Weekly Report 19/6 - 25/6

SATURDAY

Much of today was spent recovering from our trip to the city yesterday.

SUNDAY

Flossy read, discussed and narrated SOTW1 Homer with Rusty.

We went on an awesome nature walk this afternoon. We walk along the river quite some way. We stumbles across some interesting plants and spotted some birds in trees and ducks on the river. It was such a lovely day!

MONDAY

Together -

SSL C5

Read aloud Vole (Virtue)

Flossy -

Completed MP F-9 & F-10

Completed WWE1 W17 D3&4

Worked on AAS3 S2

Read aloud SOTW1 The First Olympic Games & narrated

Bugsy -

Completed MO E-5

Completed L50 100EZ

Worked on AAS1 S9 8 words

Handwriting

Chicky -

Worked on L4 100EZ

TUESDAY

Flossy -

Completed MO F-11 & F-12

Outlined, composed and wrote a letter to a penpal

Completed Sl Sci W9 D1

Bugsy -

Completed MO E-6

Read aloud 2 readers

Chicky -

Drawing

WEDNESDAY

Together -

SSL

Flossy -

Completed MO G-1 & G-2

Outlined, composed and wrote a letter to a penpal

Bugsy -

Completed MO E-7 & E-8

Read aloud 1 reader

Worked on Websters

Chicky -

Drawing

THURSDAY

Together -

Read aloud Paddle to the Sea C3

Flossy -

Completed MO G-3, G-4, G-5, G-6

Bugsy -

Completed MO E-9

Read aloud 1 reader

Chicky -

Drawing

FRIDAY

No school today. We had a busy day running errands. Flossy got a new pair of glasses. Bugsy got a haircut. We all got something nice for lunch. We visited our local school supply shop who have an awesome end of financial year sale on and picked up some bargains.

My motivation was very low this week. I think I have been feeling some pregnancy tiredness. I am almost 12 weeks along and travelling well so hopefully the tiredness will pass quickly and we will be back to full steam ahead.

Nature Walk

Weekly Report 12/6 - 18/6

SATURDAY

We spent most of the day working on the house cleaning, washing etc.

SUNDAY

The kids convinced Russ to take them bike riding. Well, they rode and he jogged :-) Flossy came home able to ride her big bike all by herself! A very big achievement for her. The bike is a little big, her feet don't touch the ground so she needs assistance with starting and stopping but she has the peddling and balance down, yay!

MONDAY

Russ was home today but we decided to school anyway as we already had plans to take Thursday and Friday off. School with Daddy is FUN!

Together -

Read aloud St Francis (Virtue)

SSL C4

Read aloud C1 Detectives in Togas

Read aloud C1 The Magic Faraway Tree

Read aloud The Runaway Bunny

Flossy -

Completed MO F-4, F-5, F-6

Completed WWE1 W16 D1&2

Worked on AAS3 S1

Completed SOTW1 Greece Gets an Alphabet

Bugsy -

Completed MO E-3

Completed L49 100EZ

Completed AAS1 S8

Chicky -

Played with c-rods

Worked on L3 100EZ

TUESDAY

It was a very raining day today. The kids got started with a game after breakfast and it was hard to pull them away. They were itching to get back to it so we had a light school day. When the creative juices are flowing best to let them :-)

Together -

ALGF L4

Flossy -

Completed WWE1 W16 D3&4

Worked on AAS3 S1

Bugsy -

Worked on L50 100EZ

Worked on AAS1 S9

Chicky -

Played and played and played!

WEDNESDAY

Together -

Read aloud Visitors (Virtue)

SSL C4

Read aloud C2 The Magic Faraway Tree

Read aloud 1/2 The Little Mermaid, Andersons Tales

Read aloud When I'm Feeling Loved

Flossy -

Completed MO F-7

Completed WWE1 W17 D1&2

Worked on AAS3 S1

Bugsy -

Completed MO E-4

Worked on L50 100EZ

Worked on AAS1 S9

Chicky -

Drawing

THURSDAY

We headed out to our friends house for violin lessons and lunch. Everyone had a great time. We stopped by an orchard on the way back for a crate of pears. Really loving all the farm fresh fruit at excellent prices!

FRIDAY

We set off early for the big smoke. We stopped at a friends for a big play and lunch. Everyone had a wonderful time catching up. Then we headed out to the hills to meet a litter of puppies, their Mum & Dad and the breeder. We had already secured a pup from this litter but we needed to pick out our little guy. They were all so cute! 2F and 4M, they were 4 weeks old. We had already decided to take a boy so that narrowed the field a little. We chose Jasper and he will be coming home with us in about 4 more weeks.

