Patayan Inspired Intaglio ~ An Art Project

As Wes and I have been working our way through the different ancient people that are part of the 4th grade curriculum here, we have been incorporating art projects. This week we have learned about the Patayan people. Among the things we learned is that the Patayan left behind amazing intaglios. Here's a great article we found: America’s Nazca lines We decided to make intaglios of our own. The project was a lot of fun and very easy to do. So for all of you art teachers or arty moms, we'd like to share:

This is Westen's Intaglio. He wanted to see how many different symbols he could make. We gathered inspiration from a little book we have called Easy Field Guide To Rock Art Symbols of the Southwest.

I couldn't resist getting in on the fun. I made a big person and a little person who seem to be celebrating the sun and their thriving corn crop as the lizards dance by.

This was a very easy project to put together. We just cut out pieces of cardboard from a box. We used our hands to coat one side of the cardboard generously with regular white craft glue like Elmer's. Then we covered the cardboard with black craft sand that you can buy in most craft stores. Then we just let it dry in the sun. To create our intaglios which actually means "incised designs", we used the wood end of a small paint brush. The brush end came in handy to remove loose sand or we just blew on it. We had a really good time with this one so we wanted to share!

Pueblo ~ Paper Model Project

This week we have been talking about the Sinagua of the Sunset Crater region. It was time to build a pueblo representing their later structures rather than their earlier pit houses.

You can find this paper model and many more at my favorite publishing house: Dover Publications. Whenever you walk into a museum shop, you can bet a large percent of the literature and activity books have been published by Dover. Their prices are great. You can buy paperback books in so many genres for discount prices. It's a super resource for anyone and an awesome educational site. I'll add it to my favorites list for your convenience.

Oh, one more thing. You can get on an email list for free samples. Weekly you'll receive clip art, coloring pages, shorts stories and more!

Westen's Aztec Temple ~ Schedule Updates

We just finished studying the Aztecs. Wes chose a golden temple for his clay dwelling project.

Well, we are three weeks away from the end of our first quarter. It's kind of wild to think of most of the school children being on their 3rd day of the year. I have to say, I love this year round schedule our school district follows. Those long breaks between quarters go a long way to keep your brain fresh and to fend off scholastic burn out!

In the way of an update:

Math - We just completed a section on division finishing up with long division with double digit divisors and remainders; the works. I think we are both glad to be moving on. LOL! Long division is not one of Wes's favorite things. Now we are entering a unit on averaging so we haven't completely escaped division. Next we will be headed for geometry. Yea!

History - We are working our way through the list of cultures that the fourth graders are slated to study. We just started with the Sinagua of Northern AZ and still have the Patayan, Salado, Inca, and Maya to go. Needless to say, we only have enough time to get a small sense of the life these people led. We are keeping a time line as we go in addition to our clay dwellings. We are also making a poster page of each group on which we write all the interesting tidbits we can find. We will also take at least one more field trip to the Basha Museum of Native American Arts (I'm not sure if that is the actual name). At some point this year I would also like to go to the Heard Museum.

Vocabulary - We are currently studying prefixes. Wes is a happy camper this week because the prefixes are uni-, bi-, and tri- which are already familiar to him. Who doesn't like an easy week?

Science - We've been studying the environment and the earth's processes. Tomorrow we'll look at floods. We have also been saving recyclables for art projects.

Religion - Currently studying Judaism

Reading and Language Arts - Just finished up our section n fables although we will still read a few more tales of Native American Folklore. This week we made cards for the Grandparents as this Sunday is Grandparents Day. I don't even know if the Grandparents know about Grandparents Day, but they are about to find out! Fluency is still going really well. It's become a nice part of the morning routine and practically runs itself. We started a new work of fiction this week and are enjoying the story so far. We need to get a little more into the book before we can really start to discuss some of the literary elements. Of the literary elements that 4th graders are meant to learn, we've covered over half already. Now it's just a matter of reinforcing the concepts in the work we do.

Westen's Fable

The Iguanas and Chameleons that Fight and Tease

Once upon a time, the sun woke up and the sun can't wait to see what good things are happening in the forest. Something was happening in the forest, but it wasn't good. The iguanas and chameleons were fighting and teasing about who got to go up the tallest tree first. The iguanas think they are more clever and the chameleons think they are more special. They were so noisy that they woke up the cobras from their morning nap. The cobras couldn't take it, so they hissed with all their might, but the enemies kept on fighting. Then the lizards can't take it, so they wapped their tails, but it didn't stop the fighting foes. Then the hippo roared! It finally got their attention. "If you guys do not stop fighting, no one can have the tree!" the hippo shouted. The iguanas and chameleons felt bad about not getting the tree and disturbing all the animals so they decided to take turns. That night, the sun went to bed feeling happy and pleased that the iguanas and chameleons finally solved their problem.

