Today was another 'laid back on purpose' day. I have really been thinking alot about how my time is being spent with the kids and purposing to make memories more than grades, so not having had time to plan for this week has really been a blessing for us. So what did we get up to today? This morning while Niyi was at the gym with Daddy we worked together and cleaned up the house. Once that was done we got on with math, handwriting, reading (Tayo) and writing (Lola). Being able to focus without our darling Niyi interrupting every two seconds is a great help and on the days he is at the gym I am able to get a a lot more done in a short period of time.
Tayo worked on a new Bob book today and although she got pretty frustrated with it at times we persevered and she was prod of herself when she finished it. Lola herself got pretty frustrated with her very small writing assignment, so we will really have to work more on this in the future. We did learn rules for not starting sentences with but or because and she used her spelling dictionary well. Once Niyi returned it was free time until lunch and they all ran off their energy downstairs (the basement has been such a blessing!) Later in the afternoon the girls and I made fudge (measuring, timing and of course licking the spoon!), played Monopoly (lots of addition and money practice done here) and with their Barbies and other toys for a long time - we laughed so hard Lola "...nearly puked!" (her words not mine!) so I think some memories were well and truly made!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Wednesday December 3rd, 2008
Today was overall a pretty good day. I am still feeling the after effects of not being able to do any good planning this past weekend, I have found out I really am a planner who doesn't like having to 'fly by the seat of my pants' (like that's news!) Anyway I did well considering!
Once the kids were up we had until 11am to get all their independent work done as the movie 'Elf' was on and we love that one. They worked hard and got it done Lola was especially focussed as she really didn't want to miss a minute of it! We had lunch while watching that then they spent the rest of the early afternoon creating various cities, houses and a kennel with blocks. After a while of that we did a snowman picture that did not turn out well as I didn't read the directions properly and put them on black paper and instead used white - duh! Note to self - read instructions properly!
So after that we began making paper snowflakes and had a great time with that, discovering that it really is important to fold them correctly, and that we really could do with buying some sharper scissors! Once the snowflakes were carefully stuck to the windows, we had a yummy hot chocolate with marshmallows in honor of it being December and spent time playing outside. After dinner we started to watch another movie (Cars) but ended up reading our bible verse of the day and a Christmas story instead!
Once the kids were up we had until 11am to get all their independent work done as the movie 'Elf' was on and we love that one. They worked hard and got it done Lola was especially focussed as she really didn't want to miss a minute of it! We had lunch while watching that then they spent the rest of the early afternoon creating various cities, houses and a kennel with blocks. After a while of that we did a snowman picture that did not turn out well as I didn't read the directions properly and put them on black paper and instead used white - duh! Note to self - read instructions properly!
So after that we began making paper snowflakes and had a great time with that, discovering that it really is important to fold them correctly, and that we really could do with buying some sharper scissors! Once the snowflakes were carefully stuck to the windows, we had a yummy hot chocolate with marshmallows in honor of it being December and spent time playing outside. After dinner we started to watch another movie (Cars) but ended up reading our bible verse of the day and a Christmas story instead!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Monday December 1st, 2008
Wow today was a hectic one! Not sure I really achieved anything much at all. The day started the minute I got back from the gym with potty training, nursing, bathing (after aforementioned potty training didn't work out so well!) and cooking. I am exhausted and am not sure I want a repeat of today. The problem? Well I was completely not ready for school to start again after our Thanksgiving break. I have been sick so did absolutely no planning, cooking, laundry or anything - so today was completely a catch up day!
So lets see...did we do anything??
Lola: Did math, handwriting, French, math drill and a writing assignment on her blog this morning. Had grand plans to start her Plague lapbook, but this got totally forgotten under a pile of laundry! Oh well!
Tayo: Did math, handwriting, and reading today - we are back on RME today; we reviewed where we left off a few weeks back. Yep that was it!
Niyi: Potty training was his focus today! With just me here today I am really feeling the amount of time this takes; trying to remember when to take him and of course changing sheets, clothes and giving him a bath in the middle of the day when I should be making lunch! He is doing very well though and is now asking to go when he needs to - that's half the battle right? We did spend some time building with blocks this morning and he is getting good at building now and is not just all about the destroying!
