1 Down, 2 To Go

Pre-K finished his school year last week. He did very well this year and is more than ready for kindergarten. I completed a basic skills test with him that was in the back of his Handwriting Without Tears workbook and he did great. This summer he will do Summer Bridge.

2nd grade is in the last unit of all of his subjects. With our 4 weeks in Nassau and our 2 week spring break, 3 foster kids and 1 sickness, we just got behind. He is working hard to finish by the end of this week. There is the distraction of the 2 little kids, but we press on. This summer he will do some Summer Bridge, but I intend to let him start school a little early as his computer skills are needing work and the SOS program is more intense than Lifepacs.

6th grade just has a few more writing assignments to do before she is done. This year her lack of motivation to do school has affected her ability to demonstrate her actual skills. She will do Summer Bridge also.

Our 5 year old foster child has very few skill, particularly small motor skills. This child is also very overweight and lacks self care skills such as pottying, dressing, and washing them self. This summer I will be teaching lots of basic skills.

Our motor home, Big Bertha, has been repaired and I cannot wait for our 1st camping trip.

Testing 1, 2, 3...

I have never been much into standardized testing as I always felt there was a certain unintentional bias in them. I remember in early elementary taking a test that used the word, "davenport". I had never heard that word before and had no clue what it meant. When I later learned that it was a synonym for "couch" or "sofa" I felt robbed.



Anyhoo, I decided to let 6th grade take the practice Terra Nova Test for the experience as she missed most standardized testing during the years she was in traditional school. She strongly dislikes them and thinks "...everyone should not be forced to take the same test as everyone else 'cause some kids are not strong in some areas like math and science." My little rebel. LOL!

Our 1st Spelling Bee

So much fun!!!



Pre-K did very well even with the fact that he was using the 1st grade list. He was the littlest guy up there, but did well. He came in 4th.



2nd grade had a hard time with his very first word and had trouble knowing what to do, but he sure looked handsome during his brief time on stage. He received a ribbon for participation.



6th grade did very well, she was in the end matched up with a friend and they both showed such great sportsmanship. She took 2nd place with her friend winning 1st place. BTW, this lovely won last year as well and her mother won national spelling bees back in the day. LOL! They are serious!



Overall, it was a neat experience and all say that they want to do it again. I may try to find some local ones in the meantime.

Over-rated Math Skills

This morning 6th grade and I were talking about what I call "our vitals"; whole names, full birth dates and place. When she was telling me about my birth date, she could not remember the year. I told her. I saw her little math wheels a-turnin' and then she announced with complete and utter awe, "Mom! You are over 3 decades older than me!"

~sigh~

And to think I have been working hard to help her to improve her math skills.

Spell the Word...

Our home school group is getting ready for the annual Spelling Bee and all 3 of our Rotties will participate this year. We have printed off the list of study words and are going to spend the next few weeks bumping up our phonics study. Pre-K is not really ready to spell yet, but there are enough of his sight words on the list to let him at least have the experience. This Mama is very nervous as I am usually very squeamish about photographs as my children who were adopted locally, but we really want to have this new experience.

In History and Geography, 2nd grade has been studying about different cultures and this unit focuses on the Japanese culture. Today he learned about writing the numbers 1 - 10 using a brush and water-colors. He really enjoyed this and 6th grade has asked to learn to do this also. I think I will let 2nd grade teach her.

Some Review

Last week we had to do some major catching up in both 2nd and 6th grade. We also tried to get just a bit ahead so that we could maybe extend our spring break. We are so looking forward to going to London, Ontario and staying here.

2nd grade is learning to borrow for subtraction





Pre-K is able to write all of the letters from Handwriting Without Tears so far and is starting to write his high frequency words from memory.

I blocked it out, but he is also starting to write his middle name on all of his papers. It's funny because most times the line is not long enough and he always draws more line that curves down the side of the paper.

6th grade is not wanting to admit it, but she has enjoyed the adding, subtracting and reducing of fractions in math class. She has been working hard to avoid doing her science projects. I told her that if she put the same amount of energy towards getting them done as she does to avoid them, she would be done with most. So far we have done one on emulsion, color wheels and spectrum's and we are doing a 4 week study on the change of shadows with the seasons. It involves taping a piece of paper on the floor at the exact same spot, at the exact same time of day once a week for 4 weeks and marking the sun and shadows. We have done it for 2 weeks and can already see the changes as winter gives way to spring.

Olympic Review

We loved the Olympics! We watched as much as possible. The boys loved curling, ski jumping and of course...snowboarding. That was a big hit. Some of my favorites were short track and bobsled. My 6th grader mostly liked the opening and closing ceremonies as she likes any kind of party. LOL!

I had purchased a PDF curriculum from CurrClick and we used just a bit of it, but mostly watched and read up on the sports we liked the best. All the kids learned to recognize flags from other countries which was neat to watch as Pre-K was usually the first to be able to name the flags. We used scores to determine greater than, less than and equal to for 2nd grade and just really enjoyed the whole event. Can't wait for the summer Olympics. (Still miffed a bit that Chicago did not get them...we would have so been there!)

On other review... 2nd grade is testing out of his units today and so far has received an 97% on Language Arts with 100% on the spelling test, a 100% on Bible and is studying at this moment for History and Geography. It is a tough one as it focuses on customs of other cultures regarding holidays. Poor kid don't stand a chance as we tend to not follow "traditional" customs ourselves. LOL!

Week in Review

We had a goood week that was more settled than last week.

Pre-K is on book 15 of a 17 book series of pre-decodable books. He is loving reading and I have started copy work. I am starting to think about what to do for Kindergarten... I guess I am leaning towards using Alpha Omega's Lifepac although it is not "wowing" me at this time.