New Curricula - First Impressions

In the last two days we have received in the mail Writing With Ease 2 and Getting Started with Latin. These are for late this year or next year whenever we finish up what we are currently using. I thought I would share my first impressions.

WRITING WITH EASE 2

This is a significant step up from Writing With Ease 1 which we are currently working through. The copywork selections are longer and the children are introduced to dictation. The selections are somewhat difficult. This is not a graded text so Level 2 is not necessarily designed to be used by a Year 2. I can see that an older child (Y3 or Y4) would have little difficulty with the dictation exercises but I personally feel that your average Year 2 would find it difficult, mostly because of spelling issues. I am hoping that Flossy will find it the appropriate challenge. I certainly don't think she will struggle in any way but I don't see us doubling up lessons as we have been doing with Level 1. Looking through the book I like the way SWB encourages beginning summarising skills which is one of the main reasons we are using this writing program.

GETTING STARTED WITH LATIN

From the moment I open this book to take a proper look at it, I love it. It is such a gentle, systematic approach to learning latin and it makes me wonder why we have bothered with Song School Latin and Minimus to date. They have both been fun programs, don't get me wrong, but this book is 'really' learning latin if you know what I mean. I can't see a problem moving through 1 lesson per day but should we need to slow up it will be very easy to do so. Most lessons have 10 sentences to translate from latin to english. The grammar instruction looks solid and the writing requirement is minimal. This book is excellent value for money and the audio is available free from the authors website, what more could you ask for? One thing to note is that your child really needs to be reading well, I would think a middle school level at least. Not a problem for us, but not all Year 2's would be ready. (I guess that is where Song School Latin comes to it's own, your child really doesn't need to be reading at all to get something out of that program.)

So on face value these are both winning purchases.

Weekly Report 5/6 - 11/6

SATURDAY

The kids went to my Aunty and Uncles house and were taken on a nature walk along the river. I did the food shopping in peace :) Rusty is away for the week playing his much loved lawn bowls.

SUNDAY

We all went out to a local dam and had a sausage sizzle lunch. My Anuty, Uncle and Nanna also came. The kids had a wonderful time exploring the bush, playing footy and throwing the boomerang. They were doing work on the dam wall which provided plenty of discussion.

MONDAY

Was actually a public holiday for our state however we didn't have any plans so did school anyway.

Together -

Read aloud A Child's Prayer from The Children's Book of Virtues

SSL C3

Read aloud Jesse Bear - What Will You Wear?

Read aloud Beauty and the Beast from A First Book of Fairy Tales

Read aloud C2 Mr Poppers Penguins

Flossy -

Completed MO E-20, E-21, E-22

Completed WWE1 W14 D1&2

Worked on AAS3 S1 review

Completed The Mycenaeans SOTW1

Bugsy -

Worked on MO D-4

Completed L47 100EZ

Worked on T2 L1 Webster's Speller

Worked on AAS1 S8

Chicky -

Drawing

TUESDAY

Together -

Read aloud Kindness to Animals from The Children's Book of Virtues

ALGF L4

Read aloud Mike Milligan and his Steam Shovel

Read aloud Diamonds and Toads from A First Book of Fairy Tales

Read aloud The Tinderbox from Andersons Tales

Flossy -

Minimus C2

Completed MO E-23

Completed WWE1 W14 D3&4

Worked on AAS3 S1 review

Bugsy -

Worked on L48 100EZ

Worked on AAS1 S8

Completed MO D-4

Chicky -

Worked on L3 100EZ

WEDNESDAY

We went to a nearby town for our very first violin lesson. Flossy and Bugsy thought it was wonderful. We took a plate to share for lunch as the lessons were being held at a friends home. The kids had a wonderful time playing afterward. On the way home we stopped at a local orchard for a box of apples, they were a steal and excellent quality!

THURSDAY

Together -

Read aloud One Wooly Wombat

Read aloud Twelve Dancing Princesses from A First Book of Fairy Tales

Read aloud Thumbelina from Andersons Tales

Flossy -

Completed MO E-23a, E-24, E-25

Completed WWE1 W15 D1&2

Worked on AAS3 S1

Completed The Greek Dark Ages SOTW1

Bugsy -

Completed MO E-1

Completed L48 100EZ

Worked on AAS1 S8

Worked on Webster's Speller T2 L1

Chicky -

Worked on L3 100EZ

Drawing

FRIDAY

Together -

Read aloud The Fisherman & his Wife from A First Book of Fairy Tales - excellent moral in this one and it provoked a great discussion.

