Heart of Dakota- BLHFHG Unit 1

We just completed our first full week of homeschooling… and we survived 🙂  Here is a recap of our first week.

History/Geography:

We are learning about the pioneers who came from Spain and settled in Florida and what it was like for them to travel across the ocean.

I put the earth on the floor using masking tape, then printed out the continents.  Hailey did various things (hoping, tip toeing, twirling) to get from one continent to another.

She used one of her toys to show the path Columbus took across the ocean.

Hailey also completed a notebooking page for history.

We started a timeline to keep track of important dates as we study them.

Language Arts:

Hailey thought it was great that I let her sit on her desk to work on a grammar lesson.

So far Hunter has been so good during school, and I am very thankful for that!  He likes to do whatever Hailey is doing.  He saw her on the floor copying some sentences off of the board and he had to get down there and do some writing too.

Practicing her spelling words by using pipe cleaner to spell the words.

Copywork using her Bible verse.

We are also reading the biography Helen Keller by Margaret Davidson.  I read just a little bit to Hailey each day and she is really enjoying it.  I love that when I stop reading she always asks to hear some more.  Hailey also reads to me each day and is currently working her way through The Beginners Bible.

Math:

Hailey is learning multiplication using lots of hands on activities.  The blue paper represents water and the graham crackers are boats, while the cereal represents people in the boats.  We did several different examples to get some practice seeing how multiplication works.  Afterwards we enjoyed a little snack 🙂

Science:

We learned about how currents work and how they make paths in the water as they move.  Hailey used a medicine dropper, held it under the water and squeezed water out behind the boat, which pushed the boat forward.

Hailey and her science notebooking page.

We also learned how blubber protects some sea creatures from cold water.  I put very cold water in the bucket.  Hailey put a bare hand in, then her other hand is being protected by shortening.  She loved this experiment!  I was talking to Rich on the phone a little while after we did it and she had to tell him all about it.  When he got home from work she had him do it too.

Science notebooking page about blubber.

Unit Study:

We have been studying all about apples.  We did a taste test to see which variety we all liked the best.

We also went apple picking, which was a lot of fun!

Art:

Hailey made a shield which represented that the Lord is our shield and we can trust God to protect us when we are scared.  She really loved decorating it!

Hailey also drew a self portrait.  I plan to have her do another one at the end of the school year.

We made some apple prints and Hailey thought that the star shape left in the middle of the apple from where the seeds are was pretty neat.

We had a really great first week and I am super excited about our first year of homeschooling!!

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First Day of School

We’re finally back!! We got a little busy at the end of August with a 10 day trip to Disney World. When we got back from our trip I was making our final preparations for school to start, and just ran out of time for blogging.  Anyway, we started school last week- our first day was on Thursday.  Here are some pictures from our first day:

Hailey all ready and excited to start her first day of 2nd grade.

Hunter all ready for tot school.

Posing with her lunch box.

Going back inside to start our day 🙂

Hunter and Hailey

The backpacks

Hailey at her desk, ready to work.

Hunter at his desk, ready to work.

Hailey working in her calendar notebook.

Hunter with his calendar notebook.

Hunter “working” while I was working with Hailey.

Hailey doing a first day of school paper.

Hunter doing his first day of school paper.

We had a great first day!  When Rich got home from work we went out to dinner to celebrate the start of school.  It’s going to be a fun year 🙂

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Calendar Board

I wanted to share what we are using for our Calendar Board this year.

Here is our set up.

A little bit of a closer look at our calendar board.

Left side of our board:
Date across the top of the board is from Mama Jenn
Days in School, Skip Counting, and Make the Date are from Homeschool Creations
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, What’s the Weather Like Today and What Time is It are from Confessions of a Homeschooler

Right side of our board:
My address & phone number, The Temperature is, How Much Money and the Weather Graph are all from Confessions of a Homeschooler
Daily Items is from 1+1+1=1 (although we are only going to change those weekly).

So, there’s a look at our Calendar Board!

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Our Homeschool Classroom

We have been excitedly setting up and getting ready for our first year of homeschooling.  Although our first day of school isn’t until September, I am pretty much ready to start.  We are going on vacation soon and I want everything to be done before we go.  I still have a few organizational type things to do, but for the most part we are all set.  Here is a peek at where we are planning to have school everyday.

This room is in the downstairs of our house, off of our family room.  It’s not a huge room, but I think it will work for us.

This is what the room looks like from the doorway.  The window made it really hard to get a picture of this wall, but this wall has our calendar and calendar board.  I have another post coming that shows what we are using on our calendar board.  We also have our flag and some maps on that wall.  There is a window shelf where I am keeping a few of my supplies.

Along the very top of this wall where there the flower boarder is will be where we will display our artwork.  I have a post in the works for that, to show how we made it.  Then there are shelves that display some of the Lego creations Hailey has done.  She loves to put them together and then display them.  This wall has magazine holders full of books.  The magazine holders are labeled for different types of books (fall, Christmas, winter, Dr. Seuss, Disney, science, etc.)  We also have a “USA Animals” board where we will put pictures of the animals we learn about while we do Road Trip USA.  Then there are some bins where I will keep my papers organized. There is also a shelf that has some oversized books that wouldn’t fit in the magazine holders and well as some bins.

This is Hailey’s desk.  We will probably share it, but for the most part this will be Hailey’s workspace.  There is also a Word Wall on her desk.

Here is a close up of the Word Wall.  Hailey and I looked through Pinterest and she found an animal print that she liked.  It’s free 🙂 on Tpt.

Here is the last wall of our classroom.  This wall has our white board.  Above the white board is our weekly Bible verse and our weekly poem.  The little table is Hunter’s workspace.  He already loves to sit there and work, so hopefully that will continue when we actually start school.  You can also see our Chicka- Chicka- Boom- Boom tree that my mom helped me make a few years ago when Hailey was learning her ABCs.  On the far left is Hunter’s ABC wall.

Here is a close up of the alphabet I am using for Hunter.  When I found these Zoomin Moving ABC Wall Cards over at Royal Baloo I was so excited!  Hunter loves anything with wheels so he was really happy to see these when I put them up.

We will also spread out into our family room where there are some comfy couches, perfect for snuggling up in with a good book.  I’m sure there will be art projects done in the dining room so I have easy access to the kitchen.  In other words, we will probably homeshool all over our house, but this room will be our main classroom.  I hope you enjoyed the little tour of our homeschool room.

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