Salt In the Air, Sand Everywhere…

We moved to Florida a few weeks ago, and we’re finally settled and getting into a routine.  Adjusting to the way of life down here has been quite different.  Most of the shops, eateries, etc. beachside close around 9pm.  We’re used to having 24/7 at our Kroger back home.  Oh, how I miss Kroger…adjusting to shopping at Publix hasn’t been fun.  But – I was lucky enough to find an organic market (kinda like a co-op) where I can get most of my fruits, veggies, meats, and some staples.  That should help reduce my trips to Publix. 

The boys LOVE living on the beach…we try to make it down to the beach or pool as often as we can.  We hang out at the pool more than the beach because the waves here are HUGE!  It does make for some good boogey-boarding though.  Since it's sea turtle season, we love looking for sea turtles from the balcony at night.  We've been lucky enough to see 3-4 come up to lay their eggs.  Brian actually walked up on one last night and got to watch the entire egg laying process.  Since you're not allowed to use any white lights, there's no way to get pictures or see very much.  We've been advised that using a red light is the safest way to go about watching this process, and that's not enough light to see much.  But -- it's still an awesome experience and such a wonderful marvel of God's creation.  We love waking up and looking for turtle tracks each morning.  The boys were able to be "vets for the day" down at The Gardens Mall in Palm Beach yesterday, and they both came home with a stuffed sea turtle.

The boys and I are finding many ways to get involved in the homeschool community as well.  We’ve found a monthly lego club, weekly park day, and lots of field trip opportunities.  We’re slowly making friends, and are really loving what’s available.

Then again…with the view below, you can’t really go wrong.

Week Seven of Learning 2013-14

This “week” was really about two weeks long.  But – that’s okay.  We’re a little behind schedule due to our move to Florida, but it’s all worth it.  Here’s how week seven went…
Micah, Kindergarten

• Bible – We discussed the story of Noah’s Ark.  Micah’s Bible verse was Genesis 9:13a.  We read and discussed the story, and we did a couple of art projects based on the Bible story.

• Phonics – Micah worked on the letter ‘d’ and short vowel ‘a’.  He had the following digraphs… ‘-ick,
  –uck, –eck, –ad, –at, –an, –ap.’  His sight words were ‘to, run, play, find, little, we, do, all’.

• Poetry – Our poems were ‘Funny Feet’ and ‘Orange Surprise’.  We used the poems to discuss commas, periods, and find sight words.

• Math – Micah worked on comparing size, weight, and capacity.  He also worked on comparing height and length and measuring in inches.

Caleb, Fifth Grade

• Bible – Caleb finished up reading in Genesis, and he started reading Exodus this week.  He read about Joseph in Potiphar’s House, Joseph Becomes Governor, Joseph’s Brothers Buy Grain, Joseph’s Family Moves to Egypt, Hebrews Become Slaves, and Moses is Born.  Here’s his depiction of the Hebrews Become Slaves…

• Math – We did a little work in Caleb’s books, but we mainly focused on fact review.  We played Math Bingo and used Hot Dots.  I broke down and ordered a new math curriculum (Teaching Textbooks), and I’m crossing my fingers that’ll meet Caleb’s math needs.  I’ve mentioned before that this is one of his weaknesses, and I’m really having a hard time finding out the best way to teach him.  So, it’s hard and frustrating for me…while I know he may not ever love math, I at least want him to enjoy it.  I LOVE math, and it’s one of my favorite subjects…I think this is why it’s hard for me to figure out what’s wrong.  So, I’m really hoping the Teaching Textbooks will be a success…only time will tell.
• English – Caleb worked on capitalizing important days; capitalizing geographical names; capitalizing businesses, organizations, and groups; capitalizing languages, nationalities, and religious references; and singular/plural nouns. 

So, we’re here in Florida, and we’re finally settled.  I’ll post more about that later. 

Week Six of Learning 2013-14

It’s been over a month since I’ve updated the blog, but that’s okay.  I do this for me, really, and if anyone else out there decides to read, then that’s okay.  If not, at least I’ve got written documentation of what we’ve been doing in our homeschool journey for the past five years. 
Micah, Kindergarten,

• Bible – Since we were rushing to get through with schooling, this was sadly not done.
• Phonics – Micah worked on the vowel ‘u’ and consonants ‘k’ and ‘c’.  He worked on the phonograms ‘-un, –ub, –up, and –ut.’  His sight words were big, said, come, and in.

• Poetry – Our poem this week was ‘Dinosaurs.’  We used it find our sight words, find rhyming words, and find periods/commas.

• Math – This week Micah worked on numbers 6-10 and ordinal numbers first-tenth.

Caleb, Fifth Grade

• Bible – Caleb continues to read in Genesis.  This week he read about Jacob Meets Rachel, Joseph’s Cloak, and Joseph is Sold as a Slave.  Here’s his interpretation of Joseph’s Cloak.

• Math – It seems I write the same thing each week for this, so for now, I’m going to delete it from the review write-up. 
• English – Caleb started a chapter on nouns.  He learned about nouns, common/proper nouns, and capitalizing names/titles.
• Test/Study Skills – We worked on dictionary skills again this week.  Caleb worked on definitions and pronunciations. 

That should get us caught up with our weekly school reviews.  There’s more I should/need to blog about, but I’ve got to get my thoughts together.  Stay tuned…

Week Five of Learning 2013-14

Wow – it’s been over a month since I’ve updated my blog.  I don’t think I’ve ever gone that long.  July was a crazy month, and time just got away from me.  We did weeks five and six DURING July, but here are the reviews.
Micah, Kindergarten

• Bible – Due to our crazy busy schedule, we didn’t focus on Bible this week.  We were busy trying to get other things accomplished.
• Phonics – This week Micah worked on the letters ‘b’ and ‘p’.  He worked on the phonogram ‘-ip’.  His sight words were go, up, down, and here.

• Poetry – Our poem this week was ‘The Smile.’  We used it to find our sight words, find commas, find rhyming words, and to find periods.

• Math – This week Micah worked on the numbers 0-5 and ordinal numbers first-fifth.

Caleb, Fifth Grade

• Bible – This week Caleb continued to read in Genesis, and he read about a Bride for Isaac, Esau Sells His Birthright, Jacob Deceives Isaac, and Jacob’s Ladder.  Here’s his interpretation of Jacob and Esau.

• Math – Caleb continues to work in his three books, focusing on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
• English – This week Caleb finished up the first chapter by completing a review and test.
• Test/Study Skills – Caleb worked on maps and learned about symbols, map keys, and map scales.  He also works on editing daily, and here’s a picture of him focusing on that skill.

There you have week five.  I’ll be back shortly with week six (hoping I can remember everything we accomplished).