Read aloud We're Going on a Bear Hunt

Read aloud The Emperors New Clothes from Andersons Tales

Flossy -

Completed MO F-2, F-3

Completed WWE1 W15 D3&4

Worked on AAS3 S1

Bugsy -

Completed MO E-2

Worked on AAS1 S8

Worked on Webster's Speller T2 L1

Worked on L49 100EZ

Chicky -

Drawing - todays picture was of Rusty and it was actually recognisable with a circle face, eyes, mouth, hair and legs. I could see she put a lot of thought into the picture as she was drawing hopefully the start of more real pictures and not just scribbles :)

An unofficial grade skip

As the middle of the year approaches it is time to review what we have been up to and where we are headed. It has become very obvious to me that the course of study Flossy has undertaken this year, her Pre-Primary year, is far in excess of what Bugsy will be capable of next year which will be his Pre-Primary year. It is also certainly in excess of her age peers at public school. So with much thought and reflection I have decided this Pre-Primary course is actually a Year 1 level course and on completion Flossy will move into Year 2 next year.

That leaves a gaping hole in my programming. Not only do I need to come up with a Year 2 plan for Flossy, I now need to come up with a Pre-Primary year for Bugsy. He will then roll into the Year 1 course of study the following year.

So all hands are now on deck to get some decisions made and materials purchased so that everything is scheduled out and ready to go well before the end of this year. I want it all ready to move on well before our new baby arrives throwing life into chaos.

*Watch for some shuffling in the plans on my sidebar*

Drawing Board Entries

A few months ago whilst staying at a friends house all the kids entered a drawing competition. Bugsy won! So this month we went looking for that magazine so we could enter the next round. Here are our entries.

Flossy's picture of Angelina Ballerina.

Bugsy's picture of Wilson from Chuggington.

Chicky's picture of a sun, a dog and Mummy.

Weekly Report 29/5 - 4/6

SATURDAY

Still recovering from the head colds and a trip to the city we had a quiet day.

SUNDAY

We planted out half of our winter garden with broccoli, cauliflour, beetroot and rhubarb.

MONDAY

House organising day. After leaving everything because we were sick last week it was time to get everything back in order.

TUESDAY

We had a wonderful morning meeting some new homeschooling families in a nearby town. They have a once a month activity morning with a shared lunch. The kids enjoyed the activities and loved meeting new people. I can see this being part of our regular schedule.

WEDNESDAY

Together -

Read aloud Kangaroo story (Virtue)

SSL C2

Read aloud Ask Mr Bear

Read aloud Crictor

Read aloud C1 My Poppers Penguins

Read aloud C2 Paddle-to-the-Sea

Flossy -

Completed MO E-13, E-14, E-15

Completed AAS2 S25 Teaching

Completed WWE1 W12 D3&4

Bugsy -

Completed MO D-1

Completed L46 100EZ

Worked on AAS1 S7 5 words

Chicky -

Worked on L3 100EZ

THURSDAY

Together -

Read aloud St George and the Dragon (Virtue)

Completed C1 Minimus

Completed ALGF L3 maths

Attended a homeschooler picnic at a great playground which was new to us. Met some lovely ladies and kids who we will hopefully catch up with again soon.

Flossy -

Completed AAS2 S25 Spelling YAY! Level 2 complete :)

Completed WWE1 W13 D1&2

Bugsy -

Worked on L47 100EZ

Completed AAS1 S7 4 words

Completed MO D-2

Chicky -

Butterfly colouring in

FRIDAY

Together -

Read aloud Okapi (Virtue)

SSL c3

Read aloud This is My Family

Read aloud Make Way for Ducklings

Read aloud The Greek News

Read aloud Blinky Bill C2

Play doh

Flossy -

Completed MO E-16, E-17, E-18, E-19

Completed WWE1 W13 D3&4

Completed SL Sci K W8 D1&2

Bugsy -

Completed MO D-3

Worked on L47 100EZ

Worked on AAS1 S8 review

Chicky -

Colouring in

Our Latin Progression

We are studying latin for the reasons outlined in TWTM and in CM's writings. We are really enjoying it and I can already see the benefits.

Our latin progression will be -

*disclaimer, this is subject to change!*

Song School Latin

Minimus

Getting Started with Latin

Latin Prep 1 (we may spread over 2 years)

Latin Prep 2

Latin Prep 3

So You Really Want to Learn Latin 2 (we may go straight to level 3)

So You Really Want to Learn Latin 3