Westen's Great House Sculpture

Westen's version of the Great House at the Casa Grande Ruins.

Field Trip to the Casa Grande Ruins

This week we began learning about the Hohokam. Since we are fortunate enough to live so close, we took a field trip to the Casa Grade Ruins. The is a Hohokam compound from the Classic Era around 1300 AD. There is a great house surrounded by smaller structures.

Here Wes is standing in front of a wall of one of the smaller buildings.


The Hohokam positioned certain round windows in the great house to align perfectly with the sun. There are windows marking both the Summer Solstice and both the Spring and Autumn Equinox.



Here's Wes in front of one side of the great house. The ancient setting inspired a "Walk like an Egyptian" pose.


Here's a picture I took leaning into one of the windows of the great house. I wanted to record the inside and what the floor and walls looked like. The house was built on a platform perhaps to protect it from flash floods.


This is my favorite photo of the day. I like the sense of depth and the contrast created by the blue sky.

Sculpture Photographs ~ Pit House & Cliff Dwelling

I like posting pictures here at Indie Teach as a way to preserve our work and time together. Over the past two weeks we have begun our section on Native American Cultures. So far we have talked about the Mogollon People and the Anasazi. Those both of these peoples lived in different sorts of dwellings throughout the span of their time. We have chosen one representation to recreate in sculptural form.

Pit House



Cliff Dwelling

We created the Pit House while discussing the Mogollon People. It was a great way to review what we learned. "What kind of food might be in their house?" "Tools?" You get the idea. The Cliff Dwelling served the same purpose in our education about the Anasazi. We have quite a few more cultures on our list. For each one we will erect a home and in the end, they will come together to be a village of Native American Peoples and a visual reminder of all that we have learned.

By the way, in the interest of sharing, here is a link to a wonderful YouTube video of the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park.

Parent/Teacher Conference

I titled this post Parent/Teacher Conference because that's what today is at my son's junior high school. Since Wes and I follow the same schedule, we are also enjoying a shorter school day and I joked that I would have long talk with myself this afternoon.

What I really what to talk about today is Mind Mapping. I'm about to climb up on my soapbox so run while you can! When I started this blog as a teachers log, I thought I'd vent more often. As it turns out, I'm far too busy with teaching and my small business to take the time for such self-satisfying rants. However, with today being a short day, I'm going to purge onto this blog one of the aggravations of public school that makes me crazy. It's not one of those things that will make or break a students educational career. Rather, it just one of those little concepts which has been completely removed from its mark. In an effort to actually do something good and appeal to the visual learner, teachers have utterly blown it when it comes to the idea of mind mapping.

So let me start off by giving you Wikipedia's definition: A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing. They even include a diagram:


Wiki gets it, so why don't teachers? How many of you have had something like this come home from school?



These make me crazy!!! This is what the mind map has become and I just can't stand it! Now, rather than allowing the free flow of thoughts and then looking for the connections and organizing them in the way the best suits specific needs, children are forced to fill in more circles. This is not visual learning. This is not free thinking. This is not mind mapping! What's worse is that these diagrams often come with instructions for use. Your story title needs to go in the center and you must have three characters in one circle, a conflict in another, a setting in the third and so on. When my sons have brought these home from school, I have literally fed them the information that I know the teacher wants to see and then we set the sheet aside and start to really talk about the writing assignment.

One of the things I love about homeschooling and that I know I'll miss when Wes goes back to public school, is the opportunity to right these egregious wrongs. This week Wes and I are working on a creative writing project. Wes is writing a fable. The first thing we did was sit down with a flip chart and I had Wes just throw out ideas. I scribbled them down changing colors as new things were introduced. In the end, we had something exactly like this:


From this we were able to easily generate an informal outline of events:


To make this process even more creative and visual, Wes next made a quick story board or drawing of each point on the list. Once he has written the story, we will incorporate these drawings as the illustrations. Our next step will be to begin writing, but Wes will be writing with his thoughts in front of him, organized and visualized, all from his mind.

Mind Mapping should never ever be about filling in circles with specific information. Maybe such diagrams can find a use somewhere, but don't call them mind maps! The mind is a beautiful, chaotic and independent treasure that needs to be set free for real creativity to flow.

Week 4 (2009/2010)

It's the middle of our 4th week of the school year. Wes finished his paper on Prehistoric Peoples. He's still learning about introductions and conclusions, but it's his first real paper. It represents mind mapping, outlining, drafting, writing and editing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prehistoric Peoples

by Westen

This paper is about prehistoric people. You’ll learn about eight different groups. It will go from Hominids to Civilization.

Hominids are the first people discovered. Hominids are primates that walk on two legs. They were three to five feet tall. Leaves, fruits, and dead animals are what they ate. All of them lived in Africa 3.5 million years ago.

