Texas Unit- Spelling, handwriting, vocabulary

Texas Unit, Handwriting, Spelling :

 Kindergarten words:

Cowboy

Cowgirl

Horse

Orange

Purple

Black

Blue

Red

Yellow

Used with Dr. Jean's Color Farm Song and other color word manipulatives. Pictures coming soon.http://www.songsforteaching.com/drjean/colorfarm.htm

Second grade words:

Cattle

Trails

Voices

 Cowboys

Point

Enjoyment

Join

Soil

Joy

Toy

Coin

Around

without

 Texas Unit, Vocabulary:

Galloped

Chuckwagon

Bellowed

Roundup

Livestock

Buckaroo

Cattle

Trails

Cowboy

Railroad

Herd

Campfire

 All of these words were put into the Handwriting without tears worksheet makers for the appropriate grade level! LOVE IT!! http://www.hwtears.com/hwt/online-tools/aplus

Texas Unit- Bible Verses

I used this page for the cover of our "western"notebooks. It came from the link listed. Then we used the Bible verse on the poster for copywork and our Bible memorization! Worked out great! http://jenjahromi.typepad.com/visionsverses/2009/09/cowboy-daze.html
Ezekiel 22:30, KJ: And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none (wanted:a man to stand in the gap and depend them)
Psalm 106:3, Blessed are they who maintain justice, who always do what is right.
I probably should have used the Handwriting Without Tears worksheet maker to make the copywork sheets so they had lined paper...next time!

Texas Unit- Morning Messages

Morning Messages for Texas Unit:

Draw a cowboy.

What can you see at a rodeo?

Tell about why cowboys are so brave.

Tell about a person from the west who you would like to interview.

Tell about something you love to cook.

Tell about what you would do if you could stay up all night.

Write you top-secret chili recipe. What’s the secret ingredient?

What kind of work does a cowboy do?

Tell about why it is not good to fight with other people.

Tell about a western movie or show you would like to be in.

What would happen if children were in charge of the world.

If you had cowboy boots what would they look like?

If you were a cowboy, what would you name your horse?

Western Store "Treasure Hunt" for Cowboy Gear!

Belt Buckle

Chaps

 Vest

Spurs

 Boots

Lasso

gloves

Hat

Hat

Bandana

Used with Cowboy Dan Poem from the Kcrew- in previous post!

School in the car "schedule"...

Here's my "schedule" for the homeschooling in the car on roadtrips! 

This trip we are doing a Western Unit. My kids are 6 and 8, so some of this might have to be beefed up for older kids. 

I keep all of these books handy in a tall clear rubbermaid bin. This trip it's in the passenger side floor board so dad can get the books out one by one. And put them back!

1. Worship Song- I always like to start the day praising God just for being here! This trip we have Hillsong Kids!

2. Morning Devotion- I'm using a Beth Moore, Day by Day study- It's quick, simple, easy to carry in the car. 

Now we dig out our notebooks! Clear 1' binders. I inserted a cute cowboy cover with a Bible verse. I should have put the kids names on their notebooks- oh, well! Next time!

The sections inside are divided so the kids can easily flip to the next section when they are done with the previous. We go in order:

1. Morning Messages-At home we brainstorm together and come up with a message. I have preprinted them for the car because it's exactly easy to "model" write in the car. Some of them also go with the Western theme: Draw a cowboy, what kind of work does a cowboy do, make up a top secret chili recipe. What's the secret ingredient? We have one for every day we will be gone. Usually I just google story starters for second grade....

2. Bible Verse - Copywork of the verse. I wanted to use a "song" one that I have on cd so we could play it in the car but then I found this one on a "wanted poster" and couldn't resist! "Blessed are they who maintain justice. Who always do what is right."psalm 106:3

3. Handwriting- I use  Handwriting Without Tears at home so I wanted to use the same on the road but not have to lug around their workbooks. I was so excited to find their worksheet maker on their website!! I inserted "western words" onto the kids worksheets and printed one for every day we will be gone. For my second grader I also did vocabulary sheets with "western words" off of their site! So awesome!

