its hard! Trying to get this one going, while this one does this and keep this one out of that. Crazy! Then when you finally get all three of them to do one thing, they fight over who gets to hold what, sit where, raising their hand higher. Yet, I LOVED it. I can't begin to imagine this craziness everyday, but I hope some day I can.

(ill go by each child)
Nathaniel:
Worked with the magnetic letters and rice letters (did E and F)
Wrote E and F on lined paper
Did a counting math game
drew insects in science journal
read a dinosaur book (looked at pictures)
listened to me read 2 books (trick or treating and insects)
watched Magic School Bus bug movie

Candice:
Did rice letters (E&F)
Wrote E & F on lined paper
Talked about community
Did Counting math game
drew insects in science journal
listened to me read 2 books (trick or treating and insects)
watched magic school bus movie

Lana:
Worked with magnetic letters
Worked with tangram type game
played with Money
Counting math game
listened to me read same 2 books
helped look for bugs outside while other wrote in science journal

Ill take some pictures of Nathans work. I am really surprised by him. I need to remember we didn't do the Insect Lapbook or candice's free card (computer game) so we will do those tomorrow.

Daddy, Mommy does it better

I had a doctor appointment today so Lance took over lessons. Candice was less than thrilled. She wanted me to teach her, but I couldn't. I also wanted to see how Lance did. As long as I lay everything out he does ok though and he did. They got through her lessons until of course it came to math. She counted the dinner plated but refused again to count in Math. I am going to agree with the ladies on THL and narrow it down to boredom. Next week Math is going first and we will try and revamp it up. I also want to try and get Lance to teach more so we can avoid days like today.

Last Night I was looking at a great Homeschool blog and stumbled across Lapbooking. Seriously, I have no idea why i dont find this stuff sooner. I think we are going to start doing them on field trips and for her "extra" lessons. This week we are doing one on "Bugs". Ill have her read her Ant book and watch the movie on them and then look at the pics and make her LB.
As well as that, I moved ALL of our Homeschool stuff upstairs to one room. It is no longer on a shelf, in a box, in front of the TV. It is in a small old office. Candice has a desk, Lana has a desk, Each have a shelf of school stuff. It has worked wonderfully, so far.

New set up:

          Lanas area                        Workboxes           Candices area
I am going to start including Lana into the mix of homeschooling. Perhaps I need to get it down with Candice first but I feel like if Lana at 2.5 is standing there asking me to do lessons, I should take advantage of it. Right now its mostly sensory and independent things. I will eventually include some other things. I just want her to get the basic idea. I think maybe next year or the year after she'll be ready. I just hope it doesnt cause issues between Candice and Lana. They both are going to be Homeschooled but I dont want Candice to become jealous that we are including Lana.

Homeschool Frustrations

I have found since starting homeschooling that its like a belly button. Everyone has an opinion. Mostly they are not nice. Usually its the general things:

" You went to Public school"
"What about socialization?"
"She's 4.5, she doesnt need school right now"
"When are you putting her into public school?"

The 4.5 one REALLY irks me. Who says that a 4.5 year old isnt capable of learning? Kids at her age are put into daycare and Preschool all the time, why is homeschooling different? Because I refuse to "play" with her all day and call it learning? Candice is capable of so much more than that. I have seen it. I might get frustrated at her, but what parent doesnt? Did your parents ever get mad because you got a C on a test they knew you should of got an A on? It is the same thing. I can either take it with a grain of salt and say " Thanks but no thanks" or I can finally stand up for my choice for my daughter and say exactly what I said above " Why should I settle for "play learning" when I know she can do so much more?" I haven't decided which yet. However, if you're reading this, please dont assume that a young child can't learn as much as your 5 year old or 6 year old. Don't assume I am making Candice sit here and read off of workbooks all day with little to no play or guidance. I actually chose Lessonpathways because its hands on AND play. I worry every day " Is this enough?" and I don't need more worry.

Candice has come a long way. From not knowing colors, shapes, letters, how to hold a pencil to knowing Spanish, How to write letters, How to count to 5, What a firefighter does.... she DOES learn and it is not through playing.

Math frustration

Candice is refusing the last two days to do math. I know she can do it, it just frustrates me. I am thinking of switching up the schedule so Math is 1st and making History last. I just dont know how else to get her to do it.