The next people that have been discovered were Homo Habilis. They had larger brains than the Hominids. They were the first to create and use tools. They were the first handy people. Homo Habilis lived 2.5 million years ago.

Homo Erectus were the third people discovered. They’re people who stand erect. They were gatherers at first but then became hunters. They developed tools such as clubs to hunt. They lived in Europe, Asia, and Africa 1.5 million years ago.

Neanderthals were next. Neanderthals had strong and muscular bodies. They were five to six feet tall. They used tools for special purposes. They lived in Africa 200,000 years ago.

Homo Sapiens Sapiens are the fifth people discovered. They were the first modern humans. They started in Africa, and then they moved to Europe and Asia. They wiped out the Neanderthals. They lived 100,000 years ago.

Cromagnons were the next people discovered. They’re named after the location of their discovery in France, but they lived in Europe, Asia, and Africa too. Many Cromagnon fossils and artifacts have been found. They used sticks and berries to draw in caves. They had better tools than the Neanderthals.

The Cromagnons became Hunter Gatherers. They hunt, kill, and collect the food. They used arrows, clubs, and other kinds of tools to kill the food. A gatherer collects berries, leaves, and other kinds of food that grows. They lived 15,000 years ago in Asia.

People became civilized 5,000 years ago. Farming allowed people to build villages along rivers. They also domesticated animals to feed them. People lived together in houses and the population grew. The first village may have been in Mesopotamia.

We have just learned about prehistoric peoples. The eight different groups were Hominids, Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, Neanderthals, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, Cromagnons, Hunter Gatherers, and Civilization. These groups have changed over time by getting smarter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So now we have moved on and are beginning study on Native American Cultures beginning with the Mogollon. In Science we are still studying processes of the earth. We just covered Hurricanes and Earthquakes. In Vocab we just finished up Homographs and a review of the first section. Now we move on to prefixes. In math we are studying multi-digit multiplying with regrouping. We are on lesson 3 in our fluency studies and chapter six of our fiction reading. I guess that's it in a nutshell.

Week 3 (2009/2010)

Here are the first pictures of the new school year! In social studies we have been studying prehistoric peoples. For each group, Wes has made a stick figure and written a paragraph. Today Wes is finishing up his last paragraph and we decided to mark the occasion with a couple pictures. After I took this picture of Wes with his prehistoric peoples, he noticed that I had two of them mixed up. "Mom, the Neanderthals came before the Homo Sapiens Sapiens." I had to fix my order and take another picture. I guess he learned his lessons!


From left to right: Hominid, Homo Habalis, Homo Erectus, Neanderthal, Homo Sapien Sapien, Cromagnon, Hunter Gatherer, and Civiliation

Weeks 1 & 2 (2009/2010)

Well the first week of school is behind us and the second is about to begin. It's always a good feeling to get past that first week. It takes time for our bodies and minds to adjust to the new expectations.

I feel terrific about our start this year. We've really jumped in with both feet and have covered a lot of good ground. I've been really pleased with our fluency practice. (I listed our resource materials in the last post.) I noticed a great deal of improvement in Wes just from Monday to friday using the program. I think he's going to get a lot out of it.

History was our biggest emotional struggle. I'm definitely pushing Wes to think harder and be more independent. He's not sure how he feels about this yet, I can tell. He's so capable and I'm not asking anything of him that he cannot reasonably do. I'm really emphasizing research. When he doesn't know what a word means, I hand him a dictionary. We have spent our first week learning about 8 prehistoric groups of peoples, and this week we will be turning our research into a paragraph about each one.

I've also added religious studies one day a week. I decided this after Wes asked me, "What does B.C. stand for?" We are going to be studying so many different civilizations this year, that it only makes sense to understand their beliefs and how they influenced their actions. So I've picked up one more book: The Kids Book of World Religions by Jennifer Glossop. You can find it on Amazon. It has a world map showing the dominant religions in each region. It discusses 15 major religions and also includes indigenous groups. I think it will help us greatly in our study of different cultures.

This week we will be moving forward with all of our studies. Math is still reviewing 4th grade concepts. I predict we'll be moving on to 5th grade by mid second quarter. In Science we are studying the environment and world processes. This week we will do a project using recycled materials that we've been saving. As a matter of fact. All of our art this year will be made from recycled materials!

This week in Vocab we'll be reviewing homophones. We will also be talking about major and minor characters as we read our fiction. I guess I haven't shared what we are reading. It's actually The Complete Tales of Winnie The Pooh by A.A. Milne. This might sound young, but as a video game player, one of Wes's favorite games is Kingdom Hearts. This game features characters from Disney. This has reignited an interest in the Hundred Acre Woods. The stories, as written in their original form, are a good age appropriate read. It's even a bit challenging at times since the language is less modern and the phrasing unfamiliar. It's also interestingly written in an omniscient point of view with the reader becoming Christopher Robin and the narrator speaking directly to the reader. After we read, we put on the old Disney videos and watch what we have just read. This has been very fun and Wes has already started wanting to ready further each day so he can watch the video longer. When you have a child that has not always liked reading, it's pretty awesome when they start asking, "Can I read just one more page?"

