Before and After- Learning Nook AKA our homeschool room

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BEFORE
The BFC is on the wall. If you look closely you can spot one tote along the wall on the floor. There are three of these totes and they were used to hold the boys' daily lesson materials.






AFTER


10 Points if you noticed that the table is bigger! (It extends into a buffet, of sorts.)
I added two bookcases from our living room on either side of the table for personal storage of daily lesson materials.
I brought in a cork board to display our Greek alphabet and Mr. Gallon.





I moved my laptop into the room, as well as our printer. (I need to remember to do something with those unsightly wires.)
The basket on the floor (far right corner) is filled with our current reading and my current drool catalogs.
The tote at the end of the table is filled with art supplies.
(Oooh! I see an orb above the phone!)


From right to left: Our pet gerbil, Hammy now lives in the sunny nook. I'm sure he doesn't appreciate this one bit since he is nocturnal. However, it is the best way to ensure he is fed. :)
Remington put together a bug habitat in an old canning jar.
Our human anatomy model is now on display. This poor guy has been living in our closet for years.
Toilet paper... dunno why that's there. I didn't tidy before I took pics. :)
Plenty O' Pencils
misc. items
Our three sugar cube pyramids. (Craft courtesy of Story of the World.)
The plant is in this room for the same reason as Hammy.
Under the table, our overflowing trash can.
Last but not least, my coffee cup.


The top shelf of this bookcase is mine and the bottom is Remington's. Pretty much everything we need for our daily studies is right at our fingertips.


This top shelf is used by Richie. The bottom shelf is Devan's.
The boys have a three ring binder for each area of study.

Ooooh! Check out this two person table

This two person work desk with storage is available from IKEA. I've never ordered from IKEA before so any and all information on the company and their products are welcomed.

If you ask me, this desk is just begging to be used in a homeschool. I plan to purchase two to use with our sit down work. I'm thrilled (yes, easily) about the individual storage. I keep picturing all their three ring binders neatly organized. (Hopefully they will fit.)

I think this is what I want to celebrate our sixth year of homeschooling anniversary. (Which is coming in three days.)

I'm diggin' on some Post It notes

I have stumbled upon a very simple (simple as in "DOH!") method to save a little time each day, keep your materials organized, and save a little sanity.

I have placed a post it note marked TODAY on the appropriate page for each of our daily books. (At this time we are using 13 books daily.) I figure this will shave off about five minutes per day looking for the right page. This may not sound like much, but it could equal almost half an hour per week! That's a block of time long enough to dedicate to that extra lesson you have been trying to fit in. (Perhaps that really neat program you picked up at the last conference but can't seem to fit into the regular schedule? *wink*wink*)

It's simple, but most things that work are. Bookmarks never work very well for us. They fall out, get misplaced, etc... Not to mention, some bookmarks are simply cooler than others. This presents a problem as each of the boys vie for the cool bookmarks.

Anywho, those are my extremely simple and rambling thoughts this morning.

The Plan (Part 2)

Oops! I published that last post "The Plan" way before I was finished listing our daily work. (Sorry!) Here's the rest.

Individual daily lessons with the boys-

Richie-
logic
dictation
math drill
English from the Roots Up


Devan-
speaking more clearly
Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading
math drill
All About Spelling

Remington- (review & learn)
colors
letters
shapes
OPGTR (maybe)

Work to be completed independently by the boys-

Richie-
marine life/ocean study
daily writing (story starter, lists, compositions, examples of today's grammar lesson, etc...)

Devan-
summer nature study
copy work
daily writing (same as above)


Whew! Okay, now I'm finished.
It really doesn't take as long as it seems it would to complete these lessons. (It's all in how you coordinate them.)
Also, we are still (anxiously) awaiting the arrival of some of this "year's " books. We still have not received English From The Roots Up, the associated flash cards, First Language Lessons, All About Spelling, or A Kids Summer Eco Journal. In the meantime we will be substituting with our current programs.

You may have noticed we are not currently using our beloved MUS. We (I) still love MUS. I just want to make certain the boys are really on top of their math facts. So, MUS has been put aside until they demonstrate mastery of the facts they should (in theory) already know. I'm not sure how long this will take. Shamefully, it's been some time since I have quizzed them. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still grade their worksheets. They are passing. They are filling in the correct answers. But, I think we all know that doesn't exactly equal knowledge.

At least not around here it doesn't.

