Preschool Fun

I haven't been as regular as On the Loose would like with preschool these days, but we still manage to have some fun.

He is still greatly enjoying his bags we collected as part of our preschool bag swap with our Five in a Row friends!

This one uses foam shapes to organize by color and by shape:

This is one of his very favorites! You "fish" for the letter fish with a magnetic pole and place the letters on the card one at a time.

This is the one he and I made for the swap. It's another magnetic fishing pole. There are 10 magnetic items and 10 non-magnetic items. The goal is to classify them by what sticks and what doesn't.

Here's some play-doh fun with his brother. He's made a "circle shaped pizza with tomato sauce and cheese on top. ":-)

We've also read a wide variety of library books, played blocks, experimented with numbers, etc. I think we've been successful in spite of our not being regular. We'll see what next week holds!

Buried under a pile of curriculum

We officially began our 11th year of homeschooling today. Turned Loose is a new 11th grader. Footloose has begun 8th grade. And, On the Loose is enjoying pre-kindergarten.

I must admit that, due to the events of the summer, I have had no motivation to plan the new year. The older kids take classes through The Potter's School (see the left side bar for a link) and those classes do not start until September 14th. So, I only have to plan the lessons for the classes I facilitate for them. Even so, my motivation is non-existent.

Maybe this is part of the reason why. This pile is just history books:



I had to dig into the box where all of this was stored in order to find the logic book and Bible curricula that Footloose will be using this year. I also need to find some pre-k stuff.

I really must figure out a better, more efficient storage system then just throwing it all into a big rubbermaid bin!

When I dig myself out, I will post about how I plan high school: how I store records, what I keep, what forms I create, etc. That way, maybe I can remember my system when it's time to plan again! :-)

Lesson Planning-High School

This week is lesson planning week for our second semester. Today I'm focussed on Turned Loose and his sophomore year.

Here's a list of his course work:



Bible:Systematic Theology using Berkhof's Manual of Christian Doctrine

Math: Precalculus (He will actually earn two math credits this year as he took Algebra 2 over the summer and 1st quarter of this year.)

English 10: Advanced Composition (through The Potter's School), grammar review, American lit

History: AP US History (also through The Potter's School)

Chemistry: Using Apologia (again, through The Potter's School)

Latin 2:: The Potter's School

Logic: Advanced Formal Logic (1st semester) and Material Logic (2nd semester) both using Memoria Press Materials

Music Theory: Using Alfred's Essentials



He also works hard at his favorite endeavor-his speech and debate club. Tournament season is upon us so we'll have to work extra hard at staying on track.

High school has certainly been a challenge but the rewards of seeing your now young adult work towards his long term goals are very fulfilling!

Tomorrow...7th grade planning!

Sharing a Homeschool Treasure

Today I wanted to share one of my favorite homeschooling sites:

Homeschool Share




Homeschool moms are so incredibly resourceful and creative and those who participate at HSS are no exception! Plus, they are willing to share it with all of us. This is a great thing to those who, like me, don't have a creative bone in their bodies.

There are so many incredible free resources all in one place. Really--something for everyone! They have also, recently, added message boards so that you can actually hang out with the creative ladies. :-)

Don't miss this wealth of information! Thank you, Ami, and your team, for offering such a great place for homeschooling moms!

Looking ahead to this week...

I know I've mentioned here before that the baby and I use www.letteroftheweek.com. This week should prove to be exciting as the theme is trains and he is a train lover!

We have several train books and videos currently checked out from the library which we will fully utilize over the course of the week. :-) I have the following planned as well:

1. Color and paint lots of train pictures.

2. Go to a local restaurant for lunch that is right near the train tracks to watch the trains go by.

3. Take him to the mall to the Thomas the Tank Engine store to play with the train set-up, buy a new engine and then have a cookie together at Mrs. Fields.

4. Take him to the model railroad museum in San Diego (this will go with our train theme but won't happen this week).

The boy should be in seventh heaven! :-)

Perfect Picture Books

I just wanted to share a couple of picture books that the baby has been loving! We've had these checked out from the library for weeks. I think we're on our second renewal with them. Maybe buying them is in order. :-)

This one is a fun game of "I Spy". The text is presented in a wave like pattern and the illustrations are beautiful. We love spying everything in the story together.




This is another with great illustrations. The poems are great, too.




These definitely rate high in our house because they are equally enjoyed by the reader and the one to whom the book is being read. They have to be good if I can read them ten times a day without wanting to pull my hair out. :-)