4. Math-  song, problem of the day, time, money :

We sing lots of math songs in the car! Dr. Jean is the BEST!!! Mr. Al and They Might be Giants also have some math songs. 

Problem of the day- I got them from the Kcrews free printables! http://thekcrew.net/samplepacks.html  Love this site!!

I wanted to focus on time and money when we were gone so I stuck some print outs about these concepts into this section of the folders. It's working great so far! We also sing Dr. Jeans time and money songs, over and over!!

5. Daily hundreds Chart Game-  This is part of math but I wanted to make sure my daughter was counting to 100 daily so I printed some prefilled 100's charts! I also found a list of games to play with a 100's chart! A little more advanced to fill the needs of my second grader.  Again, we use Dr. Jean's counting songs!

6. Daily Post Cards or Letters- Of course you have to send letters and post cards on vacation! At your stops along the way pick up some postcards to send to friends and family, or to yourself! We've been working on proper letter writing for some time now, so this is great reinforcement. 

I am so proud of "D", my six year old, for making a coming up with this idea! We just did a book camp at our house so she wanted to be able to make books on our trip. I told her to make a "book making kit" to take with. I gave her a rubbermaid container made for holding documents- the lid clips shut. She went to town finding things to put in her box for the trip; cards and envelopes, scrapbook paper, mini star shaped blank books, scissors, glue sticks, stickers, markers, pencils! She even decorated the cover! I hope to post a picture soon! It's very cool and she has loved using it in the car and at our destination!

7. Poetry-  I picked poetry to do in the car 1. because I found some super cute western poems online 2. because you can cover tons of language arts concepts through poetry 3. my kids love it  4. I can't read in the car for long periods of time! I've also got some super fun Shel Silverstein poems/songs on CD that we love to listen to in the car anytime!! The western poems I found are at http://www.thevirtualvine.com/cowboys.html

Cowboy Dan, My Name is Texas, I am a Cowboy, I am a Cowgirl, When Tillie Ate the Chili

8. Book Making-  Since we have the bookmaking kit, I thought we could make some "western books" in the car! 1. My Cowboy Book...illustrating each page (boots, hats, jeans, bunkhouse, corral, stampede, lasso)  2. Cowboys Can....But Cowboys Cannot   3. T is for Texas, cut out Texas symbols, use for each page, put in alphabetical order  4. Texas Flip Book, one for each letter in the word Texas. Most of these ideas also came from virtual vine or Kcrew sites. www.bookmakingwithkids.com is also a wonderful bookmaking site!

9. Tutor Time-  Individual Math with each child. I haven't gotten to this yet in the car and the vehicle we are driving doesn't allow me to sit next to the children. We'll have to do tutor time at our destination!

10. Reading- For summer reading the kids are trying to read 50 books. I brought as many as I could of the books they wanted to read. I like for my second grader to read at least one chapter in a sitting, even though he could read an entire book in one sitting. He is working on the Magic Tree House Series, my kindergartener is working on Bob Books and Scholastic first time readers. If I had prepared better I would have ordered Western books for them to read on this trip- I ran out of time! But I do have a list! Also found at those great websites listed above!

I have a book with western activities and short stories about the west that we are using for background information, history, and introduction of "the west." It's working fine to just have this. I'll post specific names of books later..........

11. Art, Food, Fun when you get where you're going.......

Today at our destination we had ribs and baked beans for dinner and made cowboy vests out of paper bags!! The kids decorated with stickers, sheriff badges, and fringe! Pictures later......

12. Be spontaneous - We happened to see a sign for a place called Western Town while driving! Of course we had to stop at the biggest western store in the country! We had the kids do a treasure hunt for cowboy gear throughout the store and take pictures of everything they could find! We had just talked about this in the car using the the "Cowboy Dan" poem so it worked out perfectly! They had a great time and I got some cute pictures. We also bought a lasso to play with at our destination! It ended up being way cheaper than a paid attraction, the kids LOVED it, and we stretched our legs for a few minutes. 

