Our First Week of School!!!

We had an AWESOME first week of school!!  Our year has gotten off to a great start!  Seth is reading and writing like a champ!!  Aaron has been so excited to be doing school and Alyssa, for the most part, has been  with the program.

Here are some pictures from our 1st week!

Alyssa and Aaron at our "Letter of the Week" spot.

 Aaron and Alyssa coloring on white paper with a a white crayon.  They were a bit confused that you couldn't see what you were drawing - LOL!!

 But they were excited when the brushed black paint over it how all of a sudden their drawings appeared.

 Aaron and Alyssa working on their workbooks.

 Aaron and Alyssa finding their letter As.

 In bible this week we were focusing on the importance of a name.  On Thursday we used foam stickers to put our name on a piece of construction paper and then we used alphabet stamps to stamp our names all over the paper.  They had so much fun doing this!

 On Friday we had our first science day.  We are doing the Magic School Bus kits with a friend.  Today we worked on the Magic School Bus Microscope Lab.  Here is the table set up with the microscope and their clipboards with their data notebooks ready to start.

 Here are all the stuff we were going to use to do our experiements.

 Here is a close up of all the different liquids and salt, and sugar.  We looked at 6 different liquids, salt, sugar, and 6 different types of papers.  (of course I didn't get any pictures of them actually doing the experiment because I was too busy making slides and setting the microscopes...oh well)

The other experiment we did was explore with a magnifying glass.  I sent them outside for this one.  They were suppose to view 6 different items with their magnifying glass and draw what they saw.   I did get pictures of this one :-)

Seth did well in his first week of spelling!!  He did well in all of his writing exercises and began his 1st reader in the Pathways 2nd grade set and read like a champ!!

It sure was an awesome start to our new school year!!

Until next time,
Kellie

First Day of School - well, sort of...

Well, we had our first day of school today, well...., sort of...  LOL!!!  Since we homeschool we did something different - why not!?!?!

We started the morning off with orientation in the classroom.  Alyssa slept in (and we GLADLY let her sleep) so it was just the boys.  I went over with them how our schedule is going to work and showed them all of their new books and stuff.

We did our first worksheet for our calendar journal.

I introduced Aaron to his number of the day page.  I came back over a few minutes later and HE HAD WRITTEN HIS NAME!!!  The only letter I have ever seen this boy write was an A and look at his paper - HE WROTE HIS NAME!!  This totally made my day!!!  He was so proud of himself as well!!

The boys were super excited about their busy boxes (a box of different activities that they can do during their assigned busy box time...which are times when I am needing to focus on another child).  They asked if they could work on some stuff from their busy boxes so I gave them a little while to do so!!  :-)

That was all we did in the classroom!!  After that we went and picked up some friends to go meet some other friends at a park in Corsicana that had a really cool splash pad!!!  (of course they had some cool playgrounds as well...we are definitely going to have to go back and play on those!)  It poured down rain on us all the way there (I mean like can't see the road in front of you poured) but was not raining when we got there.  Rain did come about 30 minutes later but the kids didn't care (they were already wet) and there was no lightning, and there was a covered area for the moms...so we just kept playing!!  They had a ball!!  Funnest 1st day of school yet!!

Tomorrow we really start school - LOL!!!  I am SO READY!!  BRING IT ON!!!

Until next time,
Kellie

First of School Pictures

Hey yall!!  Remember this post (click here) from last year when we took school pics and the kids answered a survey?!?!

Well, I am doing that every year and today we did it for this year!!  I thought I would share the pics with you.  Click on the picture to see the full-size image if you are having trouble reading the text!  :-)

Ready to Start our 2012-2013 Year!!

It has been one busy summer around here!!  We have vacationed, done VBS, got Alyssa potty trained (FINALLY!!), I got LASIK and can see now without glasses, and we have played with friends!!  I have also been involved with the planning of our upcoming semester of co-op classes!!  I am teaching 2 classes this semester and am on the planning committee! We have been super busy!!

