We didn’t do much school work on Monday or Tuesday because I was running a bundle sale over at Intentional Bundles and was monitoring my email more than normal.
On Friday the big kids went to a homeschool gym time with some friends and while they were gone our social worker called us to say she would be reuniting our foster boys with their birth family and would be picking them up in a few hours to do so.
For reference, here’s the low down on all the kids:
The Daughter – she’s 9 and in grade 4 The Son – he’s 6 and in grade 1 The Preschooler – he’s 3 The Toddler – he’s 2
(The preschooler and toddler came to us in the fall via foster care.)
Here’s a recap of our week:
+ my fourth grader is participating in a reading challenge I created for myself, this month we are each reading (at least) one book that is also a movie, I told her I wanted her to read Bridge to Terabithia but not to get mad at me when the book makes her cry.
+ speaking of reading, the first grader started reading Penny and Her Marble to me. It was one of the first books that made my daughter realize she could read so I thought it would be fun for him to read to me. So far he’s not enjoying it, for some reason he thinks he can’t read when he actually can. I’ve requested some other books from the library for him to try soon that may be more up his alley.
+ I’m constantly trying to work on my son’s fine motor skills and we use drawing for practice a lot. One of our favorites are Art for Kids Hub videos.
+ we also pulled out the Handwriting Without Tears book one day this week and did a page, I need to remember to get him to do that more often.
+ after our foster boys left us on Friday we spent the rest of the day and the weekend playing family games. We played Colt Express, King of Tokyo and Apples to Apples.
There’s a little peek into our week and some of the resources we’ve been using! What are some games you enjoy? What is something that’s been working in your homeschool lately?
This week we had a mix of what I would call “school days” and “extra curricular days”.
We had a field trip to a museum one day and went sledding with one morning with a bunch of friends.
It was really a perfect balance this week where both my introvert and extrovert got a bit of what they prefer.
OUR HOMESCHOOL WEEK IN REVIEW
For reference, here’s the low down on all the kids:
The Daughter – she’s 9 and in grade 4 The Son – he’s 6 and in grade 1 The Preschooler – he’s 3 The Toddler – he’s 2
(The preschooler and toddler came to us in the fall via foster care.)
Here’s a recap of our week:
+ one evening my daughter decided she wanted to make brownies, so she grabbed a box mix and got to work. Baking is one of my favorite sneaky ways for kids to work on their math skills (also, life skills!).
+ one day this week the kids played Chroma Cube for math. It’s a good deductive reasoning and problem solving game. I kind of wanted to shove them over and play myself . . . (You can see more of our favorite game here.)
+ we continued with our Bible journaling, and like I had planned last week I read out of the Action Bible for them and they drew pictures and wrote a summary of the story in their own words. I would still like to find a good, comprehensive children’s illustrated Bible. I have a couple on hold at the library, we’ll see next week if they are good or not.
+ we played another math game one day. I just dealt the kids a few cards (the same number) and they tried to make the largest number they could with their cards. We did it with a variety of different numbers of cards so they could practice saying larger numbers (like 353,837) and it was a good reminder how important place value is.
+ while our preschooler and toddler had a family visit one morning I took the older two to the same children’s museum we went to last week and they had a lot of fun in front of the green screen.
+ one thing my six year old pulled out a few times to play with on his own this week was Snap Circuits. He has spent so many hours creating different circuits with this kit.
+ a friend of mine was telling me that she often lets her grade one class watch a video from Storyline Online during their snack time so one day while I was making lunch the kids watched one. Of course my Lord of The Rings fan wanted to watch “Sam” read a story:
+ lately my six year old has been reading to me from the Usborne First Readers, like Mole in a Hole and Goat in a Boat.
There’s a little peek into our week and some of the resources we’ve been using! What is something that’s been working in your homeschool lately?
My fourth grader loves to read but goes through spurts where she reads a ton and then weeks where she doesn’t read much. I pretty much do the same so I totally understand.
Lately she has been reading a ton of books so I thought I would share some of her recent favorites. She can read quite above her grade level (as you’ll see at the end of this list) but she also likes to pick up some age appropriate books to breeze through as well.
Many of the books on this list are the first books in a series, in those cases my daughter has either continued on with the series and enjoyed the books or intends to continue with the series soon.
I created a reading challenge for myself this year and my daughter decided she wanted to participate, this was her choice for a book with a color in the title.
Brother and sister Dallas and Florida are the “trouble twins.” In their short thirteen years, they’ve passed through countless foster homes, only to return to their dreary orphanage, Boxton Creek Home.
