Bits and Pieces

There is so much going on right now and I want to document it all so today's post is is formatted in my ever-favorite bullet points. I'm sure not to forget anything when I can think within a list.

• James just completed the Math-U-See Primer. I am not sure if I want to go ahead and buy the Alpha level yet. Until I figure it out, I am printing out worksheets on www.education.com and using those to review and continue learning. James likes mazes so I am printing those plus worksheets for subtraction and telling time. If he progresses well, I will start looking for worksheets on money.
• I absolutely LOVE the All About Reading reading program! I had to buy the Level 1 since James completed the pre-reading level in February. He is continuing to learn the sounds of letters but when he reads them, he tried to guess the word without looking at the individual letters. He does the same thing with math. He tries to figure out the word based on his own knowledge instead of reading the word. He reminds me everyday to color in a star on his progress chart. :)
• Our co-op semester is coming to an end tomorrow. It's been a great year! James has made some really great friends...and so have I. It went by so fast this semester and we will miss seeing our friends every Friday.
• I have taken the bull by the horns and planned my first field trip. We are going to the Morehead Planetarium & Science Center next month. We will being seeing two Planetarium shows: Earth, Moon & Sun and Solar System Odyssey. During our co-op this semester, James was taking an Outerspace class and I thought this would be a great time to go. I still remember visiting the plantetarium when I was in school. This will be James' first trip to the Planetarium.
• No Tech Tuesdays are back!!!! Since discovering Minecraft, James has been obsessed with playing it and watching the Youtube videos of guys who SHOW you how to play it. He has actually spent more time watching the videos and learning about playing than actually playing it. Soooooo, he needed to take a real break from screens. This past Tuesday was our first one and it was the BEST day. We talked more, read more books and had a very nice day. I think it's very freeing to be without the entertainment of the computer, TV  phone and make your own entertainment. He wanted me to read to him ALL the Shutterfly vacation books I have made (there are 6 of them). He ran around the house pretending to be someone. I wasn't sure who exactly. He could have been a Transformer or a Minecraft character. But what I do know is that he was having fun!! He also says "I love you" more.
• The Action Bible is still a HUGE hit! James enjoys storytime every night with Daddy. He grabs his Action Bible and they read. They were reading about Sampson this week. I think James liked that story. The best part is that James is comprehending and remembering the stories. We reading a story last week and Passover was mentioned and I asked him if he remembered what Passover was and he responded, "It's when the Angel of Death came. The people put blood on their door so the Angel would not take their first born.". Wow!!! 
• Minecraft! Nana and Pop-Pop bought the Minecraft gift card as an Easter gift. He LOVED it! Now he is playing more than watching. I like that. Is Minecraft the Ultimate Education Tool?
• With our schedules being so hectic right  now, James is spending a lot of time with Chris at work. He goes with him to make deliveries. James loves being with his Dad. He also spends some time with MawMaw & DiDi each week as well. I don't know what we would do without my parents willingness to help us out on the super busy days. 
• We have made all sorts of friends this semester. Lots of play days at the park, birthday party invitations, and soccer is back in full swing too. We have field day to look forward to and trips to the beach. We get so busy with the day to day schedule that we are ALL looking forward to some family time away from the daily grind. 

Happy Springtime!!! It's here!

A good problem to have?!?!?!

Well, I happily reported to my mom and mother-in-law last night via email that James is about to complete the All About Reading Pre-reading program. Yep, we will be completely done and I can have a little ceremony to give him the cute little certificate of completion next week on Tuesday. And THEN, I am looking at our Math-U-See Primer curriculum, and it looks like we will be finishing that up by the end of February. How did that happen??? I never expected to run out of curriculum before the end of the year!

