2011

I just realized that I have been really bad at updating this blog and I think I've given up on posting more than once or twice in month :).
I'm debating about making a schedule for each child so I can keep better track of what they are doing since this coming school year I'll be officially homeschooling all 3 of the kids.

For now I'll make a rough schedule here ... we have been doing pretty well in keeping some sort of a schedule the last few months.

F- Reading list (together) are My Side of the Mountain, kid's biography of Albert Einstein, War of the Worlds, Story of Gilgamesh (3 short books) silent reading at night: The 39 clues series of books, Choose your own adventure books, Big book of question and answers, World almanac 2010, and other various books of his choosing. We are also using a few different work books for grammar and language arts 4th grade level/working our way up to 5th grade level by the end of the year.

Math- IXL math program; 5th/6th grade level, 5th grade math workbooks :long division, 3 digit multiplication, all types of fraction problems, word problems, geometry, graphing etc...

Science- making slides and viewing them on microscope, science experiments, comparing animal and plant cells, reading about cells and the human body and its systems, other science concepts as the interest arises

History/Geography- Reading The Story of the World book 1, various books on topics of interest such as Civil War, Mesopotamia, Egypt, F loves countries and all things about them so he reads a lot about various countries, their locations and knows various facts about most of the countries in the world.

Music is covered by listing to and reading about various types of music and some beginning piano practice which I'm hoping he will do more of as the school year progresses. I'm planning on borrowing a book from the library that will help him learn how to play a few easy pieces and hopefully finding a teacher we can afford.

Art is not F's favorite subject so we cover that by looking at paintings in museums, talking about some famous/not so famous artists. I am encouraging him to come see a homeschool play with us this spring/summer to expand his view on what art is.

Phys ed is covered every day :). Especially this winter thru sledding and frequent park outings. He has also decided he wants to do some more exercise at home and so has started a weight lifting/ pull ups/ sit ups type regiment for himself :). Gonna build those muscles... :)

This is a short list of what gets covered in 1 week in the course of our homeschooling. it's enhanced by visits to the museums, parks, zoos, and gardens in NYC.


J- Reading (mostly together as she is not comfortable with reading long books by herself yet) Magic Tree house book 1, Little Bear, books on Egypt, various kid's books (easy readers) too much to mention right now. She writes almost every day, stories, play menus, notes, lists, and other things as they come up in her and her sister's play.

She has decided she wants to learn Hungarian so she wrote the whole alphabet with the sounds each letter makes and has began writing short words and very simple sentences in Hungarian and then translated into English.

Math- covered by IXL grade 1 and 2, addition and subtraction in her spiral math notebook. Consumer math when we do our food shopping and banking.

Science- experiments, using the microscope, reading about the human body and discussions on whatever topic she is interested in knowing more about, including animals, planets, the weather, etc...

History/Geography is going slowly as she is not very interested in this subject. But we are reading Story of the World book 1 and discussing the Civil War and it's music, learning about the various community helpers (planning on filed trips in the spring to a fire house and possibly a police station).

Art/Music is covered extensively with J as she draws and paints and uses clay to make various things almost every day. Music is covered with her weekly dance class and learning about different types of music. Art is her favorite subject and so she does it earnestly :). As well as story writing...

Phys ed./health is again covered daily.. sledding, running, playing in the snow, climbing in the playground, dancing etc... and constant discussions on how to stay healthy by eating the right kinds of food and personal hygiene...

A- Reading is progressing weekly, Starfall.com has helped a lot, as well as reading various Sandra Boynton books (her favorites)
another of my favorites in refrigerator reading... making simple words/word families on the refrigerator.

Math - IXL math program online; K and 1st grade math, also using her spiral notebook for math with simple addition and subtraction and number recognition.

Science- learning a lot about her favorite animals(pigs, monkeys, and penguins); simple experiments, learning about the human body etc...

History/Geography is not her favorite subject either but is covered by reading Story of the World, and stories about ancient heroes/gods and goddesses and such things.

Art/Music is the same as for J, being A's favorite subjects, they are done on a daily basis, although I have noticed that she has a knack for hand knitting and making clay figures. She loves to make things with her hands. Her weekly dance class helps with the music as well.

Phys ed/health- seems to be covered more than adequately with all 3 of the kids :).

Homeschooling seems to be working pretty well for us and as the kids get older we are going to have more of a schedule.

F did a rough average of all the books we have in the house, mine and his father's included and it came to over 1000 books! :) The kids say that we have a library and that most of the time when they ask about something I say 'oh i have a book about that' and go get something for the to read about it. LOL I love that.. my plan is to have as many books as we can fit into the house w/o looking like an episode of Hoarders, haha.


The weather has been pretty cold the last month or so (today its a high of 20) and so we can doing a lot more learning at home and will resume with our field trips once it gets warmed up.