Snowy, snowy day today. DH saw lots of accidents and slow moving traffic today. Our day definitely went better than yesterday.
I got to talk to a good friend at the library that also homeschools and we compared curriculums and systems. She's got a good system with All About Spelling that I will probably copy. On Monday, she teaches the lesson and the concepts. On Tuesday, she posts the ten words from the lesson and five other words that are review and they write sentences with them. On Wednesday, they write them three times each. On Thursday, I can't remember what she does and on Friday, they have a spelling test. One thing that I love and hate about All About Spelling is that it is so teacher intensive. I think the spelling rules and the tiles and the lesson set up is great. It's clear and easy to follow. The hard thing is that I have to be there each day and each practice time. This leads to spelling being dropped quite often because I simply run out of time or energy. With my friend's system, Monday can be a little intense since you're teaching the lesson and the concepts, but the other days of the week are student-directed. It will also give each of the kids practice in writing sentences and being independent and I might get some more time for my little ones.
I've been thinking that maybe I should get more curriculum that is less teacher-intensive because I feel pulled in so many different directions every day. The reason I haven't is because I think all the material I have is really good and I haven't found anything else that I like more. So, I keep debating and researching and talking to my homeschooling mom friends.
Anyways, on to today.
Religion - We read from our Advent calendar cards again today. Again, the Bubbers and Sunshine were so loud that I'm not sure anyone got anything out of it. It was supposed to be about Jesus, the Creator, who was born as a baby like any other. His birth and Atonement are the condescension of God. We got out the Nativity blocks that I made in Relief Society a couple years ago and the kids had ten minutes to play with them and set them up in front of the TV. I saved out the Baby Jesus and we will save him for Christmas Eve.
Math - Racer actually did his exercise yesterday so he was allowed to play on Khan Academy. Chicklette finished off her review from yesterday. She definitely does not think like Racer does and needs a lot more hand-holding and hints.
Physics - We read two pages about gravity and Racer and Chicklette wrote summaries of what they learned.
History - We tried to make up a bunch of history today so we talked about South Carolina and Tennessee. DH, Racer and I have been to Graceland when Racer was about six months old so we looked at lots of pictures.
I got to talk to a good friend at the library that also homeschools and we compared curriculums and systems. She's got a good system with All About Spelling that I will probably copy. On Monday, she teaches the lesson and the concepts. On Tuesday, she posts the ten words from the lesson and five other words that are review and they write sentences with them. On Wednesday, they write them three times each. On Thursday, I can't remember what she does and on Friday, they have a spelling test. One thing that I love and hate about All About Spelling is that it is so teacher intensive. I think the spelling rules and the tiles and the lesson set up is great. It's clear and easy to follow. The hard thing is that I have to be there each day and each practice time. This leads to spelling being dropped quite often because I simply run out of time or energy. With my friend's system, Monday can be a little intense since you're teaching the lesson and the concepts, but the other days of the week are student-directed. It will also give each of the kids practice in writing sentences and being independent and I might get some more time for my little ones.
I've been thinking that maybe I should get more curriculum that is less teacher-intensive because I feel pulled in so many different directions every day. The reason I haven't is because I think all the material I have is really good and I haven't found anything else that I like more. So, I keep debating and researching and talking to my homeschooling mom friends.
Anyways, on to today.
Religion - We read from our Advent calendar cards again today. Again, the Bubbers and Sunshine were so loud that I'm not sure anyone got anything out of it. It was supposed to be about Jesus, the Creator, who was born as a baby like any other. His birth and Atonement are the condescension of God. We got out the Nativity blocks that I made in Relief Society a couple years ago and the kids had ten minutes to play with them and set them up in front of the TV. I saved out the Baby Jesus and we will save him for Christmas Eve.
Math - Racer actually did his exercise yesterday so he was allowed to play on Khan Academy. Chicklette finished off her review from yesterday. She definitely does not think like Racer does and needs a lot more hand-holding and hints.
Physics - We read two pages about gravity and Racer and Chicklette wrote summaries of what they learned.
History - We tried to make up a bunch of history today so we talked about South Carolina and Tennessee. DH, Racer and I have been to Graceland when Racer was about six months old so we looked at lots of pictures.
Isn't he cute? After looking at Graceland, finding pictures of the state animals, and putting up the state pieces, we took out our Pioneer Sampler book. We learned about harvesting crops, making a pouch out of a square of fabric and tickling fish.
Latin and Writing with Ease - I traded off working with Racer and Chicklette at this time. Racer did his Latin flashcards first and Chicklette and I practiced summarizing a story. Then, Chicklette went to her flashcards and Racer and I did Writing with Ease.
Piano - I managed to do Chicklette's piano lesson and she did pretty well. Racer and I didn't get to his though so that will be tomorrow.
Latin and Writing with Ease - I traded off working with Racer and Chicklette at this time. Racer did his Latin flashcards first and Chicklette and I practiced summarizing a story. Then, Chicklette went to her flashcards and Racer and I did Writing with Ease.
Piano - I managed to do Chicklette's piano lesson and she did pretty well. Racer and I didn't get to his though so that will be tomorrow.