Homeschool Log Wednesday February 17, 2010

Here is a summary of what we did today.

Austin and Amanda -
This afternoon we read 2 Kings 1, 2, and 3:1-3 and one chapter from Rilla of Ingleside. They both did their daily chores, helped with the younger kids and took care of their pets. This evening they went to the Wednesday evening kid/youth program at church.

Austin
Austin read a chapter from Pinocchio, updated his blog, (actually when I was writing this I clicked on his blog and discovered that he forgot to hit publish. I did it for him so it is there now.), and did a typing lesson/game (Bubbles Typing Game). This afternoon we read more of the article from The National Geographic Magazine that we started yesterday - We Are Living at the South Pole by Paul A. Siple. He also began cleaning out the fish tank in his room so we can move it downstairs. His friends Zac (11) and Tristan (12) helped him when they got here this afternoon after school.

Amanda
Amanda also updated her blog. She played the Bubbles Typing Game and the Keyman Typing Game. This afternoon we went online and looked at photos of room designs to get ideas for her room. Then she spent some time working on her room to get it ready for the redecorating we want to do.

Homeschool Log Tuesday February 16, 2010

I asked Amanda and Austin today if they liked the changes I have made in the schedule. Austin said he did. Amanda said even if she did a little she wouldn't admit it. I'll take that as a yes.

Here is a summary of what we did today.

Both Austin and Amanda -
This afternoon we read 2 Chronicles 19-20 and one chapter from Rilla of Ingleside. Both kids did their daily chores, helped with the younger kids and took care of their pets.

Austin -
Austin watched one of the Language Arts videos (Conjunction Junction) from Gamequarium, and completed one of the addition lessons from Mr. Ankers' Computation. He also read a chapter from Pinocchio. This afternoon he started making a time line that we are going to put on the wall in the hallway. We also read To the Men at South Pole Station written by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, USN and published in The National Geographic Magazine in July 1957. We started reading We Are Living at the South Pole by Paul A. Siple and published in the same issue of The National Geographic Magazine. We will read more of this article tomorrow. Later this evening Austin spent some time doing art work with his friend Zac (age 11) and then building with K-nex with his friend Tristan (age 12).Just before he went to bed this evening he watched an episode of Star Trek.

Amanda -
Amanda completed the More Adding Practice page from her Math Skills and Drills workbook and the Prepositions page from her Language Arts workbook. She also spent over an hour today moving things from her room into the hallway so that we can begin working on a major three room redecorating project. She and Michael will be switching rooms and both rooms will be repainted. We will also be repainting the kids bathroom upstairs.She spent a lot of her free time today playing Sally's Salon on her laptop. In this game time management skills are very important to keep all the customers happy. Happy customers equal good income. Good income allows the purchase of new and better equipment as well as hiring new hair dressers. And so the business grows.

Homeschool Log Monday 2/15/10

I'm sure no one else really cares one way or another but I wish I'd make up my mind how often I want to post on what we've been doing here for home school. I have changed my mind again and decided to go back to daily posting. It is really hard sometimes to remember everything we've done in a week even if I try to keep notes.

The last two weeks have been really unproductive due to Austin's time off after his injury and schedule disruptions due to the snow. But now that Austin is feeling a lot better I've told both Austin and Amanda that we are going to be sticking to our own schedule regardless of what public school does.

So here are my notes for today.

Both Austin and Amanda

Dance Mat Typing - both kids tried to do a typing lesson but the lesson kept freezing up and not letting them continue. We've had a lot of trouble with that recently so I think I'm going to check around and see what else I can find for free on the web. I'm curious whether anyone else out there has had any trouble with this site?

Both kids updated their blogs - Amanda's is here and Austin's is here.

We were able to get back to our afternoon reading time when I read aloud to them. I think this is one of our favorite time of the day. Today we read 1 Kings 22 and then three chapters from Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery. We are learning a lot about World War 1 as we read this book.

Both kids did their daily chores - cleaning, kitchen duty and helping with the younger kids - as well as taking care of their pets.

During their free time both Austin and Amanda enjoyed playing computer games.

Music - We enjoyed listening to Celtic Hymns throughout the day.

Austin

Austin started reading a new book today. While it isn't one I would have chosen I am glad to see him pick up a book on his own and begin reading it. So I'm allowing him to use it for his reading time. The book he chose is Pinocchio. This version is 89 pages long and is divided into 11 chapters. And although it may seem somewhat below his age level his trouble with visual spatial perception causes so much difficulty with reading that for now this is what he is comfortable with. When he finishes this book we will go back to reading the book he started before our unexpected two week break - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Great Illustrated Classics).

Each afternoon while the little kids are asleep I try to spend about 30 minutes each with Austin and Amanda on an activity of their choice. Austin's choice this afternoon was playing a game of Skip-Bo. This card game is a game of strategy as each person tries to get rid of his pile of cards by building sequential sets 1- 12.

Amanda

For our 30 minutes together Amanda chose to have me watch Disney music videos with her. While this was certainly not the kind of activity I had in mind, I have been thinking maybe I should know a little more about these music videos that she loves to watch. So I told her that I would today but tomorrow I would like her to choose something a little more constructive. 

Derailed

Last week we really did do some studying as well as accomplish a few other things that I was going to post about. But I never got a post written about it due to this derailment. This week we have been recovering. And since we have had snow twice in the last five days public schools have been closed. Public schools closing means I have a houseful of school kids whose parents have to work no matter what the weather. So there isn't much "schooling" being done. Schools are are closed again tomorrow and early Friday morning there is another storm moving in. So it looks like we're going to have a whole week off. Hopefully we will get back to a more sane schedule next week.

Crazy Machines - Game Review

Product description from the manufacturer -

• Create your own unique contraptions
• Solve more than 200 challenging puzzles
• Put your machines to work
• Cool physics engine with air-pressure, electricity, gravity, and particle effects
• Experiment with gears, robots, explosives, and more in your own virtual lab

We bought Austin this game for Christmas. He has really enjoyed it and I have had the pleasure of watching him explore some scientific concepts that he may have found a little overwhelming in some other formats.

Crazy Machines provides a lot of mental stimulation, problem solving skills and encourages creative thinking. It also teaches some beginning physics, mechanics, and engineering.

I've found that Austin enjoys solving the puzzles and challenges given in the games as well as the opportunity to create his own experiments. And choosing between earth gravity and moon gravity adds to the fun.

I haven't told Austin but I found the solutions for the puzzles given in this game here. He has been doing a great job of sticking with it and figuring out the answers for himself.

Just a Note

Just a note to say that I am going to post a weekly homeschool log instead of a daily log. Hopefully this will help give me time to post about other homeschool topics I would enjoy writing about as well.

Homeschool Log Tuesday January 18, 2010

I think today has been our most productive day for awhile.

Both kids did their Dance Mat Typing lessons. Then Austin did his math lesson at Mr. Anker's Computation. He also watched a video about verbs at Gamequarium.

Amanda completed two worksheets - Adverbs That Compare and Adding Nines. She also read several chapters from the book The Blind Colt by Glen Rounds.

Austin watched Extreme Machines: Military Planes on the Military Channel this afternoon.

Both Austin and Amanda updated their blogs today. Amanda's post is called Stinky Cat and Austin's is called Cool Design.

This afternoon we read 1 Kings 17 and one chapter from Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery. Then we had a discussion about how long ago World War 1 was and realized that the house we are living in now was probably already built at that time. The kids loved that, somehow it helped them feel connected to the history we have been reading.

Both Austin and Amanda spent about half an hour outside playing with friends.

Chores, helping with the younger kids and playing games on the computer rounded out their day.