So I guess this teacher is ready for the week ahead and ready to call it a night!

2009/2010 Schedule and Resources

Well it's day 3 of the new school year and we've jumped right into the learning. I've already revised my schedule once and it will probably happen again, but here it is as it now stands. The times are loosely set. A guide more than a hard fast rule, however we do try to stick to a good schedule.

9:00-9:15 Following Directions ~ This is a warm-up activity using a publication by Creative Teaching Press. The book is called Following Directions and it is written for 3rd and 4th grade. I think following written and oral directions while doing fun activities is a good way to warm up the brain and begin to focus on the day.

9:15-9:30 Reading Fluency ~ This is a reading activity where the focus is on fluency. The text includes an audio CD and 20 lessons. We are spending about 1.5 weeks per lesson to really work on our fluency. I think this is a good morning activity as well. It's very independent and it also helps to warm up the brain for a day of learning. The program is published by Shell Education and is called Increasing Fluency With High Frequency Word Phrases.

9:30-10:30 (M,T,W & F) History and Social Studies ~ There's a lot in the curriculum this year, everything from learning about your home state to prehistoric peoples and early civilization. (Thurs) We will study religion as it is pretty hard to study civilization without it. This will not be about what we believe as a family, but religious studies in general and how it relates to the groups of people we study.

10:30-10:45 Snack Time

10:45-11:00 Fiction Reading

11:00-11:30 Math ~ We covered nearly all of the 4th grade concepts last year. We are using Total Math published by American Education Publishing to review and then we will move on to 5th grade math.

11:30-12:00 Vocabulary ~ We are using Sylvan's Vocabulary Success for 4th grade to increase our vocabulary and study word concepts and grammer.

12:00-1:00 Lunch and Play Time

1:00-1:30 (M,T,W) Science (TH) Literary Elements ~ main idea, plot, conflict, etc. (F) Review ~ We will spend this time going over all of what we have covered during the week.

If you are wondering where writing comes in, we will be using our history topics and our fiction reading to work on our note taking and writing. For example, right now we are studying prehistoric peoples. We have created a time line and are using two sources to gather facts about the different groups. From there I'll have Wes write one paragraph about each group. Then we will write an introduction and conclusion. Then we'll type it into the computer and then edit it before printing a final draft. Wes won't even realize it until he's almost finished that he's written his first big paper. Then we can go back and discuss all of the steps we went through. We will explore other forms of writing as well using similar strategies.

We also have some new resources in the classroom. A gorgeous laminated timeline that begins 5,000 yrs BC and goes all the way to present day. I found it at Learning Through History. We also have a new Scholastic Encyclopedia, The New Way Things Work, The Clear and Simple Thesaurus Dictionary (love this!) and One Million Things - A Visual Encyclopedia

Welcome to the 4th Grade!

The first day of 4th grade is almost here! We start Monday to be exact. Today is meet the teacher day at our little homeschool. Of course Westen and I have already met, but I have a lot of new things to show him. The classroom is all set up and waiting. Today we'll take a tour of the class and talk a little about our schedule and some of the things we'll be covering this year in school.


If you just happened upon this blog, this is my teacher's log. I keep a record of what me and my 9 year old son are up to. I also do my best to honestly share our experience. For us homeschooling is temporary. We started in the middle of the year last year and will do all of 4th grade at home. The plan is to go back into public school for 5th grade. For that reason and because it's just kind of our style, we keep our school time pretty structured. It would be hard to integrate back in if we were loose and wild with the schedule. I also stick to the curriculum of the school district we attend. Sometimes we do more than it suggests, but we cover everything!

In my picture are my little motivators for good behavior. My philosophy is that if there is a lot of whining and complaining, we do more and not less. It's amazing how many kids think they can whine their way out of things. That's where my shoe box of worksheets comes in. On the top it says, "You must not have enough to do so let's review!" I find it a very effective motivator to give a little extra task when the behavior isn't up to snuff. Of course Wes knows this about me, so all I usually have to do is hint at the consequence and he gets right back to work.

Lest you think me a cruel teacher/mom, I believe more than anything in positive reinforcement. Wes gets to hear all day how bright and talented he is and he truly is! This year I've designed a "Passport to Half Day Town". As a reward for his good efforts, he'll get a half day off school after he collects 100 stickers.

That's all for now. I'll be back with our schedule, some of the resources I'm using this year and what we'll be doing in the first few weeks of school.