Run by the Trepids, a greedy and strict couple, Boxton Creek seems impossible to escape. When Mr. Trepid informs the twins that they’ll be helping old Tiller and Sairy Morey go on separate adventures, Dallas and Florida are suspicious.
As the twins adjust to the natural beauty of the outdoors, help the Tillers prepare for their adventures, and foil a robbery, their ultimate search for freedom leads them home to Ruby Holler.
Inquisitive twelve-year-old Alexa Daley is spending another summer in the walled town of Bridewell. This year, she is set on solving the mystery of what lies beyond the walls. Legend says the walls were built to keep out an unnamed evil that lurks in the forests and The Dark Hills. But what exactly is it that the townspeople are so afraid of? As Alexa begins to unravel the truth, pushing beyond the protective barrier she’s lived behind all her life, she discovers a strange and ancient enchantment — and exposes a danger that could destroy everything she holds dear.
If you haven’t had a chance to see a physical copy of Brian Selznick’s books, you need to. They are a mix of a novel and an illustrated book, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo’s undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo’s dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.
Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she’s just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a kid-hating terror of a headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with which to fight back. It’ll take a superhuman genius to give Miss Trunchbull what she deserves and Matilda may be just the one to do it!
Willy Wonka’s famous chocolate factory is opening at last! But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!
It all begins with a strange coin on a sun-warmed sidewalk. Jane finds the coin, and because she and her siblings are having the worst, most dreadfully boring summer ever, she idly wishes something exciting would happen. And something does: Her wish is granted. Or not quite. Only half of her wish comes true. It turns out the coin grants wishes—but only by half, so that you must wish for twice as much as you want. Wishing for two times some things is a cinch, but other doubled wishes only cause twice as much trouble. What is half of twice a talking cat? Or to be half-again twice not-here? And how do you double your most heartfelt wish, the one you care about so much it has to be perfect?
Little House in the Big Woods takes place in 1871 and introduces us to four-year-old Laura, who lives in a log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. She shares the cabin with her Pa, her Ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their lovable dog, Jack.
Pioneer life isn’t easy for the Ingalls family, since they must grow or catch all their own food as they get ready for the cold winter. But they make the best of every tough situation. They celebrate Christmas with homemade toys and treats, do their spring planting, bring in the harvest in the fall, and make their first trip into town. And every night, safe and warm in their little house, the sound of Pa’s fiddle lulls Laura and her sisters into sleep.
This has been one of our family favorite audiobooks to date, my daughter loved it so much she has already re-listened to it and wants to read the physical copy as well since I told her about the hilarious footnotes they have.
Once, in a cottage above the cliffs on the Dark Sea of Darkness, there lived three children and their trusty dog, Nugget.
Janner Igiby, his brother, Tink, and their disabled sister, Leeli, are gifted children as all children are, loved well by a noble mother and ex-pirate grandfather. But they will need all their gifts and all that they love to survive the evil pursuit of the venomous Fangs of Dang, who have crossed the dark sea to rule the land with malice. The Igibys hold the secret to the lost legend and jewels of good King Wingfeather of the Shining Isle of Anniera.
A great middle grade fantasy book that reminds me a bit of Alice in Wonderland crossed with Greenglass House.
Morrigan Crow is cursed. Having been born on Eventide, the unluckiest day for any child to be born, she’s blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks–and, worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday.
But as Morrigan awaits her fate, a strange and remarkable man named Jupiter North appears. Chased by black-smoke hounds and shadowy hunters on horseback, he whisks her away into the safety of a secret, magical city called Nevermoor.
It’s then that Morrigan discovers Jupiter has chosen her to contend for a place in the city’s most prestigious organization: the Wundrous Society. In order to join, she must compete in four difficult and dangerous trials against hundreds of other children, each with an extraordinary talent that sets them apart–an extraordinary talent that Morrigan insists she does not have. To stay in the safety of Nevermoor for good, Morrigan will need to find a way to pass the tests–or she’ll have to leave the city to confront her deadly fate.
It took her a few months but she actually finished this book! She plans to start The Two Towers next month.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkeness bind them
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, The Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.
In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.
I feel like we finally started to hit our post-Christmas homeschool groove this week. Plus the -30 C/F temperatures from last week gave way to -5C (23F) temperatures so that was also really helpful!
One thing I hope to add in for next week is the beginnings of a morning basket. I asked for some input over on Instagram the other day on what people’s favorite items are in their morning baskets and I’ve been pulling a few things out for ours.
Anyway, let’s chat about last week before I get too excited about a week that hasn’t even happened yet!
