Keeping It Simple

To avoid hearing me sound really goofy, turn your volume off! :) BTW-- in case you don't turn off the sound and the narration confuses anyone- that is just one baby shark in the egg, and the little bulb at the bottom is the yolk sac.

Our new readers (level 2) from All About Spelling arrived! I have to say that I like them. The drawings are really nice (quality!), the stories are right on point with the lessons, and they are not terribly boring to read. That might not sound like high praise, but leveled readers are not known (at least in my opinion) for their high level of fascination. For any 5-7 year old, these are reasonably interesting. And, James (7yo) was very excited to see some of his old friends (characters from level 1) featured in the first story of level 2. In case anyone is wondering, with all of my AAS posts, I am just a homeschool mom who loves this product and loves to share about things that work for our family. :)

Monday started with a trip to the doctor's office for a sprained ankle (for James). Doctor felt pretty sure that there might be a break, so we were sent to the x-ray office for a long, long wait... to find out it was a sprained ankle after all. On Tuesday, having James on crutches, my darling grandson, and two older boys in tow, I muddled through errands and Mark's eye doctor appointment. We were back at the doctor on Wednesday with Erin for an injury sustained while doing one of those ridiculous bungee things at a carnival. Erin is recuperating- slowly. Not the worst of weeks, but productivity is not the first word that comes to mind. So, with that explanation, here are a few of our highlights: This is my new toy: Mind you, I used to shun all such gadgets- being the old lady I am, I would sigh and ruminate on the good old days when people got by without such things. :) I try to keep my posts relevant to homeschooling, so lest you...

Wahoo!! We finished level 1! I have figured out that it took us about 27 weeks to finish level 1. I would knock 4 weeks off of that--- we stalled a few times during the summer and during my father-in-law's illness. We always reviewed what we had learned to date, but we did not always progress with the "steps" (the lessons or chapters are called steps in the manual). That is very close to about 1 step per week . (there are 24 steps) I know some weeks we completed more than one step and some steps took more than a week. Just to review one more time, I will give you my top ten list on this program: 1. It is teacher friendly. The teacher is walked through each step. A scripted format is even offered when teaching new concepts. 2. It progresses is a systematic, logical way. All "rules" are taught and applied. Exceptions are taught (going to be) after the rule is mastered. 3. Repetition is the key. The format of the book dictates repetition of key concep...

We missed the deadline for the Lego Quest Challenge ! James (7yo) was quite distraught this morning when he realized it. Paul (12yo) assured him that they could still do the challenge unofficially--- they proceeded to make their version of a Lego playground. You can click on any of the pictures to make them larger. Can you tell the Lego guy is hanging from the monkey bars? I told the boys that any good playground has a bench for mom to sit on. This merry-go-round actually does spin! My darling grandson helped out!! And, the final touch that any boy can appreciate- a fishing pond!! Mark and James- happy with their creation. James was sad that they would not get their picture on the Lego Quest Blog, but I told him that I would do a post on it! That worked for him. :) If your kids are looking for Lego inspiration, you will be able to see more Lego playgrounds over at Lego Quest Kids when they post.

I can't help it, I love a good picture book!! Even though my boys are moving out of "that stage" (not that all ages can't appreciate a good picture book!), I now have grandchildren to share picture books with!! Whew! So, to get myself another entry and because most homeschool moms are a bit book crazy, I thought I'd share about this giveaway. The book is Wolf Pie by Brenda Seabrooke.  In what appears to be a twist on the traditional Three Little Pigs story, this book looks to be a pretty fun read. If you would like to enter, all you need to do is leave a comment by Saturday, September 25th at Katie's Literature Lounge with the name of your child's favorite fairy tale. Good luck!!

Mathwire Blog leads to activities posted on Mathwire.com . I don't know if everyone has heard of this amazing blog. I mentioned  it in passing when I first heard about it, and have really enjoyed it since then. This is a great resource for many math concepts- the tags are listed at the bottom of the blog page, so scroll down and take a look.  Most of the activities involve little prep work. If there is a hand-out needed for an activity, there will be a link to the Mathwire Template Library . Things I love about this blog- 1. The activities are fun. We have done several of them and my boys have enjoyed each one. 2. The activities are not overly complicated- they work on a concept in a direct way. Anyone who has ever pulled together an activity and thought "what were we trying to learn?" at the end of it, knows what I mean. 3. I don't have to go in search of materials. We have needed a few things- dice, dominoes, coins..., but most s...