The Planner

I set to work. I was determined to create my own planner for this upcoming year of lessons. I revisited my past plans, read through our old planners to see how and what types of things I needed room for. (And which parts of the planners sat empty.) I created a simple layout and set out to find the book to keep it in.
I had originally planned to buy preprinted pages of some sort for my DayRunner. That quickly showed to be a dud of an idea. None of those pages would work for me. Even if I did make them work, was it worth $30 for the refill pack?

I soon settled on the idea of some sort of nice notebook. Endless pages of lined paper for my ranting! Yes! One problem. Most of the notebooks had, at most, 100 or 150 pages. That's not nearly enough when you factor in-
KY state homeschooling laws prescribe 180 days of instruction
I will be planning and recording lessons for 3 children
I like to write notes about the boys and their progress (It's what made revisiting all those old planners so sweet and special.)

What I finally found was a hard cover "Record" book. This is made by WilsonJones and has 500 pages. (S300-5R Record Ruled-35 lines, 500 pages in case you're interested in ordering.)

So, last night with my template in hand, I partially created my plan book for this year. It lays out as follows:

Inside front cover-Calendar

1st page-

Wisdom cannot finally be tested in schools,
Wisdom cannot be pass'd from one having it
to another not having it,
Wisdom is of the soul,
is not susceptible of proof,
is its own proof.
- Walt Whitman

Wisdom Home Academy
(School address)
School point of contact- (My name and cell number)

Dates used-
(Names and ages of all students)

Pages 2 through 5-Proposed reading lists (These will be checked off the list, with date and name of student(s), as completed.

Pages 6 through 9-Outline our goals for our family and each child

Pages 10 through 13-
Books and resources list, this does not include reading books (including price)

Then, the actual weekly planner pages begin. They are laid out as follows:
The Schedule (This is a loose schedule for our daily activities as well as a weekly list of any special events or appointments.)
Home Management (This page includes a list of any tasks needed for running the home that week.)
Two page spread of The Plan (This will outline our ever evolving plan/lessons for the day.)
Two page spread for notes. (This will be used to record any observations, exciting moments, frustrating moments, and those moments that make you so happy you homeschool.)

Of course the weekly planner pages make up the bulk of this record book. At the end of this record book:
Attendance record sheets
KY state homeschoooling laws
Public school liaison contact information
The back cover will sport a library card holder to hold one card for our currently owed library books

Before and After Desk Makeover

Ah! That's much better.

A day's plan (May 5th)

I plan to wake early tomorrow, around 5am. That will give me three hours before I wake the boys at 8am. (During this time I check email, surf the web, plan last minute lesson details, check the calendar, and drink massive amounts of coffee.)
First things for the boys- personal hygiene, tidy bedroom, eat breakfast, and animal care.

Then, we begin our lessons.
First thing, copy the penmanship character quote from the chalkboard in neatest handwriting. (This is to be rewritten in best handwriting each day.)
Second thing, group English lesson. (The present tense of be and the 6 tenses of verbs.)
Third, group history lesson.
Then- Richie read chapter 1 Egypt under the Pharaohs and write a brief summary.
Meanwhile, Devan, Christopher, and I will be covering our AVKO lessons. (Two to make up for a missed lesson last week.)
Next is Christopher's reading lesson.

From here on out the boys will complete their lessons independently.
Richie-
MUS
Read next chapter of Little Women
Spelling Workout
Writing Strands

Devan-
MUS
Read next chapter of The Pearl
Writing Strands
Nature study

Christopher-
Life of Fred
Read next chapter of Lord of the flies
Writing Strands

The boys also each have one hour of free silent reading time and dictation work.
After all this, we'll make clay for our history project. (More to come on that one.)
Finally, the formal day wraps up with the boys completing their afternoon lessons.

The schedule continues

Last week was good with our new schedule and some new homeschool goodies. I had second thoughts, but after reconsidering I think we will continue this way. It went pretty well and covered quite a bit. (Besides, I'm really excited to mummify a chicken.)

