Our First Term in Year 1

It has been awhile and life is just too busy to post on a weekly basis.  Here is a recap of our first term Ambleside Online year 1.  We have found a good routine and started to add in some extras.  We had a couple of birthdays during the term and now the boys are 7yo and 4yo.

We have used Bible Study Guide for All Ages for bible and it has worked well. I started with the beginners level and I think it is getting too young for Jonathan.  It is time to up the level and have Christopher be more involved.  

Jonathan is in the word building stage of reading lessons.  It has been difficult since word building does get very boring.  Next term I will add in some word games. 

Jonathan's favorite history reading so far was Benjamin Franklin by Ingri D'Aulaire.  Our Island Story by HE Marshall and Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula have been the the least favorite and the most difficult to narrate.  

Paddle to the Sea by Holling C Holling has been just ok for Jonathan so far.  I thought he would really love the readings but most have not caught his interest.  He does like to follow the map to see where Paddle has been.

I love The Burgess Book for Children but it is hit or miss for Jonathan.  He loves the James Herriot stories and the book I have has such beautiful illustrations!

Copywork has been hit or miss.  Some days he will take his time and others he just rushes through with a very sloppy result.  

We are still loving Rightstart Math.  The level B 2nd edition has been working well.  Jonathan loves the manipulatives and games.  He wants to play a game most days and has learned the corners game.  

Salsa Spanish has been working ok for this year.  The boys get bored at times but are learning some basic Spanish words.  

Some of Jonathan's literature read alouds this term have been The Blue Fairy Book and Just So Stories.  When we started to read Beauty and the Beast I could hardly get him to sit still for half a page.  A couple of pages in he was hooked and wanted more and more.  I love when he laughs out loud to Just So Stories. We have done a couple of Beautiful Stories From Shakespeare and Parables of Nature.  He is not able to narrate them at all but that is ok with me at this point.  We keep plugging along and they will make good free reads down the road.  

For picture study this term I hung a painting on the refrigerator about every week and Jonathan and I would discuss is a couple times a week.  It worked well for us at this age.  

A wonderful friend from church records a hymn a month for the boys and I to enjoy and learn.  I transfer the recording onto their Fisher Price player and they often listen during play.  

Nature study has been the one subject that I have not made a priority.  The boys do get lots of outside play but I need be purposeful in their nature journals and observations.  Oh well, there is always next term:)

Also, this term the boys started a PE coop twice a week.  The boys and I have made some wonderful new friends.  We are taking a break from Kenpo so Jonathan can play basketball and Christopher can play soccer during the second term.  Jonathan will also begin piano lessons.  Below are some pictures from our last few months. 

He assembled a skeleton!

First time the boys played in snow!

Fun with math!

Look at these two monkeys I found hanging out at the zoo:)

First Day of Year 1

Here we go!!!  This was our first day of Ambleside Online year 1.  Here are some pictures from our first day.  

Here is the picture from our first day last year and our first day this year. So fun to see how they have grown.

2012-2013

2013-2014

We read the first chapter of Paddle To The Sea and Jonathan made a Paddle of his own.  It will be so fun to follow Paddle's journey to the sea.

Our math lesson was on measurement.  We are finishing up Right Start Level A as we wait for the new edition of Right Start Level B to go on sale.  

We also did some copywork and word building.

We read about Adam in the Bible.  I also read the boys a couple of poems from A Child's Garden of Verse and watched a Spanish video online. The boys thought the Spanish video was boring.  I will give it a try again tomorrow.  

End of Summer Wrap Up

We had a great summer of movies, swimming and pizza!  Here are some fun pictures.

Jonathan learned to swim without his life jacket!

Jonathan learned to do his laundry.  It was fun until the fold and put away part:)

Christopher starting drawing people.

First grade starts soon!

Finishing Up Our K Year...Plans for Year 1

We are finishing up our K year this summer.   Spring was beautiful and we had many fun days riding bikes, painting and playing with friends.  In April we enjoyed watching caterpillars become butterflies.  Here are some pictures of our painted ladies.