Today we talk more about community helpers and how they help. Why would you go to the helpers? L.Arts was more on working with E and F. We made noodle art (letter E and F). She got a kick out of adding food color. Break was Go Fish. She kicked my butt, She tends to win. Science was starting to talk about Prediction. If I drop this pencil, what will happen? Surprisingly she got it right. Math was harder. I had her match up the numbers and then unscramble them, which of course took forever because she was acting as if she didnt know the numbers.

Tomorrow Lance is doing lessons and I hope it goes more smoothly. I think we'll finish the week with Math last and then next Monday start with it first.

Fire station project

Today we worked more on some of last weeks concepts- Ee and Community. We also worked on our Fire Station project finally!.
History was about Community and Firefighters. We got on the computer and talked about them.

L.Arts was about the letters E and F. We wrote in Alphabet Book and then worked on writing the letter F in rice.

"Free Time" was working on her Fire Station project. We took a poster board (i cut it down) and then we pasted, cut, colored, etc on the board all about our trip to the Fire Station!

Science was skipped today

Math was learning more about the numbers 1-5 and counting- we played around with the beans.. I am going to come up with a small game for Candice to play, i think shell have fun playing it. We also played Dominoes today and worked on Matching. Matching was last weeks lesson. Then we also played Store with her play money to work on counting.

~~~~~
This was funny. Candice drew herself in the rice.

Socialization and Books + Prizes!

Socialization
by Lisa Russell
http://www.tnhomeed.com/LRSocial.html


we didnt do lessons today. Lance went to urgent care so that idea went out the window, BUT i found an AWESOME website on reading! And we got our free coupons for Candice's reading list- 1 free pizza from Pizza Hut! You have to register for the below site, but its FREE. You put in the age ranges and what your kid would like to read, then it gives you a list of books to read. Candice reads the books, then takes a small quiz about it. For getting the answers right she gets points. She can then use the points to get prizes, which I have to approve! How neat!
Books & prizes- FREE


Candice's List:

0590437739	Mary Had a Little Lamb	McMillan, Bruce; Hale, Sarah Josephbuell	animals	K
0531300137	Is There Room on the Feather Bed?	Westcott, Nadine B.; Moore Gray, Libba	animals	K
0395810833	Just a Little Bit	Munsinger, Lynn; Tompert, Ann	animals	K
0060274123	Biscuit Finds a Friend	Capucilli, Alyssa Satin	animals	K
0694013013	From Head to Toe	Carle, Eric	animals	K
0688098312	Horace	Keller, Holly	animals , fairy tales & folklore	K
0689840810	A Frog in the Bog	Wilson, Karma	animals	K
0307988481	Wake up, Groundhog!	Cohen, Carol	animals	K
0590050435	Yikes!!!	Florczak, Robert	animals	K
0064442314	Go Away, Dog	Nodset, Joan L.	animals	K
0811823121	Condor's Egg	London, Jonathan; Chaffee, James; Mesta, Robert	animals	K
1575054507	Stripe	Partis, Joanne	animals	K
0062051857	Bark, George	Feiffer, Jules	animals	K
0152019243	Cook-a-Doodle-Doo	Stevens, Janet	animals	K
0899192254	Henny Penny	Galdone, Paul	animals , fairy tales & folklore	K
0761309888	Hare and the Tortoise, The	Ward, Helen	animals	K
076361078X	Just You and Me	McBratney, Sam; Bates, Ivan (Illustrator)	animals	K
0694003611	Goodnight Moon	Brown, Margaret Wise	animals	K
0531070905	Small Green Snake	Gray, Libba Moore; Meade, Holly	animals	K
0688165451	Happy Birthday to You, You Belong in a Zoo	De Groat, Diane	animals	K
0689833148	Biggest Frog in Australia, The	Roth, Susan	animals	K
014056750X	Bunny Money	Wells, Rosemary; Axler, Rachel (Editor)	animals	K
0152000356	To Market , To Market	Miranda, Anne; Stevens, Janet	fairy tales & folklore	K
0688151787	Storytellers, The	Lewin, Ted	people & places	K
0735810699	Little Bunny's Sleepless Night	Roth, Carol; Gorbachev, Valeri	animals	K