End of Third Grade ~ Beginning of Fourth

If you scroll through this blog, you will notice that my posts kind of fell off at the end of the third grade year. This is more due to my Spring fever than our lack of activity at school. Third grade ended with us maintaining our schedule and reviewing materials from throughout the year. We also combined all of our friendly letters into one last grand edition of our newspaper the Indie Press.

Wes made great strides in the second half of the third grade. We held onto our schedule, but as the year drew to a close, I would often let him pick the order of our subjects. He surprised me with his choices, reading over music for instance. As I now look over the curriculum for the coming year, I realize the we have already covered much of the math concepts. I will keep Wes moving forward as that is his favorite subject, but we will perhaps concentrate our heaviest efforts in Language Arts. I am already seeing a path in which we can combine our comprehension, research and writing skills with our social studies and science subject matter.

Mostly, this message is to serve as closure and the completion of our third grade posting. I am now busy collecting materials and forming our curriculum based on our school district and the national standards. Some of the things typically covered the fourth grade year are already favorites for Wes like US geography and state history. This is a kid who, two years ago, could recite the states and their capitals in the order in which they were admitted into the union!

Just For Fun

This isn't about school, but it's always fun to share home movies. Wes decided to make his own Book of World Records and to be the first person to make it into the book. Here's how he set his own record:

You know what happens after you break a record? You get your picture taken and it goes into the book! Here's Wes posing with his trampoline. What a ham!

The Fourth Quarter

I must have a touch of the Spring Fever because I haven't managed to blog since Spring Break. You must think Wes and I are taking the rest of the year off, but that is far from true. It's already the third week of the last quarter and we've been hard at work. So lets break it down:

Cursive ~ This quarter we are writing EVERYTHING in cursive!
Writing ~ We launched a Letter Writing Campaign. Every week we are writing a friendly letter to someone we know and providing them with paper and a stamped envelope in the hope of getting return mail. Our last issue of the Indie Press this year will be the Friendly Letter Edition and will showcase our efforts. Each letter is written over the course of two days. On Tuesday and think the letter through and record what we want to say on our mini tape recorder. On Wednesday Wes can use that recording to transcribe his letter into a beautiful cursive not with proper Friendly Letter Format.
Language Arts ~ We have made grammar part of our daily routine by incorporating our Practice and Learn Third Grade workbook into the schedule. Each day we do at least one page.
Reading and Comprehension ~ After easing back into this kind of work last quarter, now it's full steam ahead with daily reading and one-a-day comprehension practice from the Third Grade Reading Comprehension Master Skills.
Math ~ We are mostly reviewing in this last quarter to make sure we are in a really solid place going into next year. An exception to this is that we are tackling multi digit multiplication which is new. My rough plan is to go from Multiplication to Division to Fractions and then some basic Geometry if we have time.
Social Studies ~ We are reading about Early American life.
Science ~ We are studying the human body. We have already done an overview and now we are looking more closely at specific areas of the body beginning with the brain.
Extras ~ We are still publishing a bi-weekly paper which we call the Indie Press. We are also still incorporating Piano and Keyboarding and our Recipe of the Week into our schedule.

So you see, we are still working hard. Don't let my lack of checking in make you believe otherwise. I'm also behind on my photo sharing so I will leave you today with a few pictures:

Chilly Burgers


Space Spuds


Anatomy

Oh and I just remembered! We have also taken a field trip to the Arizona Science Center. We have another field trip to the Wild Animal Park this Friday and I want to buy tickets for the Childsplay Theater production of Never Ending Story. So see? We are busy!

St. Patrick's Day Video

I probably should have ended the third quarter with more than a picture of pancakes. We actually had a regular full week of studies in addition to our Recipe of the Week. Now we are enjoying our Spring Break.

Wes made his first movie today. So here it is:

St. Patrick's Day 2009

Week 9 ( Mar. 2-6 )

Light As a Feather Pancakes


Recipe of the Week!

Week 8.1 ( Feb. 23-27 )

Just so you don't think we are only about cookie pizza this week...

Math - Finish rounding, cover Front End Estimation and move on to weights and measures

Language arts - action and linking verbs, past and present verbs

Cursive - writing words

Reading - Geronimo Stilton

Social Studies - Mayflower

Science - Trees

Week 8 ( Feb. 23-27 )

Recipe of the Week:

Cookie Pizza

Finally! A full week of school after a month of missed Mondays. Monday is an important day at Indie Teach because it's Recipe of the Week Day! I let Wes pick out whatever he wanted and he chose Cookie Pizza. He's becoming quite the chef and is handling more and more of the baking steps. I think his favorite part today was picking out the toppings for his pizza. He had all of his little goodies counted out and waiting for his pizza dough (large peanut butter cookie) to be ready. Big Brother Jens is liking this whole Monday recipe thing too. His pizza was topped with nothing but marshmallows!

