Preparing for Memorial Day

With Memorial Day approaching, we took a moment to recognize our veterans! With tons of flags in hand, Madeline and Sophie lined the walkway at Grandma's house.  

Flags ready!

Sophie would not give up her flag :)

After reading the Raiders' Ransom series, Madeline has an understanding of what war is. How people sacrifice themselves for the protection of others. Our family is filled with veterans, most of them with us only in spirit. But we honor them and all the veterans still living :)

With so many flags, I took a few home to line our walkway as well. At only $1 per flag, we stocked up! You can find these big, beautiful flags at Dollar Tree.

Book Review: Early Bird Gets the Worm by Bruce Lansky

My Goodreads win!

This little gem arrived in the mail, complete with creator Bruce Lansky's signature on the inside cover page.

Thank you so much, Mr. Lansky! What a delightful gift. 

This is the first wordless children's book we've read -- that's right, no words. How was I unaware of this genre? Children 3 to 6 read the illustrations and enjoy the story on their own or with their family. Sophie is thrilled to read just like her big sister!

Early Bird Gets the Worm follows a little bird on its worm finding adventure. Not every worm is what it seems, or as easy to catch as it looks! The ending is sweet and will warm the hearts of mamas and little ones alike. Use the book as a springboard to talk about birds, perseverance, the bond between mamas and babies, and feelings.

Sophie's little face was pure concentration on our first read through. She made me read it three times straight!

Even as a soon-to-be eight year old, Madeline wanted in on the fun! So she created a story, then another, and then another. It's so rewarding to see her reading to her younger sister :)

Finally Sophie decided she didn't want to share the her book anymore. Snatching it up, she headed to her favorite rocking chair.  Draped in her favorite blanket, she began "Once upon a time..."

So far, Sophie's read the book everyday {more than once a day} for the last week and a half. She is so exited about her new, shiny book. Though with all its use, it might not stay shiny for long!



Disclosure:  I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway! Receipt of an item free of charge does not guarantee a positive review. By choice, only quality products are shared with my readers -- the items that I love, enjoy, and use :)

Growing Dramatically ~ Black Krim and Indigo Sun Tomatoes {Heirloom Grafted}

Goodness gracious, the Black Krim tomatoes grew over an inch in diameter this week! The larger tomatoes measure over 3" in diameter.

Black Krim heirloom hybrid cluster of 3

Newer, bigger Black Krim cluster of 2

The Indigo Sun cherry tomato heirloom hybrid is covered with clusters like this one:

Indigo Sun heirloom heirloom grafted

Some of the clusters are ALMOST ripe. They're not bright yellow yet, still green. I couldn't resist and tried one but it was not sweet. Super juicy though. Can't wait until we taste our first ripe one!

End of the Year Curriculum Review: Writing

The BEST teaching guide for writing

Scholastic Grade 2 Writing Curriculum

Hands down, this is the most fabulous series for writing curriculum! Writing is one of the few subjects that we use the same text for the entire school year. After seeing the progress made last year with Grade 1 Writing Curriculum, I will use ONLY this series for teaching writing. If you use it, prepare to be amazed at your child's progress.

Grade 2 Writing Curriculum Week-By-Week Lessons provides a year's worth of exercises. Each month has daily writing prompts. We cut and paste our writing prompts into a journal {composition book}. I highly recommend doing so, you will not believe the gains your child makes from the beginning of their journal to the end of the year.

After the month of writing prompts, there are four longer lessons -- one for each week of the month. A full page of directions explain how to present the assignment. Typically, Madeline brainstorms and fills out a planning page on the first day of the lesson. Then, the first draft is composed on the second day. And finally, Madeline self edits her work and turns it in for grading on the third day.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT SCHOLASTIC GRADE 2 WRITING CURRICULUM

This book is comprehensive. In addition to the daily writing prompts and weekly assignments, you'll learn how to help your student achieve success! The front portion contains lots of tips for teaching writing. Also included are writing samples typical of the age range.

One of the best things in the book is the 'START' handout. No longer will you have a child that doesn't know what to write about. No more writer's block! The handout specifically gives students a formula for writing descriptive, interesting sentences and paragraphs.

