Archive for August, 2015
About Me by Big Brother Part 1 of 2
08.26
This past winter we heard a Savvy Homeschool Mom Episode where the kids did a Q&A interview about themselves. This inspiredBig Brother to do his own version. Here is his interview in two parts.
Big Brothers Progression (age 8-9)
08.26
LANGUAGE ARTS – Brave Writer’s “A Quiver of Arrows” – We read/listened to and did copywork, spelling and grammar using these books:
Sarah, Plain and Tall
The Trumpet of the Swan
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
Secret of the Andes
The Wheel on the School
Cricket in Times Square
CURSIVE – “Handwriting Without Tears.” Made it through about 1/3 of the book and will continue this coming year.
HISTORY – “History Odyssey Modern Times.” Finished about 1/2 the curriculum then started just listening to the corresponding SOTW chapters late sping. We plan to finish all SOTW chapters by the end of the summer.
SCIENCE – “Sassafras Science Adventures: Anatomy.” This curriculum was designed to be used over a single semester. We finished all but the last two chapters of activities and finished the book this summer.
MATH – “Math on the Level” continues and remains a good resource but we took a break from it in the spring in favor of Khan Academy. Big Brother really enjoyed the format and rewards.
ART – Big Brother did this at co-op and we spend December working on making candles for the grandparents plus other arts and crafts related to anatomy and modern times.
PE – Tae Kwon Do – Big Brother is now a Green Strip belt
MUSIC – Private violin with group classes. The end of the year concert was amazing. The teacher rented the Masonic Temple Theater for the Concert. Big Brother graduated Suzuki Book 2 and played with the other three graduates then that evening the teachers did a wonderful concert. The two main teachers played in a quartet, the fiddle teacher played a fiddle set and then the Dueling Fiddlers played (Russel is one of the teachers in our studio) with the kids accompanying the song “Gael” (known from “Last of the Mohicans”).
2014-15 “Report Card”
08.14
The Boy with Many Belts
So, did we do all we planned this past year? No, of course not. Do you ever remember finishing the textbook you were given growing up?
We had fun at home learning about our bodies, learning about the modern world, doing math with khan academy, reading great books, watching documentaries, watching good movies, playing music, BBQ with dad, building LEGOs, skying with friends while playing minecraft, helping in the garden, playing board games, learning how to do laundry and mowing the lawn.
We had some great experiences away from home including 4-H hikes, a visit to Williamsburg, a trip to Texas, a trip to New England, camping, going to the hippotherapy 
“Ranch”, spending time together, spending time with friends, speech therapy, weekly Co-op, enjoying our water park membership, visiting the new Children’s Science Center, attending Theater in the Woods, Organizing/Attending the Homeschool Conference, and playing/collecting pokemon.