Week Five: Spring Fun

This week was Spring Fun. However, yet again, things were a bit hectic with my brother's graduation, then the tornado, then driving down there to get my brother again for a emergency weekend pass after the tornado. Somehow, we still managed to get most of her stuff done.

Monday: We read the book "The Four Seasons," the section about Spring. We did not listen to a song.

Tuesday: We were supposed to go outside and fly a kite, but we could not find a kite at any of the stores around here. They were all "gliders." So we ended up just playing outside as part of her "Spring Fun."

Wednesday: Samantha and I played with chalk on the back porch.

Thursday: We made homemade lemonade. It was pretty decent. But it lacks something and I can't figure out what.

Friday: Because we were without internet, I was not able to stream a movie about Spring for her to watch. But we were going to watch a Barney episode about warm weather.

Next week, we are doing Mother's Day activities all week. :) I had fun planning this topic's activities. 

Also, an update on that book-I am about half way through, thank you to the 20 hours I have been in the car this weekend-so far. And we still have to take him back...Another 10 hours. I didn't read the whole time because of it hurting my eyes and of course daylight hours...But I got about 200 pages done. It is a great book. It has so much information. Most of it is pretty up to date, even though it was made in 2001. I am glad I am reading it because I didn't know how much stuff you need to know or should know before you begin actual homeschooling.

 

She did a great job of helping with this one. She didn't just watch and stir. She helped me measure and pour. She even squeezed some of the lemons!

 

Week Four: Easter

This week was Easter. Again, since Hubby was off work though, things were kind of hectic. We got the projects done, but some weren't on the right day or time or day. We did the carrot cake at 1 o'clock in the morning. lol. 

Monday: We read the book "Barney's Easter Egg Hunt." And we read the story of Jesus's resurrection in here Precious Moments Bible. We didn't listen to a song this week.

Tuesday: We did Samantha's egg hunt.

Wednesday: Samantha decorated a cross with stickers and other things we pulled out of the closet. We also talked about what the cross symbolizes.

Thursday: We made a carrot cake from scratch. We even made the icing-I got a mixer finally. It was great, except I don't like carrot cake.

Friday: We watched the Veggie Tales "'Twas the Night Before Easter." (However, I was not able to watch it with her this week, so I want to "re-watch" it sometime.

Next week is Spring Fun! I know we missed a week-the week before last I believe, but I am going to make it up because I have a lot of fun stuff planned for it. The topic is "Earth and Its Plants."

Also, I found a great book with all kinds of information to help me answer my questions! I goes all the way from "Making the Decision to Homeschool" to "College Homeschooling."-which we will not be doing. It is called "The Unofficial Guide to Homeschooling"

One more thing...Thanks to Jessika. Since Samantha Love the iPod so much, I thought I would start using it more for learning. She has always had a few applications on the iPod, but not many. I went through and downloaded some more on reading and letters, etc. And then I am going to start searching every week for apps based on that week's topic. I am sure I will find some good ones, and she can continue learning even after her lesson is over!

Decisions Decisions

After the decision to homeschool comes even more decisions to make. When to start? What curriculum to use? Do you join groups or co-ops? How will you keep them active? Make it to where they are still social and don't just rely on you? 

I have found the answer to a few of these questions, but I am still working on others. 

We decided not to do a formal preschool curriculum with her, but to start her at 5 instead of 6 since. Even though her birthday is after the cut off date for public school, homeschool doesn't have one. We will be joining the Catoosa County Christian Co-Op, and they will do her Science and Social Studies. So I will only have to choose a curriculum for her English and Math. We will also be joining either the Northwest GA group or the East Tennessee/Northwest GA homeschool group. I think the one in TN will be a larger group and therefore more active, but the NW GA one seems to do more things appropriate for Elementary School. (The other one seems to focus on the highschoolers.) 

We will be joining the YMCA, where we attend church, to keep her active. They have activities for toddlers and a giant play ground that she LOVES to play on! We will also continue to have her in Kindermusik and possible gymnastatics or dance...When she gets older she will be able to choose. I want to give her more time with friends, which will be more possible since she will only have school 4-1/2 hours a day. 