Week 7 ( Feb. 17-20 )

We've got a busy week ahead:

Math - Rounding into estimation

Science - finished up bean sprout project/review. Move onto trees.

Cursive - begin writing full words and phrases

Language arts - verbs, verbs, verbs

Social Studies - Colonial times

Week 6 ( Feb. 10-13 )

Another short week this week. We seem to be having several of those in a row, but sometimes things just can't be helped. Wes and I are making the most of our time.

This week we are starting an exciting new section in our science studies. We are studying plant anatomy and how plants grow. We've read three books. One book, What's Alive? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, talked about what determines whether something is alive or not alive. Afterwards Wes spent time outside identifying 6 living and 6 non-living things. He drew pictures of them on individual cards and colored and labeled them. Then he turned this collection into a poster with one half representing the Alive and the other the Not Alive things.


Going backwards, we started the entire section by reading Oh Say Can You Seed which is part of The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library collection. It's actually full of information as well as beloved characters. Finally, today Wes read A Tree Is a Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla. This goes into detail about the life cycle of an apple tree. We also started our big Bean Sprout Project.


We have three different kinds of beans started, mung, broccoli and lentil. Wes picked the beans. We tried to pick three that looked different as seeds. Wes is keeping logs of all our our scientific data and as the week goes on, we will be learning more about these kinds of seeds in particular as well as charting and comparing their individual progress.

We are in a math transition right now. We will be starting the study of weights and measures.

I'm going to try to push on through to the end of the cursive alphabet this week and then we'll move on to writing words.

In language arts, we are beginning to study verbs. I plan to spend a fair amount of time with this part of speech and really grow Westen's understanding of verb forms.

Our Piano lesson went well today. We are learning how to approach the process better. I'm a little rusty as a music teacher.

Week 5.1

Our Three O'Clock Cheese Plate was a smash hit. After the 11 year old son stopped complaining, he filled up on the healthy treats.

Today in:

Language Arts - Activity book on Plural Nouns and a worksheet on Possessive nouns.

Cursive - The letter P

Reading - Geronimo Stilton

Math - Venn Diagrams used to find the greatest and least common factor

Keyboarding lesson

Tomorrow:

Cursive - the letter Q

Recipe Write up

Piano Lesson

Math Review

Week 5 ( Feb 2-4 )

We have a short week this week because of traveling demands, but we are making the most of our three days and will probably take some work on the plane with us. This week in

Math - We began studying Multiples, Factors, Prime and Composite numbers.
Science - We are beginning a new subject with the study of plant anatomy and we will be growing our own bean sprouts
Cursive - The letters O - Q
Language - Possessive Nouns

Recipe of the Week


Three O'Clock Cheese Plate

The perfect after school snack!

Week 4 ( Jan 26-30 )

Happy Birthday Westen!

So of course our recipe of the week this week is Birthday Cake! Westen decided he wanted chocolate and vanilla because even though chocolate is his favorite, his brother likes vanilla. Inside this yummy chocolate cake is a middle layer of vanilla. Wes helped with all the baking. His favorite part is cracking the eggs and working the blender. He also chose the bundt cake pan and the decorations. My contribution was the homemade chocolate frosting. It turned out yummy!

In academic news:

Math - We have been doing some very challenging work this week with Fractions, Improper Fractions and Mixed numbers. In addition to brushing up on his long division, Wes has mastered turning improper fractions into mixed numbers and vice versa. I'm so proud of him! Tomorrow we'll take it a little easier with multiplication and division review and then we'll move on to factors and multiples.

Language Arts - We've added a daily Q.A.C.C. or "Quack!" as we like to call it, to our routine. Q. is for question of the day, A. is for answer (Wes responds with one good sentence), C. is for comment (I reply and also make suggestions to make his sentence stronger) and the second C. is for correct (Wes rewrites his sentence based on my comments) I try to keep the Q.A.C.C. fun and relevant to his interests.

We are also going back and reviewing (I'm assuming they've been taught to him at some point) parts of speech. I think the key to eventually having strong writing skills is to really know the fundamentals of language. That might make me a little old school, but there it is. This week it's nouns and proper nouns. I've been incorporating my new activity folders (like centers). We focused on writing sentences with all three types of nouns (person, place, thing) to make good descriptive sentences. Used Draw and Write activity folder. I plan to continue with nouns through the end of this week adding plurals and possessives. Wes is a great speller so I don't need to spend to much time here.

We are also still reading our chapter book, Geronimo Stilton and The Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye. Wes is enjoying the story. We are focusing of not taking mid sentence "vacations" and being more fluid.

We've also incorporated a Daily Language Book by the same company who makes the Daily Math. Wes responds well to the format.

So we've kicked Language Arts up a notch. I'm still easing our way back into writing. Public school made writing such a chore. We are still decompressing. We are, however, going great with our cursive lessons. We've covered A through N.

