Nature Journaling - Week 1

We went on our first nature hike and we began our new Nature Journals. The kids are super excited about these and I hope that they will stay that way throughout the year. At the end of this last school year, we began dabbling in nature journaling with water colors. J loved it so I decided to bring it to our homeschool science. We went on our hike, came home (because of the rain), and journaled.

Kaleb found my drawing books that I bought this summer and he went to town. I was surprised that he liked drawing so much. He flips through the books and draws what he can find. Here, he is drawing a dragonfly that we saw on our hike.

We recently saw a bear on our drive home from meeting Grandma and Grandpa. We were so surprised and excited that I felt it should be our first entry into our journals. J is working on her bear entry.

The journals I bought for our science offered a design your own cover pocket. They maid their covers - Kaleb is currently reading Night of the Moonjellies and he added a jellyfish. J loves birds and bird nests so she added those to her cover.

Their first entry - Kaleb (left) found a fingerprint animal book that he wanted to try and he added several fingerprint animals. His bear is right smack in the middle with a small fingerprint, no body. J painted the black bear and added some facts. She also added a butterfly - we saw so many on our hike. I am adding my journals as well....

I am not an artist but I was pleased with the way they came out.

Hope you can enjoy some nature today. :)

Nature Hike

We just started our Science program - All about Animals through Winter Promise. As part of our Science, I want to work on nature journaling. We became enamored by them after my last camping trip and we haven't looked back since. I bought several nature guides, watercolors, paint pens, and small journals to take with us on our nature hikes. Today was our first nature hike and, although we had only an hour or two, we made the most of it.

The morning started out rainy so I thought we would have to cancel. But the sun came out just long enough for our hike. We packed our nature bag - and while hiking, we discovered a few things that we need to pack next time. Live and learn, right?

We discovered the wing span for a bald eagle. Wow, isn't that amazing? We didn't get to see any bald eagles - maybe next time.

The kids are trying to hold up a fallen tree. Because of time constraints, we didn't get to walk as far as we were hoping but that didn't stop us from finding some cool things.

We found an interesting grasshopper that we hadn't seen before - Giant Orange Grasshopper. It was huge and it didn't run away. The red and orange colors tell predators that they are toxic. When we got home, we promptly looked it up and read all about it.

We found a mourning dove at the top of a trimmed palm tree. Not sure if it was a nest or not, but it seemed content to stay on top of the tree. After our hike, we came home and worked on our nature journals. It was a good Science day:)

Tot Tuesday

Our new school year and my tot is all most three years old. I can't believe it! Three! I have plans for Riley this year but I am struggling with having the time to implement them. Homeschooling two olders takes up most of my day. I will  hopefully work it out. But until then, our first week brought my tot Riley to the table for school just like the others:)

On my lap, playing pirate and "looking" through his wooden block telescope!

Riley wanting to write and draw like the others. Still on my lap while I am working with the olders. Love this boy!

First Day of School

This week brought us our first day of school. Not only did we experience a solar eclipse but we also had a super water fight in our yard outside. As a special treat for the kids, I gave them water guns for their first day of school, enough guns for each child as well as this parent. After we finished school, we had an awesome water fight where not one soul was left dry! What a rememberable first day.

I love homeschooling - where else can you have a first day of school water fight? Have an awesome day!

Kaleb's First Grade Curriculum

We just picked up our kids from a two week vacation at Grandma and Grandpa's. Kaleb came home with his two front teeth missing! He is starting first grade this year and here is what I have planned for him :)

For Bible, he will join J and work through Our 24 Family Ways as well as Telling God's Story Year 2. We will also be reading Bible Devotions about Animals to compliment our Science program.

In Math, he will continue with Horizons Math Book 1 and 2 for First Grade. This worked well for him last year.

He will work through Explode the Code Books 1, 1 1/2, and 2.

I did something different this year, I added Learning Language Arts Through Literature - The Blue Book. This will be the first year that I am trying this. I felt that it would add some reinforcement to his reading lessons.