I have not picked a curriculum. But I am working on it. I am continually researching the laws, and really enjoy preparing for this. I just hope that when the time comes, I will have an idea of what I am doing. 

Week Three: Earth And Its Animals

This week was animals. It went quite well. Except, we got off schedule since Hubby is taking the next two weeks off work.

Monday: We read the book "Welcome To The Zoo." It is also a book from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. It has no words, but the pictures are very detailed, and we can go over a lot of words, and even make up our own story. Then we listened to the Animal Sounds Song. I found it on You Tube. (Samantha didn't really like it, so I doubt we will be doing that song again. 

Tuesday: We did a bird feeder activity. (Since I am squishing all types of animals into one week, I figured we would do one lesson on mammals. Another on birds. Insects, and so on.) We were doing to make a simple pine cone with peanut butter and bird seed, but I found it was about the same price, maybe a little cheaper to buy a little Humming Bird feeder and some nectar. (Instead of bird seed.) We had a few accidents with the nectar because the feeder was cheap, and the bottom kept coming out-just our luck that we wear white that day. Ha Ha. 

Wednesday: I printed off a template for a ladybug. She really enjoyed making this, and it was simple for her age. 

Thursday: We were supposed to make animal cookies, but we didn't get to do it Thursday, so we are going to do it today, in just a few minutes after I find a recipe. (I will post pics.)

Friday: We were supposed to watch Barney Goes To The Farm. (I wanted to go over farm animals.) But we didn't get to. Not a big deal though. I can play it for her anytime.

Next week was supposed to be Earth's Plants, but I haven't decided what we are doing for sure...The week after that was supposed to be Easter. We will have to figure them both out because I don't want to miss either one. I will probably rearrange some things.

Here is a website I found with some good ideas for homemade bird and squirrel feeders.

http://unplugyourkids.com/2010/01/23/homemade-bird-feeders/

We had to mix it up.

Week Two: Earth's Weather and Its Many Moods

This week was the week of weather. Honestly, I would say it turned out worse than last week. Ha Ha. It's a work in progress. The activities I came up with didn't work since it was rainy and cold all week, so I had to come up with new stuff last minute. On top of that, Samantha was so stubborn this week! Maybe it was the weather. Maybe she just knew how much Jessie and I were both stressing. I don't know, but she didn't want to do anything. I didn't even tell her she was learning. I would just say, "Hey, wanna read a book?" "NOOO!!!" She is usually so excited, but for some reason, this week...Eh...Here is what we did. 

Monday: We read the book "Raindrop Plop." We got it from the Imagination Library that Dolly Parton sponsors. It is about weather AND counting, and Samantha Loves the rythm of the book. Then we listened to The Weather Song by Dr. Jean. We Love Dr. Jean, and she has a bunch of educational songs that are fun and perfect for her age! 

Tuesday: We attempted an activity. We were going to use instruments to make "weather sounds," but she didn't want to do that, and the only thing I could really simulate was a storm, and I wanted to go over more than just rain this week. So we used play dough to make the weather. I know she was too young to do it herself, but that was all I could think of. I would make it and ask her, "What kind of weather is this?" We would go over it, and she would "make it" herself. I would say, "What are you making?" And she would say, "A storm." 

Wednesday: Wednesday is art day! However, due to the same problem that we ran into last week, I am not able to access my art supplies, and won't be able to until this Monday. So this week I just printed out a simple coloring sheet. I liked that though because it went over wind. For some reason, however, she doesn't want to color anymore. She wants to draw shapes instead. And when she does draw shapes, they are everywhere but the picture. Ha Ha.

Thursday: Thursday we had Fun In The Kitchen! We made a Jell-O rainbow. This was also a little above her age level, but I let her watch me do it as I discussed what I was doing and afterward we talked about rainbows and how they are formed. She wouldn't eat it though because it jiggled, so Jessie ate some. 

Friday: We are probably going to watch Barney Songs From The Park.

Here are the instructions: http://typeaparent.com/rainbow-jello.html

So GROUCHY!!!

Listening to The Weather Song on my iPod. She actually enjoyed that.

The bottom three colors all looked the same. And the Violet didn't fit in the pan.