Other school: I started an Advent countdown today. I wanted to do a Jesse tree or something elaborate, but due to my lack of planning of course this was not possible. I found a site with a daily scripture to read and that's what we did tonight. We also sang along to a You Tube version of 'O Come, O come Emmanuel' tonight. I may add some crafts occasionally, but this simple approach was actually nice, just the Bible, discussion and singing!
One great thing about this kind of day - bedtime! Oh..... and a new start tomorrow!
So lets see...did we do anything??
Lola: Did math, handwriting, French, math drill and a writing assignment on her blog this morning. Had grand plans to start her Plague lapbook, but this got totally forgotten under a pile of laundry! Oh well!
Tayo: Did math, handwriting, and reading today - we are back on RME today; we reviewed where we left off a few weeks back. Yep that was it!
Niyi: Potty training was his focus today! With just me here today I am really feeling the amount of time this takes; trying to remember when to take him and of course changing sheets, clothes and giving him a bath in the middle of the day when I should be making lunch! He is doing very well though and is now asking to go when he needs to - that's half the battle right? We did spend some time building with blocks this morning and he is getting good at building now and is not just all about the destroying!
Other school: I started an Advent countdown today. I wanted to do a Jesse tree or something elaborate, but due to my lack of planning of course this was not possible. I found a site with a daily scripture to read and that's what we did tonight. We also sang along to a You Tube version of 'O Come, O come Emmanuel' tonight. I may add some crafts occasionally, but this simple approach was actually nice, just the Bible, discussion and singing!
One great thing about this kind of day - bedtime! Oh..... and a new start tomorrow!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Wednesday November 19th, 2008
Today was a good day again! Wow - two in a row! Niyi went with Kunle to the gym again so we were able to get lots done when he was out. The 3r's stuff was finished by 10:00am pretty much!
Lola: Did all her independent work (math, devotional, handwriting, started reading Robin Hood, French and Math drill) pretty uneventfully. After that we did her spelling - a few new word patterns were introduced today so this was a bit challenging, I had to speak to her a bit about not getting so upset when she makes mistakes - she really s to get things wrong! We read another Chapter of Hole in the Wall, learning lots of new vocabulary words as we went (lots of thee, thou, art etc!) and will start the plague lapbook next week. She drew a lion with instruction from me and was very pleased with the result and wants it posted to her Artsonia art gallery so I will do that! In the afternoon she wrote a short story to continue our Unit study book Little Oh, but she didn't really enjoy having to do that - not sure why, but I think she may have had enough writing!
Tayo: Her math lesson went well today - she is getting the hang of +9's now and the blocks are really helping her 'see' it (guess that's why it is called Math U see!) Is working on lowercase letters in HWOT and after she did that see initiate another drawing lesson, this time a lion! We copied this from her book and she did pretty good. She did her word of the day box with Lola this afternoon and some starfall. She is beginning to notice words when I am reading to her and she is very happy when she reads them!
Niyi: Continuing with the potty training saga....sigh!
Unit Study: Continuing with Little Oh. This time when we read the story I made two cards one with 'like' on it and one with 'as'. We reviewed what a simile is (we learnt about those last week) and when we heard one in the story they had to hold up their cards. Lola was good at this and found them all! That is a good way of reviewing this subject and the kids thought it was fun! We were able to watch a show on the Food Network this morning that happened to be about food in Japan so that was good timing! At lunch the s thought their tortilla roll ups looked like sushi! We read a book about how paper is made and its many uses and listed all the things we could that are made of paper.
Lola: Did all her independent work (math, devotional, handwriting, started reading Robin Hood, French and Math drill) pretty uneventfully. After that we did her spelling - a few new word patterns were introduced today so this was a bit challenging, I had to speak to her a bit about not getting so upset when she makes mistakes - she really s to get things wrong! We read another Chapter of Hole in the Wall, learning lots of new vocabulary words as we went (lots of thee, thou, art etc!) and will start the plague lapbook next week. She drew a lion with instruction from me and was very pleased with the result and wants it posted to her Artsonia art gallery so I will do that! In the afternoon she wrote a short story to continue our Unit study book Little Oh, but she didn't really enjoy having to do that - not sure why, but I think she may have had enough writing!
