She’s Here!!

Harper Elise arrived on August 19th at 1:27 pm.

She weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long.

Hailey and Hunter were so excited to meet her!

Harper in her going home outfit.

Everyone all ready for bed on Harper’s first night home.

We are so happy she is finally here!!

Third Grade Curriculum 2014-2105

Here is a look at our plans for third grade:

Language Arts:

We are using Rod and Staff Building English 3- we used level 2 last year and Hailey really liked it. (4x per week)
All About Spelling (4x per week)
A Reason for Handwriting (4x per week)
Daily 6- Trait Writing (4x per week)
Critical and Creative Thinking Activities (4x per week)

Here are some of the books I will read to Hailey this year, although chances are good she will end up being the one reading some of them.

Here are some of the books Hailey will read aloud to me.  She has actually already read a good portion of them this summer, so I am going to need to find some more for her to read during the school year.

History/Geography:

I had purchased Story of the World to use for History, as well as History Pockets to go with it.  Then we reviewed Veritas Press Old  Testament and Ancient Egypt and Hailey loved it and begged to continue using it this fall.  Since both cover ancient history I am going to use both- it will be nice to use Veritas Press because it is online and won’t require much work on my part- and with a newborn I know that will be very helpful.  But, I will add in some of the reading and activities from Story of the World to go along with it. (4x per week)

For geography we are using Daily Geography Practice and the United States Sticker Book.  Hailey also receives Little Passports USA and Highlights USA, so each week we will focus on one state.  (2x per week)

Bible:

We are going to try out Grapevine this year and see how we like that.  We’re starting with Part 1- Creation to Jacob and will move on to part 2 when we finish that if we are enjoying it. (4x per week)

Science:

We are going to use Science in the Beginning this year and add in some fun unit studies along the way.  (2x per week)

Math:

Teaching Textbooks 4 is my plan for math.  (4x per week)

Health:

We are using Health, Safety, and Manners from A Beka for Health. (2x per week)

So, that is my plan for third grade.  I am sure things will change along the way, but this is the plan for now.

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Homeschool Classroom 2014-2015

Here is a little peek into our homeschool classroom, which will be used for preschool and 3rd grade this year:

This is the view as you stand in the doorway of what our classroom looks like.  On the wall with the window is our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree that Hunter will be adding letters to throughout the year.  Next is our calendar board, calendar and alphabet.  The wall on the right has Hunter’s desk and bulletin board where his weekly projects will be hung up.  Next are some shelves which will mainly be used for preschool.  Above his desk in all those magazine holders are books- each box is labeled with what kind of books are inside.  Above that is a shelf with some of Hailey’s Lego creations.

Here is some more of the wall where Hunter’s desk is.  Up at the very top of the wall are our art clips, where we hang up our art work.  (You can see the post from last year of our Art Clips where I showed how we made them.)

This is Hailey’s side of the classroom.  We are using All About Spelling- so the white board on the left is for that.  It drives me crazy when all the little letters aren’t perfectly lined up… which they rarely are.  Anyway- next is Hailey’s desk with some maps above it.  On the floor on the left of her desk is our book basket.  On the right of her desk is the drawers where her textbooks and workbooks are kept.  On top of that is a little caddy that keeps her markers, colored pencils, crayons, pencils, etc.  On the right hand side is our other white board with our daily routine posted above that.

This is my desk and work area.

Here is a close up of our calendar board.  This is much less than I included in last year’s calendar board, but I think this simplified version will work better for us.  At the top, Hailey will write out the date, then underneath she will write the digital date.  We also have What Time is it and Make the Number where Hailey will use the coins to make the number of the day.  I am using real coins this year for our make the number.  Next is where we will keep track of our number of days in school, then What’s the Weather (which is for Hunter).  At the bottom is where Hailey will practice skip counting.
(What Time is it and What’s the Weather are from  Confessions of a Homeschooler.  100 Days of School is from 1+1+1=1.  Skip Counting is from Homeschool Creations.)

This is our little preschool area- the letter, number and shape of the week are at the top, then the alphabet and numbers, and finally our shape chart.

This is our shelves for preschool- the top left has Hunter’s markers, crayons, colored pencils, etc.  In addition to that is his binder to keep his completed preschool work and some books.  The rest of the shelves have trays on them, where Hunter’s manipulatives and other weekly activities will be kept.

So, there you have a little tour of our classroom 🙂

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Tot School

Hunter is 31 months old.

I can’t believe we are already at the end of the alphabet!  But, here we are at letter Z.

We are mostly on summer vacation now and Hunter has not had much interest in doing school- probably because Hailey isn’t doing any school work, so he doesn’t want to either.  But, here are the things we did get done:

Hunter made a Z for Zebra, with some help from Hailey.

He spent some time coloring.

Hunter loves playing with his trains!

He worked on putting together his Interlox.

He wanted me to build a house for Mickey and Minnie.

This toy really frustrates Hunter because he wants to be able to push all of the “nails” down at the same time, but it isn’t possible to do.

Hunter worked on his fishing puzzle.

He also enjoyed playing in the sand and making a sand castle.

Soon I will be sharing what we will be doing for preschool starting in September, so check back to see what we’re going to use for our curriculum.

Stop by 1+1+1=1 to see what the other tots were up to this week.

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