Buddy Camp

This week my 3 oldest children went off to Basket Ball Camp with their Dad. They were having a blast! My younger 4 all know the fun of camp and were not only missing Daddy and the "Big" kids they were jealous of the fun they were most likely having!

So Mommy got creative! When my older kids were little we spent a lot of time at the library, the zoo, science centers and going to McDonalds play lands. Now that they are all grown they prefer the movies, amusement parks, and trips to Sonic for milkshakes. The little ones dont get the same experiences, so I invinted Buddy Camp for them! We had many adventures during Buddy camp!

First we had to run some errands for the week. So I asked the kids what kind of food should I serve at Buddy Camp and of course they said french fries and corn dogs! So we picked those up at the store. We also visited the Dollar Store and they got to spend their "own" dollar on whatever they wanted! A valuable lesson was learned about gum, and it not being stored behind your ear! We also went to the library, picked out books and turned in our Summer Reading Program charts and got our coupons for Pizza Hut! It was then that I formulated the plan for the next few days!

The next day we went to a Farmstead with a petting zoo, old schoolhouse, Indian homes, and nature walk. Then we took our Summer Reading program coupons to Pizza Hut for dinner.

Visiting an old school house

Listening to stories about the invention of the safe for Banks.

 Listening to a black smith explain his trade.

On day three we were able to meet with Daddy for lunch at a McDonalds and we went to a local Hallmark museum and hands on art center. After that we went to another fairy tale display. I didnt get many pictures of this one as we were in a big city and I was a little nervous keeping track of everyone. We came home that evening and had a simple dinner and watched a movie.

On the last day of Buddy Camp we went to the city pool with some good friends. I didnt get many pictures of that either! Having 4 kids, 8 and under is hard work! We came home and had those Corn Dogs and French Fries for dinner with Bomb Pops for dessert!

I had so much fun making memories with these little people that I have decided to have a Buddy Camp every year for the ones who are left behind on camp week. :)

Preschool and Kindergarten Curriculum 2015/2016

For the Preschooler 

• Laurie Puzzles
• Preschool workbooks including Rod and Staff  Beginning 3
• Playdough
• And lots of free printables

My goal for our 3 year old is a gentle introduction the alphabet, learning colors and shapes more acurately, fine motor skills like pencil holding, cutting, and pasting. I also would like to develope a larger vocabulary and work on potty training.

For the Kindergardener:

• My Fathers World Kindergarten
• Dollar Store workbooks with Mazes, Dot-to-Dot, and handwriting practice
• Rod and Staff ABC Series finishing up with C-D-E-F-G
• Math U See Primer
• And light Exploring Countries and Cultures with his siblings.

2015-2016 2nd Grade Curriculum choices

I've already talked about our family school and our organization process, now I want to talk about curriculum choices for the grades I'm teaching this school year! Second grade is such a fun year as my kids start to feel more like the "big" kids having their own workbooks and such. Here is a run down of what my 2nd Grade daughter will have in her workdrawers this year!

Workdrawer #1:Morning Work

1. Calendar notebook
2. A Reason for Handwriting A
3. Any additional review she can do on her own 

Workdrawer #2: English

1. Rod and Staff Spelling by Sound and Structure grade 2
2. Language Lessons for Today grade 2
3. Spectrum Writing Grade 2

Workdrawer #3: Math

1. Math Mammoth Level 1

Workdrawer #4:Reading

1. Sonlight Reader

Workdrawer #5: Science and MFW items

1. Complete Book of Animals
2. Usborne Sticker Dolly dressing around the world
3. Dollar Tree Maps Coloring books
4. Any MFW Notebooking pages for that week

2015-2016 5th Grade Curriculum Choices

For my 5th grader in preparation for middle school I choose to allow more independent learning and accountability. He will begin to grade his own math homework, and have several other independent assignments. I will be monitoring him heavily. He will also be keeping up with his work in his own student assignment book. This independence allows me to work with my younger 4 children in the early part of our schedule and check back with him periodically.

Workdrawer #1: Morning Work

1. Student assignment book
2. A Reason for Handwriting T

Workdrawer #2: English

1. Spelling Power Student Record book
2. Intermediate Language Lessons Part 2
3. Just Write book 1, maybe on to book 2 later in the year.
4. He will complete a 5 paragraph essay project this year as well.

Workdrawer #3: Math

1. Saxon Math 65 with Dive CD

Workdrawer #4: Reading

1. Progeny Press Study Guides for Upper Elementary (I will choose 2)
2. Any book basket books that seem appropriate 

Workdrawer #5: My Fathers World

1. Weekly My Fathers World notebooking pages
2. World Geography Workbook 
3. Properties of Eco Systems (we will do this together with out the younger ones)
4. Any applicable assignments to our cycle year.

2015-2016 Jr High and Highschool Curriculum

7th grade is a big year in our homeschool! I expect much more independent work than years prior. They continue to keep track of assignments in their assignment book and grade thier own math homework. This is the year they begin to teach themselves subjects like science, literature and writing while always being under my direct supervision. Mom, as teacher, becomes more of a tutor helping out in these subjects when needed. 7th graders are still required to be a part of family school but get to opt out of some of the hands on and lower level work so they can work independently.

