4th Grade - Weeks 2 & 3

With all of our other summer fun going on, we've gotten off to a slow start.  We only got 4 days of school done in the last 2 weeks, but that's the whole point of schooling year round, so we can be flexible with our schedule.  We finished up Unit 1 & began Unit 2.

In our Bible time, we finished discussing persistence and Proverbs 2:3-5.  We began memorizing Proverbs 11:2 and have had many discussions on what humility is and why we need to be humble instead of prideful.

In history, we've continued learning about Christopher Columbus.  For one of our projects, we used a balloon to be the earth, and Samuel labeled index cards with the continents and oceans and then put them on the balloon in their proper places.  We then checked his work on our globe.  He did a great job of getting them in the right locations!

On another day in history, Samuel copied a map of Columbus' travels from one of his books. He took his time trying to get it exactly right.  He did a great job!

In storytime, we've continued reading about George Rogers Clark.  Samuel is really enjoying this book.  He has also been enjoying the daily poetry readings.  I'm glad he likes it, and it is something I would have never thought to add in on my own.  He takes his time each day on his copywork so he can get the poem written exactly right.

In science we are continuing to learn about the seashore.  We did an experiment one day to show how waves are caused by the wind.  He liked turning the hair dryer all the way up so he could make "monstrous waves".  

For his science notebook, he made a notebook page with Genesis 1:10 and then copied pictures of animals from his book.  He was supposed to copy animals that live on the shore and between the tides.  I misread the directions and had him copy from the wrong page for his between the tides animals, but he spent so much time on it, I didn't want to make him redo it.

Finally, for DITHOR, he finished reading Catwings and began working on his book project.  For his project, he had to draw pictures from the beginning, middle, and end of the story and then use props to retell his story.  He did a great job!

So far, Samuel is still loving his "new school" as he calls it.  He told me the other day, "Mom, school is so much fun.  I look forward to it every day."  I'm sure that attitude will come and go, but it made me happy that he's at least having fun right now!

4th Grade - Week 1

We started back to school on July 14th.  We only did 3 days of school this week, because we had some fun things scheduled on the other days.  Samuel told me over and over how much he enjoyed school.  In our Bible time, we've been memorizing Proverbs 2:3-5 and discussing how we must be persistent in seeking after God.  In history, we have been reading about Christopher Columbus and his trip to the New World.  We did a landscape painting of the sea, following detailed instructions of what colors to mix and how to paint in the foreground, middle ground, and background of the painting.  Samuel loved this activity!

 Samuel painting the foreground with the lightest shade of blue.  

Painting the middle ground with a darker shade of blue 

Painting the sky 

The finished product!

In science, we are going to be studying the seashore, and this week we specifically began learning about the tides.  We watched a great documentary on Netflix (The Blue Planet: Episode 7) that brought to life what we were studying and showed how many animals and plants are dependent on the tides.

 Copying diagrams of high and low tide from the book

 His finished notebook page

We also did a science experiment to see why some things float and others don't.  Samuel loves any type of experiment so he had a lot of fun that day.  

 Filling the sink with water...

 dropping a coin and watching it sink

 Being silly...he was supposed to be trying to push the balloon under the water

 Being more serious..feeling the water push back against the balloon

 Working on his notebook page describing what happened. 

His experiment page

We also started reading George Rogers Clark for storytime.  So far, Samuel has really enjoyed this book.  Especially since the last chapter we read involved a secret tunnel and catching a thief!  

For Drawn into the Heart of Reading (DITHOR) we are finishing up Fantasy since that's where we ended last year.  He is reading Catwings and is almost done with it.  Next week, he will begin working on his end of book project.  

So far, our year has been off to a great start!

4th Grade!

Samuel is now in 4th grade!  Here is a list of what we are using for school this year:

Heart of Dakota Bigger Hearts For His Glory
Saxon Math Intermediate 4
Rosetta Stone Spanish

I also have a couple of critical thinking workbooks that I throw in a couple times a week, but Samuel thinks they are fun and not school :)

We are planning on starting our new school year July 14th and I hope to get back to posting weekly updates on my blog, so stay tuned!

I'm Back & Changes to Our Homeschool

After a long break from blogging I am back.  There have been a lot of changes in the last year and a half.  Samuel is now halfway through 3rd grade and we have moved to a new house.  Over Christmas break we made the decision to switch from Sonlight back to Heart of Dakota.  While we enjoyed the books in Sonlight, we felt that all we were doing was reading and Samuel needed more hands-on activities.  I was supplementing with various things but it was making our day super long and no fun for either one of us, so the best choice was just to switch to something that had all the extras I wanted already built in.