2nd grade will hopefully test out of unit 5 for all subjects except math. (we are behind again on math; for some reason, the math units have 5 sections while the others have 3, it catches us every time) He has decided that he wants to try Switched on Schoolhouse (SOS) next year. We will have to take a pretty quick typing course this summer.

6th grade is clipping along. She has lots of writing and research projects for several of her subjects that need to be caught up on in the next couple of weeks. 6th grade does not want to use SOS next year, but has not thought of an alternative. We are shopping and praying about it.

Some weekend schooling to catch up in 2nd grade.

Y

Usually, Friday is "Y" day, but we went today because the rock wall is open in the mornings on Wednesday... or it is suppose to be. We were disappointed that they could not climb today, but we had a great time in the pool. The water was very warm today and I enjoyed jogging. I even got a chance to sit in the whirlpool for 2 minutes. (I get nauseous in them so can't stay for very long).

Ok... I got a weird e-mail today from the author of the book that I mentioned in Monday's post. It looks like she googled her own name and then on page 5 found my post mentioning her book. She states that she liked the skeleton that was made and said she was glad "that Pre-K enjoyed the book."

Princess Puppy posted today.

Reflections...

With thoughts and prayers for the people of Haiti...

We had a pretty good week. This was the last week of our first semester so we did some make-up work and just a little testing.

Pre-K

• can read and write color words
• knows 24 high frequency or sight words
• can spell first and last name
• still working of recognizing lower case letters

2nd Grade

• completed unit 4 of Lifepacs
• learned to count quarters and dollars
• can add and subtract 3 digit numbers
• still working on capitalizing

6th Grade

• did 2 lapbooks this week: one on cats, the other on The Ten Commandments
• completed a huge project on the countries, mountains, and major rivers of North America
• moved to the section of Home Economics that teaches house cleaning (not thrilled LOL)
• still working on changing decimals to fractions

We really like to travel so it always seems like we are planning our next family vacation. For spring break this year we are planning a trip to either London, Ontario or to Niagara Falls. While I am not sure about driving what would be 10 -12 hours to Buffalo, NY, we are leaning towards Niagara Falls.

We have Monday off from school. Have a great weekend everyone.

6th Grade Language Arts & Blogging

This week for Language Arts 6th grade has been doing Mad Libs. We have had some very funny stories.

Also, check out the new post at Princess Puppy.

6th Grade...

has a new post at Princess Puppy.

Last Day of School

Monday, December 21st is our last day of school for Christmas break. We are planning a Christmas decorating party and 6th grade went into the store to shop for party goods all by herself! Let's just say... that girl likes her shopping!!

Saturday

6th grade and I are watching "Left Behind: The Movie" together as she has read the kids series and most of the adult series. She has been wanting to see it for a while and I have been holding off, but decided to watch with her today. I love how her mind works and her 11 year old interpretation of things.

Peace

Library Day

We went to the library today and our wonderful librarian told us that is was Christmas story and craft day, but that no one had registered for the class. I guess it did not make it to the website. So we went in and she read 4 great stories: 2 about the gingerbread baby, 1 that told about the 12 days of Christmas and a neat little book called: "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" By John Rox and Bruce Whatley. I had never heard that one before and I am sure that I enjoyed it more than the kids did!

The craft was a chance to make our own gingerbread man ornaments. They smelled delicious!

Fun fun!

Home Economics

Check out what Princess Puppy is cookin'.

Choices...

Yesterday (Saturday) 6th grade had her very first recital with the other students from the studio where she is taking voice lessons. It was wonderful! Before we left, as I was getting everyone dressed we had a small wardrobe malfunction which put us a little behind on time, so as we were walking out the door, there was just a bit of frantic grabbing of last minute items. I reached for what I though was a pack of gum to throw in my pocket:

But what I grabbed was this:

Which I did not find out about until we were sitting in the auditorium waiting for the performance.

Not the way to get fresh minty breath! LOL!

This morning as we were heading out for church, I told the kids to grab money for the offering plate to stick in their pockets/purse. Later, as the plate was being passed around, James pulls this out of his pocket:

He could not understand why he could not spend this Bahamian dollar here in the States.

Just before I wrote this post, the phone rang and I picked up the t.v. remote.... I think we've had too much vacation. ROFL!

6th grade has posted about The Best Vacation Ever!! over at her blog, Princess Puppy. Check it out and give her some support.

With the Ocean Singing Back-Up

6th grade met new friends this week from British Columbia. As it turns out, they all like to sing and decided to put on a concert for us parents tonight. It was so cool because as the girls sang songs, some written by the girls earlier this evening, the ocean sounds were in the background. It was amazing!

Jordan has a recital for voice class when we return to the states and I had told her teacher that I would try to get her to give at least 2 practice recitals while on vacation. Mission accomplished as she gave 1 last week to a group of sisters from California and then tonight's concert. I love that she gets to meet people from all around the world. I am actually tempted to break my rule and post the video of her singing tonight. If i can get it to load with this very slow Internet I just may.

Signed,

Proud Mama!!!

Last Day of School

Monday was our last day of school while stateside. There was cheering and dancing in the halls! I gave out progress reports and the gang is still doing very well. They love taking their report cards with them to show off to friends and family. 6th grade had voice lessons today (Wednesday) and found out that she has her first recital 1 week after we get back. I think there will be a couple of practice performances during vacation.

We will be flying to Dallas, Tx on Saturday for a short layover and then on to Nassau. We will be giving a shout out (from the airport) to our bloggy buddies in the state of Texas. Be sure to listen for us! ~Smile~