7th Grade Work Crate:

1. Assignment notebook
2. Applications in Grammar
3. Writing with Skill Level 1
4. Saxon Math 76
5. Apologia General Science
6. Spelling Power Student Record book
7. Progeny Press Study Guide and reader
8. Empty file for any MFW Student sheets for that week
9. 3 Ring Binder 

This is my first year to have an official highschooler! Its bitter sweet to think of how far we have come in such a short time! Im very proud of my daughter and where she is going. My Freshman is a very motivated learner. She really dives into a subject! We are following My Fathers World guidelines for highschool and she cant wait to dive in!

Freshman Workcrate

1. Vocabulary Cartoons (Moms add on for ACT/SAT prep)
2. Easy Grammar Plus (another add on for extra review, plan to use it over the 4 years)
3. Spanish from Rosetta Stone and Easy Peasy Highschool as assigned by her Spanish Tutor
4. Logic: the Fallacy Detective
5. Saxon Algebra 1
6. My Fathers World Ancient History and Literature: too many books to list!!
7. Homemade Assignment planner

2015-2016 3rd Grade Curriculum Choices

Third grade is such a fun year for us! Learning cursive, taking even more responsiblity for your school work, reading chapter books! 3rd grade can be a very exciting and stretching time for my children.

Workdrawer #1: Morning Work

1. Calendar Notebook
2. Kumon book of Cursive Writing Letters
3. Cursive connections after the Kumon book is finished
4. Any other additional work that he can complete on his own.

Workdrawer #2: English

1. Spelling Power Student Record Book
2. Language Lessons for Today grade 3
3. Just Write book 1

Workdrawer #3: Math

1. Math Mammoth Level 2

Workdrawer #4: Reading

1. Sonlight Readers for Grade 3

Workdrawer #5: My Fathers World

1. Student sheets for the week
2. Complete Book of Animals
3. Books about Insects (my 3rd grader LOVES Bugs!)

Organizing our MFW year 2015-2016

When you open that big My Fathers World box the first thing you think about is what to do with all those goodies? The first thing I like to do is to label all my book spines with the current year. This year we are doing Exploring Countries and Cultures so I labeled my books with "ECC" and we are also using the high school program Ancient History and Literuature so I labeled those books with "AHL". You can use a label maker or avery labels pre-printed or just some clear packing tape and paper. Whatever works for you.

The next thing I like to do is read my Teachers Guide. I will make a shopping list of needed items and underline anything I need to remember from the teachers tips.

                                                    

Then I start to plan how I will keep track of everyones work! This school year we are going to try workboxes again. We did use them last year but switched to bags sometimes for portability. I put a label on each box for the subjects we will study independently. Everything they need to do that subject is in the box. That is the extent of our use of workboxes, they are storage drawers for subjects. For my Kindergardener and 3yo I also mixed in some activities for them to do at the school table.

All the together subjects, teachers manuels, and extra manipulatives go on my shelf.

Next I like to go through all the student sheets and put them either into a file box by week along with any other printed materials or I will sort them and put them into our history binders ahead of time. Last year I filed them by week because there were a lot of extra printables. This year I chose the binder method and used my file box to store extra paper work and printables that we will more than likely use this year. As I was sorting the student sheets I used postit tabs to section off the different countries and continents studied in ECC. I also added the printables from Mama Jenn's blog so that all my student sheets and printables for each kid were in their binders ready to go for the year.

For my 9th and 7th graders I am giving more grades and tests and I needed a place for them to turn in work so I created this little station by my desk. In it are 3 files one for grading, one for pages I've graded but need to be filed in their portfolio's and one for copy's I need to make.

This year being so much different than others as we are using the My Fathers World Kindergarten, Exploring Countries and Cultures and Ancient History and Literature I needed to rethink my planner plan! So my friend gave me the great idea of creating and customizing my own plan book! My oldest will keep track of her own work but my 7th grader down to Kindergarteners assignments are in this book. I also created assignment notebooks for my 5th, 7th and 9th graders.

Another new addition is a Calendar notebook to practice Math, Telling time and money and some calendaring for my Kindergardener, 2nd grader and 3rd grader.

I also needed to think of the 3 year old who wants everything like big siblings so I also printed him a little binder of color pages that match his Kindergarten brothers worksheets.

Curriculum 2015/2016: Family School

Family Learning Cycle

Exploring Countries and Cultures

grades 1 thru 7

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• Mama Jenn's Printables
• Pintrest Ideas
• Homeschool Co-op Countries and Cultures Art, Music, and Cooking

My Fathers World Kindergarten

3 year old and almost 5 year old

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• Morning Board Ideas
• Calendar Notebook from Aussie Homeschool and Confessions of a homschooler for my Kindergardener
• Preschool alphabet book from Unlikely Homeschool and the printable coloring pages from The Good the Bad and the Truth for the 3 year old.
• More Pinterest ideas
• Co-op A to Z class

My FAthers World Ancient History and Literature

Freshman

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• Apologia Biology
• Saxon Algebra 1
• Easy Grammar Plus for Review
• The Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox
• Vocabulary Cartoons
• Spanish with a Tutor
• Co-op Art Class and Speech and Debate