Science - Last Friday we made Milky Ways as an end of the week art project. This week we will end our planetary studies with a trip to the Science Museum. It's also his birthday treat. Next we will be studying plants. Afterward, we'll rotate back into Social Studies.

Extras - We are still studying Piano and Keyboarding and this week we will publish Vol. 4 of our newspaper, the Indie Press.

Week 3 ( Jan 20-23 )

Starting today with:

Math - Daily Math, Multiplication review, Fractions - mixed numbers, lowest common denominator, equivalent fractions. Math To Know workbook pages 108 + 109

Cursive - The Letter I plus letter review

Social Studies - Watch Inauguration

Language Arts - Begin Daily Language Book, Homonym Review, Begin Practice and Learn Third Grade, They Sound the Same Activity Binder

Week 2.1

On the Schedule for today:

Math - comparing fractions with like denominators and ordering them from least to greatest
Cursive - F's and letters combo's through F
no science today
piano - review last week and move forward
Vocab/Grammer - homophones
Reading - Chapter 2 of Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye (Scholastic Third Grade Reader)

Week 2 ( Jan 12-16 )

First I have to share a picture from the end of last week. We finished off with a Friday Fiesta! Wes created a homemade pinata and he and his brother and another friend had a great time whacking it open with a baseball bat after dinner.

Its already Tuesday of Week 2. Monday was a review day although we moved on to D's in cursive. Today in:

Math - we are starting with Fractions. We are going over the basics for a day or two and then we will move on to comparisons and operations.
Science - Wes read one book about Space and I read another about Mars
Recipe of the week - Caramel Corn - made for snack time and wrote up recipe, made copy for newspaper


Cursive - E's and letter combos A-E
Social Studies - The Sonoran Desert + Spanish words

Week 1.3

I am definitely still adjusting to the demands of my new busy schedule, but I love spending all of this extra time with Wes. I don't know what the days feel like to him. For me they are flying by and I'm trying to catch my breath!

Today's recap:

Math - reviewed place value, covered expanded notation, began discussing decimals

Cursive - we worked on our b's and a's

Key boarding - Had our first session beginning with hand position and drilling f, j, d, and k


Newspaper - our review, took everything off of the story board and created our weekly newspaper the "Indie Press". We looked at a real newspaper to understand the layout, organized our stories, Picked our front page story and so forth. Wes wanted to make copies and sell them he was so excited!

For tomorrow
Math - review whole numbers, work with money math, begin by viewing Study Jams-math-decimals and percents: Compare Money Amounts and Making Change. Practice with real money and do worksheet
Cursive - C's and a, b, c combo's
Science - make final conclusions about our sundial experiment in our journal, place space game
Social Studies - Read book on Mexico and do corresponding activity book. Make pinata. Have Friday Fiesta!

Week 1.2

Today went great. I feel really good about how much material we cover in one day. I find myself tweaking the schedule, but I expected that. I do like to have something in writing to refer to, so I'll be updating my "Week at a Glance".

Week 1.1

Wes and I just got through our first day homeschooling. We covered a lot of ground. I skipped working on our menu because it seemed like too much. We only had one moment when I had to help Wes refocus on his work. Our school day lasted from 9:00 to about 1:20 with a 30 minute break at 10:30. It's a little longer than I expected, but it will take me some time to get used to how long activities take and how quickly Wes does his work.

Today's Recap:

Whole numbers and place value

Solar System

Recipe Write-up

Chicken and Cheese Burrito with Broccoli and Bacon Bits.... Yummy!

Began Cursive

Map of Mexico

Spanish numbers through 12

For tomorrow:

Practice whole numbers and place values

Place Value Game

Cursive, review A's

Solar system Study Jams A Day on Earth

Make Sun Dial

Piano

Compound words

Fiction reading

Story Board

Week 1 ( Jan 6-9 ) Beg at mid year 3rd Grade/Resources

Beginning each day at 9:00am

Wes likes having a morning routine and I think it will help us "get in the groove" so to speak. Each morning will start with Wes doing the appropriate day's Daily Math from the Evan-Moor Grade 3 Daily Math Practice workbook. It's five review questions a day and we will check answers to right away so he will start the day with a positive reinforcement. Also, any questions in which he needs help will show me the areas we need to review.

(Concept 1 for 3rd quarter math is Number Sense: Understand and apply numbers, ways of representing numbers the relationships among numbers and different number systems.)

This week we will focus on reading whole numbers, place value, putting them in order, <>, and expanded notation

Begin with Place Value Video from Study Jams

Use blackboard or paper to make our own place value chart

Use popsicle sticks or toothpicks to make numbers

Resource 1: pages 10-12 Math to Know Teacher's Resource Book

Resource 2: Scholastic Success with Math Workbook pages 5-7,9

Resource 3: Skill Sharpeners Math Grade 3 pages 9,11,24,35,63

Science: Begin Space Unit with Solar System Book and Coloring pages.

