The View from Here

Monday, August 23, 2010

2010-2011 School Plans

Here is a glimpse into what we have planned for this school year!

For 9th grade:

World History Part 2- Sonlight Core 7

Bible-Sonlight Core 7

Algebra 1- Teaching Textbooks

English-Easy Grammar/Daily Grams, Hands-on Essays, Painless Poetry, Wordly Wise

Literature-Sonlight Core 7, PP Literature Guides

Biology 1-Apologia

Spanish-Rosetta Stone

Drivers Ed-

Computer Skills-

Misc/Review (as needed): Brain Benders, Keys to Good Language, IEW, Book Reports

For 4th & 2nd grade:

We work on History, Bible, & Science together and then they each work on their own level in the other subjects.

History-Sonlight Core 2

Bible-Sonlight Core 2 & Awanas

Language Arts-Sonlight, Growing with Grammar, Handwriting, Wordly Wise, Explode the Code

Science- Sonlight Core 2

Art- Draw then Write, Artistic Pursuits, Sketch Tuesday

Math-Teaching Textbooks

Misc/Review (as needed): Brain Benders, Journals, Computer Skills, Reading

We also add in unit studies based on our interests or what we are studying at the time from Download & Go and FIAR.

Should be a great year!!!!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Summer Update and back to School....Sorta!

I cant believe summer is almost over already and it is time to start school again! We have been able to do a lot of things this year. We flew to Oklahoma at the end of April for 2 weeks. We brought along our sweet little grandbaby and introduced him to a lot of folks he hadn’t met before.

We visited the OKC Zoo

and The OKC Bombing Memorial

We came home for a few weeks to finish out our school year, which was torturous after 2 weeks of vacation.

Dad's job was going to take him to South America for several weeks over the summer so we decided that a road trip sounded like fun! So we headed out the 1st part of June to spend 5 or 6 weeks back home.

We spent alot of time visiting with family and friends.

going to the lake a few times

VBS at Poppy & Meemaw's church

went to the Ok. Science Museum

and the Natural History Museum @ OU

Dad flew in to make the trip home with us. We took 4 days to make the trip, which made it lots of fun and the boys had plenty of time to play in the hotel pool every evening. We travelled through 7 states in all...Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, & New Mexico.

Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs

Since we have been home, we have gone to the summer movies, spent time at the Aquatic Center, VBS, and had family come to visit. The rest of my time has been spent planning out the school year, getting the house back in order, and lots of appointments.

Phew!!!!!!!! No wonder it seems like summer has flown by!

We have actually been back to school for the past couple of weeks but we are easing into it with some fun Download & Go Units from TOS and Math. Next week we will be adding in a bit more and then full steam ahead after Labor Day and a couple of very important birthday celebrations!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Roller Coaster DNG Review and Giveaway

Have you tried the new Download and Go Units from TOS written by Amanda Bennett? If you are looking for something fun both you and your kids will enjoy ….you need to check these out!

We are so excited to tell you about our week with Roller Coasters!

***We were provided a copy of this product, free of charge, for the purpose of writing an honest review.***

The Unit is broken down into 5 days/objectives:

Day 1: What is a roller coaster?
Day 2: The History of Roller Coasters
Day 3: People and Places of Roller Coasters
Day 4: Science Secrets of Roller Coasters and Rides
Day 5: Goodies and Gadgets of Roller Coasters

There are plenty of book suggestions for each day but they are not necessary to complete the unit. Just an extra loop on the roller coaster!

These are some of the books we used.

Planning and Preparation is so easy because all the work is done for you. Everything you need is included – websites, videos, fun activities, and lapbook pieces. You could easily expand on it if you choose with more books and rabbit trails or you can use it as is and have a wonderful study. I spent about 30 minutes over the weekend looking over the unit, printing, putting books on hold, and cutting lapbook pieces. (I always cut them out ahead of time and sort them by day. Some might think there is a lot of printing but you can print as much or little of the materials as you decide. I printed all the lapbook pieces and some activity pages and the rest we worked on orally together. It worked out perfectly.

Check out samples here.

We did lots of experiments with gravity, weight, and simple machines. This was my boys favorite part! They spent all one afternoon sending one thing after another down our inclined plane (aka the slide) to see if size of the object or height of the incline makes a difference in speed.

Does everything land with the same force? Do some things fall faster than others?

We had lots of dropping races!

We finished up and began to put all our lapbook pieces together and review everything we learned in the process.

Here is a shot of our completed lapbook!

We’ve learned about science, history, geography, and lots of new vocabulary this week. Most importantly, we had a great time together and my boys were

excited about learning!

I would gladly recommend these Download & Go Units to anyone. You can order them individually for $7.95 each. Check out all the titles they offer! And if you just cant decide then you can purchase them in bundles at a discounted price here.

You can also check out the DNG Blog for all the latest information and specials.

Roller Coaster Blog Tour can found here.

Now for the giveaway! Here’s how to win your very own copy of the DNG Roller Coaster unit!

You have 3 chances to win by leaving me an individual comment

for each of the following:

1)Go to the DNG site and tell me which unit you're interested in

2)“Like” the Download & Go Facebook Page

3)Tell me your favorite amusement park ride.

Important!

Be sure to include your email address so that I can contact you should you be the lucky winner. The winner will be announced August 27th, 2010.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

50th Anniversary

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of To Kill A Mockingbird, I decided to read this classic for the very first time! Can you believe that? What a wonderful book about a very difficult subject. I loved it! What other great titles have I missed???