Tayo: Her math lesson went well today - she is getting the hang of +9's now and the blocks are really helping her 'see' it (guess that's why it is called Math U see!) Is working on lowercase letters in HWOT and after she did that see initiate another drawing lesson, this time a lion! We copied this from her book and she did pretty good. She did her word of the day box with Lola this afternoon and some starfall. She is beginning to notice words when I am reading to her and she is very happy when she reads them!
Niyi: Continuing with the potty training saga....sigh!
Unit Study: Continuing with Little Oh. This time when we read the story I made two cards one with 'like' on it and one with 'as'. We reviewed what a simile is (we learnt about those last week) and when we heard one in the story they had to hold up their cards. Lola was good at this and found them all! That is a good way of reviewing this subject and the kids thought it was fun! We were able to watch a show on the Food Network this morning that happened to be about food in Japan so that was good timing! At lunch the s thought their tortilla roll ups looked like sushi! We read a book about how paper is made and its many uses and listed all the things we could that are made of paper.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Tuesday November 18, 2008
Today was a great day! In fact it was pretty perfect! The day started out so well with me going to the gym early and coming home showered and ready to get started! Niyi went to the gym with Kunle and left a peaceful house for a few hours for us to get started! It makes all the difference!
Unit Study: Today we started a new unit from Homeschool Share. A literature unit based on the book Little Oh. We read the story and some books about Japan. We discussed traditional dress, and learned that Mount Aso is the largest Volcano in Japan. We used google maps to find photographs of it and really enjoyed looking at them. We continued working on our map skills, finding Japan and reviewing all the other places we have traveled so far this school year!
after school this afternoon we played Othello and Rummy for a while and I have promised Lola I will teach her Cribbage soon! Wish me luck with that one!
Lola: Today she was able to get most of her independent work done pretty quickly with no interruptions. She did her devotional and prayer journal, math, handwriting, French, math drill early. Then we were able to get her spelling done and she decided to use these words as practice for her cursive handwriting. We then made some Pumpkin Muffins together and discuss how gluten is developed in flour with kneading and why we don't want to develop it in muffins and cakes! I was happy to note that Lola was able to tell me lots of things we learnt last week about Korea especially that Korea is a Peninsula and how that is different from Japan (an island).
Tayo: Toady Tayo and I spent a long time focusing on her math (+9's) and she has begun to get it. She spent a while paying with the blocks and in her own way (telling a story all about how Mr 9 wants to be 10 and how his friends were helping him - in true Tayo style!) She asked me to help her draw an Elephant so we had fun doing that! Tayo is doing well with her Word box and has almost 20 words of her choosing in there right now, she enjoys being able to read words and is now beginning to sound them out a little- she might be ready to try RME again soon. Tayo and I began a science experiment from my new science book to see what foods ants like best but we are not sure that it will work as there don't seem to be many ants around right now with it being so cold! She was happy to see quite few bug experiments and projects in this book so I think we'll be trying them all out soon! We will start her any lapbook tomorrow. We read a section of an ant book today and will continue over the next few weeks.
Unit Study: Today we started a new unit from Homeschool Share. A literature unit based on the book Little Oh. We read the story and some books about Japan. We discussed traditional dress, and learned that Mount Aso is the largest Volcano in Japan. We used google maps to find photographs of it and really enjoyed looking at them. We continued working on our map skills, finding Japan and reviewing all the other places we have traveled so far this school year!
after school this afternoon we played Othello and Rummy for a while and I have promised Lola I will teach her Cribbage soon! Wish me luck with that one!
Lola: Today she was able to get most of her independent work done pretty quickly with no interruptions. She did her devotional and prayer journal, math, handwriting, French, math drill early. Then we were able to get her spelling done and she decided to use these words as practice for her cursive handwriting. We then made some Pumpkin Muffins together and discuss how gluten is developed in flour with kneading and why we don't want to develop it in muffins and cakes! I was happy to note that Lola was able to tell me lots of things we learnt last week about Korea especially that Korea is a Peninsula and how that is different from Japan (an island).
