Gardening?

Box Day

What is Box Day you ask? The day we get our Sonlight Curriculum for the new school year. Camryn only had 2 books in this order but was so excited to see them. Her books were~ Eloise Wilkin, 9 stories in one book from Golden Books. I am old enough as well as young enough to have heard a few of these when I was a little girl. the other book is one I hadn’t heard of before: Milly Molly Mandy Stories. But since both are of girls I’m sure they will be a hit with her. We also bought a microscope this year, The boys are so excited to use it. They will have to wait a bit though, we have to get a few things done first. Also I ordered a Botany slide set from Rainbow Resource Center and it is not here yet. Noah and I just looked over his books and he seems excited. He liked many of them and that is a great thing to have in a child. Now to wait for our order from Rainbow Resource Center, that order should be more exciting for the kids.

Books……

I finally sat down and ordered the children’s schoolbooks for this fall. We even bought a microscope this year. Would you like to see what I ordered? Here’s the lists:

From Sonlight.

DIVE CD MATH 7/6 – 4TH ED
ELOISE WILKIN STORIES
MICROSCOPE FOR N AMERICA ONLY
MICROSCOPY SCIENCE SUPP KIT
MILLY-MOLLY-MANDY, THE
STARTING STRONG
SING THE WORD: THE HEAVENS DEC
DIARY/EARLY AMERICAN BOY
DISCOVER & DO VOL. 5-SCIENCE 4
SPACE, STARS, PLANETS
ELECTRICITY/MAGNETISM
ELECTRICITY, TOPS 32

MAGNETISM, TOPS 33

COMPLETE BK OF MICROSCOPE
LIGHT AND COLOR
SCIENCE SUPPLY KIT
SCIENCE 4 IG ELEC,MAG,ASTRONMY
RULES OF THE ROAD
WINGED.WATCHMAN, THE
GREAT TURKEY WALK, THE
ACROSS FIVE APRILS
OXFORD ILLUS BX AMERICAN POEMS
CADDIE WOODLAWN
ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY
MIRACLES ON MAPLE HILL
LITTLE BRITCHES
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN
GREAT WHEEL, THE
MOCCASIN TRAIL
ALL SAIL SET
LETTER TO MRS. ROOSEVELT, A
LINCOLN: A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY
MONITOR.AND MERRIMAC
WEE SING AMERICA – CD
HERO OVER HERE
IN SEARCH OF THE SOURCE
WORLD WARS
WILLIAM WILBERFORCE

STORY.OF THOMAS ALVA EDISON
SIMON BOLIVAR
SOUTH AMERICA
UNIT.ABOUT CANADA
STORY USA 3, AMERICA – GIANT
STORY USA 4, MODERN AMERICA
4 TIME LINE FIGURES
PERILOUS.ROAD, THE
BY THE GREAT HORN SPOON
FREEDOM TRAIN: HARRIET TUBMAN
SHADES OF GRAY
TURN HOMEWARD, HANNALEE
OLD YELLER
HELEN KELLER

ALL OF A KIND FAMILY

THIMBLE SUMMER

IN THE YEAR OF THE BOAR
PLAIN GIRL
GONE.AWAY LAKE
SEVENTEENTH SWAP, THE
BRUCHKO
WRIGHT BROTHERS, THE
GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER
TERRIBLE.WAVE,THE
SING DOWN THE MOON
CORE 4 IG INTRO AMER HIST-2

The List from Rainbow Resources Center:

Horizons Mathematics K Workbook Book One -
000682 – Horizons Mathematics K Workbook Book Two -
000689 – Horizons Mathematics 2 Workbook Book One -
002333 – Language Arts 5 Lifepac Complete Boxed Set -
004023 – Spelling Power Stdt Acty Record – Red -
004028 – Spelling Power Stdt Acty Record – Green -
004100 – Reading Detective Beginning -
004473 – MCP Word Study Worktext E (1995 edition) -
004841 – Artistic Pursuits Book 1 Grades 4-6 -
004956 – DUPLO Garage Set -
005652 – Story of the World Vol. III -
009088 – Exploring Creation with Astronomy -
009330 – God and Me Devotional Series (Girls 2-5) -
010030 – Basic Botany Prepared Slide Set -
010814 – Artistic Pursuits Grades K-3 Bk 1 Intro Vis A -
011083 – Reason for Handwriting D Student Workbook -
013043 – Gettysburg (a Landmark Book) -
016189 – Veritas Phonics Gr 1 Student Kit w/out Primer -
016193 – Veritas Phonics K Student Workbook (no Primer -
016429 – Building Christian Character -
017687 – Alnico 2‰ Horseshoe Magnet -
020082 – American Revolution (Landmark) -
020598 – Horizons Health Student Book Gr 5 -
020732 – Horizons Health Workbook Gr 2 -
020758 – Horizons Health Workbook Gr K -
021614 – Horizons Mathematics 2 Workbook Two -
022989 – Watercolor Crayons (12) -
023746 – Designer Paper 20# acid free 100 shts -
023764 – Marble Paper 20# acid free 100 sheets -
023767 – Pastel Paper 20# acid free 100 sheets -
024179 – Can You Find Me? K -
024433 – Math 7/6 4e Homeschool Tests and Worksheets -
024848 – Pirate Diary: Journal of Jake Carpenter -
026489 – Galloping the Globe -
029954 – Magic Mud – 3 lb. container -
031209 – Story of the World Vol. 4: Modern Age -
033024 – Patriots in Petticoats (Landmark Book) -
033033 – Riding with the King Puzzle w/Matching Toy
035094 – Legend of the Knight 1000 piece Shaped Puzzle
035350 – Art for Kids: Drawing –

Hopefully this will keep us busy and having lots of fun and great bonding time.

Starting the Portfolio's

Since we are moving in a few weeks I’m trying to get things into the boys portfolio so that in May i’m not a crazy woman trying to find their work for the teacher. We may be behind in our school as far as book work but I’m amazed at all we have done since last June. Here is a brief synopsis.

1. June 2007~ Noah went to camp, boys took swimming lessons, went to see a play about Rachel Carson. Went to the zoo and saw the Dinosaur exhibit with friends, as well as the animal show there.
   
2. July ~ 4th of July parade, and fireworks, more swim lessons, cook outs at the park almost every week, hike the O & E Canal lock 39. Saw the “Stinky Plant” at the Rain Forest.
   
3. August~Swim lessons, Upwards Soccer Camp, Bug Fest, finish the summer reading club for church, painting Grandma’s upstairs hallway. Did some botany experiments and graphing.
4. Sept. ~ Took a few nature walks, started back to sunday school. Did our yearly visit to squire’s castle.
   
5. October ~ more hikes, Boo at the Zoo, celebrating the 5 October birthdays.
   
6. November~ getting ready for the holidays, helping out at church with dad, spending time with Grandma E. Celebrated Dad’s birthday.
7. December~ Noah, playing basketball. Singing in the Children’s Choir for Christmas Eve, started house hunting, visiting with the Godparents, celebrating my birthday. Putting up trees in our church sanctuary.
8. January ~ Welcoming in the New Year, a trip to the zoo on a crazy warm day 1/8/08, bought a house,
9. February~ Celebrated V-Day, picked out colors for rooms in our new house. Went to the Car Show. Saw Tetelestai at our church.
   
10. March~ will see us celebrating Noah’s first communion and moving into our new home. As well as Easter.
    
11. April~ hopefully will see us planning a garden for May. Hoping to get to the Art Museum.
    
12. May~ getting ready for Noah to go to camp, seeing the teacher, signing up for swim team and lessons for Adrien and Camryn. Mom is taking the summer off from college.
    

This was just a quick look at our year and what the next few months will look like. I have to get Adrien a scrapbook and start scrapping their photos for the teacher. I think I will order him a book asap and then work on it a bit during spring break in between packing. If I get the time, with these classes I’m taking.

So what are you doing to get ready for the end of the year?

