Computer Curriculum

Princess Flower is coming to the end of her 4th grade year....don't remind me how fast she is growing up. We are wanting to find a good computer bases curriculum for next year. She loves doing stuff on the computer and we thought this would be a nice change. I have been looking around but haven't figured out what to buy. There are two main options that I have seen: Switched on Schoolhouse by Abeka and K12's online curriculum. Today I got to see a bit of K12 since a friend of mine is and will be using it for her kids. It is well organized but I thought there would be alittle more on the computer and less in the books so that was a tad disappointing. It also costs alot and you lose access to the online stuff when your year "contract" is up. At the same time there are virtual schools through the public school which will allow you to use the program for free. This is a great way to save money but then you are required to "attend" school on the school days they assign. Of coarse our computer can go with us anywhere so that may not be a big deal.

I haven't actually been able to see the SOSH by Abeka first hand so I am nervous to buy it without trying it out. What I like is that after you buy it, you can use it for each one of your kids. Once you divide it by 4 it really doesn't seem expensive at all.



Have you used a computer/online based curriculum? If so can you give me so feedback.

Time Blocks

Do you have days with your kids that everything just gets drug out? They don't feel like doing their work and act like they have no clue what you are talking about even though the day before they had no issues doing exactly what you are asking them to do?

We have those days and they drive me crazy. I have so much to get done on top of school work for Princess Flower that I need her to be focused and get things accomplished. We don't have many unfocused days but we do have them.

So on those days I set time blocks for her subjects. She has 30 minutes to do each. What doesn't get done she does during her free time later on in the evening. This may mean that she doesn't get to play with her friends or play a game that she wants to. This has really motivated Princess Flower to stay focused and work hard.

School Update

We have still been keeping up with school despite my lacking of blogging about it. The move to VA added alittle challenge but we remained flexible and let a few things slide. Feb and Mar are always PF and my most productive months and this year is no different. PF is working to finish her 4th grade LA and Math books. She is working on a new devotional Bible Study, A Child's Story of American History, Chinese Made Easy for Kids, Biology and our new spelling power curriculum (more about this later). She has read too many books to list but her favorite books right now are the American Girl books and the Sarah Plain and Tall series.



After coming back from GA a couple weeks ago and her sisters starting therapy we decided to have an easy week and do some fun projects that we don't seem to fit in at other times. PF is always asking to sew. I am still a beginner so it is not very easy to instruct another beginner but we are learning together. PF got some fabric for her birthday that we decided to make into pj bottoms. So far the pattern is cut out and ready to be sewed together. We ran out of nap time to sew it so hopefully we will finish what we started soon.
The other project we worked on was making backdrops for the American Girl Felicity play. We acted out the play just the two us but we are hoping on a weekend to get Daddy involved.


We put up a magnet board on the wall which all the girls are loving. PF makes words with the letters, B and L listen to the letter sounds and D pulls them all off. I am hoping to find more activities that we can use the magnet board with.

We got a Wii and Wii fit last month which all of us plus some friends have been enjoying. Each of the girls have their own mii and have been working on balance, yoga, strength exercises, and aerobics. I have heard this counts for gym requirements!

Behind PF is the hammock that we returned to Lowes....it was more like a bed and we need a hammock that swings to provide certain therapy components for the girls at home. We are shopping around for a new one that will fit our needs.

Snow Day

Princess Flower prayed for snow today....well we have heavy flurries. I grew up in GA and whenever there was a possibility of snow it seemed like schools closed or were delayed. I decided to have a GA mentality today and delay school. More so because I need to pack for our trip and taking school on the road for two weeks. PF will still be required to complete Language and Math today but for now it is fun to listen to them so excited to see flurries. I made them snowman muffins and they are listening to jingle bells.

Free Work Binder

Last year I put together these binders for Butterfly and Ladybug to use. They are full of extra worksheets. They used some of the sheets last year but still had plenty blank. This year whenever they want to work on "school", they can grab their binders and work on what they want. They use the blank backs to the sheets to draw their own pictures. This works well to keep their eager minds occupied.

These binders have also come in really handy this week when I am doing something with Butterfly that is too much for Ladybug to grasp right now. I just give her, her binder and she works on that while Butterfly is working on something else.

Blocks

We don't have "center time" but I do like to provide the girls with some activities that schools use for centers. This also provides a distraction so I can give PF instructions.

New Curriculum

Who doesn't enjoy getting packages? Today these boxes held new curriculum that I ordered last week. I ordered the Kindergarten curriculum from Abeka to start Butterfly on. She was so excited. Every book I took out she wanted to do right then. I told her it would have to wait until tomorrow. I also ordered Princess Flower additional math books and Abeka's 4th grade language book. I have spent a good bit of the evening going over the teacher's books. I am excited and a bit overwhelmed. More so I am just ready to jump into it all.

Pumpkin Day

This morning we worked on a few pumpkin crafts. The one butterfly is holding here was sticker pumpkins that you got to design their face.

Then we made pumpkins that Granny T sent us.

The girls insisted on being in costume all day. They ate fall leaf cookies while doing their crafts. Before their crafts they watch Charlie Brown's pumpkin movie.

Birthday Holiday

Today is Princess Flower's birthday and we are taking the day off to celebrate! How convenient it is a Friday anyway :)

Let's Sticker and Paste!

I really like the Kumon company books. My friend introduced them to me a while back. Today Butterfly and I worked on the Sticker and Paste book. She liked it so much that she finished the entire book today. I do not discourage or limit (when at all possible) what they want to learn on most days. So today, when she wanted to keep going I encouraged her to do so. I want my kids to have a passion and joy for learning. As Butterfly gets older she will have to complete each of her subjects before focusing on her favorite but for now she can spend as much time as she wants on one particular thing. I also make a note of their special interests at this stage of life so I can gear future learning around what suits them best. Princess Flower enjoys reading so I try to incorporate reading as much as I can into her school assignments. She also enjoys movies so we watch many science and history documentaries. I use movies as rewards to get her through tough subject material.






The book starts out with stickers in different settings. In this one, she had to place fish in the ocean. We talked about fish and the sea and counted the fish. After the settings, she placed stickers on fruits and veggies. Each fruit and veggie had a shape missing in the middle to place the proper sticker. We discussed shapes, colors and named each fruit and veggie.

Another activity involved cutting out parts of animal faces and gluing them in their proper area. We discussed each of the animals as we went.

Then the book moved onto cutting out pieces to a puzzle. She then had to arrange them properly and glue them.

She really liked this page. She got to cut stripes of white any length she wanted to make snow.

She is now going through the phase of writing her "K's" backwards. Princess Flower did this with "J's" so I am not very concerned.

So not only did Butterfly improve on her cutting and gluing skills today but we learned about shapes, colors, fruits and veggies, different habitats, animals, seasons, counting and transportation. I think we covered a full days work just using one book.

Days of the week

Butterfly's version of days of the week. It took her alot of courage to be video taped by herself. I am so proud of her :)

File Folders

My mother-in-law was cleaning out her school room before summer one year and gave me this book. I have found it to contain fun ways to teach/reinforce certain areas. I have used other books and online sources to create even more games.

I keep them organized in a hanging file system.

Some of the games we have are colors, contractions, and multiplication.



Butterfly is using this game to demonstrate counting skills. I made this one special for my kids as it is bugs you match up with flowers.


I have used these as rewards and I have also used them when one of my children are struggle with a certain concept; putting the concept into game form for some reason makes it easier to grasp.