Week One of Learning for 2013-14

We started our 2013-14 school year on Monday.  For those wondering, we choose to school year-round so that we can have a more flexible calendar.  Doing this allows us to take off every other Friday and about one week a month.  We also get two weeks at Christmas.  We’ve schooled year-round since the beginning of our homeschool journey, and I LOVE it.  The boys don’t seem to mind, either.    Here’s how our first week went…

Micah, Kindergarten
Caleb, Fifth Grade

Micah, Kindergarten

• Bible – This week we began our Bible study by studying the story of Creation.  We read from Genesis, and we did activities for each day.  His Bible verse was Genesis 1:1.

Day One – we sorted pictures of nighttime and daytime activities.  Micah then chose three of each to glue on a day/night paper.

Day Two – Micah painted the water blue and glued cotton balls on for the sky.

Day Three – We used his handprint for the tree, and he painted grass and added flower stickers.  The “land” is sandpaper.

Day Four – He glued on a moon and added star stickers, and he colored the yellow sun.

• Phonics – This week we worked on the letters ‘t’ and ‘I’.  His sight words were ‘a, and, see, and the.’  We also worked on the phonogram ‘-it.’

• Poetry – This week our poem was ‘My First Day.’  We used the poem to find the word ‘see’, discuss rhyming words, and discuss the use of commas. 

• Math – We worked on shapes.  We used geoboards to make shapes, made shapes using tangrams, found shapes around the room, and played with some shape puzzles.  In his math notebook, Micah drew shapes and cut out shapes from magazines.  In the below pictures, his pattern block pieces are…person, lion, boat, fire breathing dragon, and a flying object.  His geoboard creations are a triangle, a house, and Pacman.

Caleb, Fifth Grade

• Bible – This week Caleb began reading in Genesis.  He read about Creation, the Fall, Cain and Abel, and Noah Builds the Ark.  Here is his representation of the Creation (note Adam being created from dust and Eve being created from Adam’s rib).

• Math – This week Caleb did exercises from his math books, and we worked on multiplication facts.  We used flash cards and Hot Dots to focus on the facts.  We also worked on quick recall.
• English – This week Caleb worked on complete sentences, complete subjects/predicates, and simple/complete subjects.
• Test/Study Skills – This week Caleb started learning about maps, charts, diagrams, and graphs.  He learned what each one is and how it is used, parts of a map, etc.

We had a GREAT first week.  Both boys did really well with the adjustment of having to share me during the school day.  They both learned a lot, and they both seemed to really enjoy the first week.  Here’s hoping their feelings continue. 
***Yes, I need to do a better job of getting pictures of Caleb, but he’s not doing too much ‘fun’ stuff at the moment.  I’ll work on it though.***