Dolphin Lapbook

We spent the month of July learning all about the ocean and doing lots of ocean art projects.  Throughout the month, Hailey also worked on a dolphin unit from Amanda Bennett Unit Studies.  It was the first time we used one of her units and we both really enjoyed it.  It’s amazing how much I learned right along with Hailey.

The first thing Hailey did was make a KWL chart.  (This was just something we did, it was not included in the unit.)

Using the recommendations in the unit study, we borrowed a bunch of dolphin books from the library.

Hailey liked being able to work outside.

Making a piece for the lapbook

We kept all of the papers that Hailey did in this binder.

The cover for the lapbook we made.  I got this cover from Homeschool Share.

The inside of the lapbook.  Everything in here is from the Amanda Bennett Unit Study except the “How Long Are They?” piece.

Close up of the left flap- “How Long Are They” is from Homeschool Share.

Here are some of the vocabulary words included.  There were other more challenging words for older students.

Middle section

The accordion style book showing different colors that dolphins can be.

Right flap

We had a lot of fun doing this unit and making this lapbook!  We all learned so much!!

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Mapping With Flat Stanley

Back in June we started a Flat Stanley project and we have been having some fun with his travels.  First he did a little traveling on the east, then he went out west for another adventure.  Right now he’s busy in Pennsylvania and we are looking forward to seeing some pictures of his travels.  I wanted Hailey not only see all the great pictures of where Stanley has been, but I also wanted her to see where these places are on the map.

On our US map Hailey put pushpins in for each of the locations that Flat Stanley has been.

I tried to get a little better picture so you can see the pushpins.  There is too much glare so it’s hard to see, but this is how we’re keeping track of where Stanley goes.

We can’t wait to add some more pushpins as Stanley does more traveling!

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2013 – 2014 Curriculum

Now that I have made the official announcement that we will be homeschooling this year, I thought I would share our curriculum choices with everyone.

Our core curriculum will be Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory from Heart of Dakota, with a few extras added in, which I am using for second grade.

My teacher’s guide 🙂  I love how everything is so nicely organized for me!!

Language Arts: (we will do this daily)

We are using Heart of Dakota for LA.  I will use their spelling lists (list 2) as well as some of the language arts activities.  We are also using the Emerging Readers Set from Heart of Dakota, where Hailey will read the books in the picture and then answer various questions about the books.  We are using Rod and Staff 2 for grammar.  For handwriting we are using Cheerful Cursive, since Hailey has been asking to learn cursive.

These are story time books from Heart of Dakota that I will read to Hailey.

Math: (we will do this daily)

It took me a really long time to decide what math curriculum to pick.  I finally decided to go with Singapore.  This summer we are going over 1B since Singapore tends to be ahead of where public schools are.  So far it’s going very quickly because it’s all review, but I know when we get to the end of the workbook it will slow down.  When school starts in the fall we will do 2A and 2B.

History: (we will do this daily)

We are using Heart of Dakota for history and will use the books pictured above as our text.

Geography: (we will do this 2 times per week)

We are going to use Road Trip USA for learning about the 50 states.  We are only going to cover 1 state per week to start.  Depending on how it goes we might move up to 2 states per week as the curriculum is written, but we’re going to see how it goes first.  In addition we are also using Highlights Which Way USA magazines and/or Little Passports US edition.  Right now are getting both subscriptions because I can’t decide which one I like better hahaha

Science: (we will do this 2 times per week)

We are going to use Heart of Dakota for our science curriculum and the book pictured above will be our text.  It seems pretty light to me, so we are planning to add in some unit studies based on Hailey’s interests.

Bible: (we will do this daily)

We are going to use Heart of Dakota for our Bible curriculum.  In addition to that we are going to read through Bible stories and do activities based on the stories.  We are also going to use the What’s in the Bible DVDs, although right now we only have the first DVD and I want to make sure we like them before I buy anymore.

My Planner:

I love planners and writing my plans down 🙂  It took me forever to decide which planner to buy and so far I’m glad I decided on this one.  It might not be totally necessary to have a planner when using Heart of Dakota, but the plans are written based on a 5 day week.  We are going to go to a homeschool co-op once per week (this will be our art, music and physical education) and will be gone for most of the day on our co-op days, so I am trying to re-write the plans to fit things into a 4 day week.

So, that is my plan so far.  We will see how it goes and adjust as needed 🙂

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It’s Official…

I used Grammarly to grammar check this post, because I know other homeschooling moms will be reading this and I wouldn’t want them to think I make mistakes 🙂

I sent in the letter of intent to the school district this week, telling them that Hailey will be homeschooled.  If you know us then you probably aren’t totally shocked to hear this news.  Before Hailey started kindergarten, we had talked about homeschooling her.  Then I found out I was pregnant with Hunter and convinced myself that I could not homeschool with a newborn baby.  Since then I have realized that is not true at all.  While I’m sure it is difficult, it is certainly possible.  Now that Hunter will be going on 2 this fall, I’m wondering if it will actually be harder with a toddler than a newborn would have been 😉

For now my plan is to homeschool for 2nd grade.  There are many reasons we are making this choice, but it all boils down to this:  We feel that this is the right decision for our family at this time.  We are not against public school.  Hailey had a good experience in public school and never had any problems.  We just feel this is the best thing for us for right now.  We are taking it one year at a time, so we do not know yet what we will do for 3rd grade.

We already have our curriculum, and I will do a separate post about our curriculum choices very soon.  We have also joined a local co-op which meets one time each week and we are looking forward to meeting some of the other homeschoolers in our area.  I know this will be a big adjustment for us and it will take some time to get used to, but we are excited!

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