Wordless Wednesday

Flying Homemade Kites

One of the awesome parts of our curriculum is that it connects everything. The language arts books align with the science and social studies curriculum and they include art and other types of learning in almost every unit. Here they were reading Ben and Me, studying electricity and magnetism, and used their artistic and fine motor skills to build a kite. These were nice kite making kids using a light weight cloth rather than paper.

Both kids pulling their kites 

Running through fields is pretty much a perfect school day 

Beautiful

So I didn't get any up close pictures of the kids or the kites, but this was such a fun lesson and we certainly picked a beautiful day to do it.

2nd Grade Curriculum Choices

I wanted to post about the materials we used in 2nd grade - i.e. The year you will see me start posting about now since I keep the blog a year behind.

Moving Beyond the Page - Language Arts, Science, Social Studies
Rosetta Stone - Polish
Life of Fred - Math
Khan Academy - Math
Typing Instructor for Kids - Typing
The Complete Elementary Music Rudiments, 2nd Edition - Music Theory
Sequential Spelling - Spelling
Private Music Lessons
Homeschool Band
Sports



Moving Beyond the Page we have been using for years and we used the 8-11 curriculum for 2nd grade. We did every lesson in every unit. The kids asked to take it slowly so we only worked from it 3 times a week. It lasted more than a calendar year, but they have grown up and learned so much.

With family in Poland, it is important the kids learn Polish so they continue to work through that. This year in addition to understanding, speaking, and reading it, they added learning to write in Polish.



Life of Fred is a series of math books. The kids were working their way through the rest of the elementary series and started the intermediate series. Since they are so far ahead of where they should be we only did 1 lesson per week out of these.

Khan Academy is a free online math site. The kids were required to spend 40 minutes per week (not all at once) working on math here. By the end of the year both have finished all of 2nd and most of 3rd grade as well as many skills from higher grades.


For typing we increased their goal speed to 20wpm. Our idea is once they can type 50wpm they can be done with typing forever. We are hoping they increase at a rate of 10wpm per year so they would be done with typing around 5th grade.



For music theory we are using the book that prepares them for the Royal Conservatory Music Theory tests. We have also added a private theory lesson for Sweet Son as he surpassed my theory knowledge and I couldn't help him answer questions any more.

We only work on spelling twice per week using Sequential Spelling. When we were just over half way through the first book they both took the new online placement test. Sweet Daughter scored half way through the first book - perfect! Sweet Son scored into the 3rd book so now he is doing his spelling online while she is still working through the first book with me. She will switch to online when she finishes the current book.

They take private music lessons through a local classical music school. Sweet Son is still studying piano with the teacher he has been with for a couple of years. He decided he doesn't want to do a performance test and that is fine. He is enjoying playing and learning. Sweet Daughter is in a group voice class and is doing well. She really enjoys the group class and having more people to interact with.

The kids are continuing with homeschool band, only now they are in the concert band instead of the beginner band. They are still the youngest, but have friends and enjoy it immensely.

Sports vary by kid and by season. Sweet Son strongly prefers solo sports such as swimming. Sweet Daughter strongly prefers team sports with a great deal of competition. With both kids doing different sports it feels like I'm constantly running around trying to get everyone where they need to be.

Rainforest Dioramas

The end of our rainforest unit required the kids making a diorama. I gave them each a shoebox, open access to all of the art supplies, and a rubric. Then they asked if they could use some of the plastic animals and plants and I agreed. They both did a great job.

Both of them side by side

SweetSon's diorama

He built trees and even had a monkey hanging from the vines connecting the trees. There is an ape sitting on the large rock as well as many other animals hidden. There were 7 different animals included in his diorama. He had a plan from the beginning when he started painting the background and it seemed to all work perfectly for him.

Sweet Daughter's diorama

She stood the shoebox up and went in an entirely different direction. She also has 7 different animals hidden, but I loved that she used (with permission) some of the blue strings off of a pompom to hang as rain. She also included a human figure to be a scientist observing the animals. She didn't have a plan until it all came together and looked great.

Butterflies in the Backyard!

Once we finally convinced the butterflies to leave their enclosure and go free, they stuck around for about 30 minutes.

It actually walked onto his hand.

She also had one that was perfectly happy being carried around!

See what I mean about calm and friendly?

Here they are passing one of the butterflies back and forth.

They did eventually all fly away, so I know they weren't hurt. We also left some orange slices out in case they had trouble finding food. It is November after all!

Butterflies!

Every couple of years we raise butterflies from caterpillars. This year our curriculum told us to so it was perfect. Here are some of the photos from our butterfly release. *Outside temperatures must be above 55F in order to release them, so we can do this at least 11 months of the year. Other locations are more limited.

We opened their habitat and no one flew out.

We enticed them out with orange slices.

One child is much happier about this than the other.

Come back tomorrow for both kids getting up close with the butterflies. These were some of the friendliest and calmest butterflies we have ever had. (I have also done this with classes at school for over a decade and this was truly exceptional.)

Dissecting Owl Pellets (3 of 3)

First, Americans: GO VOTE!