OUR HOMESCHOOL WEEK IN REVIEW
For reference, here’s the low down on all the kids:
The Daughter – she’s 9 and in grade 4 The Son – he’s 6 and in grade 1 The Preschooler – he’s 3 The Toddler – he just turned 2!
(The preschooler and toddler came to us in the fall via foster care.)
Here’s a recap of our week:
+ We started back into our Bible journaling this week after taking a very unintentional extended break from it. I was feeling like reading directly from the Bible was going a bit over my six year old’s head so this week we used a children’s Bible which I think was too below my kids so I think for next week I am going to try reading from The Action Bible and we’ll see how that works.
+ Speaking of Bibles, I finally picked up The Beginner’s Bible. I know this is supposed to be a Bible to read to preschool-ish age kids but I thought it would be perfect for my six year old to read from. It seems to be a really good reading level for him.
+ One day this week we went to a local children’s museum. This was my six year old’s reward for finishing his reading lesson chart that I created for him. He gave the place a rating of 194/5 stars so I guess it’s a good thing I bought a membership. There were a few different areas the kids liked, this section was filled with tubes of air that you could stick giant pompoms into and watch them shoot through the tubes and come back out.
+ With the weather so much warmer we spent some time outside playing at the playground, it made me excited for spring but I need to remind myself that I still have to wait a few months before spring actually arrives.
+ The kids continued on with math this week and like I decided last week on Friday I gave them the option of doing two pages in their math workbook or playing SushiGo. Oddly the six year old decided to do the workbook so I played with the nine year old.
+ I am working on letters A-D with the preschooler, I’m very impressed with how quickly he has been catching on to everything I’ve been teaching him in the last couple of months. One of our favorite alphabet books for young kids is Dr. Seuss’s ABC.
+ My nine year old does a lot of reading on her own that I don’t usually mention every week (I do share many of them in my monthly reading wrap ups on my personal blog though), because she reads so much I don’t often assign her books to read but one thing I have challenged her to do this year is read through the Bible (my husband and I are also doing it as well). Most days she has her Bible reading done even before she gets out of bed in the morning. In case you are wondering, the Bible reading plan we are using is via the Read Scripture app.
My son is in grade one this year, when my daughter was this age she was reading novels, he’s not quite there yet but that hasn’t stopped him from taking in a lot of novels this year thanks to audiobooks.
I asked him to tell him his favorite audiobooks he has listened to this year and he came up with this list! He’s got quite the sense of humor so there are a lot of silly books on this list.
I have made a couple of other lists of novels for grade one over the years, you can also check those out:
We listen to audiobooks most through our library’s Overdrive and Libby apps as well as with our subscription to Scribd (you can get your first two months of Scribd free here).
Pippi Longstocking has by far been his favorite audiobook of the year. He guessed he’s listened to it 80 times and while I think that’s a little high I know it’s been at least a couple of dozen times. I’m sure he’s drawn to it for the silliness factor and I know he loves that he has the same name as Pippi’s father (Efraim/Ephraim).
Tommy and his sister Annika have a new neighbor, and her name is Pippi Longstocking. She has crazy red pigtails, no parents to tell her what to do, a horse that lives on her porch, and a flair for the outrageous that seems to lead to one adventure after another!
I love that the Magic Tree House series has taught both of my kids so much about history in a really fun way. Sometimes I am amazed that they know about certain people or events and it comes out that they learned it through these books.
Meet Jack and Annie! Jack and his younger sister, Annie, are just regular kids. But when they discover a tree house in the woods, something magical happens. Jack and Annie are whisked back in time to the Age of Dinosaurs, a medieval castle, ancient pyramids, and treasure-seeking pirates. Every visit to the magic tree house leads to adventure!
Similar to A to Z Mysteries except there is a mystery for every month of the year!
This is a hilarious and totally ridiculous book that had us all laughing when we had it for a family read aloud and since then both my kids have gone on to listen to the audiobook multiple times.
This is not a fairy tale. This is about real witches.
Grandmamma loves to tell about witches. Real witches are the most dangerous of all living creatures on earth. There’s nothing they hate so much as children, and they work all kinds of terrifying spells to get rid of them. Her grandson listens closely to Grandmamma’s stories—but nothing can prepare him for the day he comes face-to-face with The Grand High Witch herself!
George is alone in the house with Grandma. The most horrid, grizzly old grunion of a grandma ever. She needs something stronger than her usual medicine to cure her grouchiness. A special grandma medicine, a remedy for everything. And George knows just what to put into it. Grandma’s in for the surprise of her life—and so is George, when he sees the results of his mixture!