Each of the boys will daily-
Write their penmanship character quote
Read one chapter of assigned reading
Christopher- Lord of the Flies
Richie- Little Women
Devan- The Pearl
Spend 60 minutes reading silently from any book
Writing- (Christopher and Devan write lists, Richie writes essays)
Math

As a group we will have-
A daily lesson in Grammar using various sources and my handy dandy chalkboard (No diagramming of sentences!)
A daily lesson in History using Story of the World
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday- Drawing with Children art lessons (DWC)
Tuesday and Thursday- Science lessons (Earth Science)
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday~ Writing Strands lesson

In addition they will have the following work-
Christopher
Daily~ reading lesson (remedial phonics work)
Daily~ AVKO Sequential Spelling
Daily~ Write from dictation
Wednesday and Thursday~ JCPSeSchool Freshman English course
Friday~ Narrate an essay about history or science lessons

Richie
Daily~ Spelling workout lesson
Daily~ Typing practice
Daily~ Logic work
Friday~ Write an essay covering history or science lessons

Devan
Daily~ AVKO Spelling
Daily~ Science workbook
Few days a week (at least)~ Nature study
Wednesday and Thursday~ Write from dictation
Friday~ Narrate an essay about history or science lessons

The boys also have daily animal chores and housekeeping work.

Spring break pictures- Camping!

Looks pretty rustic, right?



Yeah... Not quite so rustic. See that building on the left? There was a wedding and reception there the first night we camped. (I'm still kicking myself for not taking pics of the drunken guests! One of them even hit a car in the parking lot!)


Remington enjoyed the self inflating air mattress. Everything is a trampoline at this age. ;)


Dad really wanted an afternoon nap.


Fire making lessons with dad.


The boys whittled with sharp rocks. Devan made the comment, "We're primal, just like the people a long time ago." (I think he will enjoy beginning SOTW.)


They also collected things for our nature tray. (I'll have to share a pic of that later.)


Remington enjoys doing "cool tricks" with his skateboard in the grass rather than the pavement. (Which saves me a heart attack or two.)


Richie learned that practice is the key to getting the sleeping bag back into it's storage bag.
See the rug in front of the tent door? It's one of those fake grass/hard plastic deals and my husband attached it to a piece of wood. It's worth it's weight in gold for keeping dirt, leaves, and sand out of your tent.




I took this pic to remember this excellent system my wonderful husband devised for storage. The small tote has pantry food items. The large tote has everything you need to cook other than the stoves and gas. The cooler is obvious... The totes are fabulous for keeping everything together, tidy, and dry. See how the lid on the large tote is flipped? The morning dew had not yet dried and I needed a dry food prep surface. Voila!
I must remember this system for Bonnaroo!

The plan

Okay. I have attended the fabulous conference, bought new goodies, studied new teaching methods, and finally created the plan for the week of April 14-18.

Each of the boys will daily-
Write their penmanship character quote
Read one chapter of assigned reading
Christopher- Lord of the Flies
Richie- Little Women
Devan- The Pearl
Spend 60 minutes reading silently from any book (My quiet afternoon time!)
Have a lesson in History using this lesson plan using Story of the World
Have a lesson in Grammar using various sources and my handy dandy chalkboard

As a group we will have-
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday- Drawing with Children art lessons (DWC)
Tuesday- Science lessons (Earth Science)
Thursday- Science lessons
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday~ Writing Strands lesson

In addition they will have the following work-
Christopher
Daily~ reading lesson (remedial phonics work)
Daily~ AVKO Sequential Spelling
Monday~ Write from dictation
Wednesday and Thursday~ JCPSeSchool Freshman English course (What a joke it is!)and make a notebook page for LOTF
Friday~ real life math and write an essay about history or science lessons

Richie
Daily~ Spelling workout lesson
Daily~ Cursive work
Daily~ Logic work
Thursday~ Real life math
Friday~ Create a notebook page for Little Women and write an essay covering history or science lessons

Devan
Daily~ AVKO Spelling
Monday~ Nature study
Wednesday~ Write from dictation and real life math
Thursday~ Make a notebook page for The Pearl
Friday~ Write from dictation and write a letter

Whoooo! I'm sure there is a better way to present that information, but there it is. :) Hope it makes sense!

How to clean your house in 10 minutes

Schedule in practice- Thursday and Friday

Thursday-
Dad had CQ the night before. (For those who don't know, that is Army speak for 24hr duty.) So, all needed to be quiet in the home for the first part of the day. But, that didn't matter anyway because I couldn't focus on our lessons. I was distracted. Yes, usually it's the kiddos who get distracted but this time it was me. See, Thursday night we (my DH and I) went to see Phantom of the Opera. I have LOVED Phantom since I was a young child and just couldn't think of anything but the opera. So, we really didn't DO lessons. I could list all the lovely lessons the boys were able to learn on their own but I'll just call it a day off.

