Upcoming Read-Alouds

We are preparing to enter into week 22 of Sonlight Core 1. I've been making adjustments to the recommended curriculum in order to fit our family's needs. But one thing that we have been following pretty faithfully is the read-aloud schedule. We have yet to be disappointed by any of the read-alouds for Core 1.

The kids loved Charlotte's Web, laughed all through Homer Price, were sorry to see The Year of Miss Agnes end, and were greatly touched by Mountain Born. (We skipped Mr. Popper's Penguins because we read it last year).

We are currently reading Henry Huggins during our nightly read-aloud time. This book will be followed by Detectives in Togas, Follow My Leader, Little Pear, and Understood Betsy (not in that order).

Crystal Grottoes Caverns Field Trip

Last week we took a tour of a nearby cavern with our homeschool co-op. I figured this field trip was too good to pass up - I knew my kids would have a blast exploring a cave...and I was right!

This is a crystal formation on the rocks inside the cave...

The tour guide told us the names of all of the different rock formations, but between trying to grab a few pictures and making sure that none of my kiddos got lost in the cave - I wasn't able to pay as much attention as I would have liked :)

We exited the cave from a mine-shaft type door, into the bright sunshine. It was indeed a beautiful day for a field trip...



Afterwards we headed to a beautiful park that was just a few minutes from the caverns - the kids ran and played, we enjoyed a picnic lunch, and then hiked a short distance to an overlook.

A Box Full of Books...Our New Curriculum

The kids and I were so excited when our box full of books arrived a few months ago...

We're in our 3rd official year of homeschooling. This year our school consists of a 2nd grader, a k'er and a busy, busy preschooler.

Up to now we've done an eclectic mix of curriculums - concentrating mostly on reading and math. Towards the middle of last year we transitioned to using Ambleside Online's Year One Curriculum - and ds7 loved our Ambleside reading time. However, I was unsure how dd5 would handle the content of much of Year One's reading selections. And I really did not want to start down the Ambleside path if it was not one we would continue longterm - so I began to consider Sonlight.

The funny thing is, Sonlight is the curriculum that I was absolutely sure we would use when we first began to research homeschooling - I loved their literature-based approach to learning. But for one reason or another, we never tried it. But this year, with my husband's blessing, we made the plunge and bought Sonlight's Core 1 Curriculum.

We've just completed our 4th week of Core 1 ~ and so far it's been a perfect fit for our family.

The Restless Robin

Our nature study topic for this month is birds. Everytime we begin to study a new topic, one of the first things I do is load up our shelves with books about that topic. First I go through our own bookshelves and pull out all of the books that we own about our topic ~ I like to include fiction and non-fiction, picture books and chapter books.

Once I scour our shelves, I go onto our library's online catalog and do a basic search for children's books about our topic. I quickly glance over the book descriptions and choose about 15-20 to reserve. These get added to our library book basket and I read them to the kids throughout the month.

Yesterday my daughter's read-aloud choice was The Restless Robin by Marjorie Flack. This book was originally published in 1937 ~ and it's definitely a keeper.

It begins with Mr. Cock Robin leaving his winter home in the State of Georgia to head north for the spring. Mr. Robin travels through South Carolina, North Carolina, Washington D.C., Maryland, and on until he finally reaches his intended destination in the State of New Hampshire. We are able to follow Mr. Robin's travels on a map included in the illustrations ~ my kids especially loved it when Mr. Robin passed through our home state of Maryland :)

Once he reaches his destination, he considers many different trees before deciding where to settle down. After choosing his home, he waits for Mrs. Robin to return ~ and once she does they build their nest. Mrs. Robin soon has a nest full of eggs and the story continues as their babies hatch and grow. I really appreciate how the author weaves a charming little story while sharing many facts about birds and their habits.

Our favorite part of the book is at the end when the little boy robin "Buffy" (who cannot fly yet), is stuck in a lilac bush awaiting rescue - he is "peep peeping" very loudly, calling for help, when other birds respond to his cries with their own unique bird calls: an Oriole and then a Chickadee begin to chatter, followed by a Thrasher, a Peabody bird, a Black-throated Green Warbler, a Bluebird, a Song Sparrow, a Flicker and finally a Meadowlark. They all sing their songs to the scared little robin ~ and the best part is that the words and the music of each of their songs is included in the illustrations (now if only I could read music :0)

This book has been a wonderful addition to our bird study and one that I definitely would love to add to our home library. However, it might take a bit of searching to find a copy because it appears that it is out of print :(

Preparing My List

Our first homeschool convention of the season is quickly approaching and even though we already have most of our curriculum for next year, there are a few more resources that I would like to examine and maybe purchase. I've found that I make much better use of my time at these conventions when I have a plan and a shopping list.

