Winter Promise Week 2

We are now in our second week of school. It has been hectic as ever and it is harder than I thought to homeschool in someone else's home. There are constant distractions and interruptions but I keep telling myself that J is still learning, no matter what. It can be frustrating. Here are a few pics of our week...

We are working on using base ten blocks to represent numbers in the teens.

J is working through her magnetic tiles for All About Reading Level 1. She learned to read last year but I think this will be a good review for her.

I found some old reading textbooks in a used book store. Since I knew that I was going to be traveling, I was looking for many stories in one book so J could practice her reading. These fit the bill. We read one story per week (a couple of times) and then J will work through some of the activities at the end of the story. I like the grammar that we are fitting in because the readers discuss it. This week, we learned about sentences.

J is working through the review drawing exercises at the beginning of her Art book. Here she is drawing Wally the Worm, practicing her straight lines, shading, etc...

J has been enjoying Ereth's Birthday by Avi. It is the main chapter book in our core program from Winter Promise. She began a journaling page in her notebook by learning to draw a porcupine from Ed Emberley's Drawing Animals book.

J is working on her Porcupine notebook page. After reading all about porcupines, she completed the notebook page. We also read about sharks and created a notebook page for them as well. J is really into sharks now, especially after Shark Week on The Discovery Channel!

What is better than swimming after you are done your work? J and Kaleb absolutely love the pool, they are constantly asking when they can go swimming. I can't say no and it is great exercise as well. Hope your week went well.

Book Suggestions for Winter Promise Week 2 

with a focus on porcupines

Prickly Porcupines by Catherine Nichols

Welcome to the World of Animals: Porcupines by Diane Swanson

Prickly Porcupine by Dawn Bentley

Porcupining by Lisa Wheeler

Hokey Pokey by Lisa Wheeler

Adeline's Porcupine by Bobby Strickland

How Do You Hug A Porcupine? by Laura Isop

A Porcupine Named Fluffy by Helen Lester

Cork and Fuzz: The Babysitters by Don Chaconas

I do not received any compensation for listing the books we used for our porcupine study this week. Can you tell that I am loving the library right now? J got her first library card and we walked out of the library with at least 30 books, DVD's, and one book on CD. I went somewhat crazy but it was a great visit.

A is for Ambulance

Stressful this week, tons of interruptions, but I was able to get some work done with Kaleb. He loved playing with the activities that I planned for him. Because of my lack of personal space, I placed all activities in large ziplock bags which I contained in a shoe box. This kept things down to a minimum and allowed for him to choose what he wanted to do.

I bought a small plastic bin and a large bag of black beans. I kept the sensory bin simple. I added several ambulances and letter A's to the beans.

I gave him some letter A stickers and the ambulance sheet from Royal Baloo's pack. He loves sticking stickers onto things.

In the course of the move, I lost Kaleb's safety scissors and he found J's scissors. He practiced cutting ambulances. He proceeded to ask me if he could cut his hair. (He has watched me trim my bangs, I think I will have to do that behind the bathroom door now)

Kaleb painted with watercolors the ambulance craft sheet that I included in my lesson plan.

This was my big splurge - transportation counters from the educational store. They were a bit pricey but I knew that he would have a ball playing with them. In fact, he played with them all week. Here he is "sorting" them according to color.

I found some cheap dixie cups at the Dollar Store and wrote the letter A on them. Then, I had Kaleb use some small balls to knock down the letter A towers. This can also be done using the ambulance vehicle. Boys love knocking things down.

Can you tell what shirt my tot loves? He is fascinated with Lightning McQueen. He would wear this shirt every day. I promise this is another day ;) I found some Melissa and Doug (love them) vehicle magnets. There are 20 in the set and they just about match the Zoomin' Movin' Alphabet series, so I just had to buy them. I only wish I had a larger magnetic board.

Lastly, Kaleb worked on a vehicle puzzle. I would hide the pieces to make it more difficult to put together. Our first week is finished. Now I am off to prepare for b and bus! See you soon.

Tot Tuesday

I can give you a million differences between 'Merica and the country we live in. It continues to amaze me daily. When I walk in the grocery store and see all of the food choices available, it overwhelms me. This week I was amazed at a local park that we visited, it was jaw-dropping.