The back has quite a few handouts including a brainstorm page for the weekly assignments, a list of commonly misspelled words, and checklists for students to edit their own work.

COST
Originally, I purchased the Grade 1 book from Scholastic's website. However, our copies for Grades 2 and 3 came from Amazon used. Expect to pay around $7 for each copy plus $3 for shipping {about $10 total}.

Very inexpensive considering this is a reproducible book. Since it's meant to be photocopied, you can use it with as many children as you like!

WILL WE CONTINUE?
Definitely! Grade 3 Writing Curriculum has already been ordered.

Top 5 Reasons Why We Homeschool in the Summer

Homeschooling is such a gift. Madeline absolutely THRIVES when she's learning. We've tried extended summer vacation vs. continuing to homeschool. Continuing lessons was the clear winner!

There are so many reasons we homeschool year round, it was hard to narrow it down! After much thought, here are my top five:

Reason #1:  The kids go stir crazy if we disrupt their daily routine. 
We made the mistake of taking the summer off between 1st and 2nd grade. Yikes! It wasn't pretty and the kids completely abandoned their normal patterns.

Eating at random hours, not sleeping consistently, getting agitated and flustered very easily. Lessons resumed after a month. All was once again right with the world.

Reason #2:  Our child WANTS to continue learning. We have so much fun homeschooling, burnout doesn't exist. 
To be honest, we take mini breaks all throughout the year. It takes us a lot less time to cover the same material a public school would, so we don't face burnout by year's end. No stressful exams or standardized testing. Quite the opposite, without homeschooling we often feel LOST and BORED!

Once a curriculum is finished and mastery is demonstrated, we just jump right into the next one. So it's not like we have one text for the whole year. Everything just seamlessly flows into the next.

During summer, our 'core subjects' per day are decreased. Instead of 4-6 subjects, we might only do 2-3. Extra time is devoted to art, especially the more complicated projects that have multiple steps and require several sessions to complete. So summer is different, new, and exciting!

Reason #3:  It's the perfect time to introduce unit studies! 

FREE clip art source:  KingTutOne.Com

Sometimes you just want to immerse yourself in a subject. Right now, Madeline is super excited about our summer unit -- Ancient Egypt. When she saw the books I reserved from the library trickling in, she started reading right away! Just a bit more prep is needed and then we'll jump into all these fun activities:

• Building pyramids
• Preparing an Egyptian meal
• Studying the gods and goddesses
• Reading nonfiction books
• Making papyrus-style paper
• Creating maps
• Dramatic play with paper dolls
• Writing in hieroglyphics {Scored this book with a set of stamps for just $6}
• Studying commerce and practicing bartering
• Drawing Egyptian-style
• Making mummies
• Weekend trip to visit The Hall of Ancient Egypt at the Houston Museum of Natural Science 

Reason #4:  The real world doesn't stop just because it's summer. 
The opportunity to learn in the real world is one of my favorite things about homeschooling. But the real world seems to amp up during summer, not take a break.

Our homeschool peeps still want to get together. After polling book club members, no one wanted to break for summer! Discussions, creative activities, games, and crafts are just too fun to miss. Plus, all the kids love seeing their friends.

And then there's all the cultural venues -- taking advantage of extra summer attendance by introducing exciting new exhibits. The World's Largest Dinosaurs at the Perot. Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. So excited to tie in Archaeology with our Ancient Egypt unit!

Reason #5:  It's easy to forget what you've learned if you don't keep applying it!
Maybe this is more true for me than the kids, but I cannot remember anything from three months ago. It might be just too much to ask of the kids, too :)

End of Year Curriculum Review: Reading Comprehension

Spectrum Reading Grade 2
This is the second book in the Spectrum Reading series we've purchased. If you follow common core standards, this book is wonderful! If you aren't concerned with common core standards, you'll still be pleased with this book.

Spectrum Grade 2 teaches reading comprehension in an approachable, fun way. Every lesson is in a two-page format. A story is printed on the left {or first page} and the comprehension questions are printed on the right {or second page}.