Radish experiments

So we have been working steadily this week on doing the experiments. Today we did the four environment and the day/night experiment. Noah has had to draw the seeds every day as well as graph what stage they are in. The Apologia Botany book is here, delivered today as well as the Draw and Write through History. Hopefully the drawing book will keep my kids busy as it is raining and they are getting a bit out of control. I also need Noah or Kendra to draw a picture of todays lesson about sunlight.

Plants and charting…..

so we needed a graphing notebook to chart our radishes but i didn’t have time to get one right away so we will do the radish experiment again next week. However I did have Noah do the work to get the first day of charting ready. This way we are ready to go again. Well, I scanned it but it didn’t turn out very good so you will have to use your imagination. Just picture graph paper with 4×4 squares on it. 20 of them.

Sonlight Science

Well, I’m not pleased with Sonlight’s science at the moment. They start you off with plants and then quickly go to reading about animals, however in week 7 you start doing science experiments with seeds. *go figure* Then somewhere in the weeks 15 or so you go back to growing different kinds of seeds for the experiments. You spend weeks doing seed experiments but only reading briefly, while reading tons of animal stuff and not even a poster of the different animals. So I’ve decided to buy Apologia’s Botany and we will use it from Aug. to Dec then pick up with animals in Jan through May. It kind of frustrates me since I really like the books that SL is using for science this year but to not correlate the reading with the experiments just drives me crazy. I do however really like the dvd of the experiments as well as using the TOPS books. I would like to add in a few more TOPS books later. So today we will start with the first TOPS experiment for Radishes.

so today we did a couple of science experiments. We did the water in the cup holding a piece of cardboard one. The look on Noah’s face was priceless. Especially when I pointed out that the air pressure was so great it curved the cardboard into the cup of water. The second we made a barometer our of a jar, balloon and a straw. It is working as the straw has raised a bit and the balloon is curving into the jar at the moment. Noah read a chapter of The House on Walenska Street. I need to get Adrien to read a bit to me tonight. The kids went next door to play and I’m sure they will go back over later on. But that is ok, I like these children and they could use some socializing without me doing the work.

We have sprouts

So the results are in…….the plastic baggies have sprouted in all bags except for one. We noticed them yesterday. Today we have sprouts in only one of the clay pots. We will wait a few days and then transplant them into pots.

Noah's Evaluation

We just love his teacher. She is just wonderful. She asked Noah what he wanted to be when he grows up and of course he said ‘a Pastor’. I teased him and said, that’s what I want him to be. So Diane asked him ‘what does a Pastor need?’ “Spirit” was the reply. She laughed and agreed that if you have the right spirit everything else will fall into place. We told her all about my new bible~ She thought it sounded really cool. I promised Noah one if he does become a Pastor. We told her what we loved this year~Nature hikes. What changes we had made to our curriculum, things we felt didn’t work, for example~only reading the read alouds that pertained to our history. Writing paragraphs vs. spelling. Reading gradually harder books. Other changes? switching to Saxon Math with the DIVE cd in the fall. I told her how we tested him for placement and how with a bit of instruction he placed in 65. Pretty good since we tested him only half way through 3rd grade math. I explained that math is his strong point and that if it became a problem that I would slow it down for him. Other changes? science, we will continue to read about the science that interests us, but the bulk of our science will be nature walks, with observation and then researching what we see, as well as doing lots more science experiments. So we are doing the egg in vinegar experiment as I write but we had to substitute red wine vinegar for white vinegar. We will do it this way and then the regular way and do a compare/contrast of the 2 vinegars. Then we will use the egg and cover it in corn syrup and see what happens. Will post it here for you all. She loved the way that Sonlight teaches how to write paragraphs and of course raved over the ones that Noah had written. While Tommy and I felt that we hadn’t really done a lot. She pointed out just how much we had accomplished this year. So I’m working on a plan for our summer schooling starting for thursday. Which will be very light as Noah and I have hit major burnout. Then hopefully by august we will be refreshed and ready to roll. So the eval is over and so is our heavy schedule. Just in time too. She complimented me on how intune I am with our schooling and how I will drop things that don’t work as well as stick with the things that do work. So that was our day and we are feeling very happy with this year.