I read Charlotte's Web aloud to the boys and they loved it.  This summer our read aloud will be Farmer Boy.  We will continue with Right Start Level A for math, Bible Study Guide For All Ages and copywork.  Our summer schedule is lighter since we do summer movies, swimming and Peter Piper Pizza each week with friends.  Here are some fun pictures from the last couple of months.

Here are the books we will be using for year 1 that will start in September.  We will be using Ambleside Online.  I am currently pre-reading year 1 by the weekly AO schedule.  The books are wonderful and I cannot wait to share them with the boys.  

Bible:  Bible Study Guide For All Ages and we will follow the weekly bible readings on the AO schedule.

Reading Lessons:  Word building and Delightful Reading (if he is ready)

Math:  Right Start Level B

Literature:  Aesop Fables, Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, The Blue Fairy Book, Just So Stories and Parables From Nature

Science:  James Herriot's Treasury For Children and The Burgess Bird Book For Children

History:  Trial and Triumph, An Island Story, Fifty Famous Stories Retold and Viking Tales

American History:  Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Buffalo Bill

Geography:  Paddle To The Sea

Poetry: A Child's Garden of Verse, Now We Are Six and When We Were Young

Foreign Language:  Spanish 

Hymn Study:  We will learn a couple of hymns per month.  I am not sure if we will follow AO's schedule or learn ones we sing more often on Sunday.

Folksongs:  We will follow AO's schedule

Composer Study:  We will follow AO's schedule

Artist Study:  We will follow AO's schedule

Our last Few Weeks

Week in Review February 22, 2013

Daddy was off for Presidents Day so the boys enjoyed some outside time.  Jonathan tried to learn to ride his bike without training wheels.  It was a really good workout for Daddy:)  

He still needs more practice balancing so we moved the training wheels up further.  

For bible we are still enjoying Bible Study Guide for All Ages.   We are finishing up the story of Joseph.  I have also added in readings from The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos.  It has been a really nice review.

In Right Start math Jonathan is learning the concept of 100.  Here he is adding "big" numbers.

We are continuing to play Go to the Dump to learn his math facts.  I can really see him starting to not need his abacus for all the combinations.  

Week in Review March 1, 2013

We started out this week painting bird houses.  Grandpa sprayed them with varnish to help them survive the elements.  Hopefully a family moves in.

Here is Jonathan's

Here is Christopher's

For math we continued on learning about 100 and learned to play Old Main.  This is another game to teach Jonathan his math facts and is similar to Old Maid.  

Jonathan wanted more practice writing his letters so we are going back through Delightful Handwriting.  

For science this week we read the book Chipmunk at Hallow Tree Lane by Victoria Sherrow.  Jonathan loved it!  He had me read it several times in one day.  

The weather this week was perfect.  The boys spent most of their time outside and we were out each day riding bikes.  We ended the week with art using stencils.  

Week in Review March 8, 2013

The favorite read aloud this week was The True Story of Noah's Ark.  Jonathan loved the illustrations!  

One day for math this week we played with block patterns.  For Right Start math we continued playing games and practiced adding 2 digit numbers.    

I started wording building with Jonathan this week to see if he is ready for word building lessons.  It is very slow going and we will see how next week goes.  

For geography Jonathan did a geopuzzle of North America.

That brings you all up to date in our world!

Review of our Last Few Weeks

Week in Review January 25, 2013

After being out of town for a week, we slowly got back into our routine.  Monday we had no lessons and Tuesday we filed our affidavit to home school with the state of AZ.  By Wednesday we were already to get back to lessons when Maple came to visit.  As we were saying goodbye to Daddy in the garage a little lost dog came running up to us.  She spent all morning with us until her owner could pick her up.  The boys had so much fun playing with her and cannot wait to get a dog someday!

In math this week Jonathan learned about partitioning 5 and 10.  Below is Jonathan's first written equation.  He of course had to break the mold and do 6 instead of 5 or 10:)  We are still learning about Joseph in bible and he is still doing copy work with about 2 words per day.  

Week in Review February 1, 2013

This week was Christopher's first week in his big boy bed and Jonathan's first week in a high back booster seat in the van.  We had a busy week with lessons and errands.  Jonathan helped me sort through Mom L's belongings and found lots of fun treasures he got to keep.  We had a fun time with math games, read alouds and copy work.  