Friday-
We all woke up very late as we were out past midnight the night before. Here is how our day went-
mom and boys up
boys cook and eat breakfast (eggs, bacon, and corn cakes with molasses)
morning stuff and chores
silent reading

somewhere around here was lunch and break

math- R and D
cursive- R
penmanship quote- all boys
JCPeSschool- C


In conclusion, the schedule wasn't followed this week. I still think it's a great routine, it just needs some fat trimmed off. ;)

This will be our new trial schedule for next week-

mom up, private time, lesson planning
wake boys and cook breakfast while they take care of morning stuff
eat breakfast
morning chores

*begin lessons at 9am
read aloud to boys (20 mins)
boys read aloud (5 mins each)
dictation
character quote
mom laundry
avko for D and C
blog time (writing) for R
Math for R

Break around 10:30

blog C
math D
penmanship R
blog D
math C
laundry R
speech D
JCPeS C

lunch around noon & quiet break while Remington naps

service work (HOMEwork, animal care, volunteer work)
afternoon chores
finished for day around 3 or 4pm


Yeah, I know.... It's basically the same schedule.

Schedule in practice- Wednesday

Schedule? What schedule?? :) Here's how this day went....

Mom wakes up... LATE again
boys wake and eat breakfast (It was homemade breakfast too!)
morning stuff
morning chores

individual reading
blog time- D
math- D & R
penmanship- C
spelling- C

lunch

Then we were off to our favorite homeschool get together. We call it Sun Valley after the location but it's mainly a formal play date with a few games or crafts thrown in for good measure. The price is right at $2 per child and the boys really enjoy the older teen workers.
I thoroughly enjoy the time as well. It is three blissful hours surrounded by mostly like minded moms. It's quite lovely.

On the way home we stopped by our local library and picked up movies.

After we returned home the boys completed their afternoon chores before running out to play. I took the time to contact a friend about buying a couple of sheep. Yes, I'm a bit tired of goats. For one, they are mean. Well... he is. She is quite sweet. Basically it all comes down to fencing. Goats are very hard to fence in. I suppose they are too free spirited to live in my electric fence. Also, they stink.
Here is the awesome part... we should be able to watch the birth of a sheep. (ah, should that be lamb?)

The boys are still running around outside. This is a fairly mild evening and the boys have new flashlights. :)

Schedule in practice- Tuesday

Today I slept in, again. Dang! Anywho.. here's how the rest of our day went. (Well, so far at least.)

Mom wake and cook breakfast
Boys wake and eat
Morning chores
Morning stuff

Private reading time
Mom read aloud approx. 40 mins
Discussion of Mark Twain's life
Created running timeline of his life
Dictation from book- Crowds gathered wherever he appeared, cheering, applauding.
Penmanship practice of this week's character quote
Christopher blog time
Richie math

Lunch and break (Christopher and Devan prepared lunch)

AVKO spelling C and D
Cursive penmanship R and C
Blog time R and D
Math C and D

Afternoon chores
Finished for the day

Now the boys are doing what boys do best. They are working on a fort. :)

Schedule in practice- Monday

Yesterday we put the schedule to the test. :) It went fairly well but we did get off to a late start. I didn't wake in the morning until my oldest son woke me at 8:30. Obviously, that threw a monkey wrench into things. But, we did stick mainly to the planned schedule. Here's what we did:


Wake boys and eat breakfast
Morning stuff (hygiene)
Morning chores
Laundry (C)


Read aloud to boys (20 minutes)
Boys read aloud from same book (5 minutes each)
Dictation from same book
(We are reading The Adventures of Mark Twain)
Character Penmanship Memory Quote(CPM)

The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is like the difference between lightening and the lightening bug. -Mark Twain

Laundry (Mom)
AVKO Spelling (C and D)
Blog time 10 minutes (R)
MUS Math (R)

break (20 mins)

Penmanship (R)
Blog time 10 minutes (D)
MUS Math (C)
Laundry (R)

Noon- Lunch & 40 min break

Afternoon chores
Service work-
Trimmed goat's hooves
Raked leaves from around the house
Moved leaves to garden to decompose
Emptied pond for the season
Transplanted 4 plants (fingers crossed that they make it)


The weather was SO beautiful yesterday with a high in the 70s. We simply *couldn't* stay indoors. So, theoretically, yesterday we missed:
speech for D
cursive for C
math for D
blog time for C
unit study for all
group instruction (of something else) for all

Hmmmm, I don't think we missed much after all. Well, math... That can be done today. Then, after all this we went to writing club and art club meetings. I would say that was a well rounded day after all.

