Homeschooling Week 10

All About Hamsters
Originally uploaded by sandiesry

In reading we are moving into blends. In science we are studying simple machines. Social studies was all about food from around the world, which I posted just before this post. Spelling is tied into our reading and is going much better this week. Math is all about deciding which operation to use and we are doing fact family 13. Ben is reading at level D and E and doing very well. In art and math we are studying patterns. Ben got some moon shoes and had a lot of fun, and some bruises too, walking around the yard in them. He said it would take some practice.

More Week 10 Pictures and Papers

What Kids Eat Around the World

We began our journey around the world of food in North America. We made tacos and refried beans from Mexico for dinner. Ben decided that they like things HOT (spicy)in Mexico. After dinner we went to a program about Shoshone Indians and Ben tasted fried Indian bread. He didn't like the bread, but loved the tribal drum.



Next we tried European food. We had Italian pizza and discussed what crops and animals were needed to make pizza. We also had chocolate mousse from France and decided that European people probably grow and raise similar crops and animals as we do in the USA.



We ended our journey around the world of food at Jin's Chinese Buffet where Ben sampled several dishes and decided that he only likes breaded shrimp and all Chinese deserts except rice pudding. Ben also thinks it is terrible that we eat bamboo while Pandas in China are starving?

Homeschooling Week 9

Nature coffee dough plaque
Originally uploaded by sandiesry

We began the study of simple machines in science and pollution/reduce/reuse/recycle in social studies. We are working on patterns in math and sentences in language. Ben took his DIBELS reading assesment and scored high on letter and letter sounds recognition. His reading ability is on level and she suggested I use level D & E readers then move onto F etc.

I'm working on setting up his curriculum for second quarter and trying not to get nutty about it.

Our nature plaque was great to make, but it never did completely dry and fell apart. Sad because it was really beautiful. Ben got the flowers out of the planters on the patio, the leaves from our back yard, and the pine cones from a friend's yard.

Week 9 papers and pictures

Homeschooling Week 8

TooL sculpture
Originally uploaded by sandiesry

This week was full because Halloween was Saturday. We made potions and cupcakes, carved a jack o latern, went from a white belt in Tae Kwon Do to a Black Ninja, as well as reading, writing, and math.

Week 8 papers and pictures

Homeschooling Week 7

This week Ben was sick all week with some sort of stomach bug. We accomplished a great deal considering how bad he felt. Ben even made a set of pompom and pipe cleaner farm animals with no help or instruction from me. We studied push and pull / force and friction this week in science. We studied the difference between fantasy and reality in fiction especially. We read about Hannibal and his elephants crossing the Alps into Italy in History. Ben did well on his spelling and wrote a persuasive letter. Finally we did leaf rubbings with crayons and made beeswax candles while we listened to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and listened to Classical Kids "Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery."

Pictures and papers from Week 7

Homeschooling Week 6

We learned about chemical changes and physical changes this week. We put Mentos candies into Diet Coke and found out that is a chemical change. Neither can go back to what they were before. We made brownies, a chemical change, and we mixed Teddy Grahams with Animal Crackers and made a physical change. Ben did great on his spelling test with ten words this week. He learned what 100 pennies and 100 beads strung together looks like. Ben knows the months of the year, the days of the week, time by the hour and half hour, but we struggle with money. He tells me every morning how much to give him to make the number of days he's been in school, but when it comes to exchanging pennies for larger coins he falters. We work on it here and there, but I think I need a system where he has to pay for treats or art supplies with real money. We also found a raccoon in our cat trap. Daddy is trying to catch a tomcat that is hurting our cats.

Pictures from Week 6

Homeschooling Week 5

We balanced things on a balance scale exploring more measurement of mass. We also studied precipitation, evaporation, and the water cycle. The shadow was just an added benefit.

Ben wrote a letter to his sister and the little smarty pants drew a picture of a letter then wrote: This is my letter. Period.

Ben summarized The Mixed Up Chameleon and got 100% on his spelling test this week.

Pictures from Week 5 Set

Week 5:
*An Octopus Followed Me Home by Dan Yaccarino
*What Can You Do With a Shoe by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
Why Does Ice Melt? by Jim Pope
Home by Jeannie Baker
House and Homes by Ann Morris
*When Marcus Moore Moved In by Rebecca Bond
The Leaving Morning by Angela Johnson
*Hide and Seek All Week by Tomie de Paola
*Sharing Time Trouble by Grace Maccarone (First Grade Friends Series)
*The Counting Race by Margaret McNamara
*The Mixed Up Chameleon by Eric Carle