Social Studies: Begin unit on Mexico. Read first few pages of book on Mexico. Study and Label Map. Learn spanish numbers to ten and play dominos

Getting Started - Our Weekly Schedule

One more day before school begins and I'm getting myself all geared up.  I have everything I need as far as materials go and now I just want to write a few things down.  I've developed a rough outline for our week.  Mostly it's so I don't have moments when I'm wondering what I want to do next.  I like having a mental outline and Wes tends to be the same way.  Once again, I'm looking to achieve structure with wiggle room.  Nothing to rigid.  Here goes:

Monday - math, science, break/snack time, banking, pick recipe, shop and food prep, photograph meal, story board

Tuesday - math, science, break/snack time, recipe write up, computer menu, cursive, social studies, story board

Wednesday - math, science, break/snack time, piano, vocabulary/grammar, Reading Series, story board

Thursday - math, science, break/snack time, keyboarding, Newspaper Review

Friday - math, science, break/snack time, educational games, field trips, social studies activities

So as you can see, each day will begin with math and science.  This will give us structure and will also serve us in other ways.  It will naturally become his non-fiction reading and comprehension.  The reason I don't have reading listed everyday is because it will be a regular part of doing all of the subjects.  I have also found a fiction series that we will use whenever we have down time or on it's given day.  Writing will also be a natural part of the other activities.  In particular, science will give us ample opportunity to write and hypothesize.  I am intentionally steering away from the "read this paragraph/answer these questions" format that is used by the school.  I want Wes to stop thinking of reading and writing as unhappy work and start to realize that they are just part of doing.

Monday may be our most unique day and also the day that incorporates things necessary in running our home.  Banking is how we will do our practical hands on money math.  I bought a cash box and have started it off with a set amount of money.  We will use this money for our outings during the month and incidentals.  It will also be used to pay out allowances.  Each of my sons have a "bank account" (envelope in the cash box).  Wes will be in charge.  He will count the money to make sure it's all there.  He will keep track of receipts.  At the end of the month he will figure out how much money we need to add to the bank to bring it back up to its set amount.  The boys will also earn 3% interest on the money that they keep in the bank. Wes will learn how to calculate the interest earned.  It will be hands on money managing.

Monday is also recipe day.  One of my ideas to keep writing and reading fun is to keep a recipe box and start building up a menu.  When we have enough recipes we like, we can publish our menu and open up a restaurant.  Wes can cook, serve meals and even write up reviews.  Cooking, besides being an important life skill, is a great way to reinforce math concepts.  It helps you learn how to think on your feet and strengthen fine motor skills.  We will also do our shopping on Monday.  Wes will help cook dinner each Monday night to test out the chosen recipe.  We will take a picture of our finished dish that we can later use on our Menu.  

Story Board.  At the end of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we will post what we have studied on our story board.  This is a large bulletin board on an easel.  The purpose of our story board is to give us a visual reminder of what we are learning and an easy way to review our materials.  The story board will be used to put together our Newspaper on Thursdays.

Tuesday will start with math and science and then Wes will write up the recipe from the night before and file it in our own school recipe box.  If the recipe passed our taste test, Wes will type it into a file on the computer where we will start to compile information for our menu.  This will also give us practice is different forms of writing.  We will need to use lots of juicy adjectives!

Tuesday will also be cursive learning day.  I have a workbook that he will used to learn his letters and how to join them and we will learn some each week.  We will also introduce our social studies subject on Tuesday.  We will be studying other cultures and history.  I plan to cover all of the basic subjects covered by my school districts curriculum as well as others.

Wednesday, in addition to math and science, we will be studying a vocabulary and grammar concepts and focusing more on our reading.  We'll also have a piano lesson or explore music in some other way.

Thurdays will start with math and science as always and then we will publish our Newspaper.  I have purchased legal size paper so that we can fold it over to look like a newspaper when we are done.  We will look at real papers to incorporate some of their elements, but our paper will be a mixed media work of art.  Things can come right off the story board and be pasted onto the paper.  We will write short articles about each of our topics of the week and so on.  It will be our way of reviewing all that we've learned in a creative way as well as working on our writing and organizational skills.  

Friday will start with delivering our Newspaper to Dad during coffee time and relaying all that we are learning.  Then on to math and maybe science.  This will be our lighter day when we will play educational games that coincide with our subject matter.  It will be our day to take field trips or do crafts that relate to our social studies topic.  

So that is basically our week.  We will focus on holidays when they come along and recognize major events.  Future posts will include more detail about what we are actually studying and I'll take some pictures to share.  I will also do a post on what materials I'm using.