This playset was only one-tenth of the play area available for the kids. I could not believe the park. The kids had a blast, running from one thing to another.

Kaleb got to drive a fire truck. He was in heaven!

Then he looked out and saw endless playground. It was a little daunting....  There's more

J found a friend sitting on a park bench. If you would like to see what our parks look like...

and I was excited to see this in our site (seat tay - apartment complex). This was the whole park. The first picture at the top of post was only a fraction of what was in the park. We had a good day at a 'Merican Park, what a blessing my kids experienced.

Wheel School - Ambulance

The time has come for our first week of Wheel School - Ambulance. Please bear with me for the next few weeks. We are currently nomads and I am trying my best to move on with my Wheel School plans no matter what the circumstances. So, here we are in our first week.

Download the Visual Plan HERE.

Here is a visual plan for some activities that I found for Ambulance week. Not all activities are mine, they are ones that I found along the Net. Download the plan and click on the link if there is a project that you would like to check out. 

Included in the download is a printable letter recognition game. Print out as many crosses and have your child jump to the capital A or lower case a. My goal for Kaleb is fun exposure to the letters. If he remembers each letter, it is a bonus. He is still young and I wanted a program that would encourage his love for vehicles. So don't stress if your child doesn't remember the letters, it will happen when it needs to. 

Stayed tuned this week for pics of our first week of Wheel School, suggestions for books, and more printables. For more ideas for Ambulance week, check out my Pinterest board.

Our New School Year - Tot 2013/2014

My expectations and plans for tot school this year have been in the works for months now. But as we started traveling and space for learning items was limited, my expectations dropped some. I could only pack so much in our little car and I truly needed certain bulky items for J so Kaleb got put on the back burner. But, even though I am disappointed that I couldn't bring all I wanted in my travels, I am still pressing on with his tot school. I struggled with this but I need to forgive myself and move on. Here are my plans....

Zoomin Moovin Alphabet by Royal Baloo

Kaleb is totally fascinated with anything, absolutely anything, with wheels. He loves anything that moves. His favorite movies are Cars 1 and Cars 2. He would watch those daily if I allowed it. I decided to use Royal Baloo's Zoomin Movin Alphabet as the backbone to Kaleb's tot school. Each week, we will learn about a new vehicle and its corresponding letter. We will use her free printables available to practice letters, numbers, and colors. So far, she has posted up to the letter L with plans on finishing soon. If you haven't been to her site, visit. But plan to spend a long time, she has so much to see and download.

With Zoomin Moovin Alphabet as my backbone of sorts for tot school, I will also be using my Alphabet Review printable packs as well as the new printables that I have planned for each letter. I created a visual schedule for the week of tot school which will be available to download and a new printable for each letter of the alphabet. I will offer book lists and additional activities for a tot school centered around those who love vehicles. I am calling the tot school....

Stay tuned each week for the printable schedule with links to all projects and ideas. I wanted to make this open and go, easy to do. But don't take the schedules and printables as must do, I planned many activities for each week but I will pick and chose which ones Kaleb would be interested in at the time. I wanted to offer a variety of things across the board so there would be something for every type of learner. Also, if there is an interest, I would love to host a linky for those who are working through the alphabet with preschoolers who love cars. I would love to see what you are doing.

My goal for Wheel School is to have a complete preschool program for my tot who loves vehicles. I wanted something especially for him and his interests. So, I hope you will join us in our Wheel School Preschool. If your tot loves anything that moves, then this is for you! Easy to do, open and go, free printables - what more can you ask for?

First week, A is for Ambulance starts next week. See you there.

Our New School Year -First Grade 2013/2014

Here, in Florida, school has already started. Typically, we didn't start until September due to DH school calendar. But I decided that it would be nice to finish earlier than normal, so we will follow the Florida school calendar (as much as I can with traveling and such). I would like to share with you what I have planned for the school year while we are in the states. J is in first grade and all most 7 years old. She has asked for a year of learning about animals so, after much research, I found a program that I thought we could try. Here's what we will be doing this year...

Bible:

The Big Book of Animal Devotions by William L. Coleman

The Core program that we will be using has a devotional book with it but it was only scheduled once a week. So, we will be using this book as well. I struggled with finding a good Bible program for the year and decided to follow the animal theme. This is not a Bible program per se but it has enough devotions to last an entire year. Bear in mind, when I chose this year's curriculum, I was looking for easy to use. We will be traveling so much in the upcoming months and I needed low prep. Each devotion we read, we look up the animals named and learn more about them.

