Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Outfits for the First Renaissance Faire 2013



This was such a great faire!  It was so much fun to attend with so many friends!

I had posted previously about my inspiration for making a Burgundian gown for the Renaissance Faires this year.  I wanted something pretty but without a corset!  I can't stand chasing my children in a corset!!!
 
I drafted a pattern, made a muslin, fixed the pattern, almost ran out of fabric, made the dressed, and fixed the dress.

All in all it was a bit big on me but I loved the color!

 

 

I also made Bella's Tinker Bell outfit.  The bodice was a little small but I think it is SOOOO cute!!!


 

I also made Hubby and Bear matching "jerkins".  Bear only had in on for the photos but I love how they looked together!!!!


The next faire the kids and I dressed up in a theme!  Check back soon for that post!!!!

Monday, September 23, 2013

An Adventure: Week 5 of School '13-'14

Our week started out with an adventure!  We started our adventure book this week.  To introduce the new book our curriculum suggested a scavenger hunt!  The kids LOVED it so much that they wanted to do it over and over again...











In science we talked about how light moves like waves and we blew across the top of a dish of water... I am not sure Bella understood but she enjoyed seeing the waves move!

 

Bella also started soccer this week.  She was super shy at first when they introduced themselves.  Then they started stretching and she felt right at home.  She starts every gymnastics class by stretching so there was nothing new for her to learn!  She loved soccer!  That is her in the pink shirt kicking the ball!  And....I forgot her water bottle (oops!)


Our new books came from The Critical Thinking Company... Bella LOVES them so far!  We will see what she thinks in a month.  Here is the picture she completed of a chicken in her Complete the Picture Math book!

 

I also made a dress for Bella for a special occasion.  She helped me iron the fabric.  She also helped me pin it.  We tried to work on some sewing on her sewing machine but it kept jamming because it was in need of a cleaning.  We hope to do more sewing this week... and look for a post on this dress soon!


Monday, September 16, 2013

Busy Weeks of School: Weeks 3 and 4 of 2013-14

The last two weeks have been crazy!  We had lots of appointments and started our afternoon activities! Things went wrong and things went great.  Mostly there was a lot of changes!  We also spent an entire morning looking for Bella's glasses... she learned a lesson about that! 
(This pic is from a few months ago.  It is my favorite pic of her in her glasses!)



Our phonics and math program stopped being a good match for Bella.  I don't want to start bashing the curriculum but it had too much expectations for a first grader.  So I went in search of how to replace it without spending too much money!

After looking into the best phonics lessons out there I found that most of them took the phonics lesson and thought them through using letter tiles to read/spell the words.  I printed off and cut letter magnet tiles.  A friend gave us the magnet paper so that was free. We use them on two pizza pans that we bought for $1.84!  We are using Progressive Phonics' free lessons with the letter tiles to introduce the new sounds.  Bella loves it and has stopped fighting me about learning new phonics rules!!!!


Next I looked at her math book one day and it said to teach her to count by 6's!!! Are you joking?!?! I might continue to use the program for the other parts of that are well done (addition practice) but I looked into other options.  I decided to get Mathematical Reasoning from The Critical Thinking Co.  I think she will enjoy it.  I will let you know how it goes!

 Mathematical Reasoning™ Level B

One thing I was worried about was that just using a phonics program would leave a gap in other language arts topics.  Bella does have a book that we work in about once a week that has some language arts stuff in it.  I wanted her to have something she could do every day.  So I got a book called Language Smarts also from The Critical Thinking Co.  Again, it is not here yet so I will let you know what I think when it gets here!

 Language Smarts™ Level B

I am really excited about both of the books from this company!

We did get around to doing an art project!  We had read a story that involved roses growing up the side of a wall.  I drew the rocks and Bella helped me color them.  Then we painted vines on the rocks.  Finally, we dipped our finger in finger-paint and made fingertip roses!  Bella loved this!




We finished reading "Helen Keller".  Then we watched the Disney movie.  Bella really enjoyed it!  We then read other "biography" style books.  We read another Helen Keller book as well as books about Duchess Kate, Alice Roosevelt and Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Bella want the biographies to be about girls!



Bella and Bear started gymnastics classes this week.  They have both been doing it since they where about 18 months old.  Both kids got to be in classes with kids that they knew so they had a great time! (This is a pic of Bella from a few months ago!)



Bella also started her Awanas group.  She moved up to Sparks this year!  She is very excited to get her vest and handbook.

Flight 3:16 Entrance Booklet

Our week ended with playtime with some friends at a playground.  The kids had a great time!!!


Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Second Week of School 2013-2014

Two weeks in a row of posts from our weeks of homeschooling?!?!  No guarantees that this will continue but here we go!