I am so glad though that it is finally time for school to start!!  I am ready to get the kids back into a structured routine.  They are excited about starting a new school year too!

I think I have a schedule mapped out that will work for us!  I am so ready to give it a try!!

Monday morning we are going to do our first of the year school pictures and we are going to talk through our schedule.  Then we are headed out to a fun "unfirst day of school" gathering with friends at a splash pad!!  The kids know that we are going somewhere...they just don't know where :-)

Then on Tuesday morning we will go into the classroom and get down to business!!

I thought today I would share some pictures of the schoolroom.  I have done a lot of rearranging this Summer so it's almost like having a new schoolroom!  :-)

Here is the view from looking in the front door.  You can see that the desks are in a u-shape sort of set up.  We will see if this works well for us.

 This is at the front looking to the left.  This is our art and game table.  On the shelf behind the table are all our art supplies and flashcards, dice, etc...  On the wall next to the flag I will have a Pledge of Allegiance poster (it just hasn't arrived  yet)!  I am SO EXCITED about teaching Seth early American History this year!  

Here you can see the new bench I made (from an idea on Pinterest).  And you can see Aaron and Alyssa's letter of the week chart.  They will sit on that bench for their Letter of the Week and Little Hands to Heaven time.  During reading corner and bible time all kids will sit on the bench facing the back wall.  I also have a puppet stage that I will set up in that corner as I need it and they can all sit on the bench to watch the puppet shows!

Here is a close up of the bench.  Each side of the bench has 3 cubby boxes.  I have them labeled with what the boxes contain.  (They contain stuff for Little Hands to Heaven/Letter of the Week, Alyssa's busy box and toy box, Seth's busy box, Aaron's busy box, and our literature books that we will be reading during reading corner.)

 Here is our United States Map that I found on pinterest and printed it out.  As we learn each state we will color it in.  Seth is super excited about this!  (sorry the lighting in the room did not let me get a good picture of it)

 Here is a view of my desk area.  You can see at the right edge of the picture my "pouch" to hold my dry erase markers and erasers (close-up below).

Here is a close up of the pouch for my dry erase supplies.  I am so excited about this!!  (yeah I know it doesn't much to thrill me!)  You can also see above it a few of the pieces of our American History timeline.  I changed it up a bit from the MFW one.  Instead of Seth coloring these and adding them as we go I went ahead and found colored clip art to work for each piece and printed and laminated them and put up the entire timeline above the white board.  We will refer to it as we are doing our lessons!

Here is another view on my desk.  I still have a major project I want to do...you see what my laptop is sitting on...an empty diaper box!!  It really helps to put the laptop at eye level...but I need something besides a diaper box.  I am hoping that either my hubby, father or father-in-law can build me something since they are all master woodworkers :-)  Just waiting to see who will volunteer first!

Here is the view on the other side of the doors.  You can see our bookcase that holds our books and games.  I made a Browie Points board (from Pinterest of course).  Every time I receive a compliment from someone in public on my children's good behavior they will earn a "brownie".  When the pan is full with the 8 "brownies" I will bake a REAL pan of brownies for them to enjoy!   Oh and those are Seth and Aaron's "nap work" bags hanging on the hooks.  We are going to use our bags we got from Homeschool Day at the zoo to keep their 'nap work' books in.

Oh and I found these pics on the camera and had to share.  I took these the other day and wanted to do a blog post...but didn't get around to it.  We now have an IPAD designated for the school room.  I got a super duty case for it to hopefully keep it safe.  Alyssa tested it out for me the other day while I was working on stuff.

 I think she likes it!!! (love that face!!!!)

Well!  Pray for us as we start next week!!  I am hoping and praying for a FABULOUS first week back to school!!

Until Next time,
Kellie

Summer Update and Aaron's Birthday

Wow! This super busy summer is FLYING by!!  We have been so busy this summer!  This week and next week the boys are involved in swimming lessons.  In a couple of weeks we will have VBS at our church.  Things are just super super busy.