Language Arts: I've been debating about whether I should add some spelling next year for my oldest (7) ~ two resources that I want to check out are Sequential Spelling and Spelling by Sound and Structure.

I'm also considering adding in an English resource like Primary Language Lessons or First Language Lessons.

My 5-year old daughter will be officially joining us for school next year. She is currently working through Rod & Staff preschool workbooks. Once she finishes those, I plan to use the same Kindergarten language arts program that I used with my oldest.

Handwriting: DS7 just completed the Italics Workbook B - not sure whether I want to go on to Book C or just move on to creating all of my own copywork. Either way, I do want to purchase some kind of font/copywork program ~ I definitely want to check out StartWrite.

For my k'er I need to purchase a new copy of the Italics Workbook A.

Literature: We are currently about 1/3 of the way through Ambleside Online's Year One - but I guess it couldn't hurt to make a list of Year Two's books and snag them if I can find used or bargain copies while we're shopping.

I just completed a "free reading" list for my 7-year old and I put together a book basket that contained some books from this list. However, he is a voracious reader, and I know that he will probably go through these books very quickly. Now would probably be the perfect time to put together a list for next year so I can take advantage of the used book sales at the conventions.

Math: We are using Mastering Mathematics for my 7-year old's math curriculum - and we own all of the workbooks needed through about 6th - 7th grade, so math is covered for my oldest.

For my upcoming K'er - I plan to use Singapore's Early Bird Math workbooks - we have 1A and 1B, so I guess I could/should add 2A and 2B to my list.

Science: Covered ~ Ambleside includes a number of living science books in it's curriculum. We are also trying to do some of the nature study challenges posted on the Handbook of Nature Study blog.

History: Covered by our Ambleside curriculum.

Misc: I need to choose my plan book for next year. This year I used a very basic plan book and I loved it - not sure if I'll be able to find the exact one or if it would even work next year because I'll be adding my k'er in...

Now, that's a list of our homeschool "needs", and this year, the "needs" list isn't very long. Because the list is so short this year, I do believe that there may be some room in our homeschool budget to indulge some of my homeschool "wants" - you know, the fun stuff. This year my "wants" list includes:

• Charlotte Mason's Elementary Geography
• a markable USA Wall map
• Christian Liberty Nature Reader 5 (we have all of the others)
• more Draw Write Now books (we have 1,4 & 7)
• more Rod & Staff reading books (these are storybooks, not readers)
• one or two Opal Wheeler composer books (to complement our composer studies)
• misc paper supplies (construction paper, journals, etc.) - I love the Miller Pads & Paper booth for these types of supplies

How about you other homeschoolers, are you planning on attending any conventions this year?

Blue Yonder's April Book of Days

Wow, I just purchased this ebook - it is absolutely delightful!

It's chock-ful of things to do for the month of April, from learning about butterflies and cherry blossoms to making shoofly pies.

Thank You PaperbackSwap

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Originally uploaded by threedc4me

Look what came in the mail - courtesy of PaperbackSwap! This book has been on my wishlist for well over a year - I was delighted when I received a message stating that it had been listed on PBSwap. I love this site!

Nature in Winter

We woke up to a world of ice this morning. Thankfully, the ice did not accumulate on the roads...however, it did make for some beautiful landscape...

Here's a close-up of our holly berry bush.

Oh, and this one is for my six-year old son, a basketball net covered with icicles...

Summer Zoo Trip

We have a small local zoo that we have been wanting to check out for the past few years - but hadn't - so when Grandma & Papa told me that they wanted to take the two older kids - I asked if Caleb and I could tag along.

This is what greeted my mom and I (and Caleb in the stroller) as we entered the venomous reptiles building. They were cleaning one of the cages and I guess this snake wanted to explore outside the cage - and they let him! Needless to say, Mom and I turned around and left the building shortly afterwards - when the snake came out even farther!

I thought this alligator exhibit was pretty cool.

This picture was taken by my 11-year old niece - I love the perspective. When my hands were full with the almost 2-year old, she grabbed my camera - and she actually took a lot of really good pictures.

Another one of her pics - this one of the mountain goat.

This one I did take - I was determined to get a good one of this kangaroo.

The kids absolutely loved this zoo. This particular zoo didn't have many of the traditional zoo animals, but they had a number of exotic animals that we might not be able to see at the larger zoos. Plus it was only ten minutes from our house - and we had buy one-get one free coupons -and Grandma & Papa treated!