In Our Homeschool This Week: Reading: A new development in our school schedule is that James (7yo) goes next door to do his reading with grandma a few times a week. He takes this very seriously. And, if grandma tells him something, he listens. Isn't that the way it always goes? The biggest plus--- James gets some treasured one on one time with his grandma, and that makes me happy. :) No wrap up would be complete without All About Spelling: We have ordered the level two story collections that go with the AAS program. These readers are $19.95 a piece. Ouch!!! Steep. But, when James finished his level 1 book, and I moved him to another reader that I had on hand, he was not happy- and, grandma (see above :)) agreed with him!! He did not care for the See Jane Run style of the reader... boring (in his words).  The AAS readers are sturdy hardback books that do have absolutely charming drawings and are written with a good dose of humor (that ...

About 5 years ago, I started an Amazon.com list to track our favorite family read alouds- I think it was in answer to all those book logs that I started, yet could never keep track of. We reached our 40th book this summer, so this list is full!  I don't know if there will be a "favorites #2" list (probably), but here are our top 40 from the last few years: Favorite Read Aloud Books for Boys (although I am sure girls would enjoy many of them too:))

I was "tagged"! Jen tagged me in this lovely meme---the topic is 10 Surprising Things... about me. Uhmmm. I have to say, there is not much surprising about me, but I'll try. :) 10. I was married at 17 years old.  9.  I met my husband driving home from the beach (from the back of my dad's station wagon) over a labor day weekend.  8.  In a previous life (for about 2 minutes) I was a medical assistant. My favorite task was drawing blood- weird but true.  7. I once ran down the highway to chase an elderly lady who was about to drive on the wrong side of the road around a mountain bend. (scary- a car spun out next to me, but all ended well)  6. I am a grandma- this still surprises me!!  5. Pets drive me crazy- and we have 2 dogs, 1 fish, 1 snail, and 1 bunny! (right now) Ugh!!  4. I am starting to love gadgets- fun stuff like Ipods and Kindles. If you knew me IRL, you'd be surprised.  3. I...

I have heard from many people that their child "hates" art. That may be true, but in our house art always seems to attract a crowd. Before presenting an art activity, I always try to give it a trial run. This particular activity (Lined Art Leaves) is going to be shared with my nephews, so I wanted to be sure that all systems were go. Thinking that this was going to be a solitary activity (me as the "tester"), I set up on the back porch where I could see my boys and my grandson playing in the backyard. Before I knew it, I had a crowd. My adult daughter, Shauna, and Paul were the first to join in. Soon Mark and James were in on it. (I was not making much progress!). Mark really went off in his own direction, but had a great time. Shauna starts on her second leaf drawing, and Erin joined us with Nico (my adorable grandson). Paul was the first to complete his project- he was pleased with the results. Shauna, being the school teac...

You can find the this challenge and more at Delightful Learning blog. The original challenges were submitted each week. Since then the links have changed so I have removed them from this post.  Visit  here to see more about these fun challenges .  The goal of this activity is to create, using a predetermined set of materials, an aircraft. There are rules for how long each step of the project may take and how the project is to be presented in the end (in this case, it is to be "launched"). If this all seems like gibberish, check the above link . The boys put their heads together to plan. They improvised a stool and line (as per directions) to launch their aircraft from- in their words- "it was a bit of a fail". :) With a few new ideas to hash out, they pulled the first aircraft apart and started over. Not much more success was to be had with this incarnation of their aircraft. Not to be discouraged, Paul took ma...

Spelling - We are still plugging along with All About Spelling . I can't help but mention it because it has changed our school day! I am usually suspicious of someone who claims to have "built a better mouse trap"- most of the time, the old one did the job.   But, this program works for us in a way that no other program has. Part of it is that all I have to do is get out my card box, open my book, and go! This program is teacher intensive, but all the brain work is done for me. Plus, it works for my boys!! :) James loves his reader that goes with AAS. FIAR -  Because it is a short week, we did not begin another FIAR book. We finished the few lessons in Wee Gillis that we did not complete last week- this book is pretty light (not too many lessons), so we did all the lessons under all of the subjects. That does not happen all that often.                ...