And so, I get to do the fun thing....I get to go to the homeschool store and check out curriculum again! I am all set to move James onto the next level of the All About Reading program Level 1. We will also continue with Math-U-See Alpha program. With all of this moving-right-along thing we got going, I think I am going to take a really good look at adding some really meaty science to our lessons. Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy. It would be a great time to make this addition. James is taking an Outer Space class in the co-op we attend this semester (every Friday morning for 8 weeks) and we just got The Action Bible! It is the coolest thing ever!!!!!! I give it FIVE stars!! I mean I have taken James to see ALL the action hero movies. I am THAT mom! When we went to go see The Avengers, I ordered us T-shirts to wear! LOL

Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden

I had been struggling to find a good devotions book or bible that we could use together. And last week during the Mom's R & R hour at our co-op, a mom recommended The Action Bible. What a great way to introduce the bible to little boys! I am sure there are some little girls out there that would love this book. I have watched James and his friends pretend to be spies, dragons and ninjas, robots and superheros. This bible captures his attention with great short stories and awesome illustrations. We read, probably, 4 or 5 stories in a row today. And, because I am THAT mom, I loved reading the stories which made them more interesting to hear. Don't you remember when you were little, you KNEW which books your Mom or Dad loved to read because they read it with such passion. I think James will remember us sitting and reading The Action Bible....and Guess How Much I Love You. I love that freakin' book. It permeates our day.

Me: I love you to pieces!!
James: Well, I love you to the moon!
Me. I love you to the moon and back again.
James: I love you to the moon, around the sun, bouncing back up to the moon a-hundred and two thousand billion percent.
Me: I love you like all that AND doing a little dance!

And each time it's different. But James does love his percents and really big numbers!

So, here we are. Doing our thang. It's so good to be a homeschool mom. sigh.

It's Back to School week!

One of the great things about homeschooling is that I get to decide when the first day of school will be. :) I never started school AFTER Labor Day. At least for this year, it's perfect. James is starting to get an itch to do science! But let me back up a bit and start at the beginning.

I set a budget for myself of $400 for curriculum this year. And I was very confident about the math, handwriting and science programs I wanted to used. But deciding on a reading program was proving quite difficult. I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to go down to the Homeschool Gathering Place, look for a person working there, get them to hold my hand and help me find what I needed. And it happened just like that!!!!! I met Victoria and she was wonderful! She saw me wandering around store, I guess, and as she passed me helping another mom she says to me, "You're new. I'll be with you in a minute.". Just like that! She came to my aid armed with information that all beginners need to know like when to register your homeschool and helpful websites. I told her what I was looking for. Here's what I bought:

1. Math U See Primer Teachers Manual- $15 on consignment (normally sold for $30)
2. Backyard Scientist the Original-  .90 on consignment
3. Backyard Scientist Series 1- $1.80 on consignment
4. All About Reading- $79.95 brand new

                                        Grand Total: $ 104.24 including tax

I had to order the Math U See student manual and manipulative block set which was $72.26 and that includes shipping ($12.69).  I had purchased the handwriting program during the NC homeschool conference back in May which was $20.

So, overall I have invested $196.50 on curriculum. I have also spent $50 to join a local homeschool group and enroll James in the co-op where he will be taking classes. And with just spending about 1/2 of my budget on curriculum, I still have money left over for field trips, supplies to keep at home, etc.

Now, back to the reading curriculum. The lovely and talented Victoria at the Homeschool Gathering Place was very helpful in showing me several choices. It's so great knowing my student so intimately because I was able to tell her that James is not quite ready to read. He still gets the lower case "L" confused with the upper case "I". He is ready for pre-reading work and this, to me, was the best fit. It's called All About Reading. I considered buying the "Five in a Row" since James will be using that in the co-op but the structure of that program requires that you read one story a week. James (nor I) would have the patience for that. We like new stories every day. But the story books for that program are wonderful. Charlotte Mason would be proud. She would not call them "twaddle". :)

All About Reading

So we start this week. And James has asked me everyday for the past several days if we can do a science 'sperment. LOL. He's even tried to get sneaky and ask his Dad!!! I love his eagerness. So here we go! Another year of adventure!!!!