Sunday, February 22, 2015

Weeks in Review - Catching up on Homeschool Pictures

So I think it's time for a homeschool update! We have been very busy homeschoolers through the winter months, and I continued to take lots of pictures - but doing the blog series on Organizing Our Homes put me a little bit behind on blogging about homeschooling - so it's time to catch up!  I love keeping a picture record of so many of the things that we are doing - it's great when it comes time for our evaluation - plus it's such an encouragement for me and Boo both to see everything we are doing and how far we have come.  It's just fun to look back at the memories too!  Homeschooling years have always been some of my favorite memories with my girls.  So grab a cup of hot tea and enjoy some glimpses of the last few months of homeschooling!

- plugging right along with our Insttitute for Excellence in Writing
-  Shurley grammar is still a favorite subject - and nothing like some School House Rock to reinforce it
-  the interjection song is one of our favorites - especially this part - WOW!!


- sometimes being the teacher is just as educational as being the student..
 - hiding God's word in her heart
 - sometimes miniature horses want to learn about history too


 - working on critical thinking skills with miniLUK


 - some history reading - sometimes I actually have to MAKE her stop reading.. (notice her favorite little stuffed friend is reading as well)


 - memorizing upside down always helps...
 - keeping hands busy while listening to mom read...


- learning about graphing in math so we charted her growth since she was born..


 - and we turned in into a line graph..

 - nature study is always a highlight..

 - observing the birds on our deck..
 - we keep track of every new bird we see and write the date... (this has been ongoing for years now)


 - learning about the expressionist paintings of Paul Klee using oil pastel medium



 - giggling.... lots and lots of giggling....

- mechanical engineering field trips to shop for and put together a homeschooling Ikea desk big enough for two...
 - she loves to organize just like her momma
 - she loves to make her work spaces pretty too!
 - we enjoyed a few new educational items to chase away the winter doldrums...
 - we have devoured almost all of our homeschool books that I thought would last all year...

 - we took a detour away from Saxon math .... Horizons and "mommy math" is filling in for now....
 - "Mommy Math" is her favorite - she was starting to hate math and I couldn't let that happen.
 - Not using a set curriculum and just teaching her the concepts she needs to master right now is her favorite approach. We even have a silly song - "It's time for mommy maaaaa-aaaaath!"
 - whatever works to instill a love of learning...
 - teaching long division and long multiplication is a breeze when done on graph paper to keep all those numbers lined up ...

- learning about similes and metaphors....
  - and dreaming of spring..... it will come again - right?
 - almost through all of our spelling words for the year...
 - fun science experiments making Borax crystals




 - learning liquids and solids .....

 - three simple ingredients...

 - one of her favorite readers lately....
 - we started a new science book....
 - she wants to be a zoologist :)

We have been very busy the past few months and we are SOOO ready for some warmer weather - how about you?



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those pastels look so fun. I will have to pick them up for my three little artists to try out!

Heather O'Steen Photography said...

Thanks Sonja! I got them from timberdoodle.com if that helps!