On the road again!

I think my friends think I am nuts, but I love doing school on road trips! It's easy and fun to do unit studies on the road and your kids can't get up and walk away! Plus, then they arent glued to a game machine or DVD player all day- they use their brains and we have family fun time!
This trip is a long one! 1200 miles! Our coop did a Western "round up" a few weeks ago so I went with a western unit study!
I make notebooks for each child with all Burke work inside. The notebooks have sections for subjects. They flip through and we help them along the way! Probably the best part is that mom gets to drive and dad gets to teach- mostly! :) I'll post next what is in this units notebooks!

The Beginnings of something.....

We 

We were so excited for those first little green heads coming up!!

Backyard Bookworm Adventure Camp!

Day one of our adventure! 14 Kids for camp from 9am-12 this week! Great first day! MONDAY:
Theme	Soil and Water
Fine Motor	Beading- Make worms with beads
Topic Book	Diary of a Worm
Song of day	Herman the Worm
Bible Story	Sunflower Parable
Bible Song	All Things Bright and Beautiful
Bible Verse	Isaiah 28:24-25    Ezekiel 31:4
Lesson Topic	Letter Writing/Intro to Diary Entries
Book Craft	Diaries with fabric cover/flap book
CENTERS
1. Diary Entries	what worms do
2. Bug of the day	Study worm habitat
3. Hands on	Difference bw soil and dirt - sort,
4. Other	Plan a garden
Snack	Gummy worms in chocolate pudding with crushed oreos
Outdoor game	Wiggly Worm    (Red Rover)

I need some renewed strength...everyone does from time to time!

Isaiah 40:28-31 (New International Version, ©2011)

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

School on the run....

 Charles Morse Musuem- Winter Park FL       Highly Recommended!

 Florida Southern College, Annie Pfeifer Chapel, Frank Lloyd Wright

 FSC Science Department

 Future Mocs!

 Checking out the new fountain!

This is what homeschooling is all about! School in the car + museums+ science class on the beaches+ waterslides+ and sunburns = vacation! Gotta love it! My kids actually do school better in the car- I guess because they can't go anywhere and we have their undivided attention! I say "we" because this also means Daddy gets a turn to be teacher! And of course, Mommy loves every minute of it......

Help! Pray! I'm stuck...

 This week my mind is totally consumed with the evil people of the world. It's hard raising your kids when the devil lives down the street. Of course this makes evil things run through MY mind- all day long!! I'm trying not to let the devil win. Lord help me! What do we do to protect our kids and ourselves. I'm praying, I'm reading your WORD! I know we have to put on the Armor of God, EVERYDAY! But shouldn't it be ok to get rid of the evil in order to protect your precious children from serious harm and emotional damage?? From a Biblical standpoint, how far can we go to protect our children......

¹⁰ The wicked crave evil;
   their neighbors get no mercy from them.

 ¹¹ When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom;
   by paying attention to the wise they get knowledge.

 ¹² The Righteous One^[b] takes note of the house of the wicked
   and brings the wicked to ruin.

 ¹³ Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor
   will also cry out and not be answered.

 ¹⁴ A gift given in secret soothes anger,
   and a bribe concealed in the cloak pacifies great wrath.

 ¹⁵ When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous
   but terror to evildoers.

 ¹⁶ Whoever strays from the path of prudence
   comes to rest in the company of the dead.

 ¹⁷ Whoever loves pleasure will become poor;
   whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich.

 ¹⁸ The wicked become a ransom for the righteous,
   and the unfaithful for the upright.

My Precious Babies!

Baby Sister! 

Support each other on the journey......and pray for one another! Don't pretend, life is perfect!