Two is a crowd when Peter and his little brother, Fudge, are in the same room. Grown-ups think Fudge is absolutely adorable, but Peter and his pet turtle, Dribble, know the truth. From throwing temper tantrums to smearing mashed potatoes on the wall, Fudge causes mischief wherever he goes!
THE PAIN AND the Great One are going places! In these new stories the kids are on the go—the Pain needs a trip to the emergency room; the family goes to the mall and not everyone stays together; the kids visit a county fair and want to ride the Super Slide; and a beach outing includes a boogie board. Lots more action and adventure for the dynamic duo who never stay still.
The Pain and the Great One hardly agree on anything. But deep down, they know they can count on each other, especially at school, where it often takes two to figure things out. Like when that first baby tooth falls out on the school bus. Or when an unwanted visitor on Bring Your Pet to School Day needs to be caught. Or worst of all, when a scary bully says you’re burnt toast. On days like these it can feel good not to go it alone. (And don’t forget Fluzzy the cat, who knows a thing or two himself.)
Who is Sheila Tubman? Even Sheila isn’t sure. Sometimes she feels like confident Sheila the Great, and other times she’s secret Sheila, who’s afraid of spiders, swimming,and, most of all, dogs. When her family decides to leave the city for a summer in the country, Sheila will have to suffer everything from long-eared dogs to swimming lessons to creepy spiders. That’s enough to drive a city girl nuts! If she survives at all, Sheila may be forced to admit that she’s no supergirl.
Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte’s Web, high up in Zuckerman’s barn. Charlotte’s spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur’s life when he was born the runt of his litter.
What have been some of your kids’ favorite novels when they were in grade one?
We finally started easing ourselves into homeschooling again this week. With Christmas and then spur of the moment dental surgery for one of our little guys and then pneumonia for another one we were kind of forced into a longer break than I had originally planned for.
It’s just a good reminder for myself to appreciate once again the flexibility of homeschooling. I can’t imagine trying to get my school aged kids to school every day when we had all this other stuff going on.
Of course, we jumped into homeschooling in what will probably be our coldest week of the winter. The temperature barely got warmer than -30 all week. School buses weren’t running but kids are still expected to be at school (and I was so glad I didn’t have to drive mine!).
OUR HOMESCHOOL WEEK IN REVIEW
For reference, here’s the low down on all the kids:
The Daughter – she’s 9 and in grade 4 The Son – he’s 6 and in grade 1 The Preschooler – he’s 3 The Toddler – he just turned 2!
(The preschooler and toddler came to us in the fall via foster care.)
Here’s a recap of our week:
+ we learned about cheetah’s and caracal’s thanks to Wild Kratts. In the winter while hiding from the freezing temperatures we tend to use a lot more technology in our homeschool and as someone who does not appreciate the cold I am totally okay with that.
+ the winter always feels like the perfect time to work on a family puzzle so I pulled out this 500 piece Norman Rockwell puzzle that I picked up at Dollar Tree in the fall. So far we’ve just tried to do the outline and I’m not too impressed with the puzzle, it’s nearly impossible to tell if the pieces go together . . . I may end up getting rid of it and pulling out a different puzzle.
+ each of the kids did a little bit of math out of their workbooks (we use some that we found at Costco). We’re starting back slowly so my daughter is doing some multi-digit addition and subtraction review and my son did some addition and subtraction up to 20 review.
+ my six year old continued on with the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. We’ve taken this book slow over the last year or so because he kind of hit a wall for awhile. Learning to read has not been an easy task for him but he has made so much progress. He still mixes up the sounds for b/d/p quite often and struggles with some words that he’s seen thousands of times but can read bigger ones (like, he has no problem reading the word “little” but almost always stumbles over “the”). He hit a bit milestone this week though but completing a sticker chart that I had made for him quite awhile ago, as a result we are going to be going to a children’s museum next week!
+ the preschooler has been obsessed with naming the colors of everything lately. When he came to us less than three months ago he didn’t know any colors (or really how to speak at all) and now he knows most of the colors. He’s had a huge learning curve and has loved it.
+ because the temperature was so cold for most of the week one day I let the kids have the option between doing math from their workbook or playing Sushi Go. Not surprisingly, they chose the game. Sushi Go involves using a variety of math skills while playing and it was a good trade off. I might make this a Friday tradition for the winter. (You can see more of the games we like to play here.)
I would love to hear about your homeschool week, let me know what you learned about and/or some of the resources you used.
