School Blog Moves

I think I'm going to be moving my home schooling blog to my personal webpage, just to keep everything in the same place.  If you don't have the link and want it, feel free to email me and ask for it.

Phonics and Parchment

Well, the teacher and students at Dupuis Christian Academy have successfully completed another week of school, despite the teacher's battle with less than optimal health.  Caleb learned that /i/ plus /t/ spells 'it' and was so excited that a whole world of words opened up to him (sit, hit, bit ...) that he couldn't wait to tell his little nephew, Ian.  I had to restrain him from making an immediate phone call telling him he could announce his good news at missionary service that evening .. which he did!!  :-)

Lila made several sheets of parchment paper after Heritage Studies, one of which she will use to write Constitutional Rights and the others which she can use as she wishes.  Currently she and Caleb are dressed in what she calls "old time" with bonnets and such and are playing as if they're in the setting of Little House on the Prairie calling Bob and I, Ma and Pa.  Parchment and feather pens/pencils are in use!  :-)

We also did some fire safety complete with alarm blaring fire drills, 911, and stop-drop-roll. Fun is ...

Caleb proudly shows the lowercase 'i' he made.

Lila makes parchment paper.

Fire drill: Stay low, move quickly, out the door to the mailbox.

Phonological Awareness & Science Experiments

Today Caleb and I worked on initial and ending phonemic discrimination for the /t/ sound.  Every time he heard a word that ended with the /t/ sound, he put out a fire with his imaginary fire hose.

In Science, Lila and I learned about sound waves and experimented to find out which materials conduct sound the best.  She is fascinated by the concept of molecules.  Caleb loves to join our experiments.

Testing sound traveling through wood.

Testing sound traveling through metal.

Testing sound traveling through air.

Testing sound traveling through water.  Caleb cracks me up.

Fun with a cup telephone. Although Lila is now collecting cans since learning that metal is a better conductor of sound.

Friday fun

We successfully made it through the first week of school and ended our week with a trip to the Springfield Science Museum to visit the Grossology Exhibit and the Hands-on Science Lab.  We walked on a huge tongue through a giant mouth into the Grossology room where we first encountered Nigel Nose-It-All, a 9 ft tall animated faucet-head character who occasionally has a large drop of green snot drip out of his nose which he sniffs back up.  EWWWWWWW.  So gross.  Caleb has renamed the exhibit the "Booger Room" and declares his intent to never return because it was "naaaasty."  lol  I do admit my stomach was lurching at the several parts and much to Lila's protests of my unfair behavior, I refused to participate in the sniff test to determine which odor was foot, mouth, armpit, or butt.  G-R-O-S-S

Caleb shows off his triangle hat he made in math class before we leave for the museum.

Lila quickly learns the correct organ order for barfing. Look at her face. Ha! The noise was indeed gross.

Lila makes Burp Man belch. Look at Caleb's face. lol

The kids play giant operation.

School begins

At the beginning of August my kiddos started bugging me to start the new school year for them.  Now, don't get me wrong, I am beyond thrilled at their love for learning, their excitement to have a structured school day, and their enjoyment at my home school program.  But, mommy needs to wait until September!!!  :-)  I have been swamped this summer trying to complete a double load of graduate courses, two of which ended up taking at least four hours per day each.  Tack those schooling requirements of my own onto doing my best to provide a fun-filled summer for my children and it has been one intense ride.  So, I held off on beginning school until September 1st.  And the first day of school began with much rejoicing, shouting, and dancing around by one little man named Caleb (Kindergarten) and one precious girl named Lila (3rd grade).  Off we go for another year of learning ... enjoy the photos.

Excitement over starting 3rd Grade.  Chose math class as her first class.

      

Caleb works on his name tag for Kindergarten.