Here are the photos of what was found inside the owl pellets:

Lots of skinny bones, nothing exceptionally interesting in Wonderful Husband's.

Skinny bones, 2 skulls, and a pelvic bone in Sweet Daughters.

Skinny bones and these two feet in Sweet Son's. Look at the cool set of bones in those feet!

Another angle of the feet. You can even see the joints.

Completely gross, totally amazing, and I am so glad we did it. Then I cleaned the dining room table and floor about 15 times - just to be on the safe side.

Owl Pellet Dissection (2 of 3)

This activity look longer than we expected which was the result of a few things. #1 Gloves make everything more difficult. #2 While our kids have great fine motor skills for their age, this is usually done by older students. #3 Both kids were perfectionists who didn't want to stop until they had searched every little piece of their pellet.

Working intently

He divides it into piles as he goes.

Her organization style was a bit more scattered, haha.

Come back tomorrow for a close up of everything they found.

Dissection Owl Pellets (1 of 3)

When the curriculum calls for dissecting owl pellets we made it a family activity! First, let me assure you owl pellets are not poop from owls. They are owl vomit. Don't you feel better now?

Gloves, white paper to help see the contrast, and tweezers

This is so exciting!

She was too interested to notice me taking photos.

To be continued on Monday

Homeschool Resources

I am still homeschooling both kids. We reevaluate every year and they have decided to continue what we are doing. Our core curriculum is Moving Beyond the Page. It covers Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. We use two different things for Math - Khan Academy (free!) and Life of Fred. We also use Rosetta Stone for Polish, Typing Instructor for typing, and music and sports are outside of the home. All of this adds up quickly in the budget so here are some other resources that are all under $20!

Here's a list of the best affordable homeschool resources - all available for $20 or less on Educents. Helpful Resources Homeschool Planner - This planner includes dated journal pages, practical forms, motivational quotes, and teaching aides to make your homeschool planning effortless and enjoyable. Do-a-Dot Mega Bundle - 17 different activities that cover fine motor skills, numbers, letters, sight words, word families, shapes, colors, patterns, and early addition. All of these items are designed for us with do-a-dot markers, but they also come with a variety of suggestions for alternative uses. Photography Lessons for Kids - Add some fun to your homeschool! Whether your kids have a point and shoot or a DSLR camera, the fundamental rules of photography can still be taught. Math Resources Tegu Geometric Blocks - Here's a hands-on way to learn geometric shapes. These blocks come in many shapes and colors.
Times Tales DVD - Kids can learn their times tables in a snap! Most homeschoolers say this DVD only takes about an hour to teach kids the upper times tables. There's also a downloadable version available. Life of Fred Math Stories - After reading the Fred books, kids will never say "math is boring" ever again. These fictional stories weave in math concepts with real world examples. Start with the Apples book for early math, and follow Fred all the way to calculus lessons! Tegu Geometric Blocks - Here's a hands-on way to learn geometric shapes. These blocks come in many shapes and colors. Science Activities Slimy Squishy Polymer Bucket - Learn, create, and play with your student. These polymers can help teach measurements, chemical reactions, and following directions.
One Minute Science Mysteries - Each story, just one minute long, challenges students' knowledge in earth, space, life, physical, chemical, and general science. Language Arts Games & Lessons uKloo Early Riddle Edition Treasure Hunt Game -Disguised as a treasure hunt, this literacy game gets kids physically active as they strengthen reading comprehension skills while solving clues to find a surprise.
 Let's Get Reading Bundle - Play detective with this printable packet investigating CVC words, phonics, word families and more! Kids can even print & wear spy gear! Cursive Writing Worksheets - Make handwriting practice more fun with these superhero-themed printable worksheets.  

Sugar Cube Pyramids

When studying pyramids in Ancient Egypt, one of the projects is to build a pyramid out of sugar cubes. This was fun and not as messy as I had expected, though certainly not neat.

She started by dumping them all out and trying to group them in a pile.

He started with a very exact method so it would be perfectly square.

Her finished pyramid.

His finished pyramid.

He didn't stop there. He added an entire complex. The side pyramids for the wives, the path from the river into the pyramid, etc.

Building a Castle

As part of our curriculum, when studying the middle ages, the kids made a castle out of a box. They did all of the cutting themselves. We only helped tie on the string for the draw bridge. They also decorated their boxes.

She colored all of the outside of hers and part of the inside.

He wrote Do Not Enter.

Making Butter

When our curriculum (Moving Beyond the Page) included an activity of making butter, both kids were thrilled. The idea that butter only had one ingredient was fascinating. They were excited to start shaking the jar.

The excitement at the beginning. That excitement started to wear off well before the butter was finished.

After each taking individual turns, they started working together to roll it back and forth between them. This wasn't as effective, but it did eventually work.

Enjoying crackers with their own butter!

Final Project

Another school unit, another final project only this time instead of making instruments, they had to make a movie the old way. First they drew pictures and wrote the story. Then they glued them on a long piece of paper. Then we helped them create the movie box. They wound the movie up and by turning one rod they could play the movie. By turning the other rod they could rewind the movie.

She is laying out her movie and making sure the spacing is correct.

He is showing off his finished product.