If we had stuck with Heart of Dakota, Samuel would be in Bigger Hearts for His Glory this year, but we are saving that for next year.  We decided to use Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory even though he is on the older side for it so that he could get used to some of the extra writing and things that Heart of Dakota requires.  We are going through it at double speed so we will be finished by the end of this school year and then will pick up with Bigger Hearts in the fall.  We started on January 7th and so far it's going great.  Now that we have art projects, science experiments, and more I will have plenty of fun things to post on my blog again.

So our curriculum we are using the rest of the year is:

• Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory
• Drawn into the Heart of Reading with Level 3 Books
• Saxon Math Intermediate 3 - just continuing on with this
• All About Spelling 2 - We are 3/4 of the way done with this book so want to finish it, but then we will begin following the spelling in the Heart of Dakota guides
• Apologia Astronomy - Samuel likes science so we are continuing with this in addition to Heart of Dakota's science.  When we finish Astronomy in 6 weeks we will be moving on to Apologia Zoology 1

I also have not been able to get to my scrapbooking as much as I would like so decided restarting my blog would be a good way to keep track of family fun as well.  Samuel is playing basketball for the first time this season so that should be interesting.

2012-2013 School Year

After much discussion and going back and forth on our decision, we have decided to continue using Sonlight.  We had thought about switching back to Heart of Dakota, but Samuel loves the Sonlight books and the science experiments so we are going to stick with it.  For 2nd grade, we will be covering World History.  We’ve already gotten our books and they all look like so much fun!  Samuel is excited!

So here is a list of what we will be using:

Sonlight Core B – Intro to World History, part 1

Sonlight Language Arts 3 – included with this will be MCP Phonics, A Reason for Handwriting, and Wordly Wise vocabulary

Sonlight Readers 3

Sonlight Science B – Samuel loves Sonlight science.  He really enjoyed all the hands on activities and projects last year and is excited to see what he will get to do this year.

Saxon Math 2

Teach Them Spanish 2 – I had planned on ordering La Clase Divertida for Spanish last year, but it never worked out.  I found this series at our local school supply store and we have really enjoyed it.  It’s not a complete language program, but it is at least introducing him to vocabulary.  In a couple of years, we will add in Rosetta Stone Spanish.

Samuel will also be taking 3 classes at our co-op – American History, Science, and World Geography.

I’ve been getting everything ready, and we should be kicking off 2nd grade on July 16th.  We are starting early so we will have plenty of time to take off as needed. 

School’s Out for Summer!

Samuel and I are finished with our school year.  He is officially done with 1st grade and will be starting 2nd grade in a few weeks.  We are only taking a break till July 16th so we can have more time off during the year.

I neglected my blog badly this past year and don’t have any pictures, but we loved our year with Sonlight.  Samuel really enjoyed the books and loved the science experiments and the DVD that came with the science program.  We had a great time learning about different time periods and cultures all around the world.  I’ll do another post soon showing what we will be doing for next year.

Hiking to Abrams Falls

One Saturday, we decided to drive up to Cades Cove and take Samuel hiking to Abram’s Falls.  The trail was 5 miles round trip and he walked the whole way.  He did great! 

The hike was uneventful till we rounded the last corner before the falls and discovered that we were not the only ones who wanted to visit the falls that day…

The crazy people at the falls were all trying to get close to the bears and take pictures with them.  These pictures look close up, but we were on a rock in the middle of the river.  We just have a really good zoom lens.  No way was I going anywhere close to a momma bear and her cub!

After the bears left, we got to enjoy the Falls.

Orange and White Game

Adam has wanted to take Samuel to a UT football game since he was born, but was waiting for him to be old enough to sit through one.  This year, he decided to take him to the Orange and White game as a test to see if he was ready for a real game.  Samuel said it was fun but got bored before the end of the game.  Guess he might have to wait another year or two before going to a game that requires us to spend money buying a ticket.

Happy Easter!

Samuel was excited to dig into his Easter basket after church.

Instead of candy, we stuffed his eggs with mini Star Wars guys

Samuel’s a Green Belt

Samuel tested for and received his green belt!  He is doing a great job at karate and is excited about getting to start learning how to use somalis (short fighting sticks)