Rainbows

Well this week we have been studying rainbows and how they become what the are :) It took a few days to get to do this particular experiment because it was cloudy the first half of the week and today was finally sunny! WOOHOO!

We were both excited to read and use the sun and water to create our own personal rainbow and of course sing the rainbow song...we learned this song 2 yrs ago on the mickey mouse club on disney kids channel at our aunt's house. Since then it has really stuck and given us the opportunity to remember even the ORDER of colors. Today we learned why red is the strongest and first color of the rainbow- well its the strongest color! Anyway this has just been so much fun and I am so glad I get to share my love of science with my son, even if we do (both of us) dislike school!! HAhhaha!!!! Also our cat wanted to get involved too :)

Our Solar System

Obviously by the title I really don't need to explain this project. LOL :) JD loves science so each week, whatever the topic for studying in science is, we find an easy to do at home science project! So far it has been very successful and might just be the turn around for doing this blog by using it to keep rack of the projects we. Hmmm something to think about. Anyway, I still need to take a finish product picture but here is the start of the project. Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!!! XO

Science project cont...

We are having a blast, watching this bean sprout! A week and half and it has done so much!! It is fascitnating watching each day the changes happening to it:)

Science Project Success

I love it when you have success with a project! How awesome that it worked!!! Woohoo!!!! Just took 4 days instead of 2...LOL

Science Project #2

Watch a seed grow...
This week we are learning about plants and how they grow and really focusing on their roots and they absorb nutrients! I have 4 projects for this week, and I am really hoping they go well; one of them is the good old faithful project with sweet potato in a jar with toothpicks. I think this part is the best part of teaching!
I really hope I did this one right!!!

Little Miss Doubter

That's right! You read the title correctly. Yesterday was a BAD day of doubts, whines, and poor me attitude!!! I was struggling a LOT with my emotions and questioning myself on what I was doing, did I choose the right curriculum, I never wanted to teach and hated school what makes me think I could teach my son? These WERE the thoughts in my head yesterday and they came about because routine was broken and attitudes were poor. BUT I have a wonderful husband and mom who did not give up on me but told me they believed in me.

Today was a whole new attitude: figure will take this week to review what we have learned and refresh the memory before moving forward. You something? My awesome hubby pointed out that just because family is up I don't need to drop routine, especially since JD and I function better with routine :-) I seriously it is 2 hrs out of day, maybe less that is school and once done rest of day is free! Duh Tara!!!!!!

So no more Miss Doubter!!! Or whining! Here is to working on confidence and allowing the Lord to really work through me to teach our son!

Our Days

Well so far our days consist of: Bible, Writing, Math, and Science and Art (alternating). We also do the Calendar and work on last month, this month, next month, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. These he is doing well and once we finish review writing the alphabet, which he is doing great at, then I do believe we start learning to write sentences and reading. YEAH! In all I am very proud of how well he is doing.
We are both being patient with each other and that is helpful. My goal is to not cause stress on either of us, maintain the fun factor when able, and learn the signals of whether or not today is a good day for school.
Here is to day 10!

SCIENCE DAY-ANTS

Today was awesome!! Today we soaked bread with honey and watched what happened! I will let the pictures explain themselves:)

 this one came out running!!! It was amazing!!

 this guy was next, he smelled it but it took a few seconds to locate it! LOL

the itsy bitsy one found his own little pile...so cool!!!

So Far So Good

Well today will be day 4 of the new curriculum, and I must say that so far I really like it. JD even seems to enjoy it! That right there is say ing something. I am still working out the kinks of understanding new ways to teach but I must say I am being more flexible this time around :) That in and of itself is huge for me!!! I will definitely know by the end of the month if this is the right curriculum for us but and pleased with it thus far.
Happy Tuesday everyone!!

Classroom Is Ready!!!!

Yes! Finally!! Woohoo! I got it done. We have our board with magnet words, calendar with the seasons & weather, number line and school days countdown number line, and our subject storage area! We are using My Father's World curriculum this year and it is suppose to be more hands on. Plus we have an exploration day to have less structure and more outside and observe time.
I really am praying that he at least enjoys this somewhat even though it is rare when a kid loves school; but I can hope:)
I know I am excited so at least one of us will be happy. LOL
Here is to Firtst Grade!!! Let the fun begin!!!

The Infamous To Do List

http://instagr.am/p/OHChunK_2u/
Yes he is old enough to read, he is old enough to have a list. I figured this way he can check off his progresss as he goes. Hopefully I won't have to hover to make sure it gets done :-)

Lunch on the Go - Lunchboxes.com

Lunch on the Go - Lunchboxes.com
this year in 2 weeks we embark on our journey into first grade! So excited, however I wanted to make it special for John on field trip days with lunch time:) I couldn't find a lunch box that was "fun" that suited our needs, BUT I did find this cool item!! Yeah me:) It is inexpensive and will grow with my child which means I won't have to constantly spend extra for fancy lunch boxes. I think what I might do is find a plain insulated lunch box and have him decorate it himself so it is original:) Here is to the new year!!

Thoughts & Adjustments

Well what can say, if nothing but consistent :) I have been doing a lot of thinking about curriculum for next year and basically over whelming myself...AGAIN! I have come to the conclusion that I will not continue with A Beka next year, I feel it is a lot of busy work and NOT enough hands on. I am also learning to break out of my box that I seem to like to put myself in and have joined a homeschool group, WHICH I love! Also broke out of the box by stopping PHONICS in A Beka to switch back to Hooked on Phonics to make sure that JD gets his short vowels down first before moving on to long vowels which is what they were about to have me do. Okay back to the group I am in, they are close by and not about doing co ops but just helping each other out or even getting the kids together. We even went to our first Valentines Party which was a lot of fun! I have also joined JD in a ballet class that is for the homeschool group which starts this Friday, figured that if he did it for a month and did not like it we don't have to continue; it would be for more a p.e. class than anything:) Have a great week everyone! XO

Long Overdue Update

Okay...don't yell at me! HAHAHA!! This year is going so much better than last year! JD is understanding instructions so much better: he is ahead in math, and right on target with reading and writing. I do like A Beka but am going to an APACHE curriculum convention in April so I can get hands on with other stuff. I don't want to lock in on just one curriculum but try different ones to see what would work best for JD:)
I do owe you all an apology for not blogging sooner, and to be honest I actually forgot and got to involved with school and other things.
 Other things that I have learned is that even with school sometimes its okay to slow down:) I noticed with A Beka, though I like it, it tends to push the child through, and that does not work for us, so I have learned to readjust lesson plans LOL! Next week we will be focusing on review in Math on ordinal numbers, pennies, and dimes; need to make sure he understands those before movingon to other things. He will continue to work through reading and writing so in the end I hope he will be right on target again.
 Also in all of this I realized that I also needed to do something for me which led me to join weight watchers; I am being successful so far with it and actually enjoy being on it. So far 5.6lbs!!! Woo HOO! Anyway, thank you all for being patient. Also here is a picture from the project we did for Thanksgiving:

Have a great weekend!!
xo