Through the early primary years, learning to read well is one of my top 3 goals. If you can advance a child in reading and math, I feel like they can learn any other subject!

I credit Spectrum Reading and Modern Curriculum Press Phonics with Madeline's reading success. In tandem, they make a dynamite combination. This was the first year she could really read material on her own {chapter books}. She absolutely loves reading! It's easy to love when the right curriculum sets you up for success.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT SPECTRUM READING
There is a great variety of reading subject matter. Grade 2 had both fiction and non-fiction stories. As the book progresses, the stories become longer with more paragraphs. We read about states, sports games, travel, family life, and animals. Madeline enjoyed learning about baseball and baseball cards. Her dad even took her to her first Rangers game :)

This book also contains an answer key. The pages are perforated so you can tear them out if you wish. We choose to leave the book intact to eliminate paper clutter. Simple, colorful illustrations usually accompany the stories.

WILL WE CONTINUE?
Absolutely! We plan to continue with Spectrum Grade 3.

Supplemental Reading Comprehension/ Literature Units
Madeline also has reading comprehension exercises from her homeschool book club selections. I search for free reading guides online. If none are available from the publisher, sometimes units are available from Teachers Pay Teachers. If I still can't find a reading guide, I develop my own :)

My favorite units this year were: Chasing Vermeer, by B. Balliett, Literature Unit, 98 Total Pages!! and Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren: Characters, Plot, and Setting.

New for Fall 2014
For extra practice activities, we plan to incorporate the Reading Comprehension section of Sylvan Super Reading Success. We've not used the Sylvan book before, but are really excited to give it a try!

Book Review: The Sasquatch Escape by Suzanne Selfors {Vocabulary & Bingo FREEBIES}

Wow, that was a fast read! 

Our homeschool book club {grades 3-6} read The Sasquatch Escape by Suzanne Selfors for our May meeting. It's a fictional mystery with some fantasy thrown in.

At first, Madeline did not embrace the story. Every time we read one or two chapters, she wasn't eager to read more. That changed once events at Dr. Woo's worm hospital really got going ;)

From that point on, Madeline was hooked. Determined to keep reading until the book was finished! Even though the title is The Sasquatch Escape, the Sasquatch doesn't actually make an appearance for quite some time. We both wish he had appeared earlier!

The humor really picks up in the second half of the book. Sasquatch's escapades are HILARIOUS! The things he does will make you giggle and giggle.

Just toss out what you know about scary Bigfoot. Selfor's gentle giant is sweet, enjoys being cooed at like a baby, and loves his chocolate. You'll love him too.

Although the vocabulary wasn't overly challenging, there were many words new to Madeline. Since we purchased this book via Kindle, it was neat to be able to highlight the word and see the definition pop up!

SYNOPSIS
Benjamin {Ben} Silverstein has been sent to spend the summer with his Grandpa Abe while his parents work out some troubles. Since the button factory closed, Buttonville isn't very exciting. Most families have moved away leaving the town deserted. And worse, the senior center is pretty much the only place to hang out and socialize.

Ben meets Pearl Petal, a girl whose family lives above the Dollar Store. Everyone in Buttonville calls her a troublemaker. But when Ben finds a injured baby dragon, he and Pearl see if the town's new worm doctor {Dr. Woo} can help.

During the visit to the worm hospital, Ben leaves the deadbolt open resulting in Sasquatch's escape. It's up to Ben and Pearl to locate the missing Sasquatch and bring him back to Dr. Woo's hospital - a hospital for Imaginary creatures!

FREEBIES
What a bummer, there is no study guide for this book. Being type-A and all, I've been creating my own study guide. Expect another post with more activities once we meet for book club :)  

Enjoy my vocabulary and bingo freebies:

Click here to download ~ Vocabulary Definitions

Click here to download ~ Vocabulary/Character/Setting Bingo Caller List

Click here to download ~ Bingo Cards Set #1

Click here to download ~ Bingo Cards Set #2

Click here to download ~ Bingo Cards Set #3

RATING
We'd rate The Sasquatch Escape 4 of 5 stars! It's a must-read for any child that loves mysteries, adventure, or animals.

Will we continue with the series? Most certainly!