Why bother planning Wed Sept. 29, 2009

Each day or night before a school day I try to sit down and map out a plan of what I would like to accomplish the next day. Somedays is goes as planned while others it flops-sometimes it's good sometimes it's bad-today it was good. Today was our first day in in a while-we have had some visitors, invites and dad home which was a distraction in our

school week-I did not say a bad distraction just a distraction from our normal (whatever that is) week.

I wanted to ease in slowly so I did not start midweek with our State (California) or our animal (Manatee) or our Art History Lesson (Cassatt). So I asked my lovely daughter what she would like to work on-well first she wanted to read her Felicity Book-no problem-that is where I read and she usually listens for a while then gets inspired to draw a picture from the read. Meet Felicity takes place in the late 1700's so there is all kind of

interesting words to learn-for example, Tannery, Stockings and Garter and breeches. We also learned that Felicity herself was homeschooled,

unlike Laura Ingalls Wilder* who I believe studied in a little schoolhouse. We learned that her studies included stitching an apron and writing. Carly made a lovely drawing of Felicity peering out her window. Short break and then my daugther chose Math - word problems of all things-it is a good thing that she picks Math because I sure wouldn't. After some math problems Taylor asked if we could paint on an easel.

This wrapped up school for today-we watched some movies together, made brownies and cleaned up after her new cat (Carly's sole responsibility). All in all we had a very nice, laid back but productive day together.

*Note Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in the late 1800's while Felicity took place about 100 years earlier-When posting I thought they were from the same era.

Art History/Appreciation

Today we did an awesome Art History Lesson and Project from our Make it Pop! Adventures and Activities in Pop Art. We studied "Cartoon It and Amazing Ads" Art Inspired by Roy Lichtenstein. 


Carly created 2 pieces from the Amazing Ads Chapter. First she had to draw a pencil image from an ad, marker it in than outline it with a thick sharpie. I just love this series "Art Explorers by Joyce Raimondo".

Monday Sept 28 Fall Nature Walk Charles Park

So we were all geared up for a busy week of school when we were invited to one of my favorite parks. Since I did not want to turn down the invite, I thought of a way to combine park time with school.
Since we do not have seasons here in Florida and I wanted to do a Unit Study on Fall. I decided to do a Fall Nature Hike-We collected leaves, pine cones, flowers, shells, twigs and anything else they could find.

Later in the week we will either paste them

onto something like a birdhouse or piece of wood or simply press them between two pieces of contact paper and make placemats.

All in all, we had a great day with our friends. I can not wait until playground/park weather. I heard today we are getting a cold front this week- all the way down to the mid 80's brrrrrr.

Finally Here

Ok So I am currently in the process of moving my site from Facebook to Blogspot-Fun? Not so much, but here I am at 1 A.M. determined! Please bear with me while I try to figure this out and once I do, the posts and this site will become much more organized- I hope. Also I am not so thrilled with the name so if any one has a better idea, PLEASE let me know. This is mostly to document Carlys homeschooling lessons but why not make it fun right. So off to bed I go-satisfied for the most-part.

Maryland Dinner

So today we finished up Maryland with some writing etc. We also made our dinner-Maryland Crabs Cakes and New England Clam Chowder. Unfortunately we could not make it to the store today but Carly sent Daddy off to Publix with her list. She whipped up dinner and added a picture she drew which I think is actually of The University of Maryland. Go Terps??

Pick A State-Maryland

We have decided to "pick a state" each week. BOTH of my kids are very interested in the good ole USA! We tried practicing the Pledge in the car. Anyway Carly chose Maryland this week-we read, colored and learned what Maryland is known for-bird, food, flag, location. Tomorrow is the big Maryland Feast! Crab Cakes and N E Clam Chowder YUM- OH Carly made the list, will shop for and prepare dinner-I love Home Ec!!

Manatee Center Sept 14, 2009

Great Visit at the Manatee Center on Wednesday. There was a pre-school class that Carly was able to attend with Taylor-They touched sea stars, urchins and hermit crabs, did a felt board together and did a story and a craft. We will going each month.

Started Lesson July 2009

We studied Sea Turtles during Hatching Season-late summer. Read "Turtle Summer" over and over again. Completed several worksheets, coloring pages and even found turtle nests on the beach. We will go further in this lesson with other Marine Animals, Florida History etc

Reading Comprehension

So Before I created MY OWN reading comprehension list I checked online for a First grade reading list. I was not happy with most of the titles so I kept some and added others. Our First week we read " A Chair for my Mother" great book for read alouds and comprehension. I found a worksheet online and she did great!

Next we read Stone Soup-not sure if she got this one so we might try it again later. She is not a big fan of fables although she does have a pretty good imagination.