Trial schedule for next week

C= Chrisopher DS15yo, R= Richie, DS11yo, D= Devan DS9yo, Rem= Remington DS5yo

Wish us luck. I'm trying out a new Moore Forumla inspired schedule next week.

6am-
Mom up and dressed
Personal time and lesson planning
Cook breakfast

8am-
Wake boys and eat breakfast
Morning stuff (hygiene)
Morning chores
Laundry (C)

9am- Begin lessons
Read aloud to boys (20 minutes)
Boys read aloud from same book (5 minutes each)
Dictation from same book
Character Penmanship Memory Quote(CPM)
Laundry (Mom)
AVKO Spelling (C and D)
Blog time 10 minutes (R)
MUS Math (R)

10:30- Break

11am-
Blog time 10 minutes (C)
MUS Math (D)
Penmanship (R)
Blog time 10 minutes (D)
MUS Math (C)
Laundry (R)
Speech (D)
Cursive (C)

Noon- Lunch

12:30-
Quiet break
Nap (Rem)

1pm-
Group instruction on rotating subject
(For example: knitting, Homeschool Huskies Civics, LLATL, Art, Cooking, Start Something, Writing Strands, etc...)
Group unit study

2:30-
Afternoon chores
Time for service work (homework, volunteer work, setting up workshop, extra animal care)

4pm-
Officially finished with lessons for the day

Updated-
Here are links to how the schedule went. :)
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday and Friday

Our day

Today the boys did their own thing. It was pretty interesting to see their choices. Devan really enjoyed the new Simpsons movie. Christopher enjoyed science before breakfast. (Movie in post to follow) Remington was inspired by the science activities and set up two science stations. Christopher and Richie also made a video. It will be on the next entry. :)

School is out

School is out. Has been, actually, since last Monday. I'm not entirely sure when we will pick up the ball again. Maybe the day after Christmas, maybe the week after. I think I'm leaning towards the week after. And we haven't really taken much time off school.

school (skūl)
n.
The process of being educated formally, especially education constituting a planned series of courses over a number of years: The children were put to school at home. What do you plan to do when you finish school?

Learning, of course, will continue. As it always does, when allowed. As I type this, Devan is teaching Remington math using the left over gingerbread candy. (Should I remind him that school is out?) I wish I could record the lesson, it is the sweetest thing you have ever seen. Devan is so caring with Remington and so calm in his explanations. I'm really surprised because they have been sampling the candy!

learning
n
The process of acquiring knowledge or some skill by means of study, practice, and/or experience.

School is out, Learning is continuous.

The agenda

As you can see, I've been tweaking our daily plans in an attempt to create the best learning environment possible for my children. I've leaned heavily upon the guidance of Marva Collins and Mr. and Mrs. Moore.

Here is our agenda for this week:

Boys awake by 9am
Complete morning stuff-
showers and dressed
clean room
eat breakfast
brush teeth
Morning chores completed by 10am-
let goats out to pasture
empty dishwasher
wash kitchen table
feed Barn Cat

Begin each day with a reading of Rudyard Kippling's If.
Separately, each boy reads aloud to me for about 20 minutes. I provide any phonics training needed for words/sounds difficult to the child. We discuss the story a bit during and after the reading. We are currently enjoying the cool temperatures for reading on the front porch swing. Ah, a perk of homeschooling!
During this reading time the other boys (not currently reading aloud to me) will be working on their writing and penmanship skills. The boys *in their best penmanship* copy a quote from the chalkboard. These usually consist of quite a few Benjamin Franklin and Marva Collins quotes. I'm also particularly fond of this one, quoted from Calvin Coolidge, 30th U.S. president (1872-1933)

We demand entire freedom of action and then expect the government in
some miraculous way to save us from the consequences of our own acts.... Self-government means self-reliance.

Also, the boys will write an entry into their daily journal. These entries can be about anything the boys wish to write. Sometimes they prefer a story starter.
All errors are immediately (or asap) corrected with a brief lesson as to why the change was necessary. (Such as, grammatical errors and spelling errors.)