We are back at trying to learn to read. He will be using All About Reading Level 1. If this doesn't click then I will be trying a another reading program. I will not stress though - he will learn to read before he graduates high school. :)

He is practicing his handwriting with Handwriting Without Tears My Printing Book. Hopefully this will help with the look of his handwriting. He is a boy!

And since my passion is literature, we will be working through the books of Five in a Row. We will row a book every two to three weeks as to no overwhelm Kaleb with a ton of work. He still is trying to find the value in school right now and I don't want to crush it. Our first row will be The Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha. It may not look like a lot of work but when you add in a fifth grader, a tot, and a grand baby ....I am overwhelmed. It will be a great year, I just know it.

J's Fifth Grade Curriculum

This week brought about the beginning of our new school year and my darling J is in 5th grade. Wow! Where did the time go? It seems like yesterday she was learning how to read! Fifth grade, already. I thought I would share what we will be working on this year.

For the beginning of the year in Bible, we will be finishing Our 24 Family Ways that we started last school year. I struggled with this because I always think new school year = new curriculum. I love starting from the beginning at the beginning of the school year. But I had this program that I knew I wasn't going to finish last year. So, we will finish it and then move on to another program....

Telling God's Story Year 2 will be the curriculum that we will finish the year with. We won't finish the program but we can finish it the following school year. J and I loved Year 1 - we had so much fun with the activities and such. 

In Math, J will continue with Teaching Textbooks Grade 5. She loved this program last year and it placed learning Math in her court. She loved working on the computer and I loved the ease of it. I was concerned that it was slightly behind from her last program but I know it will catch up.

In Language Arts, she will be working on her cursive handwriting. I will be requiring her to write in cursive this year:)

She is continuing with the Learning Language Arts Series - the Purple book which is grade 5. I like how this series uses literature to teach basic skills.

J is needing some remedial spelling care so this year we are going to focus on spelling by using Spelling Power as well as Daily Spelling Review - A One Year Intensive course. I am hoping to improve her spelling skills by the end of the school year.

Since she finished Explode the Code, she has moved on to Wordly Wise books A, B, and C for this year.  This will also be added to her spelling focus as she will learn the vocabulary words as well as spelling them. 

Another skill I wanted to focus on this year was writing. So, J will be working through Write Shop Junior book D. I struggled with what to use and I truly want her to practice her writing. I hope this will be a great program to work with.

We had such a great time with the Prairie Primer last year that we decided to work our way through the Narnia series with Further Up and Further In. We will read all seven of the Narnia books and make a notebook. J is super excited about this program. 

For Science, we will be revisiting All About Animals by Winter Promise. Last year, we focused on American History and this year our focus will be animals. Kaleb, her brother in first grade, will also be joining us. We have started to Nature Journal and this just seemed like a natural addition to our school year. We will be journaling throughout the year and learning about every living thing possible.

 J will also be reading several bible devotion books starting with The Case for Christ (for Kids) by Lee Strobel. And, as always, we have a ton of chapter books chosen for the school year, probably too many to actually finish but we like to have a choice. This is the first year that I will not be using Sonlight and I am going to miss the books. So, to compensate, we researched many chapter books using the Sonlight as a guide and I bought way too many to count:) But we have plenty to read. Our first book of the year is Wonder by R.J. Polacio. We are hoping to finish reading it by the time the movie arrives.

I look at this list and I wonder if it is too much....we will see. I truly wanted to work in Mystery of History but I will wait until next year. I have a first grader to teach as well as a tot so my year will be busy. Have an awesome day.

It's Been a Long Time....

It has been a long time since I have worked on my blog and for that I apologize. Summer came before I knew it.  We had extra kids at the house and we went to visit the Grandparents. It went by too fast but now, here we are at the beginning of a new school year. I have been planning, printing, and working on items for this school year. I have put together several new printables that I am excited about and will be glad to share with you. I ask that you bear with me as I have an extra child at the house and am struggling with time management:) But I am super excited for what the new school year will bring. Hope your year is starting out great:) See you soon.