Tayo: Toady Tayo and I spent a long time focusing on her math (+9's) and she has begun to get it. She spent a while paying with the blocks and in her own way (telling a story all about how Mr 9 wants to be 10 and how his friends were helping him - in true Tayo style!) She asked me to help her draw an Elephant so we had fun doing that! Tayo is doing well with her Word box and has almost 20 words of her choosing in there right now, she enjoys being able to read words and is now beginning to sound them out a little- she might be ready to try RME again soon. Tayo and I began a science experiment from my new science book to see what foods ants like best but we are not sure that it will work as there don't seem to be many ants around right now with it being so cold! She was happy to see quite few bug experiments and projects in this book so I think we'll be trying them all out soon! We will start her any lapbook tomorrow. We read a section of an ant book today and will continue over the next few weeks.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday 17th Novemeber, 2008
Well today started out perfect, I am back at the gym now and got up early to work out came home showered and ready to go by 8am. Kunle then took Niyi (and today Tayo) to the gym to play while he worked out. This is going to be a great routine for us. It leaves me with two hours a day to really focus on school with the s without having to amuse him. Today after such a busy weekend I took the time and cleaned up the house and did laundry so it didn't help much with school but in the future I am going to ensure I use the time well!
Didn't have much planned for today (again the result of too busy a weekend!) but we did manage a few things.
Lola: Taught her a lesson about triangles and how to measure angles with a protractor. She wrote a letter to her Auntie and we did a science experiment seeing the effect salt has on ice. She wrote this up to be stored in her new Science notebook. She is reading her Magic Tree house book book as I type and in a minute she and I will play Rummy for a while (must be some educational value in that!)
Tayo: She went with Niyi to the gym to play this morning to help him settle in and for the rest of the day she has been pretty hyper - I think she needs an early night! She read a Bob book and did her math facts on the Math U see website as well as doing the science experiment and drawing a picture of the results and copying the title. She was playing with puzzles this afternoon also.
Niyi: Today was Potty training day 1! So far we've had a bunch of s and no pee-pee in the potty, but we were able to spend time working on his colors, counting and singing while waiting for a pee! Ahhh the joys of potty training!
Didn't have much planned for today (again the result of too busy a weekend!) but we did manage a few things.
Lola: Taught her a lesson about triangles and how to measure angles with a protractor. She wrote a letter to her Auntie and we did a science experiment seeing the effect salt has on ice. She wrote this up to be stored in her new Science notebook. She is reading her Magic Tree house book book as I type and in a minute she and I will play Rummy for a while (must be some educational value in that!)
Tayo: She went with Niyi to the gym to play this morning to help him settle in and for the rest of the day she has been pretty hyper - I think she needs an early night! She read a Bob book and did her math facts on the Math U see website as well as doing the science experiment and drawing a picture of the results and copying the title. She was playing with puzzles this afternoon also.
Niyi: Today was Potty training day 1! So far we've had a bunch of s and no pee-pee in the potty, but we were able to spend time working on his colors, counting and singing while waiting for a pee! Ahhh the joys of potty training!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Tuesday November 11, 2008
Well today was much more routine - Lola is feeling pretty good now, although still keeps sniffling and coughing a little. Niyi as full of his usual beans this morning and somehow I didn't manage to get in the shower until this afternoon! But anyway, it was busy but good so let's see what we actually did.
Unit Study: This is day two of our study using The Firekeeper's Son. We learnt all about Similes and did an art lesson on watercolors (Landscapes). I will be putting their artwork up on their Artsonia page later...The s easily remembered where Korea was on the map and Lola was even able to tell me what a Peninsula is. We looked through a book about Korea and noticed some similarities to both China and India.