I wanted to give a quick update on our summer school.  We haven't been able to get much school in but we do get a bit in here and there.  I have told Seth that I consider him to have completed 1st Grade now! WHOO HOO!!  We may still have a few sheets left in a couple of workbooks...but in the grand scheme of things he has accomplished everything that a first grader should!  

We are doing a summer reading challenge with a friend!  Seth is super excited about this and is eager to read his books to get his points!  :-)

I am also working on turning this blog into a keepsake year book!  (and I am learning on how to change some things on my blog this next year to make the transition easier!  It has been a quite tedious task!  But it will be such a great memory for years to come!

Aaron celebrated his 5th birthday last week!  Friday, the day of this birthday, we took him to PetSmart and he got two beta fishes and tank.  He named one Bubbles and one Splashy Fishy.  (They had Dr Seuss statues for the tanks and I thought it would be very cute to get those and name the fish Red Fish and Blue Fish (since they were red and blue) but Aaron didn't go for that idea.  Oh well).

We had a party for him here at the house on Saturday.  He requested fish and shrimp so Poppy brought up his fish fryer and we had fried fish, fried catfish, homemade hush puppies, sweet potatoe fries and salad (oh and chicken for Rob since he doesn't like fish). We also made frozen strawberry lemonade (an recipe I found on pinterest of course).  It was very yummy and everyone had a fun time!  A front moved through and we spent ALL afternoon and evening outside! We rode the 4-wheeler and go cart and then just sat on the gazebo and talked for hours!! God gave Aaron a break from the heat for his birthday!

Here are pictures from the fun day!

Until next time,

Kellie

An Update on our Summer and Jelly Fish!!

Hey everyone!  I know it has been a bit since I have posted here!  We just got back from vacation (you can go to our RV blog to read all about it!)  Since we have been home we have started getting into a summer routine!  We did "summer school" three days this week and things went REALLY well!!  I mean Seth was rocking and rolling along!!  We are doing the 2nd Learning Through Sounds book from Pathways 1st grade, finishing our 1st Grade Climbing to Good English book and finishing our 1st grade Handwriting without Tears book!  Right now for math he is playing math games on the ipad.  I have some board games and stuff I want us to play at some point as well.  We are also reading alot!  Seth is doing a Summer Reading Program...working towards a big prize he really wants (seasons 2 and 3 of Star Wars Clone Wars).  We are also reading a chapter book aloud.  We will be doing alot of this in 2nd grade so I want to get them used to it now.  Right now we are reading 'All Because of Winn Dixie'.  We of course will watch the movie when we finish the book :-)

I have discovered that if I let them play outside from about 8:00 to 10:00 in the morning, they get their outside play in before it gets too hot, and they relieve some energy before we start school and it helps them stay calmer in the schoolroom!  It's a win-win situation!

I also have some fun science stuff I want us to do this summer!  One of those things we did with our friends Tami and Caleb today!!  They came out and we made 'jellyfish in a bottle'.  (If you read our RV blog then you know the story of Seth stepping on a jellyfish on vacation!)  I got the idea on pinterest here.  I couldn't find plastic bottles like they used on the instructions big enough so we used water bottles.  I think it would have been a bit easier to see in a smooth bottle - but the kids still loved them!

Caleb holding up his jellyfish 

 Mommy being silly as she is filling the head of a jellyfish

 Alyssa's jellyfish

 Aaron showing his while Seth holding up his jellyfish

 Seth's jellyfish

 Caleb's jellyfish

The kids seemed to have a lot of fun making these and Alyssa has sat and played with hers all day long!

Another thing I am working on right now is rearranging/reorganizing my schoolhouse!  I found an idea on pinterest (click here to see it) where you turn milkcrates on their side and tie them together then put a foam bench on top and canvas totes in the front for storage!  I ordered my milkcrates today!!  They should be here Saturday!!  I am so excited!!  Of course I will show pics of my finished bench!!  It is going to replace our beanbags!  Whoo hoo!!  :-)