So many times, I think moms and homeschool moms especially, want everyone to think that life is perfect at their house! Well, it's not!! I wrote this to another mom in our coop this afternoon after she asked for prayer and advice on her children's dawdling and her own nagging! A common occurrence in any home, especially mine! Charlotte Mason has some great suggestions for these issues......www.simplycharlottemason.com

" Let's just say, I feel your pain! I think it's important to realize that we ALL have these struggles. As adults, we struggle more, perhaps, because these bad habits are so hard to break for ourselves. I too, struggle to get up early and get a good start! The past two weeks are a bad example because I have been sick and really need the rest, so we haven't gotten up, however, my husband has been such a blessing this year (because he know I struggle with mornings and need his assistance for the rest of the day to go smoothly) and has helped get everyone up bright and early! On a good morning he has them dressed, teeth brushed, and at the table with breakfast by the time I get out of the shower and get my wits about me! He knows I need this alone time in the morning to compose myself! Then we all sit down to breakfast and morning devotion! It's really been an incredible blessing to our family to have this time all together first thing in the morning. Although he'd like to be gone by 7:30, most mornings it's more like 8. I think he has really enjoyed this extra family time and he can see how much happier Mommy is to have this boost of help first thing in the morning! We wave goodbye on the porch, run our laps around the driveway, come in and finish "morning routine" including morning chore.
I was also having a great deal of trouble with kids completing chores in a timely manner without complaining. A few months ago I had my older ones "apply" for jobs in the house. They actually had interviews. This way they are doing things they enjoy, and are good at. So they each have the same daily chore they do every morning- Delaney dishes, Reilly laundry. This has helped tremendously!!! And of course I have my own "chores" that I do, because we have to lead by example, and make a point to tell that that you also have a daily chore! This has taken away so much of the whining and dawdling because they now exactly what is expected of them every morning without having to look at  a chart  (I did this last year!) And anyone that knows me, knows I love charts and checklists, but it wasn't working! Of course there are those dreaded jobs, no one wants to do but they have to be done- I sweep because I can't stand the crumbs on the floor and the children hate to sweep. We also have afternoon chores that we do at 4pm so that the house is tidy when Daddy gets home. This is on a rotating daily schedule and we have done it long enough (forming those habits) that they know what chore to do on what day! It has taken a LONG time to get to this point, but by being consistent and patient we are getting through it and forming those great habits!! It's actually nice to look back and see how far we've come."

More to come on this subject of imperfections later......

uh oh! Mommy's Sick...

The 1/2 dramamine I took Saturday still hadn't worn off after church on Sunday so we decided I needed to sweat it off working in the garden! Since this is our first garden we all thoroughly enjoyed raking, hoeing, and just plain getting dirty before returning to church for evening Bible study! Emma Grace had dirt in places you really shouldn't....because she's in that stage wear her clothes NEVER stay on!! Nice.....
The dramamine finally wore off and I cleaned the house until 10pm Sunday night! I have to start the school week off with a clean house or I'm just stuck....looking at all the piles of stuff everywhere and not focused on school! Needless to say, it worked! We had an entire week of school....AMAZING!!!

TD for Reilly!

This is basically the reason I started this blog; to help me reflect and notice that I AM making a difference in my kids lives and they are taking steps forward (even if they might take two steps back, every once in a while) It's hard to see the progress when you are with them ALL DAY LONG EVERYDAY, 24/7!! No really....there are two in my bed at this very moment!! Homeschool moms NEVER get a break....but we also know that it will be worth it in the end. After all, our kids are our most valuable investment...ok, not including our humble Savior, but you get the point!
Reilly scored his first TD on Saturday at football!! But I wanted to cry....because I was at home, sick in bed! Seriously??? It was the ONLY game I missed all season!! Daddy said he got a hand off and ran 75 yards! Are you kidding me?? My Reilly?? If you would have asked me a year ago if Reilly would ever play football, I probably would have laughed....but he is absolutely loving it! His coach and the church that host it have been an absolute BLESSING in our lives, especially his! Reilly is very shy and deals with anxiety. It brings a tear to my eye to see how far he really has come in the last year and a half!
CONGRATS REILLY on your first Touchdown! Go Gators! I guess it is fitting since Reilly's life verse came from our football hero Timmy Tebow!