Lola: Lola added to her prayer journal, did her math and cursive handwriting pretty early this morning. Later after our unit study activities, we read another chapter of Grammarland and learned about pronouns, we also added a definition of a simile to her English book and she wrote one to describe the sun/sky. This Grammar resource is working out so much better than Rod & Staff which seemed to be so much overkill and busywork that never really fit into our way of learning. It is great to see Lola enjoying this book. I am thinking about making a lapbook for this when we are done with it, but for now 1 lesson a week with the exercises in her Grammar book is perfect.Today I got her Spelling dictionary out and we have begun to use that again when writing - I need to wean her from asking me how to spell a word she doesn't know. If the word is not in the dictionary we will write it in, that way her dictionary will grow. Not a new idea for lots of you, but I read that the other day on one of the Homeschool boards and had a light bulb moment! She is still working on her French using Live Mocha and this is going well albeit a bit slow.
Tayo: Tayo is doing great on her math, she does this very easily so we are ready for a new lesson tomorrow. She as happy today to be working on sentences in her HWOT book, she really enjoys copywork and she will be able to just do copywork soon. We continued with her Word of the Day and today she chose Kemi as the word to learn how to read and put in her jar. She chooses a word a day and then each day we pull out all the words to read. Right now she has almost 20 words in there and it is getting harder for her to remember them - now this is where real reading rather than memorizing comes in! She read Going on a Bear Hunt with me today and loved being able to read lots of it! I know she is just impatient to get this learning to read stage over and become a real reader!
Niyi: As I mentioned earlier he was full of beans today and hard to keep occupied with anything more than 5 minutes. he did color with markers for a while and of course got it all over his hands! He has a fascination for the car games on the Lego website so I was able to get him to sit doing today, while I put away laundry and cleaned bathrooms. At least the s got a few minutes peace to get on with their work while he did this! Most of the rest of his day was spent running around outside - that's exactly what he needed!
Kemi: Of course she doesn't do school but I did want to mention that she is getting pretty good at sitting by herself! She manages for a while now using her hands to balance herself! Way to go Kemi! Oh and she really dislikes peas - have to wit before trying those again!
Unit Study: This is day two of our study using The Firekeeper's Son. We learnt all about Similes and did an art lesson on watercolors (Landscapes). I will be putting their artwork up on their Artsonia page later...The s easily remembered where Korea was on the map and Lola was even able to tell me what a Peninsula is. We looked through a book about Korea and noticed some similarities to both China and India.
Lola: Lola added to her prayer journal, did her math and cursive handwriting pretty early this morning. Later after our unit study activities, we read another chapter of Grammarland and learned about pronouns, we also added a definition of a simile to her English book and she wrote one to describe the sun/sky. This Grammar resource is working out so much better than Rod & Staff which seemed to be so much overkill and busywork that never really fit into our way of learning. It is great to see Lola enjoying this book. I am thinking about making a lapbook for this when we are done with it, but for now 1 lesson a week with the exercises in her Grammar book is perfect.Today I got her Spelling dictionary out and we have begun to use that again when writing - I need to wean her from asking me how to spell a word she doesn't know. If the word is not in the dictionary we will write it in, that way her dictionary will grow. Not a new idea for lots of you, but I read that the other day on one of the Homeschool boards and had a light bulb moment! She is still working on her French using Live Mocha and this is going well albeit a bit slow.
Tayo: Tayo is doing great on her math, she does this very easily so we are ready for a new lesson tomorrow. She as happy today to be working on sentences in her HWOT book, she really enjoys copywork and she will be able to just do copywork soon. We continued with her Word of the Day and today she chose Kemi as the word to learn how to read and put in her jar. She chooses a word a day and then each day we pull out all the words to read. Right now she has almost 20 words in there and it is getting harder for her to remember them - now this is where real reading rather than memorizing comes in! She read Going on a Bear Hunt with me today and loved being able to read lots of it! I know she is just impatient to get this learning to read stage over and become a real reader!
Niyi: As I mentioned earlier he was full of beans today and hard to keep occupied with anything more than 5 minutes. he did color with markers for a while and of course got it all over his hands! He has a fascination for the car games on the Lego website so I was able to get him to sit doing today, while I put away laundry and cleaned bathrooms. At least the s got a few minutes peace to get on with their work while he did this! Most of the rest of his day was spent running around outside - that's exactly what he needed!
