First "Half" Day

We are having our first 1/2 day. We started out school just fine. Then DD says she's not feeling well. Stomach.

Physical Science 101

DD is in 8th/9th grade Apologia Physical Science. We have done three experiment so far this week. Here's number three on Concentration.

She filled each glass with 1 c, 1/2c, 1/4c of vinegar added a Rolaid to each cup. We watched them dissolve.

Dumped those out, then added varying amounts of vinegar and water to equal 2 cups. Rolaids dissolved faster in the water that had more vinegar.

Grammar, What Grammar?

Day three and we are starting to find the kinks.

I have forgotten to do grammar two days in a row!
I have to do refresher sheets for DS in math. The info's there, just needs to be dug up.
DD and science are not clicking.
History seems to be working...well, for DS. DD said that she needs to let her brain warm up first. (We are doing history last!) As to when will it warm up, after DS answers the questions. Hmmm... He is the one taking notes.
Our days are longer and I don't know how to fit it all in. We are going to keep at this pace until we know if we can do some subjects every other day.
Geography will be M-W-F. We are ahead of schedule on that.
Spelling wisdom M & W.
Fri I want to do the "main" subjects then add the "extras" in.
We are also doing Expository Writing. Joy! The kids don't think writing is fun. But as a keeper of three blogs, I rather enjoy writing! I'd like to write everyday. We'll see.

I hope your school day is going smooth!

Day One Down

I am excited to tell you that today went great! Dh went grocery shopping for me! We all got up on time! It all ran smoothly.

Our days are going to be longer, like two hours longer. But it went much smoother. We did one experiment (Atoms & Molecules).

Start of School Panic!

School starts Monday! Here's what we have going on:

DS has a cold. The rest of us are getting over it.

DH is taking that day off. (He is working the grave yard this weekend.)

It is a grocery shopping day.

I am feeling like I am not ready.

We have found this great site. Audio books.

Confession...

I have to confess...I just read a friends blog. She is just going to start her first year of homeschooling with 4 kiddos. She is super organized, always has been. People like her always make me feel like I need to get my act together. Then I realize I am not like her. She has chore charts on her frig. (Chore charts never worked for us. I still have to double check the kids stuff.) Her magnets and clips are colored for each kid. Her schedule is already up. I again have to confess that after reading her blog (though I know she is like this for everything) I felt a bit inferior. Though my closet is color coordinated, that's about the end of my super organization skills. I know she is reading this, yelling at me from across the states. But I need to go now and reorganize my school supplies for next school year!

Great Find and Less Than a Month

Less then one month left of our summer vacation! The kids are NOT ready for school to resume at all. They are totally enjoying the summer.

I, on the other hand, though I have been doing the deep cleaning that doesn't happen during school, etc., am getting ready for school. I think it's having a routine that I like. Don't get me wrong, we do have a routine. I just like the school routine better, most days.

I also have to tell you (because as fellow homeschoolers I KNOW you'll appreciate it and not look at me funny) I found a nice, US map. I looked online, looked in our local stores, etc., nothing that wassuitable. Do you know where I found it...it makes it all the better? The Dollar Store (where everything's a dollar!!!)! It's perfect size too.

Now if I can just get my hubby to agree to switch two rooms so we can have an actual room for school, I think I'd be one happy camper.

Anybody There?

Does anyone still read my sadly neglected blog?

If you do, then this may be the last post for the summer. School gets out for us the Friday! I couldn't be happier! I need some time off. I have next school years curriculum all lined up.

Here's what we do the last 2 weeks of school. (We don't seem to completely finish our books.) Once the kids get to a good stopping point like a test. If stopping in 1-2 weeks would mean stopping in the middle of a chapter/unit then we just stop. They use that time to "catch up" on some other subject. So DS is finishing a book for Lang Arts. DD her Math. We finished our History early and were filling it in with study the 1900's with a timeline and reading about the Oregon Trail.

I am going through their books and getting together a "list" of the subjects we've covered this year. Being our second year of HSing, I think I am just getting somethings. And since our DD will be in high school in two years, I know I need to start keeping better records. Anyone used a transcript maker?

Well, I do need to get going. I took a nap, from which I woke up more tired than when I laid down! Please be back in August to read more of our Homeschool adventures! And thanks for following us this year!

School Outside

How do you NOT take class outside on a day like this!!

Science Experiment

DD had to do a science experiment on a classmate. Since we have two "students" Dear Brother got to be the guinea pig! He was very willing though. You had to hold your nose while tasting different foods and see if could tell what you were eating while your holding your nose. DD didn't really explain the whole nose thing to son. So he'd hold his nose for awhile then let it go. He'd tell us what he was eating after letting his nose go.

So I stepped in and let the poor guy breathe some!

Out of apples, cornbread and two different crackers, he was only fooled by the cornbread. He thought it was broccoli. This boy knows his food.

Writing Fair

We just got back from dropping of our entries for the writing fair. This is the first year that it's open to HSers. J & C both have one entry. Here's how it works...if there are three or less entries per category then they'll just send those off to the county writing fair where they will compete with the winners from the public schools. If there is more then three per category then they will judge those and have the winners go to county. We should know something maybe by the middle of April!

I'll post the kids' entries later. I have to make you all come back! heehee

Spring Break and Books

Ok, do I still even have any readers? It's been so long since I updated. Sorry! School has been going good. We are on Spring Break right now. Will be back to school on Monday. So we have gotten caught up on cleaning. (You know the deep stuff.)

I have ordered most of the curriculum for next school year! I am excited. The kids are like oh. Here's a quick break down of what we are going to be using. Sorry no linking. I'll do that later.
Math - Math-U-See
History-A good amount of living books from Beautiful Feet and Amazon (CM books) and some cd's/workbooks from Your Story Hour
Science-undecided still, but it will be hands on experiments
Geography-Beautiful Feet and amazon (CM books)
Grammar-Analytical grammar (one year course for C and 3 yr for J) (Simply CM)
Writing-free workbooks from another homeschooler!
Have timeline charts on history, science, composers, etc from Beautiful Feet
Spelling-(dictation too) Spelling Wisdom (simply CM)

I think that's it. We are almost done with this years History Alive. We all like it, but will probably wait to continue the next sections until they are older. I got 9 history books from the library at under $.10 each!!! So we'll use those when we are done with History Alive.They are century books. they break down the 1900's in ten year sections. Also, a lady from church, who HS'd her boys is giving us a full set of encyclopedias!! J LOVES encyclopedias! He takes them to bed to read, seriously!

When I get my schedule written out for next year, I'll post it for you guys.

That's all for now.

Stuck on Nine?

Gosh, it's been awhile since my last post. So sorry! Sometimes no news is good news.

I have a couple of math tips for you. You may already know these.

Multiplies of NINE!

Tip one: 9x4=36, 9x6=54, 9x1=9, right? Look at the numbers...the first number of the answer is always one less then what you are multiplying nine by.

Tip two: look at the examples above. Look at the answers. They all add up to nine!

So if you are stuck on 9x7....6 is one less then 7...6 plus...3 equals nine...your answer will be 63!

Have a good day!

Homeschool Groups

Ahhh...just got back from our valentines party with the homeschool group! I haven't been all school year. So it was very nice to see some of the ladies again. Both of the kids had a really good time and made friends! Praise God. We will try to go again.