Bella worked hard on phonics and math.  She feel a little behind in reading but we caught up.  We had a busy week of appointments and things to do so things where a little rushed.  We did get through most of it and are now caught up!

She decided that she wanted to learn cursive!  I was going to wait and see how she felt about it mid-year but she saw a cursive "a" in her spelling book and was SOOOOO excited that I asked if she wanted to start learning it.  Of course she said yes!  Here is her "a" page!



We did an experiment in science with paper.  We had one flat piece of paper and one ball of paper.  The kids then predicted which would fall first.  We also made out a lab report.  Here is a video of it!  (Again, excuse any mess!)



We also went to storytime at the library.  Bella made name tags for her and Bear.  Bear made one for the carpet... I did not help him and he did a great job!  I think it was just a coincidence though! (Sorry for blurry pictures!  My kids don't stay still!)




Sunday, August 25, 2013

First Week of School 2013-2014





We made it through the first week of school!  It was a lot of fun!  It was different then I expected.  Bear wanted to do everything Bella did.  He required way more attention the first couple of days then I expected too.  All in all it was a great week.



    


Every morning we started with some songs.  We used YouTube and the Xbox for this!!!  The song we always started with was "Shake Your Sillies Out"... which did just that!  Some mornings Bella had to encourage her brother more then others but they really liked it.  (Please excuse the messiness in the photos... I have been dealing with a foot injury for over a month so it is hard to keep on top of it!)



Then we moved onto calender time. I use different ones for each of the kids that are both from Mama's Learning Corner.  The Preschool one for Bear and the K/1 for Bella.  I am trying to get Bella to do it on her own but she is resistant.  Bear feels like such a big boy doing almost the same thing as his sister!

Free printable download that includes monthly calendar, date/day/month/year recognition, weather charting, bar graphs from weather data, telling time, tally marks, and more to use with Kindergarten-First Grades

Then it is on to the main part of our school day.  I get Bear started on something to keep him busy while I start Bella's lessons.  The first day was.... interesting.... Bear need every moment of my attention.  He was so excited and hyper.  He kept interrupting Bella's lessons.  He was driving me crazy!  Then it was snack time!



 
After snack Bear went upstairs to watch a LeapFrog movie so that Bella could have peace and quiet while she read.  We will be doing this EVERY DAY!  Bella just cannot read with noises going on in the background.  She is doing great with her reading!  Her reading program starts with her reading The Easy Reader's Bible.  She loves reading a new story every day.  We will also be adding an Abeka reader.




Bella gets all of her "workbook" type work done before lunch most days.  After lunch we do read alouds, science projects, art, music, health, and/or PE.  Things that Bear can participate in.  These are health puppets Sam and Terry!  Sam is outgoing and has pink skin, purple hair, blue eyes, and a flower in her hair.  Terry is shy and has purple skin, black hair, blue eyes, and freckles!  We have been talking about how special and unique every one is!



Thursdays are still Bella's hardest days.  She just wants to be done!  Fridays are okay because she knows if she gets through it then it is the weekend!  She did great on her first two tests!  Here is her spelling test!  Next weeks is harder so we will see how she does!



Their favorite part of the week was the read alouds and art projects.  We learned to draw cats and we made shields.  Bella drew a cat and a carpet on her shield and Bear wanted "Simba" from The Lion King on his shield.  This pictures are my favorite!






Curriculum 2013-2014

I wanted to wait until we had our first week of school before I posted our curriculum for the year.  I was worried it would not work or it would be too much.  It is going great!  Details of our first week to follow soon!


Bella - First Grade

Heart of Dakota: Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory (BLHFHG)
Phonics: Progressive Phonics and Language Smarts B (updated)
Math: Mathematical Reasoning B, Math Analagies, and Complete the Picture Math (updated)
Literature: Story Time Treasures and book list from BLHFHG
Language Arts: First Language Lessons
Writing: Writing With Ease
Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears and maybe New American Cursive!
Spelling and Poetry: Abeka Grade 1
History: BLHFHG
Science: BLHFHG and Our Father's World
Music: Pfeiffer House Music Grade 1 and a bunch of song books
Art: BLHFHG, Kumon Amazing Crafts, and Learn to Draw activities
Health: Horizons Grade 1
PE: Horizons PK-2nd (Made fore schools but adaptable to homeschool)


Bear - Preschool

Horizon's Preschool for 3's
Heart of Dakota activities and read-alouds that he joins Bella for because what ever she does...
Some activities from Letter of the Week
Other dollar store work books to keep him busy
PE: Joins in Bella's PE activities as able
Dry Erase boards and papers in a sheet protector to use with Dry Erase stuff
LeapFrog movies


Here is a silly picture from the first day of school!