Kemi: Of course she doesn't do school but I did want to mention that she is getting pretty good at sitting by herself! She manages for a while now using her hands to balance herself! Way to go Kemi! Oh and she really dislikes peas - have to wit before trying those again!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Monday November 10th, 2008
Well today was not a typical school day. Lola has been feeling unwell all day and spent most of it sleeping. Anyway this is what we did get done:
Unit Studies: Today we began our unit on The Fire keeper's Son. We are using this one from Homeschool Share. The kids enjoyed this book as did I, so this one will likely be a hit. We just did some basic map work finding North and South Korea on the Map, identifying Asia and various other countries that we have learnt about so far. We will do the Lapbook books for this tomorrow when hopefully Lola will be feeling better.
Lola: Rad first chapter of Door in the Wall. This book is one we will be reading while she does her Plague Lapbook. That's all with her, the rest was sleeping!
Tayo: This morning she did her Prayer journal (copied a portion of her bible) and handwriting. She then spent some time on the computer playing a few educational games and some fun stuff, the Lego site was a favorite today! We read a total of four Bob books today and spent some time reading library books before she headed off to listen to some stories online at Storynory.com. The afternoon was spent painting with watercolors and playing outside.
Niyi: As usual my boy was full of energy today. We spent some time playing with his blocks, cars and some puzzles today. He enjoyed it when I was reading our book of the day today and sat interested throughout! He was very proud of the picture he painted this afternoon with watercolors and of course had great fun playing outside.
Unit Studies: Today we began our unit on The Fire keeper's Son. We are using this one from Homeschool Share. The kids enjoyed this book as did I, so this one will likely be a hit. We just did some basic map work finding North and South Korea on the Map, identifying Asia and various other countries that we have learnt about so far. We will do the Lapbook books for this tomorrow when hopefully Lola will be feeling better.
Lola: Rad first chapter of Door in the Wall. This book is one we will be reading while she does her Plague Lapbook. That's all with her, the rest was sleeping!
Tayo: This morning she did her Prayer journal (copied a portion of her bible) and handwriting. She then spent some time on the computer playing a few educational games and some fun stuff, the Lego site was a favorite today! We read a total of four Bob books today and spent some time reading library books before she headed off to listen to some stories online at Storynory.com. The afternoon was spent painting with watercolors and playing outside.
Niyi: As usual my boy was full of energy today. We spent some time playing with his blocks, cars and some puzzles today. He enjoyed it when I was reading our book of the day today and sat interested throughout! He was very proud of the picture he painted this afternoon with watercolors and of course had great fun playing outside.
Why another blog Louise????
Well...the short answer would be that I'm addicted! LOL!
But the longer one is that I am planning on journaling our day to day Homeschool life. This will be a daily record of what we do (and don't) accomplish each day. Some days I wonder just what we have done so this will be a record of our academic adventures! Other homeschooling stuff will be on my main blog, this one is purely a journal entry!
Ohh one other thing...if you are coming here to get some great ideas and glean some great homeschooling wisdom from me, depending on the day you might be in luck, but more than likely you will see a regular Homeschool day. I don't want this journal to record only what we did right, I want it to be a warts and all record of this journey we are taking! You never know, seeing someone's real life might just encourage you. Too many blogs are all about the good stuff and the perfect homeschool days. This just leaves the rest of us feeling discouraged that another day went by without us embarking a huge science project or craft worthy of an art gallery! Not sure hbow many works of art you'll see here, but it will be all that we do on any given day!
But the longer one is that I am planning on journaling our day to day Homeschool life. This will be a daily record of what we do (and don't) accomplish each day. Some days I wonder just what we have done so this will be a record of our academic adventures! Other homeschooling stuff will be on my main blog, this one is purely a journal entry!
Ohh one other thing...if you are coming here to get some great ideas and glean some great homeschooling wisdom from me, depending on the day you might be in luck, but more than likely you will see a regular Homeschool day. I don't want this journal to record only what we did right, I want it to be a warts and all record of this journey we are taking! You never know, seeing someone's real life might just encourage you. Too many blogs are all about the good stuff and the perfect homeschool days. This just leaves the rest of us feeling discouraged that another day went by without us embarking a huge science project or craft worthy of an art gallery! Not sure hbow many works of art you'll see here, but it will be all that we do on any given day!
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