We went on a fun field trip this week.  Grandma, the boys and I went to see a play based on the book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type.  It was really fun and we went to lunch with our friends after the show.  

Week in Review February 8, 2013

This week we are back in the groove of lessons.  We did math lessons, lots of read alouds, cleaned bathrooms and copy work.  The weather has been fabulous so the boys have had lots of outside play.  The boys made a birthday card and painted pictures for a favorite friend.

Week in Review February 15, 2013

This was a very busy and fun week.  In math Jonathan learned the game "Go to the Dump".  It helps to learn your math facts 1+9=10, 2+8=10, etc.  He loves it and we played it several time this week.  The boys were given an art table at Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa and we finally got it put together.  Here is Jonathan playing go to the dump during nap time.

Jonathan had a "first" this week in Kenpo.  He broke his first brick.  It was such an exciting accomplishment for him to achieve.  

We had two play dates this week.  Here is such a cute picture of Christopher feeding his friend her lunch:)

This week's weather was even better than last week and the boys spent many hours outside.  Jonathan decided to build some nests in our trees so the birds could move right in.  He also was proud of his tree climbing.  

On Valentine's Day we did lessons and then went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for cookie making, cookie decorating and lunch.  Grandma and Grandpa had a valentine presents like Lego's and candy.  Christopher also got a spider man costume and has worn it for every day since.  Here are some pictures after the boys put together their Lego's.

We ended the week with a math project of building tens and ones.  Here is Jonathan completing his project.  We had a great few weeks and we are so glad you are here to enjoy the journey:)

Catch up:)

Oh where has the time gone?  Here is a catch up for the last month.

Week in Review December 14, 2012

This week was Jonathan's birthday week so lessons were only just the basics of math, read alouds and some fun crafts for Christmas.  Jonathan had is first loose tooth and his birthday all in the same week.  I even sewed some tooth fairy pillows for the boys.  Here are some fun pictures from Jonathan's birthday dinner with the family.  Yeehaw!!!

Week in Review December 21, 2012

This week we started a new bible study curriculum called Bible Study Guide for All Ages.  I started Jonathan on the beginner level and he loves it!  I have since purchased the CD of songs and the beginner time line cards.  The lessons are taking about 30 but he seems engaged the entire time.  Since I follow a Charlotte Mason method of teaching, I like to keep lessons around 15 minutes for each subject.  If his attention span is gone after other lessons, we do the bible in the afternoon after he has had some playtime and lunch.  Here he is enjoying his first lesson.

Week in Review December 28, 2012

We just enjoyed family time and Christmas this week:)

Week in Review January 4, 2013

This week we did some lessons but my MIL (we affectionately call her Mom L) was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia.  We did try our hands at a new handicraft, origami.  I purchased The ABC's of Origami and Jonathan and I made an Albatross and a Boat.  It was challenging...even for mommy:)  The boys also signed their thank you cards for all the great Christmas presents and helped take down Christmas decorations.  

Week in Review January 11, 2013

This was a hard week for the Logan family.  My sweet mother-in-law, Martha Logan, passed away at the age of 86.  The boys were able to see her one last time a couple of days before she passed.  She was so excited to see them and we were blessed to have her so lucid on that day.  She had suffered with dementia and the last 2 years have been hard.  She was a wonderful Christian woman and is now in the arms of Jesus.  

Week in Review January 18, 2013

We traveled to Las Cruces, NM to the funeral and burial of Mom L.  The boys have done very good with her death and were full of questions.  Jonathan helped to pick out what she wore and was just fine seeing her at the viewing.  Christopher looked once and then stayed across the room.  The trip was packed with making arrangements, viewing, funeral and graveside service.  On Friday we finally had some time for some fun.  We took the boys to the NM Farm and Ranch Museum.  It had exhibits and hands on activities for the boys.  They had a blacksmith demonstration and a cow milking demonstration.  They boys also got to grind corn.  Here are some pictures from our day.

Thanks again for sharing in our journey!