Math time! We will continue using MUS but with a bit of a change. I have (shamefully) gotten a bit lazy having a video teacher. ;) Steve Demme teaches the boys so well (via DVD lesson) that I had shirked my teaching responsibilities of math over to him. Time to wake up and get involved! I will be watching the video lessons with the boys and working on the new concept a bit with them before assigning them their daily worksheet of math problems.
After the boys have completed, it is time to find a real life application for the new math concept they are working on. This could be anything the boys can come up with and will hopefully include some type of practical work.
Math worksheets are also immediately corrected with a lesson as to why correction was needed. (It does no good for them to practice it the wrong way and if they knew how to do it correctly the first time they would have.)

One hour break for PE and lunch

History or Science time-
My goal is provide an environment rich in hands on learning and discussion for these subjects. (Think science experiments, re-enactments and deep conversation about the issues.)

Independent learning-
In the following days I plan to help the boys plan for an independent study of their chosen topic. We will discuss:
the goal of the study
books and materials needed
field trips or experiences that will help
plan for a proper completion event (presentation or something to the effect)
After we have our game plans and the needed materials the boys will spend some time daily working on their independent studies. Of course, I will be on hand for any guidance needed.
I believe Remington and I may curl up on the couch with a few books while the boys are studying. :)

Now it's time for me to read aloud to the boys! This will likely be one chapter per day of some (hopefully) fantastic story. The boys and I have already read Lord of the Flies and The Pearl. I really enjoyed these books and would prefer to read from similar thought provoking stories. Any suggestions?

Now comes the *real* work. :) Practical life skills... Ah! The stuff life is made of. This work will consist of whatever is needed around the home as well as volunteer work. I will be calling our local senior citizen's center today to find how we can help. (I'm thinking simply visiting with some may provide a bit of comfort and perhaps some reading for those who can no longer see the text.)
We have quite a few things which need completed around the home:
pick remaining vegetables
preserve
clean up garden (pull stakes and level)
add horse manure to soil for next year's garden

clean up goat's barn
check for and repair any drafts in barn
begin studying goat birthing (although we will not be interfering with the birth)
measure goat pasture and calculate needed wire
hang two more strands of electric fencing

finish our frog pond
organize and personalize the boys' rooms

After all this it will be time for the boys to complete their afternoon chores. (Mom too!) Then comes the time the boys enjoy best.... free time! "Tear out!" I tell them. ;) Often times you will find Richie and Christopher biking the nearby trails on the property of our kind neighbor. Devan and Remington can usually be found exploring our land with bug catchers, binoculars and bird watching books.

Our planned lessons for today

Last night, with my new books in hand, I worked into the night to create this week's lesson plans. Keep in mind, these are a rough outline. These plans are neither exhaustive nor rigidly followed. ;)

Monday, October 1st, 2007

Language Arts-
Grammar (using the Grammar Smart book) This is remedial instruction in order to build confidence and ease of our new lessons.

Noun instruction- What is a noun?
As a class (on the blackboard) create a list of examples for each category: person, place, and thing. Then, each child create list of 10 examples for each category.

*Not sure if it's a noun? Try putting "a" or "the" in front of the word to see if it makes sense. For example: a boy, the train, a city....

We will continue to review nouns this entire week:
T- proper nouns
W- plural and singular nouns
T- collective nouns
F- two quizzes covering the information

Dad's writing assignment
Compile a list of 10 things you *need* to survive.
(This is in preparation for a pretty neat survival camping adventure.)

Phonics (Using the Phonics From A to Z book)
Phonemic Awareness Assessment for Christopher and Devan
Richie- complete a page in Spelling Workout workbook
Remington- letter recognition work

Spelling (Using AVKO Sequential Spelling program)
Christopher and Devan- complete one spelling quiz/lesson
Richie- two spelling quizzes/lessons

Reading
All boys read aloud (to me) from any reasonable book choice. (15 minutes each)

Dictation
Richie- a few of Benjamin Franklin's wise proverbs
Christopher and Devan- a list of different words: truck, trick, treat; candy, car, ant, can't; stick, stuck, stack, stock. Also, boys take turns saying aloud an example sentence for each word.

Writing Assignment from Mom-
Top Secret!! Where is your comfy spot at our house?
The location is where the boys will begin independent study time in the future. I believe we will have independent study time every other day. The boys will be allowed to do any activity they wish so long as they identify (to me) what they plan to learn. Then, after the activity, they must tell me what the *did* learn.

Science (Using the 150 great experiments book) These are a lesson plus an experiment. Some will have additional lessons from outside sources.
The moon and our ocean's tides
Our broken Earth
What is soil?

History (Review using new history book)
Define the word revolution
The American Revolution discussion
Create time line figures