Phillipians 4:13 I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me

Fun Fridays!

Last Friday took my big kids to the symphony in the AM, since we studied  Tchaikovsky first and second term, and the JSO was doing Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony! Then we rode around to see "Monster Trucks" in the afternoon with the cousins!  That's what I love about homeschool.......

Grammar Rock Verb

This was totally off the cuff!

Sentence School This Morning talking about VERBS! "I weave." "I leave."

I love utube for reinforcing school concepts!

Kids are cutting out action words in magazines and making a verb book (Reilly) and a verb poster (Delaney)!

Going Backwards!

 Frog!

 Gracie's new thing- to hide in the bottom of the grill!

 Bumble Bee?!

 Snake!

 Garden!

 Helping dad with irrigation- kind of.....

 Sprinkler fun!! HAHA!

Rope swing and sprinkler fun in one!! 

Yes- this was all in ONE DAY!! 

Sometimes the Good Lord has a way of reminding me not to try so hard with school, just let HIM lead the way.....Ok- I'm going back to Monday b/c it was a crazy day, but we ended up find some really cool stuff in the backyard! And started our first ever garden- ok Joe did, but I watched!! Tigris Landscape  So the garden was tilled and raked, Joe found a cool little snake while raking, a huge bumble bee was polinating our flowers (I guess!), another one was dead so we picked it up to check it out, kids found and green tree frog and made a "home" for it, justin worked on irrigation for garden, so naturally kids played in sprinklers, what else........Sarah came over......and we started the day at 6:30 with Emma Grace throwing up- nearly on  my head!! Thankfully only on the pillow......then later all over the bedroom- but it only lasted half a day!! Yippee!! I think we did some regular school in the AM- can't remember! None the less, a pretty cool exploration day.....

Wednesday's and Thursday's- My busy days!

Wednesday's are crazy b/c I'm trying to get ready for Awana at church (we are the "commanders") and prep for Thursday's coop! I'm always distracted my trying to do this stuff and not focused on teaching! Makes me mad at myself......anyway, just had Reilly (and Grace) b/c Lanie was camping so thought it would be a faster school day...no such luck!! However we did start our new math manipulatives that I'm super excited about so Reilly made part of a "7heaven" fact family book:
"Three little angels went out one day,
over the clouds and far away,
The first little angel found a harp to play,
the second little angel sang a song that day,
and the third little angel just flew away"
(tune, 5 little ducks)
memory aids

"Mad about Jesus" at church was AWESOME! Great leaders! Great Kids! Banana experiment, Faith lesson, banana splits, banana olympics!!

Thursday's are non-stop! Coop bright and early - we started our Eric Carle author study in Delaney's 4,5 class! Reilly did Dr. Seuss's Bday in art! After coop, straight to lunch with Nana- she takes baby with her so I can take big kids to violin with Ms. Abby! Then we go straight to get "our Nick" from school- head to Nana's to pick up baby and usually play with cousins for a few hours before we head to Football and Cheer practice- dinner after and home to bed!!! ..whew..exhausting day!! GO LANIE!! SHE GOT THE SPIRIT STICK THIS WEEK AT CHEERLEADING!! GREAT JOB!

!

Starting our blog...diary!

Decided to start this blog, more like a diary, of the REAL life of homeschooling! The ups and downs, ins and outs, trials and errors.......because I want to be able to look back and remember what we did "back then"! And because I think some people make it sound SOOO easy.....but it's not always that easy! In fact, it's probably the hardest job I've ever had and will have! However, I know that it will be worth it in the end and that I have been called to do this my our Almighty God and Father! So we will press on, each day, praying to HIM for strength and patience and giving HIM all the glory and praise for the opportunity to be on board this glorious ADVENTURE ..........Climb aboard!!