Glow-In-The-Dark Fish by B.J Reinhard

Glow in the Dark Fish was the bible program included in our Core program. But it was only scheduled once a week and I wanted more so I added the book above.

Math:

Horizons Math 1, books 1 and 2

J finished Horizons Math K last year, so I decided to follow through with the same program. She is familiar with it and has done quite well. That being said, I still feel that I have to supplement activities so she can master the concepts.

Language Arts:

All About Reading Level 1

J finished her reading program from last year and I wanted to continue reading instruction. I had read so much about All About Reading and thought I would give it a try. We have finished the first few lessons and I fear that I bought the wrong level. Perhaps, I should have bought level 2. Instead of purchasing level 2, we will work through this book as a review and then, move on to level 2. I just want to make sure her reading skills are solid.

Explode the Code books 2 1/2, 3 and 3 1/2

J finished 3 Explode the Code books last year and these are a continuation of the series. These are phonics based and I use them to review as well enforce skills not quite mastered.

Handwriting Without Tears Grade 1

J used the Kindergarten version of this book last year. I wasn't going to continue with handwriting but I changed my mind last minute. I want J to practice and improve her handwriting skills so we will continue with this series.

We will also be working more with Bob Readers and literature units that I will develop for her.

Music:

The Story of the Orchestra by Robert Levine

By accident, I can across this book complete with the CD at a thrift store for less than 2 dollars. It goes through different composers through history as well as the instruments for the orchestra. There is a song for each composer. I thought this would be a great addition to our homeschool week as I have always felt that we didn't do enough music. There is enough information to be used for the entire school year. I hope that I will be able to add some printables as well.

Art:

I Can Do All Things by Barry Stebbing

When I home schooled my older set of children, they were lucky enough to attend a weekend art class by Barry Stebbing. Since then, they went through two of his art books. J is now at the age to have some formal practice of art. We worked through different artists last year but now she is ready to learn the fundamentals. This book is great for that.

Drawing Book of Animals by Ed Emberley

This was a book that was recommended by Winter Promise for the younger set (Kindergarten). But since we are working through the animal theme and J loves to draw, I thought we should use this book as well. Ed Emberley uses simple shapes to teach young ones how to draw different animals. J has already used this book several times on her own. She was super excited that this was officially a "school book."

Core: (Science/Social Studies based)

Animals and Their Worlds by Winter Promise

J specifically asked for a year of learning about animals. How could I say no? We will be in 'Merica for the school year with access to libraries, thrift stores, and book sales. Now, would be the time to utilize all resources available to complete this Core program. We have zoos, aquariums, duck ponds, walking trails, camping....all available where we did not before. I am hoping to provide for her an extensive experience of learning about animals. Winter Promise is a program like Sonlight in their use of literature for learning. I purchased the part digital-part paper version of the program so I am hoping it will travel well. I will supplement when possible as I can see some areas that need improvement. I will truly miss Sonlight this year but I am excited to try this new program that sparks my daughter's interest. That's the beauty of homeschooling, right? To follow your child's lead. That's what I will be trying to do. Please join us in our new school adventure. See you there!

This post has non-affliate links. I get no compensation for anything discussed on my blog. I just include the links so you can have a look for yourself about the books/school items we are using. 

We Are Back!

It is time to get back on track. We arrived in 'Merica all most two months ago but I don't think we have settled down one bit. We hit the ground running. We had a vacation at the beach with the grandparents, hubby went to California, DS flew up to celebrate his 21st birthday....

the kids with DH played in the rain....

went to the tractor museum... and before we could get comfortable, we were off again traveling....

a great pic of my kids smushed in the back of the car. We are officially nomads, traveling from place to place. We had to drive down to Florida to enroll my daughter in college and we will be here for a couple of months. Then, we will return north to be with the family for the holidays. It is tough to be moving so much but this is the year we have to do it. It will definitely be an adjustment for all of us where we will have to learn to be flexible in schooling and such (which will be difficult for me). I am excited to be back in the world of blogging and I have many plans for the following school year plus some great printables coming soon! Hope you will join us.